“Rock & Rule” is a wonky, surreal, and entertaining animated musical that feels like Ralph Bakshi, Don Bluth, and “Heavy Metal” magazine were combined in to such a frantic cult gem. The 1983 movie has gone through years of being an underground classic, and has finally been embraced for such an ahead of its time science fiction tale. The animation for “Rock & Rule” is completely out of the box, resembling rotoscoping in many aspects, and opting for character models you don’t often find anywhere else. “Rock & Rule” is a science fiction, punk rock, steam punk tale set many years in the future after world war III wiped man off the face of the Earth. The only surviving species are cats, dogs, and rats. They have evolved in to anthropomorphic mutants, all capable of thought and speech.
This accounts for why all of the characters have their own muzzles and long snouts, so feel free to get an icky sensation when a sexy buxom groupie shows up looking like a Disney character. Set in a world where music rules all, “Rock & Rule” garners a surprisingly simple, but very entertaining premise, where our heroes are slimy bastards, fighting a slimy bastard with every intention of invoking a demon. Omar and his friends are in a band for a local club, and his girlfriend Angel wants the chance to sing some of her own songs. Omar is, of course, hesitant to let her sing, but evil magician Mok hears her sing and realizes she has the golden voice.
Failing to invoke the demon with his own voice, he intends on using Angel to help bring damnation to the world. After tricking Omar, Angel, and their friends Dizzy and Stretch in to his home, he tricks the guys in to taking drugs, and convinces Angel he wants to make her a star. Staging a fake concert, he actually intends to use her voice to summon a horrific demon from a portal to help rule the world. But when Angel catches on, she’s captured, and now Omar is anxious to rescue her. “Rock & Rule” has a lot in its corner that makes it an animated gem worthy of celebrating. The animation is often smooth and beautiful, the character models are so unique, and the fact that most of the film had various animators contributes to a perfect imperfection.
The animation is almost always uneven and filled with some characters that never really look similar to one another, which only adds to the inherent charm of the whole shebang. The music is also quite incredible, as director Todd A. Smith brings on rock icons like Lou Reed, Debbie Harry, and Robin Zander to perform some of the film’s catchy tracks, and Debbie Harry is able to really enchant as Angel, the inadvertent heroine whose voice serves as a lure for a horrible beast. “Rock & Rule” is an oddity of an adult animated film, but it’s one that every self respecting animation fan should watch at least once.