Anyways, kids need to be exposed to dark stuff such as this, it will help them process hard emotions like sorrow grief and loss later on… As a dane, I grew up on this
This movie is both beautiful and terrifying, the eerie music, washed out colors and empty ocean gave me the chills when I watched this as a youngster. I am surprised I ever got to hear about this again
Awful dubbing, maybe they wanted to make people think Samson had a “father” and he was part of a family complete family? Sometimes they do weird things when they dub a Cartoon.
Filmmaker: We gonna have blood and guts and we'll question the morality of human exploitation of nature and animals! UK ratings board: Sounds like a R rated movie doesn't it? Filmmaker: It's animated! UK ratings board: Oh so it's a kids movie.
It danish. What else could you expect from the country that have the soft porn moves called "stjerne filmene" (the star movies and rate them suitable for humans under 18. xD I remember seeing Samson and Sally in 3. grade and the teachers thought it was a kids movie. xD o_O
When a kid-friendly cartoon character died in the most bloody, gruesome death to ever witness: _"Nothing unsuitable for children."_ *~ Rated U for Universal*
Yep ! Typically what happen exactly to Watership Down (the most famous example of this weird classification), but also others animated movie. We are completely in this kind of scenario where the people in charge to rate these movies just see the jacket, the surface level with the cartoon pictures and characters, think that because it's an animated movie that is only for kids, and put the U rating without even watch the movie itself ! Litterally the definition of lazyness !
@@dudotolivier6363 Here in the USA Watership Down was always a PG movie. This was before the PG-13 rating. G is the same as U so a PG is the next rating up. I think PG fits more as the old 70’s-80’s Star Wars films were PG too.
To me it's kinda like when the "i just can't wait to be king" in the Lion King. When you think of it, it is far more stylised and colourful than the rest of the movie, whimsical amd totally random. With all the drama happening in Samson and Sally the few lighter tones moments are well deserved.
Viewing it in full, it's possible to view it as wielding some kind of symbolic relevance to the remainder of the film: - The walruses have effectively assumed the role of junk dealers within a post-apocalyptic (or at least post-climate change) landscape; whereas the film's remaining animal characters are visibly and palpably endangered by the hunting quotas and pollution this prior cataclysm has incited (and know it), the walruses have instead (to some degree) benefitted from the gradual decay of both human society and the natural environment, selling the detritus generated by human/environmental fallout in a form that (initially) does not appear to fatally damage them. Given the joyous tone of their subsequent scatting, both walruses thus equate this lack of "immediate" personal detriment to a rejection of the issue's scope; the environmental rot ain't harming them directly, so why assume it's an issue at all? Even the idiomatic cartoon gag in which the pink walrus appears to be compressed into the oil barrel (before returning to the shot having inexplicably materialized outside of it) complies with this reading: lost in their initial conjectures (which the song sequence exemplifies, possibly "explaining" its surreal tone and imagery), both walruses figure that they can somehow (albeit in a way neither, in their naivete, can explain, hence why it's framed as a zany visual gag) escape the ramifications or "confinements" the film's dismal setting imposes on them. - The sequence in which the walruses plunge into the wreckage beneath the oilrig (or on which the oilrig, as a concept, "rests" symbolically), while bizarre, further elaborates on the faults of their mindsets. Note that, upon reaching the seafloor, both walruses re-enact or interact with images and material equipment from idiomatic human "history" in chronological order. The walruses "play" the role of humans guiding animals out of Noah's ark (indicating that they broadly and naively assume their trade is "aiding" other animals through an environmental catastrophe involving rising water levels despite an artifact of their trade later leaking into the water and poisoning a school of fish). In this context, it's fitting that a pair of sperm whales resembling Samson and Sally are the final pair of animals to emerge from the "ark" - the walruses offer Samson an anchor and a barrel of garbage in their entrance, illogically assuming (based on minimal material evidence) that either artifact would be of any use to a goddamn sperm whale. Partially due to the emergence of the whales, the ark abruptly collapses, as if the walruses are underlyingly aware of the flimsiness or implausibility of this basic premise through being encouraged to display this to the pair of whales presumably "watching" this scene (although this is muddied by the film's presentation). - The scene subsequently "leaps" forward chronologically to later periods in human history, with the pink walrus gathering a set of medieval Viking raiders' shields (apparatus of warfare, or destructive human activity) and utilizing them as dinner platters (see also the Georgian buccaneer skeleton's gun merely producing a fish (food) instead of a bullet (among the junk the walruses implicitly deal), which the pink walrus immediately consumes). When faced with the precarious assumptions their position is built upon, the walruses merely opt to cover the more probing or self-implicating questions by emphasizing the bottom line (that human destructivity equates to their food, possibly indicating that their dealing occurs in payment for fish, or that their "work" doesn't immediately equate to the destruction of their personal food supply and thus should be "celebrated" rather than condemned as calamitous or detrimental). Given that the pink walrus is immediately tripped up by the brown walrus attempting to row the adjacent Viking longboat, the walruses thus seem to be hubristically attempting to play the role of humans (beings who, as this sequence seems to imply, frequently emphasize the bottom line to turn a blind eye to widespread destruction in favour of immediate pleasures such as food and short-term hedonistic partying) to capitalize naively on an unideal circumstance. Note that the brown walrus' actions also hinder the pink walrus (in addition to dragging him off the oilrig previously, alluding to the ease with which their precarious position could go south) - whereas the interpersonal relationships between the film's remaining characters are largely mutually-beneficial kinships ensuring security and emotional support (to some degree), the walruses' mutual relationship is equated more to two self-destructive sinking ships "chained together" amidst the detritus they (both figuratively and literally) "feed off". - The pair frolic in a chest of human gold/treasure and subsequently witness a skeletal authority figure commanding a group of marching subordinates, all of which (authority figure included) disintegrate into fragmentary bones. Initially alarmed by this interruption to their song-and-dance routine, the pink walrus merely dons two bones (remnants of the destruction created by human hierarchy systems, akin to radioactive waste or a derelict polluting oilrig) and utilizes them as drumsticks, further reinforce the points above. - The walruses rise to a higher water level and engage in a 1940s-style "big band" routine (complete with an Andrews Sisters-esque chorus of singing sardines whom the pink walrus merely consumes), correlating with marching regiments of crabs and the use of WWII machinery and armaments (items used contemporaneously with the big band craze in several western cultures). Remaining mostly blind to their assumptions implausibility, the pair's naive hedonism escalates as the human weaponry with which they interact becomes progressively more destructive. Eventually, the walruses hit the elastic limit of their ignorance (and re-enact the human events leading, presumably, to the environmental catastrophe depicted in the film's setting) through "playing with fire" (by using an underwater mine as a drum). - Returning to the present, the walruses and flung back onto their oilrig (now contextualized as the decrepit, increasingly-invalidated surface of a gangly mass of human destruction and ignorance) and merrily continue to neglect the issues of the present, concluding with a barrel of radioactive waste (presented as one of the final "mutations" or products of the tower of human history depicted in the previous scenes; the walruses, of course, being the other products, or the continued present of individuals either ignorant to or willing to ignore the surrounding bigger picture) poisoning a source of immediate pleasure and leading the wider issues of the present to hit them squarely (and brutally) in the face. Basically, while the walrus song is definitely a tonally-jarring scene given the more somber, understated tone of the rest of the film (although this could simply be a deliberate exemplification of the walruses' detachment from the material realities surrounding them) and feels somewhat clunkily-integrated into the film's "flow" (given that Samson and Sally barely seem to acknowledge or glean anything from it - did they even watch the part of the sequence set underwater?), I'd say you could make an argument that it's not complete irrelevant to the film thematically.
Hey Steve, you might wanna check out another Danish animated film. It's called War of the Birds (1990) and it's also directed by Jannik Hastrup, the same director who made Samson and Sally.
As someone who watched it several times when i was young, i loved it and it being dark was part of the fun. It was released in the times of Secret of Nimh and several animes that didn't treat their young audience as babies. Life is rough sometimes; this is a coming of age story, Samson looses the comfort of his family of searches for his idol, is deceived, and searches for his own path. The soundtrack was great (vangelis-style) and for the voices of the french version were decent. Yes, it's a weird movie, but i have really fond memories of it.
SAME HERE. literally, this movie was magical to me as a kid and idk just something about it was captivating to me. Yes it’s kind of weird but like you said, maybe that’s why we loved it so dearly. Your comment couldn’t of summed up my opinion better, I get so annoyed at people saying “it traumatized me” like yeah no, fuckin movies like “The Omen” traumatized me as a kid! Not dramatic, foreign cartoon films.
