Dart Adams presents 6 More Animated Films That Warped My Fragile Little Mind

The first edition of this blog series was written last Spring when it hit me how many mind warping animated films I've seen in my life. Some scared the shit out of me, others freaked me out and others opened my mind to the possibilities this medium truly possessed. The first time around I highlighted 8 animated films that warped my fragile little mind via videotape, Starcase/Preview (Prevue) Pay TV services that existed before cable took over the industry and flicks I saw on cable at my father's house or my friend's houses over the years. Either way, here we go:


Heavy Traffic (1973)

"Heavy Traffic" was one of the first Ralph Bakshi films I caught pieces of here and there as a kid but I couldn't comprehend ANY of the cartoon violence, language, or the context of any of it as a child. I remember the cartoon fight betwen Michael's parents getting indelibly burned into my memory way back in 1980. As I got older and I had some other crazy flicks under my belt I could finally appreciate this animated film for the classic it is .If you're curious about seeing "Heavy Traffic" if you haven't seen it before, the entire film is up on YouTube right now. Check out the first of eight parts here


Coonskin AKA Street Fight (1975)
I first caught pieces of "Coonskin" way back in 1979 on VHS at my father's house. It started off as a live action flick just like "Heavy Traffic" but I hadn't seen it yet. I couldn't understand why the tape cover had cartoon characters on it if there were only people in the movie. After about 10 minutes the cartoon finally started and it was apparent that this wasn't goddamn "Tom & Jerry" or "Heckle & Jeckyl" kiddie shit going on. I also didn't understand why no one was getting offended at what they saw. The older I got the more and more I understood the proper context of the film and now I love it. This controversial classic animated film is also available for viewing on YouTube in 10 parts. Check out the first one here


Raggedy Ann & Andy: A Musical Adventure (1977)
My mother made my brother Buc and I watch this "children's movie" back in 1980 on Star Pay TV. For some odd reason it only came on at night which was terrible because this movie freaked us the fuck out to the point where we had nightmares for days. Who thought for one second that this creepy looking shit was entertaining by any stretch of the imagination? It still irks me to this very day and I discovered that not too long ago someone uploaded this freky ass kid's movie to YouTube in 10 parts. The first of which is here.


The Water Babies (1978)
This weird ass mix of a British live action film with some even weirder animated musical sections also creeped me and my brother out back in the days. This movie was about a British orphan that went through hell and somehow unded up underwater in this horribly animated world of danger and musical numbers. I NEVER wanna see this shit again and I'm glad no one has uploaded although it is now available on DVD. Who ever demanded it is completely beyond me.


Starchaser: The Legend Of Orin (1985)
This PG-13 animated film was released in theaters as an animated 3D Sci Fi masterpiece. The film critics off the day did not agree and tore the flick to pieces, simply dismissing it as an animated Star Wars rip off. While it did have some obvious homages to Star Wars in it, it was it's own stand alone story. The part at the beginning with the mutants was crazy and a couple of people caught it in a pretty violent manner, too. This is probably one of the most slept on cartoons of the 80's and it finally came out on DVD a few years back. The entire joint is now up on YouTube in 11 parts, the first part you can view right here


Gandahar AKA Light Years (1988)
This film is made by the same French visionary director of "Fantastic Planet", Rene Laloux. Gandahar is a Sci Fi tale that is along the lines of "Heavy Metal", "Fire & Ice" and other animated features of that nature. I saw both the French version of "Gandahar" and the edited North American version helmed by Isaac Asimov that was renamed "Light Years". I saw it as a teenager and it was just trippy as all hell. If you'd like to experience this classic animated feature for yourself, the entire film is up on YouTube in 8 parts, the first of which you can view here

Updates from the first post:

The entire original Hungrarian version of this film "Hugo The Hippo" AKA "Hugo e vizlio" is up on YouTube for those of you that wanna reminisce and see the entire flick again. The first of 9 parts can be found here.

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