reiher@UCLA-LOCUS.ARPA (07/18/84)
From: Peter Reiher <reiher@UCLA-LOCUS.ARPA> My penultimate report from Filmex: "Ring of Power" is an animated rock and roll fantasy which has already received limited distribution under the title "Rock and Rule". The film has been complete for at least 6 months, but they're having some trouble getting distribution. "Ring of Power" isn't really a very descriptive name, as the only ring in the movie is used just to identify someone early on, and then is seen no more. The story is set in a post-holocast world in which dogs, cats, and rats have mutated into more human-like creatures. Mok, a rock star with magical powers, wishes to call up a nasty critter from another dimension, apparently just to prove that he can do it and to raise a little hell. To do this, he must find someone with a special voice to sing a certain song at the right moment. This is where the ring comes in. It recognizes the right voice. The only female member of a second rate rock band turns out to be the lucky one. Mok kidnaps her and heads for Nuke York (sic), followed by the other members of the band, including Angel's (that's the girl) sweetheart. Mok intends to unleash his demon during a rock concert, but Angel is unenthusiastic. Mok captures the clowns and uses them to force Angel to sing the song. Whoops, tough luck, Nuke York doesn't have enough electrical power, so the demon only trashs Carnagey (sic) Hall. Back home to Ohm City, where there's power aplenty. Here we have the rock concert to end them all, good faces evil, and so on. You get the picture. The animation is fairly good. The backgrounds are really great, the characters, which owe a lot to early Ralph Bakshi, less so. Mok is obviously physically modelled on Mick Jagger, almost to the point of it being actionable. The character concepts aren't much, neither is their execution. One exception is a Mister Rogers-like TV character called Uncle Mikey (or something like that), whose short bit is so good that it seems like it's out of another movie. The voices are nothing special. There are 9 or 10 rock songs in the film, contributed by Deborah Harry, Cheap Trick, Lou Reed, Iggy Pop, and Earth, Wind, and Fire. This doesn't conform to my tastes in rock, but the songs are generally unobjectionable, if also unmemorable. Overall, I would recommend the film to students of animation, mostly for its backgrounds and animated special effects. Others who like the groups and individuals who contributed music might also be interested. As for the rest, well, if you don't have to go out of your way, and it's cheap, and you had nothing else to do anyway... Peter Reiher reiher@ucla-cs.arpa