Holy shit... I honestly can't believe you found this. Yeah I saw this when growing up, as I am indeed Danish. And even read the book in elementary school. It DID leave a huge impression on me, especially the scene with the oil on the water surface really terrified me. So yeah... I totally remember this... Thank you dude. Seriously. I never thought I was gonna see this outside of Denmark. Also now I seriously wonder if you are ever going to cover. "The secret weapon." I think it's the same studio..... And it scared the hell out of me as a kid... that movie has alcoholism! And yeah I watched it as a very little kid here in Denmark XD Edit: Oh and fun fact about the book now that I watched the entire review.... In the book. Samson does hear a pod singing in the distance. But it is unclear if it's his own family or someone else. And that's where the book ends. With Samson hearing whale song and swimming towards it, but doesn't know who it is. So it ends on an open note. There is even a possibility that he's dead at the end there. And is swimming towards heaven where he is hearing the song of all the dead whales. Again though. Open ending on purpose
If you said is true taking place in the future there a lot wrong 1. The kraken whales we followed are the descents of dwarf species and the large whales are extinct 2.killer whale would evolve into a bigger and meaner predator and have a hyena like lifestyle 3.walruses are extinct while there least concern and near threatened cousins would evolve into a more aquatic creatures 4.don’t know what type of baleen whale for some baleen whales would be extinct 5.gulls would evolve into a pterodactyl like creature 6.polar bears would be gone but not extinct in their hybrids decades 7. Coral reefs would be more stranger and many of the fauna would become more specialized 8.lastly humans shouldn’t be around ether extinct or left earth This after all those years after man is not get it respect
I know Samson's mom/dad death scene is supposed to be traumatic, but the shape of Samson's mouth as he screams is one of the funniest things I've seen in recent memory!
One of my nannies showed me this all the time as a kid. I definitely wasn't traumatized watching it but it did help spark my love and fascination for creatures of the sea and my seething hatred for whalers. For years I couldn't remember the film's name and couldn't find it again no matter how much I searched. Thanks for this trip down memory lane.
You know, I'm a whaler and my dad and his ancestors going back 8 generations were whalers; We're mostly honest workers and decent folks and there's no reason for you to hate us.
@@Firguy_the_Foot_Fetishist I do have reason to hate. Whalers almost hunted these endangered, intelligent, and highly social animals into extinction. Historically, it was a long, painful, and terrifying experience for the animal as their family could only watch in horror. "Decent" people do horrible things to this world. If it was done sustainably and out of necessity, that would at least be understandable. But no, it is almost all commercial. If the whales went extinct, your people would find something else to hunt into extinction because you don't see an intelligent social being, you only see flesh and oil that can be exploited.
@@Firguy_the_Foot_Fetishist There is no reason to hunt endangered whales in the modern age. They are also some of the most social and intelligent animals on the planet, meaning killing them is only a few steps down the ladder of morally evil things as killing people.
@@Firguy_the_Foot_Fetishist There is no reason to hunt endangered whales in the modern age. Claiming innocence while hiding behind a thin layer of ignorance doesn't make it right.
This was my absolute FAVORITE cartoon as a child growing up. We rented it from the movie store so often they just gave it to us because we were the only ones ever renting it! It now sits in my movie case. So many dear memories with this film. Also probably sparked my infatuation with the dark and bizarre. Thanks for reviewing it!
Oh God I also thought that during that scene - with the whales holding their breaths through the oil spill - that the other whales had saved the whale that'd gotten trapped, since it'd been so darkened on the version I owned. The revelation of seeing what was hidden is terrifying. The way the distressed whale has oil gunking up its mouth, and the way it tumbles down to the ocean floor is haunting, no matter how old you are....jc
I distinctly remembered this movie from when I was a kid. That specific scene in fact. I thought the entirety of the movie was about a group of migrating whales trying to escape an oil-slick. Turns out my little kid brain had let itself forget about the Made-in-Abyss-ian nightmare this is. So many memories are surfacing back up. Sigh, time to look for a therapist I suppose. Didn't forget the whale trying to go back to the surface though. It was the part that stuck with me the most. Dunno which version I saw, but that little fella got dead for sure, and little kid me was terrified by his oil-covered body tumbling down into the darkness as the others looked on completely helpless to save him. Thanks, oilfish! Your memory led me back here over 30 years later. :D
@@wintermoon7003 sorry but later we see samson whale friend die from oil spill, so after that you understand it is rip for the poor young whale and anyway the first time i saw this movie when i was kid, for me the young whale was dead, you can see the fear reaction from other whale, for them oil is death itself
I remember seeing this with my brother as kids from the video store. The part where it showed a sunken New York City confused me at the time because the concept of a post apocalyptic world and large cities being flooded was still unheard of to me.
11:32 and also the fact there's a snowstorm going on in that scene as the Bambi death scene takes place during winter. Yeah, both these parent death scenes have snow in them.
I watched this film as a child and it stuck with me, even though for a long time I couldn't remember what it was called. A few months ago I did some research and I finally found it and rewatched it. It's definitely pretty heavy for a kid's movie, but I think children should occasionally consume media that is darker and more serious than the usual happy-go-lucky Disney stuff. I also really enjoy this film's animation style.
I do think that children being more aware of issues (such as ocean pollution for example) are more likely to be empathetic towards others and aware as adults. Imo we need more of it. Now if only we could ensure the points were evidence based we'd be golden. (I'm not implying anything specific here, just that it's easy to propogandize people and care to be based in reality should be important.)
15:32 I just love my boy Steve, this is classic Steve Reviews. "He's too old, he's done with this shit, and just accepts the world for what it is. " LMFAO he just throws that second element of the list into the mix nonchalantly. You're one of my very favouritest youtubers, man. I mean it's insane and I think it's kind of worrisome that I genuinely talk about you like you're my drinking pal. Keep up the good work, Steve. Cheers!
So it wasn´t a dream that I had when I was small?!?!🤯 Told many people about this when talking about unusual movies for children. Everyone remembered Watership Down and Felidae but when talked about this one everyone said there was no movie like this! If it was so hard to find a copy of this it explains so much... Thanks for laying my troubling memories to sleep! I don´t remember if I have seen this on german TV or if my parents got it as a borrowed VHS from our library... I won´t lie, one reason why I subscribed was the hope this movie turns someday up on your channel! 😅 Edit: The oil spill scene was, what I remembered the most and it was definitely not darkened up in the version I have seen. The poor whale perishing due to suffocation in the dark black oil gave me nightmares for weeks and was probably one of the reasons for my Thallasophobia...
Hope you know IRL when a whale sinks down to the bottom of the ocean it will end up feeding the animals down there for about 30 years. it's called a Whale fall. it's quite fascinating to learn about.
@@ghoulchan7525 this piece of knowledge came to me by binge-watching documentaries one evening about 15 years later. Nature is quite fascinating, but having seen this scene at six years old I wasn't able to grasp my limited knowledge of the sea and find solace in this case...
Growing up, I was fascinated by sea-life, especially whales. I remember when I found this movie at CleanFlicks. It was around the time Finding Nemo was released, so of course when I saw the cover with the smiling, happy whales and was so excited! Needless to say, that innocent little VHS cover was very misleading. After all these years, I still remember the haunting visuals of the whale covered in oil struggling to breathe and the twist at the end was very unsettling. The film is definitely a product of its time with the ultra-environmentalist messages and themes. Super heavy stuff for a child. I’ll never understand the rating system lol.
I think you would enjoy an interesting animated french movie I saw growing up. It's called Kirikou and the Sorceress and was released in 1998. There is literally a scene where a baby is about to be born and he just walks out of his mother and tells her what his name is. It's a trip hahaha.
My great-grandma had this- and a penguin one (I think you may have covered?) I only remember these for the walrus singing about how great pollution was and then getting radiation sickness, and the swimming under the oil spill- whales bopping each other down and the one dying. I also remember Samson and Sally would have breath holding contests on the ocean floor, because I remember this "settling" animation they used. God, it's been at least 30 years since I saw that, but it's really stuck with me.
Thank you for covering this gem of a "This is for kids!?" movie! I remember watching this a few times as a kid, there was a copy at my local movie rental place. Why my parents let me, I have no idea. 80s were a different time! However today I am big on environmental health and species conservation, so maybe I can thank/blame this movie for helping to shape my young mind? Also, that big whale's death stare still haunts.
OMG I remember this movie! I watched it so much as a child but as an adult I could never find it again to the point I thought I dreamt it all up! Wow, I never thought I'd see it again!
This is one of the first animated movies I've ever watched. I was 3 years old at the time. My parents still have the original UK version they recorded on VHS stored somewhere.
