Fantastic!

Disturbing yet enthralling

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

This film practically screams 1970s from start to finish, as it has very, very loud and brassy artwork and a style that seems strongly inspired by pop art. It was very trendy for 1974, but today it might just make your eyes bleed! I remember the 70s and this film brought back a lot of unpleasant fashion memories, but that it neither here nor there.The film features Father (Dizzy Gillespie) and Mother (Maureen Stapleton). They are supposed to be some sort of gods and they watch and make comments on mankind. At first, people are nice and they share. However, eventually human nature takes over and people begin hoarding and putting up walls. This leads to wars and pollution and the two gods debate whether to intervene or just let the humans kill each other off once and for all. Then, towards the end, the people start reaching out to each other and perhaps there is some hope after all.The message is nice but came off to me as a bit preachy and heavy-handed. However, idealism isn't necessarily bad and my basic distrust of mankind probably comes, in part, for my work over the years. Still, I can't help but think that it's all just a bit too optimistic for my tastes. Perhaps the Institute for World Order (an ominous sounding organization that funded this, which has sense changed its name to the less threatening World Policy Institute) is right--only time will tell.My biggest complaint about the film is the garish artwork. The quality, like most 70s animation, is poor--with low frame-counts and simplistic drawings. Also the backgrounds and some of the animation looks like it was done with a rainbow assortment of Flair pens/markers--not a particularly pleasing effect.

'Voyage into Next (1974)' is a quaint little anti-war statement, the sort of laid-back, hippie-inspired short film that one would expect the 1970s to have produced. But it was also directed by John and Faith Hubley, a husband-and-wife animating team whose work is more subtle and understated than most. Many of the pair's films were produced by animating unrehearsed conversations (usually) between two people, and I had previously enjoyed their 'Windy Day (1968),' which excellently utilised this free-wheeling technique. 'Voyage into Next' was obviously more tightly-scripted, and that the film was to be an anti-war cartoon restricted the voice actors (namely Maureen Stapleton and Dizzy Gillespie) in which conversational paths they could take. Stapleton and Gillespie play Mother Earth and Father Time, respectively, as they observe the destructive conflicts waged between the human nations (represented here as floating boxes) and ponder why our species so unthinkably forgot the virtues of sharing that allowed our ancestors to progress beyond the Stone Age.There's nothing particularly impressive about the Hubleys' style of animation – minimalist line-drawn human figures highlighted with soft shades of colour – but their style is distinctive, later influencing short films such as the Oscar-winning 'Leisure (1976).' The two well-known voice actors are perfectly chosen (Dizzy Gillespie has one of the coolest-sounding voices ever), and the jazz musician's music is employed successfully to create the film's lighthearted mood, despite the grimness of the subject matter. Mother Earth and Father Time oversee their lilliputian creations, hidden amid mini puffs of artillery smoke, and contemplate their inability to alter human history. The future, it seems, is not in the hands of the gods, but in our own. Of course we have the ability to achieve peace and mutual understanding once more… but will we attain it in time? 'Voyage into Next' was nominated for an Academy Award in 1975, but lost out to the inferior claymation 'Closed Mondays (1974).'

John and Faith Hubley were among the more successful independent animation studios both artistically and commercially. While some of their work is less successful, it's all worth watch and invariably at least interesting. This short, nominated for an Academy Award (which, were it not for the absolutely brilliant short Closed Mondays, I suspect it would have won in a walk) this is an incredible piece of work. The selection of Maureen Stapledon and Dizzy Gillespie to do the voices was one of a myriad of touches large and small that make this an excellent animated short. Attention to detail, music, backgrouds-it's all first-rate. Most wholeheartedly recommended.