Automania 2000

1964
6.6| 0h9m| NA| en| More Info
Released: 12 June 1964 Released
Producted By: Halas and Batchelor Cartoon Films
Country: United Kingdom
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Info

An animated, dark satire of America's automobile-obsessed, consumerist culture. An anonymous, brilliant scientist toils tirelessly in his ivory tower satisfying the public's ever-increasing demands for novelty and status consciousness, with predictable environmental consequences.

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Cast

Ed Bishop

Director

John Halas

Production Companies

Halas and Batchelor Cartoon Films

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Automania 2000 Audience Reviews

Scanialara You won't be disappointed!
Baseshment I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.
AnhartLinkin This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.
Humaira Grant It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.
MARIO GAUCI I am mainly familiar with the animation work of British husband-and-wife team John Halas and Joy Batchelor via their wonderful cartoon adaptation of George Orwell's political allegory ANIMAL FARM (1955); though this one-reeler got a favourable assessment in "Leslie Halliwell's Film Guide" and was nominated for an Oscar, I never had the opportunity to catch it until I decided to check its availability via "You Tube" on a whim! I still did not expect it to be this surreal, or so thoroughly effective – to say nothing of prophetic – as a satire on society's obsession with automobiles, something which I thankfully am not bothered with myself...as I do not even own a car, despite having acquired a driving licence years ago (and which is why I can never understand some people's adulation for anything equipped with an engine)! Anyway, Science is content here to supply to the public demand for larger (the one point it did not get right, since things are actually becoming increasingly microscopic in size) and ever more sophisticated models (eventually being also able to reproduce themselves!). The result of this sees the whole planet engulfed by motor vehicles, so much so that their owners (and immediate families) are forced to take up residence inside them! The visualization of a massive pile-up of machines and helicopters flying above to provide the necessary sustenance and medical attention to the trapped occupants is delightful...but the solitary manufacturer himself, previously safe up in his proverbial ivory tower, is ultimately overwhelmed by his own creations. The stylish film is colourful and great fun – and, at this stage, makes me wonder what other gems of its ilk (or, for that matter, Short Subjects in general) may have been eluding me all this time...
ccthemovieman-1 Sometimes its interesting to see how people back a generation or two fantasized how crazy the world might get by the year 2000. Hey, I'm old enough myself to remember that the year "2000" sounded so far in the future that you couldn't imagine it. How time flies.What's even goofier are the loons who would look at this cartoon in 2008 and think, "Wow, man, that is, like, such a profound statement on materialism and such." Puh-leeze. This cartoon, although fun to watch, was absurd when it was made and is even more so today. In today's world, we are building smaller and more efficient cars and other objects. You'll always have greed and materialistic people; that's just part of our sinful makeup. I do appreciate this animated writers for pointing that out, though, and I hope they keep poking fun at those who would accumulate more and more and more. Kudos to the several writers of this "cartoon" for the satire. By the way, the writers tell us quickly that the "soon, the whole world" is accumulating these gigantic cars. If you read the plot summary, it inaccurately and biasedly blames America for this. Obviously, it's some flaming Liberal with this typical prejudice. That's not what is said in this animated short.This satire on scientists and progress gives us an absurd fantasy about how cars dominate people's lives by 2000. One has to remember how big cars became in the late '50s and then the '60s, with the huge tail fins, etc.That's one of the premises here in this exaggerated goofy look into the future. In what starts out as just one family with one huge car, escalates into 40-foot cars, automobiles then overcrowding the streets to the point they ARE the street, piled one on top of the other to the point where people live in their cars. Helicopters have to then administer food, drink, medical supplies, etc., to all those car-dwellers down below. Hey, I told you it was silly....but it's fun, and it does have a point to be made.I liked the artwork in here; very '60s-ish. This cartoon was done by the British husband-and-wife team of John Halas and Joy Batchelor. Goofy as it was with the story, it was still fun to watch.
MartinHafer This little film is supposed to be set in the year 2000 and is all about the car. Apparently, it impressed the folks at the Oscar committee because it was nominated for an award in the category Best Cartoon Short.While I do understand that the early 1960s were not a very good time period for quality cartoons due to reduced frame rates and simplistic animation in order to save money, this film is lame even by the standards of the day. The biggest problem is that the film is neither funny nor interesting nor particularly well made. It's a lot like a dull lecture--a lecture I could have done without.
Phil Clark Stylish and surreal early 1960s British cartoon, produced by Halas and Batchelor, depicting the unstoppable rise of the motor car. Synopsis: Once there was a time when car owners actually drove their motors from A to B - on roads! Can you believe that? And it was even a pleasant experience! Now, though, in the year 2000, since the roads are so crowded, people cannot move anyplace so they live in their cars full time. Mother does the knitting; Father watches TV; the kiddies are tucked up in bed, all inside the family car. Cars are so plentiful that they are piled up on top of each other, reaching high into the sky. Eventually the ultimate vehicle is produced: a car that can reproduce itself, and that can eat other cars - not to mention the scientists who created it. Shame about the gridlock though.With drawings very much in the style of the time (pointy heads; distorted perspective; bright angular backgrounds - remember those early Pink Panther cartoons?) this is an excellent period cartoon, and deservedly a multiple award-winner. Watch out for it at animation festivals.