As a fellow danish person watching this I would actually say your pronunciation was really good! 0:24 Idk why but danish children shows just seems a lot more darker then films from the US. Some other danish films I would recommend you is “war of the birds” and “the boy who wanted to be a bear”. Both good childhood movies with a dark plot
@@finland4ever55 it’s not a fetish, and saying that you think a lot of danish children’s movies has “fetishized content” clearly shows you ignorance. Poop/fart jokes are not meant as a fetish but a humorous joke that children find funny, literally look at any kids movie or show now a days and you’ll find a ton of those types of jokes, no matter the films origin Stop trying to turn everything negative or make it weird and say it’s a fetish when it’s just kid’s entertainment and what that targeted audience find funny :/
@@Mikkel-of-Lolland. Honestly, I would pay to see Steve review that movie. It's possibly the biggest example of how the standards of Danish films and shows differ to those in the US/UK.
Bro, you just opened up a memory that’s been locked for 20+ years. I remember watching this in 1st grade. The entire class was silent and in awe of what we were watching.
One of my childhood favorites. The book its based on was the first book I read on my own 😃 Also I think the mix of dark and silly moments is typical of Danish movies. Life has both, and we didn't tend to hide it as much for kids. However, newer movies seems to have gone more in the Hollywood direction...
I used to watch this a lot when I was a kid. As dark as it is I loved it and still enjoy as an adult. I was obsessed with whales growing up so having a story told from their POV was amazing to me. I also LOVED the sounds in this movie. The music, sound effects of the octopuses, and water just *chef's kiss*. I honestly really recommend it for a watch.
This movie was my childhood, I still have the old VHS tape, even burned a copy of it on a blank CD a few years back. Glad you covered this movie in all honesty, as bizarre as it is. 😁
The walrus song is the quintessential “big lipped alligator” moment. In reference to all dogs go to heaven where there is a random song by the alligator that is never referenced again.
I saw this as a child, and i still remember getting scared of it lol Also, if you are able to find it, there is another danish animated movie i remember scaring me the most, as a child. Its called "Drengen der ville gøre det umulige"/" The boy who wanted to do the impossible" but i'm not sure if it has an english dub. Its about a boy from greenland who gets taken by a polarbear after his dad kills the bears child
Oh, I remember this from my childhood. I can't recall how we came upon it, but I still enjoyed it. It was the dubbed version, of course, but it was still one of the darkest and edgiest animated movies I've ever seen as a kid. Thanks for doing a video on this. P.S. The whale you refer to mum/dad, I always thought that was Samson's brother who just kinda "disappeared" after meeting Sally and then we're introduced to Samson's mother right afterward.
Damn, this movie was buried in my mind for 28 years! I remember watching the walrus musical number and being very uncomfortable. I think I didn't even finish the movie that time. Guess it was a good thing I didn't...
I remember watching this in school when I was a kid and I hard such a hard time finding any info about it, I was convinced it was a fever dream or something. Then I finally found it years later. Samson yelling for his mom after she was killed always stuck in my head.
I'm impressed that you found this old Danish cartoon and even found the book on which it was based. I remember watching the cartoon and reading the book in elementary school. We all liked it back then. I never caught the plot twist though.
I actually remember this movie, I used to rent this a lot at Blockbuster (yeah, I'm THAT old lol). I remember loving it, and wanted to watch it over and over again to the point I bought it when blockbuster went out of business, and I still like it lol.
I remember this being shown to us in second grade. The parts about the intro being Samson sneezing on the seagull, Sally talking about the "water turning red" when her mom suddenly disappeared only for Samson to see the same thing happen to his mom later, the walrus song, and the whale hunter who honestly seemed terrifying to me at the time all stuck with me over the years. Over here in the US it was distributed by a video company called Just For Kids which had a colorful cheerful logo at the start of the video and an upbeat kid telling you about how great this movie is going to be and what else Just For Kids has released. I think I blame that for me not realizing how dark this movie actually was, despite it being obvious. Watching the walrus scene especially and seeing them sing and dance happily gave my seven year old brain this bittersweet feeling of there once being this nice company that put out videos kids loved, like some kind of club or other world that you never got to see because you weren't born yet. Only for me to realize years later they were just a bankrupt company that put out dubbed budget cartoons from other countries that was struggling to make bank even when they were alive. Oh how I miss my childlike imagination sometimes.
I only have the context of your review, but it seemed to me that the elderly whale that told him to stop searching for Moby Dick was more of a guardian angel of sorts. He shows up and disappears, and then Samson finds his actual corpse along his journey.
I think I will avoid spoilers and watch this it looks interesting. Also the fact the animation looks really nice and that its made in Denmark (which I really like since I'm half Danish). It also has that creepy kind of vibe to it I like too.
This was one of my personal favourites, growing up. Denmark has a tendency to publish very rude, lude, and violent cartoons. Greetings from Denmark by the way!
@Haskel of cause. Fugle krigen i Kanøfleskoven, Jungledyret Hugo, Aberne og det Hemmelige Våben, HC Andersen og den Skæve skygge, Strit og Stumme, Drengen der ville gøre det umulige, Bennys badekar, Terkel i Knibe, Ronald Barbaren, Abernes Ø, Rejsen til Saturn. There ye go mate. Looking forward to your presentation
Oh my gosh ! This movie seriously traumatized me when I was a kid. My grandparents had recorded it on VHS when it aired on one of the French channels here (in Canada) and they often played it for me when I visited, presumably assuming that I loved it since it was a cartoon… I actually did kinda like the annoying seagull and the walrus song, but the rest just vaguely spooked me out. I remember that I would always literally run away into another room and cover my ears for several minutes whenever it got to the oil spill, because the whale choking to death gave me nightmares. Anyway, thanks for bringing back these "good" memories ! I agree with your commentary.
This is the most accurate depiction of sperm whales I've seen in a movie, except for the fact that they're eating octopi and not giant squid. I think the "orcas are bad guys" thing is more "orcas are antagonists" thing. A story about sperm whales is going to depict orcas as villains, just as the story of a spider will portray birds as bad guys, or a story about birds will portray cats as bad guys. I read a novel about sperm whales recently called Sounding. It was pretty good.
I have never seen or heard of this movie but I'm glad Steve covered this movie, it looks so interesting and I love the theme. The twist was great too. I follow this channel not only for dark contents in animated films or shows but I also love that Steve finds some rare films that are not as known or only shown in certain places. I like that he shows the English version where it is censored but also shows the uncensored parts in different versions of the movie released in other parts of the world. It's always so fascinating to me. Thank you Steve!
Another comment mentioned that the old whale was a sort of guardian angel figure and I agree. I feel like he was most likely following Samson from a distance after their first encounter because he recognized Samson's naivete in his search for Moby Dick, and wanted to ensure some degree of safety for him, as the old whale knew that Samson would eventually land in dangerous waters. Hence him showing up seemingly at random when Samson passed out from radiation poisoning. I believe the scene showing that the old whale had suffocated in oil was him trying to get there before Samson in order to save him or warn him of the danger, however he was killed in the process.
As a sorta companion piece to this video, I would recommend the movie "War of the Birds" (or King of the Birds, I've seen both titles). It's made by the same director, as Steve pointed out during the end. While it's not AS depressing as Samson and Sally, it still has a lot of dark and intense scenes, especially with the villain. What it does have over this movie though, is that it gets weirdly...mature in some scenes, with drinking and sexual innuendos and bird with huge boobs, for some reason. Overall, I would say though, that it is the better movie since it has a bit more of a streamlined plot. Alternatively, another danish animated film I would recommend, is Terkel in Trouble. It's a bit more recent, being released in 2004 and was actually the first ever danish animated film. It's very crude and messed up, but weirdly hilarious, a lot like South Park. What's remarkable about it is that, at least in the original danish and some dubbed version, all the characters are voiced by one person, which is impressive. I don't think that's the case in the english dub though. Still I would absolutely recommend it for a review.
Well, Steve, if you're interested in more Danish films, I suggest the 1998 film, "Hans Christian Andersen And The Long Shadow" it's...interesting...It's bascially "Andersen: Life Without Love" but with the animation direction of Marjane Satrapi. Then there's "Jungledyret Hugo" which is a lot of fun (at least with the first two films and TV show).
Right so I watched this in school once and completely forgot about 99% of the movie. The only thing I remember- the thing that stuck with me- was the whale drowning in oil. Of course my mind twisted it to be a lot more drawn out and agonizing with the whale thrashing and begging for its life, but yeah. That scene traumatized me as a kid.
I’d love to see you cover 1986’s Transformers The Movie. It has a good amount of darkness necessary to be covered on the channel, and the animation and voice acting is pretty good. While the movie is in the same continuity as the show and you may feel confused about who the characters are, most the film’s main cast were introduced in it (for better or for worse).
that movie will always be awesome, coincidentally i've been on a transformers-binge the last couple of months and have found at least two shows of the franchise i'd say would be more fitting for an older audience, but perhaps not on a level Steve would review it; Armada, and Prime, more specifically the japanese version of Armada, since the english version removes a lot of the seriousness of some scenes including one of the characters. the mid-to-late point of that season is absolute gold. Prime surprised me with the robot-blood, dismemberment, and i think there's even a human's death on-screen (after he's been put into and fused with the corpse of a robot). it was surprisingly and delightfully gory, granted the only real gore was of robots, such as having their insides pulled out, or an eye removed from it's socket.
I remember watching this as a kid. I have been getting flashbacks of this lately and could not remember the name of it, what a coincidence. I believe I watched the uncensored version with Czech or Slovak dabbing. What a childhood....
I remember watching this on VHS all the time when I was around 5-ish. I always thought it was a weird fever dream, but I still vividly remembered the scene of the whale suffocating. Kinda forgot about the movie altogether for a while (again, minus the whale suffocating scene), but remembered almost all of it when I saw the thumb nail. That twist at the end I didn't understand as a kid, but holy crap, that is *DARK* @.@ Thanks for reviewing this, and giving me a piece of long-forgotten memories ❤️
I had no idea I had seen this movie until this review. I thought the whale eating the octopus looked familiar as well as the weird noodle wings for the seagull but I definitely remembered every moment of that walrus scene and the pod swimming under the tar. They must have been my favorite and scariest parts respectively as a child. I couldn't have named this movie if my life depended on it, though. Thanks for reviewing it and reminding me about a peice of forgotten childhood. It was the same with Scamper the Penguin except I was always trying to remember that one to bring up to to other people to make sure it existed but everyone thought I was trying to remember the Penguin and the Pebble. Edit: I also never realised as a child that it was a sunken New York City or even Atlantis. I think I just assumed there were ruins all over the bottom of the ocean for whatever reason. Another weird film from my childhood that I had forgotten but recently remembered and confirmed it exists is Happily Ever After (1990). Very odd movie. The smoking owl made me think smoking was the most disgusting thing on earth and the shambling, whimpering guy broke my heart. I'd love to see you cover that one. I really love it still.
I love this movie, dark as it is. It's been one of my favorite movies since I saw it as a child. Honestly, its morbid and violent, but it just makes me appreciate nature and its creatures all the more! Thanks for showing this bit of nostalgia!
Hi, I'm a zoologist with a specialty in marine biology. You're right that they're dolphins, they're the largest dolphin on earth! But the name is incorrect. They're just called killer whales because they're predators and people mistook them for whales. ...They DO kill whales, though. Gray whales most prominently. It's pretty brutal.
17:22 - Fun Fact: Sea gulls shit is gross but the amount we saw come out of that one is actually more akin to pelicans. Pelicans shit like that cartoon gull. In color, amount and even aim.
Just wanted to mention that because of your channel I found an online rip of Leafie:A Hen into the Wild and I LOVE IT. Thanks for highlighting overseas animation! Too bad so much of this isn't legally available where I live 😔 16:06 LOL I knew that clip was coming 🤣
I actually remember seeing a trailer for this on a VHS when I was a kid...Oddly for the life of me I don't remember what the actual featured film on that VHS was, but this for whatever reason left a lasting impression, and I never even actually saw the whole thing.
Oh my gosh, I remember watching this as a kid! (From the US here, for some reason our local library had a copy of the English dub on VHS and I watched it several times.) I was beginning to wonder if this was a fever dream. And yeah, it was shockingly dark compared to the stuff we were normally allowed to watch -- I can only wonder how this one slipped by the parents.
Oh man. Seeing that seagul brought up some memories. Jannik Hastrup has another delightful movie called "The war of the birds" that you should totally review at some point. I think the animation and overall quality is way better than this one, but the dark themes stay. The main bad guy "Fagin" gave me some nightmares as a kid.
I get a “Land Before Time” vibe, with how realistic and dark it can get, to the goofy cartoony moments … It’s no different than Pieter being the goofy cartoony (and Spike, with Dickie being the Segway to the more ‘realistic’ characters like Littlefoot and Cera), and the old & slow whale moments are a mix between Littlefoot’s mother and that random “Old Skeeter” spike tail thing in the beginning of the movie, when Littlefoot was crying about his mother’s death and his hunger pangs … I’m also strictly talking about the 1st movie, not the rest that followed lol
Head to keeps.com/stevereviews to get 50% off your first order of hair loss treatment.
4 hours ago ?
Hi
@@thebignigga69420 It's not that weird. He uploaded the video 4 hours ago, but he made it public just now.
@@y-stylzz ah that makes sense
Yo Steve how’s it been
“Nothing unsuitable for children” is slowly becoming my favourite meme
just another goofy episode with silly jokes for kids vibes
Mhmm
Anyways, kids need to be exposed to dark stuff such as this, it will help them process hard emotions like sorrow grief and loss later on… As a dane, I grew up on this
They absolutely did not watch before slapping that rating on
@@EmilReikoI "grew" up in a similar matter. I still must disagree protection of childhood seems worthwhile it's not something one can get back.
This movie is both beautiful and terrifying, the eerie music, washed out colors and empty ocean gave me the chills when I watched this as a youngster. I am surprised I ever got to hear about this again
Surprisingly you find all of these unrecognizable cartoons and movies from years ago, It's so tremendous
I love the unrecognizable stuff! It means I could potentially find a new favorite thing I might not have known about
It's not all that surprising. His audience suggests similar works and so his range of knowledge is broadened by the knowledge of the masses
I grew up with this movie but thats prob cus im swedish, danish, finish
@@19danjel I remember finding the Danish Vhs in my Brothers box of old Vhses
@@Zeagods-CyberShadow dude u should try to find them northern europeans during the 70-90 s were shameless
Your recurring use of the calm lady saying “nothing unsuitable for children”, over top of some horrific visuals, never fails to get a laugh out of me.
These types of memes are 100 times funnier when unintentional, so it makes sense
😂😂😂😂😂
I love how he refers Samson's mother as mom-dad because of the confusion at the beginning of the dubbed version of the movie
Awful dubbing, maybe they wanted to make people think Samson had a “father” and he was part of a family complete family? Sometimes they do weird things when they dub a Cartoon.
I always thought that that character was Samsons teacher or something
Billy: My Damomdy!
@@XxAmayaSanxX I thought they were the same person but he went back to the past to raise himself during an inception dream... No?
@@ammagnolia that sounds too crazy
Filmmaker: We gonna have blood and guts and we'll question the morality of human exploitation of nature and animals!
UK ratings board: Sounds like a R rated movie doesn't it?
Filmmaker: It's animated!
UK ratings board: Oh so it's a kids movie.
It danish. What else could you expect from the country that have the soft porn moves called "stjerne filmene" (the star movies and rate them suitable for humans under 18. xD
I remember seeing Samson and Sally in 3. grade and the teachers thought it was a kids movie. xD o_O
You know what else is a kids movie? Heavy Metal.
UK doesn't have R, we have 18
Probably wanted to scare them into eco warriors.
@@jcaesar19871 yup, totally a kid's movie
When a kid-friendly cartoon character died in the most bloody, gruesome death to ever witness:
_"Nothing unsuitable for children."_ *~ Rated U for Universal*
Yep ! Typically what happen exactly to Watership Down (the most famous example of this weird classification), but also others animated movie.
We are completely in this kind of scenario where the people in charge to rate these movies just see the jacket, the surface level with the cartoon pictures and characters, think that because it's an animated movie that is only for kids, and put the U rating without even watch the movie itself !
Litterally the definition of lazyness !
Based.
@@dudotolivier6363 ye
My attitude from when I was four hasn't changed on this:
_Bloody and gruesome deaths are not inappropriate for small children_
@@dudotolivier6363 Here in the USA Watership Down was always a PG movie. This was before the PG-13 rating. G is the same as U so a PG is the next rating up. I think PG fits more as the old 70’s-80’s Star Wars films were PG too.
The walrus scene can be explained in four words - "Big-lipped alligator moment."
Nostalgia critic approves (I think).
Exactly what my mind went to.
To me it's kinda like when the "i just can't wait to be king" in the Lion King. When you think of it, it is far more stylised and colourful than the rest of the movie, whimsical amd totally random. With all the drama happening in Samson and Sally the few lighter tones moments are well deserved.
Drugged-up fever-dream
Viewing it in full, it's possible to view it as wielding some kind of symbolic relevance to the remainder of the film:
- The walruses have effectively assumed the role of junk dealers within a post-apocalyptic (or at least post-climate change) landscape; whereas the film's remaining animal characters are visibly and palpably endangered by the hunting quotas and pollution this prior cataclysm has incited (and know it), the walruses have instead (to some degree) benefitted from the gradual decay of both human society and the natural environment, selling the detritus generated by human/environmental fallout in a form that (initially) does not appear to fatally damage them. Given the joyous tone of their subsequent scatting, both walruses thus equate this lack of "immediate" personal detriment to a rejection of the issue's scope; the environmental rot ain't harming them directly, so why assume it's an issue at all? Even the idiomatic cartoon gag in which the pink walrus appears to be compressed into the oil barrel (before returning to the shot having inexplicably materialized outside of it) complies with this reading: lost in their initial conjectures (which the song sequence exemplifies, possibly "explaining" its surreal tone and imagery), both walruses figure that they can somehow (albeit in a way neither, in their naivete, can explain, hence why it's framed as a zany visual gag) escape the ramifications or "confinements" the film's dismal setting imposes on them.
- The sequence in which the walruses plunge into the wreckage beneath the oilrig (or on which the oilrig, as a concept, "rests" symbolically), while bizarre, further elaborates on the faults of their mindsets. Note that, upon reaching the seafloor, both walruses re-enact or interact with images and material equipment from idiomatic human "history" in chronological order. The walruses "play" the role of humans guiding animals out of Noah's ark (indicating that they broadly and naively assume their trade is "aiding" other animals through an environmental catastrophe involving rising water levels despite an artifact of their trade later leaking into the water and poisoning a school of fish). In this context, it's fitting that a pair of sperm whales resembling Samson and Sally are the final pair of animals to emerge from the "ark" - the walruses offer Samson an anchor and a barrel of garbage in their entrance, illogically assuming (based on minimal material evidence) that either artifact would be of any use to a goddamn sperm whale. Partially due to the emergence of the whales, the ark abruptly collapses, as if the walruses are underlyingly aware of the flimsiness or implausibility of this basic premise through being encouraged to display this to the pair of whales presumably "watching" this scene (although this is muddied by the film's presentation).
- The scene subsequently "leaps" forward chronologically to later periods in human history, with the pink walrus gathering a set of medieval Viking raiders' shields (apparatus of warfare, or destructive human activity) and utilizing them as dinner platters (see also the Georgian buccaneer skeleton's gun merely producing a fish (food) instead of a bullet (among the junk the walruses implicitly deal), which the pink walrus immediately consumes). When faced with the precarious assumptions their position is built upon, the walruses merely opt to cover the more probing or self-implicating questions by emphasizing the bottom line (that human destructivity equates to their food, possibly indicating that their dealing occurs in payment for fish, or that their "work" doesn't immediately equate to the destruction of their personal food supply and thus should be "celebrated" rather than condemned as calamitous or detrimental). Given that the pink walrus is immediately tripped up by the brown walrus attempting to row the adjacent Viking longboat, the walruses thus seem to be hubristically attempting to play the role of humans (beings who, as this sequence seems to imply, frequently emphasize the bottom line to turn a blind eye to widespread destruction in favour of immediate pleasures such as food and short-term hedonistic partying) to capitalize naively on an unideal circumstance. Note that the brown walrus' actions also hinder the pink walrus (in addition to dragging him off the oilrig previously, alluding to the ease with which their precarious position could go south) - whereas the interpersonal relationships between the film's remaining characters are largely mutually-beneficial kinships ensuring security and emotional support (to some degree), the walruses' mutual relationship is equated more to two self-destructive sinking ships "chained together" amidst the detritus they (both figuratively and literally) "feed off".
- The pair frolic in a chest of human gold/treasure and subsequently witness a skeletal authority figure commanding a group of marching subordinates, all of which (authority figure included) disintegrate into fragmentary bones. Initially alarmed by this interruption to their song-and-dance routine, the pink walrus merely dons two bones (remnants of the destruction created by human hierarchy systems, akin to radioactive waste or a derelict polluting oilrig) and utilizes them as drumsticks, further reinforce the points above.
- The walruses rise to a higher water level and engage in a 1940s-style "big band" routine (complete with an Andrews Sisters-esque chorus of singing sardines whom the pink walrus merely consumes), correlating with marching regiments of crabs and the use of WWII machinery and armaments (items used contemporaneously with the big band craze in several western cultures). Remaining mostly blind to their assumptions implausibility, the pair's naive hedonism escalates as the human weaponry with which they interact becomes progressively more destructive. Eventually, the walruses hit the elastic limit of their ignorance (and re-enact the human events leading, presumably, to the environmental catastrophe depicted in the film's setting) through "playing with fire" (by using an underwater mine as a drum).
- Returning to the present, the walruses and flung back onto their oilrig (now contextualized as the decrepit, increasingly-invalidated surface of a gangly mass of human destruction and ignorance) and merrily continue to neglect the issues of the present, concluding with a barrel of radioactive waste (presented as one of the final "mutations" or products of the tower of human history depicted in the previous scenes; the walruses, of course, being the other products, or the continued present of individuals either ignorant to or willing to ignore the surrounding bigger picture) poisoning a source of immediate pleasure and leading the wider issues of the present to hit them squarely (and brutally) in the face.
Basically, while the walrus song is definitely a tonally-jarring scene given the more somber, understated tone of the rest of the film (although this could simply be a deliberate exemplification of the walruses' detachment from the material realities surrounding them) and feels somewhat clunkily-integrated into the film's "flow" (given that Samson and Sally barely seem to acknowledge or glean anything from it - did they even watch the part of the sequence set underwater?), I'd say you could make an argument that it's not complete irrelevant to the film thematically.
Hey Steve, you might wanna check out another Danish animated film. It's called War of the Birds (1990) and it's also directed by Jannik Hastrup, the same director who made Samson and Sally.
I grew with that movie of War of the Birds. Aka, Oliver and Olivia. It's something I'll tell you that.
That movie was my childhood
I absolutely loved that as a kid!
@@Nico_2202 i still can that movie bye hart love war of the birds!! pleas see it. better that samson and sally i promes!!
@@piapedersen2209 I’ve seen it many times haha, I love it
As someone who watched it several times when i was young, i loved it and it being dark was part of the fun. It was released in the times of Secret of Nimh and several animes that didn't treat their young audience as babies. Life is rough sometimes; this is a coming of age story, Samson looses the comfort of his family of searches for his idol, is deceived, and searches for his own path. The soundtrack was great (vangelis-style) and for the voices of the french version were decent. Yes, it's a weird movie, but i have really fond memories of it.
SAME HERE. literally, this movie was magical to me as a kid and idk just something about it was captivating to me. Yes it’s kind of weird but like you said, maybe that’s why we loved it so dearly. Your comment couldn’t of summed up my opinion better, I get so annoyed at people saying “it traumatized me” like yeah no, fuckin movies like “The Omen” traumatized me as a kid! Not dramatic, foreign cartoon films.
Holy shit... I honestly can't believe you found this.
Yeah I saw this when growing up, as I am indeed Danish. And even read the book in elementary school.
It DID leave a huge impression on me, especially the scene with the oil on the water surface really terrified me.
So yeah... I totally remember this... Thank you dude. Seriously. I never thought I was gonna see this outside of Denmark.
Also now I seriously wonder if you are ever going to cover. "The secret weapon." I think it's the same studio..... And it scared the hell out of me as a kid... that movie has alcoholism! And yeah I watched it as a very little kid here in Denmark XD
Edit: Oh and fun fact about the book now that I watched the entire review.... In the book. Samson does hear a pod singing in the distance. But it is unclear if it's his own family or someone else. And that's where the book ends. With Samson hearing whale song and swimming towards it, but doesn't know who it is. So it ends on an open note.
There is even a possibility that he's dead at the end there. And is swimming towards heaven where he is hearing the song of all the dead whales.
Again though. Open ending on purpose
Jeg så den en eneste gang og det var nok til at huske den i årevis.
@@axelgidius3324 "Det hemmelige våben" "fuglekrigen" og "Valhalla"
Vi var måske en smule fucked up her i Danmark XD
I saw this too! I thought I was like, the only one. I'm from america, so how that movie ended up here is beyond me.
@@icanbreathfireyo446 That's wild. This movie is pretty niche, even here in Denmark.
I watched it as a smol swedish child. It terrified me and one of the reasons why im scared of the ocean..
The whole ''post apocalyptic world'' plot twist caught me by surprise lmao
i was not expecting that from a movie like this.
in 80s apocalyptic reality is not something so strange
when i was kid i watched so many movie and cartoon happening in apocalyptic world
If you said is true taking place in the future there a lot wrong
1. The kraken whales we followed are the descents of dwarf species and the large whales are extinct
2.killer whale would evolve into a bigger and meaner predator and have a hyena like lifestyle
3.walruses are extinct while there least concern and near threatened cousins would evolve into a more aquatic creatures
4.don’t know what type of baleen whale for some baleen whales would be extinct
5.gulls would evolve into a pterodactyl like creature
6.polar bears would be gone but not extinct in their hybrids decades
7. Coral reefs would be more stranger and many of the fauna would become more specialized
8.lastly humans shouldn’t be around ether extinct or left earth
This after all those years after man is not get it respect
Oh boy I love being traumatised early in the morning, thank you steve
Bruh where do u live
it's 2 am here where i live gonna watch this before I sleep 😢
Mornin’? Che dici? Homie, here in Italy are 21:00 of the evening.
@@sihiri_kabari In your walls
Went from a boring Saturday to a questionable Saturday on what weird cartoons i should watch out of curiosity
I know Samson's mom/dad death scene is supposed to be traumatic, but the shape of Samson's mouth as he screams is one of the funniest things I've seen in recent memory!
One of my nannies showed me this all the time as a kid. I definitely wasn't traumatized watching it but it did help spark my love and fascination for creatures of the sea and my seething hatred for whalers. For years I couldn't remember the film's name and couldn't find it again no matter how much I searched. Thanks for this trip down memory lane.
You know, I'm a whaler and my dad and his ancestors going back 8 generations were whalers; We're mostly honest workers and decent folks and there's no reason for you to hate us.
not traumatized, but damn the oil part was brutal when i watched the anime at christmas holiday when i was 6 old year 😅
@@Firguy_the_Foot_Fetishist I do have reason to hate. Whalers almost hunted these endangered, intelligent, and highly social animals into extinction. Historically, it was a long, painful, and terrifying experience for the animal as their family could only watch in horror.
"Decent" people do horrible things to this world. If it was done sustainably and out of necessity, that would at least be understandable. But no, it is almost all commercial. If the whales went extinct, your people would find something else to hunt into extinction because you don't see an intelligent social being, you only see flesh and oil that can be exploited.
@@Firguy_the_Foot_Fetishist There is no reason to hunt endangered whales in the modern age. They are also some of the most social and intelligent animals on the planet, meaning killing them is only a few steps down the ladder of morally evil things as killing people.
@@Firguy_the_Foot_Fetishist There is no reason to hunt endangered whales in the modern age. Claiming innocence while hiding behind a thin layer of ignorance doesn't make it right.
This was my absolute FAVORITE cartoon as a child growing up. We rented it from the movie store so often they just gave it to us because we were the only ones ever renting it! It now sits in my movie case. So many dear memories with this film. Also probably sparked my infatuation with the dark and bizarre. Thanks for reviewing it!
I never would have imagined the plot twist. It is probably the strongest point of the film.
DAMN YOU!!!!
It would have been funnier if he added the clip of Homer saying “wait a minute… that was our world!” Followed by the “you maniacs!” line
@@osmanyousif7849 th-cam.com/video/qqPOeC-tnKI/w-d-xo.html
Gave me AOT season 3 feels 😮
The part with the singing walruses is what some of us call "A Big Lipped Alligator Moment".
Even though this film came out before ADGTH
@@matthewfranks2198 So did Dumbo, but the Pink Elephants scene is still referred to a Big Lipped Alligator Moment.
@@IndigoDragoness So true. But damn, they are funny as they are weird XD
@@matthewfranks2198 You ain't just whistlin' Dixie, brother.
Oh God I also thought that during that scene - with the whales holding their breaths through the oil spill - that the other whales had saved the whale that'd gotten trapped, since it'd been so darkened on the version I owned. The revelation of seeing what was hidden is terrifying. The way the distressed whale has oil gunking up its mouth, and the way it tumbles down to the ocean floor is haunting, no matter how old you are....jc
They probably darkened it just so you would think that and not that the whale actually died.
I distinctly remembered this movie from when I was a kid. That specific scene in fact. I thought the entirety of the movie was about a group of migrating whales trying to escape an oil-slick. Turns out my little kid brain had let itself forget about the Made-in-Abyss-ian nightmare this is. So many memories are surfacing back up. Sigh, time to look for a therapist I suppose.
Didn't forget the whale trying to go back to the surface though. It was the part that stuck with me the most. Dunno which version I saw, but that little fella got dead for sure, and little kid me was terrified by his oil-covered body tumbling down into the darkness as the others looked on completely helpless to save him.
Thanks, oilfish! Your memory led me back here over 30 years later. :D
😳
@@wintermoon7003 sorry but later we see samson whale friend die from oil spill, so after that you understand it is rip for the poor young whale
and anyway the first time i saw this movie when i was kid, for me the young whale was dead, you can see the fear reaction from other whale, for them oil is death itself
I remember seeing this with my brother as kids from the video store. The part where it showed a sunken New York City confused me at the time because the concept of a post apocalyptic world and large cities being flooded was still unheard of to me.
I really, really love these environmentalist animated films of the 70s, 80s, and 90s. Thanks for finding these hidden gems, Steve. Hope to see more.
This one looks like a random mess though. Not worth the watch
11:32 and also the fact there's a snowstorm going on in that scene as the Bambi death scene takes place during winter. Yeah, both these parent death scenes have snow in them.
I watched this film as a child and it stuck with me, even though for a long time I couldn't remember what it was called. A few months ago I did some research and I finally found it and rewatched it. It's definitely pretty heavy for a kid's movie, but I think children should occasionally consume media that is darker and more serious than the usual happy-go-lucky Disney stuff. I also really enjoy this film's animation style.
I do think that children being more aware of issues (such as ocean pollution for example) are more likely to be empathetic towards others and aware as adults. Imo we need more of it. Now if only we could ensure the points were evidence based we'd be golden. (I'm not implying anything specific here, just that it's easy to propogandize people and care to be based in reality should be important.)
Where did you find a copy online?
Where did you find it!?
Kids today:
COCO MELON!!!
*Eats banana peel and throws away the rest*
I rented this movie out constantly when I was young and I don't even know why!
As an adult, I appreciate it even more.
I was that kid too, found it in the most obscure video place, Pine Grove Video, it was on VHS early 90s
I love the old animation style of this cartoon. This is my first time hearing about this film, but yet it feels familiar.
15:32 I just love my boy Steve, this is classic Steve Reviews. "He's too old, he's done with this shit, and just accepts the world for what it is. " LMFAO he just throws that second element of the list into the mix nonchalantly.
You're one of my very favouritest youtubers, man. I mean it's insane and I think it's kind of worrisome that I genuinely talk about you like you're my drinking pal.
Keep up the good work, Steve.
Cheers!
So it wasn´t a dream that I had when I was small?!?!🤯
Told many people about this when talking about unusual movies for children. Everyone remembered Watership Down and Felidae but when talked about this one everyone said there was no movie like this!
If it was so hard to find a copy of this it explains so much...
Thanks for laying my troubling memories to sleep!
I don´t remember if I have seen this on german TV or if my parents got it as a borrowed VHS from our library...
I won´t lie, one reason why I subscribed was the hope this movie turns someday up on your channel! 😅
Edit: The oil spill scene was, what I remembered the most and it was definitely not darkened up in the version I have seen. The poor whale perishing due to suffocation in the dark black oil gave me nightmares for weeks and was probably one of the reasons for my Thallasophobia...
You can send those people this way now so they can see it for themselves
@@spicybeantofu already done... 😅
A few are quite disturbed by this movie now too. 😂
Hope you know IRL when a whale sinks down to the bottom of the ocean it will end up feeding the animals down there for about 30 years. it's called a Whale fall. it's quite fascinating to learn about.
@@ghoulchan7525 this piece of knowledge came to me by binge-watching documentaries one evening about 15 years later.
Nature is quite fascinating, but having seen this scene at six years old I wasn't able to grasp my limited knowledge of the sea and find solace in this case...
@@lavaya1147 ah i see. hope you can look back at the film through a different lens nowadays.
Growing up, I was fascinated by sea-life, especially whales. I remember when I found this movie at CleanFlicks. It was around the time Finding Nemo was released, so of course when I saw the cover with the smiling, happy whales and was so excited! Needless to say, that innocent little VHS cover was very misleading. After all these years, I still remember the haunting visuals of the whale covered in oil struggling to breathe and the twist at the end was very unsettling. The film is definitely a product of its time with the ultra-environmentalist messages and themes. Super heavy stuff for a child. I’ll never understand the rating system lol.
I knew this film wasn't just some fever dream from my childhood. I really hoped you'd do a review on it, too!
The oil spill scene I have never forgotten after all these years. I don’t even know how I originally saw this movie. *Emotional damage*
I think you would enjoy an interesting animated french movie I saw growing up. It's called Kirikou and the Sorceress and was released in 1998. There is literally a scene where a baby is about to be born and he just walks out of his mother and tells her what his name is. It's a trip hahaha.
Oh my God, I watched that in French class my freshman year of college! That's a blast from the past, and a good one at that!
This sounds incredible
Definitely going on my to-do
There's also some pretty dark scenes like the tree trap if you wanna check them out.
My great-grandma had this- and a penguin one (I think you may have covered?) I only remember these for the walrus singing about how great pollution was and then getting radiation sickness, and the swimming under the oil spill- whales bopping each other down and the one dying. I also remember Samson and Sally would have breath holding contests on the ocean floor, because I remember this "settling" animation they used. God, it's been at least 30 years since I saw that, but it's really stuck with me.
This is one of the many movies my grandmother loved to traumatize me with when I was a very little kid
"Nothing unsuitable for children"
ARE YOU SURE ABOUT THAT
Growing up in Greenland, which is heavily associated with Denmark, this movie was part of my childhood. For better or for worse I don't know
Thank you for covering this gem of a "This is for kids!?" movie! I remember watching this a few times as a kid, there was a copy at my local movie rental place. Why my parents let me, I have no idea. 80s were a different time! However today I am big on environmental health and species conservation, so maybe I can thank/blame this movie for helping to shape my young mind? Also, that big whale's death stare still haunts.
OMG I remember this movie! I watched it so much as a child but as an adult I could never find it again to the point I thought I dreamt it all up! Wow, I never thought I'd see it again!
Same
This is one of the first animated movies I've ever watched. I was 3 years old at the time. My parents still have the original UK version they recorded on VHS stored somewhere.
As a fellow danish person watching this I would actually say your pronunciation was really good! 0:24
Idk why but danish children shows just seems a lot more darker then films from the US. Some other danish films I would recommend you is “war of the birds” and “the boy who wanted to be a bear”. Both good childhood movies with a dark plot
And the seagull pooping was clearly a fetish, which i bet several danish cartoons have... weird fetishy content.
Do You not Remember Terkel in trouble
@@finland4ever55 Have you heard of Bonbon land
@@finland4ever55 it’s not a fetish, and saying that you think a lot of danish children’s movies has “fetishized content” clearly shows you ignorance.
Poop/fart jokes are not meant as a fetish but a humorous joke that children find funny, literally look at any kids movie or show now a days and you’ll find a ton of those types of jokes, no matter the films origin
Stop trying to turn everything negative or make it weird and say it’s a fetish when it’s just kid’s entertainment and what that targeted audience find funny :/
@@Mikkel-of-Lolland. Honestly, I would pay to see Steve review that movie. It's possibly the biggest example of how the standards of Danish films and shows differ to those in the US/UK.
Bro, you just opened up a memory that’s been locked for 20+ years. I remember watching this in 1st grade. The entire class was silent and in awe of what we were watching.
That feeling when you’re watching Bambi with whales and it turns into the backstory for Splatoon.
One of my childhood favorites. The book its based on was the first book I read on my own 😃
Also I think the mix of dark and silly moments is typical of Danish movies. Life has both, and we didn't tend to hide it as much for kids. However, newer movies seems to have gone more in the Hollywood direction...
Saw this as a kid. Needless to say, the harpoon scene was traumatizing.
I used to watch this a lot when I was a kid. As dark as it is I loved it and still enjoy as an adult. I was obsessed with whales growing up so having a story told from their POV was amazing to me. I also LOVED the sounds in this movie. The music, sound effects of the octopuses, and water just *chef's kiss*. I honestly really recommend it for a watch.
This movie was my childhood, I still have the old VHS tape, even burned a copy of it on a blank CD a few years back. Glad you covered this movie in all honesty, as bizarre as it is. 😁
The walrus song is the quintessential “big lipped alligator” moment.
In reference to all dogs go to heaven where there is a random song by the alligator that is never referenced again.
I saw this as a child, and i still remember getting scared of it lol
Also, if you are able to find it, there is another danish animated movie i remember scaring me the most, as a child. Its called "Drengen der ville gøre det umulige"/" The boy who wanted to do the impossible" but i'm not sure if it has an english dub. Its about a boy from greenland who gets taken by a polarbear after his dad kills the bears child
Oh yea I remember that one
hmm i think he should be able to find subtitles for it. Honestly it felt like a Danish Brother Bear hahaha.
Still a beautifully made movie.
Wow. Sounds like it could turn really dark
Yes, it's a good film
So many horrifying things, the sight of dead Moby burned into my mind. I've seen this movie once over 20 years ago.
Oh, I remember this from my childhood. I can't recall how we came upon it, but I still enjoyed it. It was the dubbed version, of course, but it was still one of the darkest and edgiest animated movies I've ever seen as a kid. Thanks for doing a video on this.
P.S.
The whale you refer to mum/dad, I always thought that was Samson's brother who just kinda "disappeared" after meeting Sally and then we're introduced to Samson's mother right afterward.
I loved this as a child but don’t remember it being so dark! So glad you found this!
Same
me too
Damn, this movie was buried in my mind for 28 years! I remember watching the walrus musical number and being very uncomfortable. I think I didn't even finish the movie that time. Guess it was a good thing I didn't...
I remember watching this in school when I was a kid and I hard such a hard time finding any info about it, I was convinced it was a fever dream or something. Then I finally found it years later. Samson yelling for his mom after she was killed always stuck in my head.
14:29
Mr. Moby Dick Herbert: Holy moly it must be birthday.🤣🤣🤣🤣
9:09 when you shown the sea gull drowning in oil I actually thought it was the sidekick seagull.
Oh we had this movie at grandma's place when I was a kid- absolutely loved it!
I love this channel especially when I learn about new shows I haven't seen before
I'm impressed that you found this old Danish cartoon and even found the book on which it was based.
I remember watching the cartoon and reading the book in elementary school.
We all liked it back then. I never caught the plot twist though.
I actually remember this movie, I used to rent this a lot at Blockbuster (yeah, I'm THAT old lol). I remember loving it, and wanted to watch it over and over again to the point I bought it when blockbuster went out of business, and I still like it lol.
I remember this being shown to us in second grade. The parts about the intro being Samson sneezing on the seagull, Sally talking about the "water turning red" when her mom suddenly disappeared only for Samson to see the same thing happen to his mom later, the walrus song, and the whale hunter who honestly seemed terrifying to me at the time all stuck with me over the years. Over here in the US it was distributed by a video company called Just For Kids which had a colorful cheerful logo at the start of the video and an upbeat kid telling you about how great this movie is going to be and what else Just For Kids has released. I think I blame that for me not realizing how dark this movie actually was, despite it being obvious. Watching the walrus scene especially and seeing them sing and dance happily gave my seven year old brain this bittersweet feeling of there once being this nice company that put out videos kids loved, like some kind of club or other world that you never got to see because you weren't born yet. Only for me to realize years later they were just a bankrupt company that put out dubbed budget cartoons from other countries that was struggling to make bank even when they were alive. Oh how I miss my childlike imagination sometimes.
I only have the context of your review, but it seemed to me that the elderly whale that told him to stop searching for Moby Dick was more of a guardian angel of sorts. He shows up and disappears, and then Samson finds his actual corpse along his journey.
That would explain a lot
I think I will avoid spoilers and watch this it looks interesting. Also the fact the animation looks really nice and that its made in Denmark (which I really like since I'm half Danish). It also has that creepy kind of vibe to it I like too.
This was one of my personal favourites, growing up. Denmark has a tendency to publish very rude, lude, and violent cartoons. Greetings from Denmark by the way!
@Haskel of cause. Fugle krigen i Kanøfleskoven, Jungledyret Hugo, Aberne og det Hemmelige Våben, HC Andersen og den Skæve skygge, Strit og Stumme, Drengen der ville gøre det umulige, Bennys badekar, Terkel i Knibe, Ronald Barbaren, Abernes Ø, Rejsen til Saturn. There ye go mate. Looking forward to your presentation
@Haskel yeah, we have a lude and vulgar nature
@Haskel happy to oblige
@Haskel try Hans Christian Andersen his story for kid are often dark and sad
@Нaskel the little mermaid is pretty dark and not at all like the disney version… Also try read the “The Little Match Girl”
Oh my gosh ! This movie seriously traumatized me when I was a kid. My grandparents had recorded it on VHS when it aired on one of the French channels here (in Canada) and they often played it for me when I visited, presumably assuming that I loved it since it was a cartoon… I actually did kinda like the annoying seagull and the walrus song, but the rest just vaguely spooked me out. I remember that I would always literally run away into another room and cover my ears for several minutes whenever it got to the oil spill, because the whale choking to death gave me nightmares. Anyway, thanks for bringing back these "good" memories ! I agree with your commentary.
I loved this film as a kid. I even brought it to my preschool class so we could all watch it XD surprisingly I wasnt scared of it
This is the most accurate depiction of sperm whales I've seen in a movie, except for the fact that they're eating octopi and not giant squid.
I think the "orcas are bad guys" thing is more "orcas are antagonists" thing. A story about sperm whales is going to depict orcas as villains, just as the story of a spider will portray birds as bad guys, or a story about birds will portray cats as bad guys.
I read a novel about sperm whales recently called Sounding. It was pretty good.
I have never seen or heard of this movie but I'm glad Steve covered this movie, it looks so interesting and I love the theme. The twist was great too. I follow this channel not only for dark contents in animated films or shows but I also love that Steve finds some rare films that are not as known or only shown in certain places. I like that he shows the English version where it is censored but also shows the uncensored parts in different versions of the movie released in other parts of the world. It's always so fascinating to me. Thank you Steve!
The walrus song is definitely a big lipped alligator moment.
Another comment mentioned that the old whale was a sort of guardian angel figure and I agree. I feel like he was most likely following Samson from a distance after their first encounter because he recognized Samson's naivete in his search for Moby Dick, and wanted to ensure some degree of safety for him, as the old whale knew that Samson would eventually land in dangerous waters. Hence him showing up seemingly at random when Samson passed out from radiation poisoning. I believe the scene showing that the old whale had suffocated in oil was him trying to get there before Samson in order to save him or warn him of the danger, however he was killed in the process.
This was the first VHS tape we ever got (it came with the VHS recorder that was new at the time). I totally forgot about this movie until now 🤯
11:02 the distorted sounds off the ship are HILARIOUS 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
Me watching this scene: damn, I can't see the threat in this cascading blizzard.
Big rigs sound
Love all the dark reviews you put out man watch em every Sunday morning keep em coming
9:25
The Lighter It Gets
The Darker It Gets
Lol
As a sorta companion piece to this video, I would recommend the movie "War of the Birds" (or King of the Birds, I've seen both titles). It's made by the same director, as Steve pointed out during the end. While it's not AS depressing as Samson and Sally, it still has a lot of dark and intense scenes, especially with the villain. What it does have over this movie though, is that it gets weirdly...mature in some scenes, with drinking and sexual innuendos and bird with huge boobs, for some reason. Overall, I would say though, that it is the better movie since it has a bit more of a streamlined plot.
Alternatively, another danish animated film I would recommend, is Terkel in Trouble. It's a bit more recent, being released in 2004 and was actually the first ever danish animated film. It's very crude and messed up, but weirdly hilarious, a lot like South Park. What's remarkable about it is that, at least in the original danish and some dubbed version, all the characters are voiced by one person, which is impressive. I don't think that's the case in the english dub though. Still I would absolutely recommend it for a review.
yes terkel i knibe is good den er god
The big breasted bird sings a pretty mean song tho. Its a pretty decent movie overall
There is also Strit and Stumme, quite dark, quite underrated
"what the fuck" He says in the most calmest way possible
I haven’t seen this movie in decades. I was almost certain no one else had seen it but me…So glad you covered this one.
As if the movie wasn't dark enough, this movie had to throw in a post-apocalyptic twist.
Well, Steve, if you're interested in more Danish films, I suggest the 1998 film, "Hans Christian Andersen And The Long Shadow" it's...interesting...It's bascially "Andersen: Life Without Love" but with the animation direction of Marjane Satrapi. Then there's "Jungledyret Hugo" which is a lot of fun (at least with the first two films and TV show).
Right so I watched this in school once and completely forgot about 99% of the movie.
The only thing I remember- the thing that stuck with me- was the whale drowning in oil. Of course my mind twisted it to be a lot more drawn out and agonizing with the whale thrashing and begging for its life, but yeah. That scene traumatized me as a kid.
I remember loving this movie as a kid and i rewatched it a few years ago for nostalgia…that was a mistake…
I'm amazed you covered this. I somehow managed to have a VHS copy of this as a kid, but I have never seen it mentioned ANYWHERE else.
I’d love to see you cover 1986’s Transformers The Movie. It has a good amount of darkness necessary to be covered on the channel, and the animation and voice acting is pretty good. While the movie is in the same continuity as the show and you may feel confused about who the characters are, most the film’s main cast were introduced in it (for better or for worse).
You mean Hasbro's excuse to get rid of all the unsellables
@@TupocalypseShakur Your comment may be true but you should *NOT* insult a movie with Weird Al's "Dare to Be Stupid" on the soundtrack.
that movie will always be awesome,
coincidentally i've been on a transformers-binge the last couple of months and have found at least two shows of the franchise i'd say would be more fitting for an older audience, but perhaps not on a level Steve would review it;
Armada, and Prime,
more specifically the japanese version of Armada, since the english version removes a lot of the seriousness of some scenes including one of the characters. the mid-to-late point of that season is absolute gold.
Prime surprised me with the robot-blood, dismemberment, and i think there's even a human's death on-screen (after he's been put into and fused with the corpse of a robot).
it was surprisingly and delightfully gory, granted the only real gore was of robots, such as having their insides pulled out, or an eye removed from it's socket.
I remember watching this as a kid. I have been getting flashbacks of this lately and could not remember the name of it, what a coincidence. I believe I watched the uncensored version with Czech or Slovak dabbing. What a childhood....
I haven’t heard this film when I was child. I remember renting it from a library and watching it. Some death scenes are coming back to me now.
I remember watching this on VHS all the time when I was around 5-ish. I always thought it was a weird fever dream, but I still vividly remembered the scene of the whale suffocating.
Kinda forgot about the movie altogether for a while (again, minus the whale suffocating scene), but remembered almost all of it when I saw the thumb nail.
That twist at the end I didn't understand as a kid, but holy crap, that is *DARK* @.@
Thanks for reviewing this, and giving me a piece of long-forgotten memories ❤️
I had no idea I had seen this movie until this review. I thought the whale eating the octopus looked familiar as well as the weird noodle wings for the seagull but I definitely remembered every moment of that walrus scene and the pod swimming under the tar. They must have been my favorite and scariest parts respectively as a child. I couldn't have named this movie if my life depended on it, though. Thanks for reviewing it and reminding me about a peice of forgotten childhood.
It was the same with Scamper the Penguin except I was always trying to remember that one to bring up to to other people to make sure it existed but everyone thought I was trying to remember the Penguin and the Pebble.
Edit: I also never realised as a child that it was a sunken New York City or even Atlantis. I think I just assumed there were ruins all over the bottom of the ocean for whatever reason.
Another weird film from my childhood that I had forgotten but recently remembered and confirmed it exists is Happily Ever After (1990). Very odd movie. The smoking owl made me think smoking was the most disgusting thing on earth and the shambling, whimpering guy broke my heart. I'd love to see you cover that one. I really love it still.
I love this movie, dark as it is. It's been one of my favorite movies since I saw it as a child. Honestly, its morbid and violent, but it just makes me appreciate nature and its creatures all the more! Thanks for showing this bit of nostalgia!
Fun fact: Killer whales are actually dolphins, they're supposed to be called killers "of" whales.
Hi, I'm a zoologist with a specialty in marine biology. You're right that they're dolphins, they're the largest dolphin on earth! But the name is incorrect. They're just called killer whales because they're predators and people mistook them for whales.
...They DO kill whales, though. Gray whales most prominently. It's pretty brutal.
@@WobblesandBean of course like any dolphin orcas are very intelligent
17:22 - Fun Fact: Sea gulls shit is gross but the amount we saw come out of that one is actually more akin to pelicans.
Pelicans shit like that cartoon gull.
In color, amount and even aim.
Just wanted to mention that because of your channel I found an online rip of Leafie:A Hen into the Wild and I LOVE IT. Thanks for highlighting overseas animation! Too bad so much of this isn't legally available where I live 😔
16:06 LOL I knew that clip was coming 🤣
“Nothing unsuitable for children “ is now slowly becoming me and my friends favourite meme.
Obscure dark anthro cartoons are my favourite genre
I actually remember seeing a trailer for this on a VHS when I was a kid...Oddly for the life of me I don't remember what the actual featured film on that VHS was, but this for whatever reason left a lasting impression, and I never even actually saw the whole thing.
Oh my gosh, I remember watching this as a kid! (From the US here, for some reason our local library had a copy of the English dub on VHS and I watched it several times.) I was beginning to wonder if this was a fever dream. And yeah, it was shockingly dark compared to the stuff we were normally allowed to watch -- I can only wonder how this one slipped by the parents.
10:25 I don’t know why but just seeing cartoon characters blush it’s like asmr to me
Oh man. Seeing that seagul brought up some memories. Jannik Hastrup has another delightful movie called "The war of the birds" that you should totally review at some point. I think the animation and overall quality is way better than this one, but the dark themes stay. The main bad guy "Fagin" gave me some nightmares as a kid.
My grandma had this on VHS and I used to watch it all the time as a child. Never realized how dark it was. Has a very strong message though. 😊
3:33 I'm just saying that you really missed out on saying "I guess you could say that my fate has been SEALed"
You suddenly brought back a memory from my childhood. Someone wanna tell me why I watched this in elementary school with my class???
7:16 fucking hell I wasn't expecting that, that made me laugh hard.
I get a “Land Before Time” vibe, with how realistic and dark it can get, to the goofy cartoony moments … It’s no different than Pieter being the goofy cartoony (and Spike, with Dickie being the Segway to the more ‘realistic’ characters like Littlefoot and Cera), and the old & slow whale moments are a mix between Littlefoot’s mother and that random “Old Skeeter” spike tail thing in the beginning of the movie, when Littlefoot was crying about his mother’s death and his hunger pangs
… I’m also strictly talking about the 1st movie, not the rest that followed lol