I was barely six years old when my mother found an old VHS copy of what seemed to be a cute little kid's cartoon in the local library in our neighborhood. 'Samson & Sally' certainly does have a cover that shows it to be a light-hearted cartoon; a pink sky, a shallow sea, cartoony walruses with musical instruments, a smiling pink octopus... It goes on. It seems almost like cotton candy material.
The truth is very different. Watching 'Samson & Sally' is more like being plunged into a dark, freezing ocean during a shipwreck at night than being tipped off a pool floatie at the beach. It is a graphic, dark commentary about the cruelties of the whaling industry, about burning oil-slicks and underwater cities, about shipwrecks and killer whales, about death and life. It is deep, thoughtful, and surreal. So surreal, in fact, that it is almost like a Stanley Kubrick film, but animated, and from the perspective of marine life.
'Samson & Sally' is the story of two whales, whose names are obviously those in the title! Samson is a white whale who has no real friends, boasts about himself, and doesn't eat octopuses. I can't blame him for any of these, especially the octopus issue, since he is young. As I've mentioned earlier, the VHS cover features a smiling pink octopus. In the film, though, octopuses are portrayed as toothy, nasty buggers with some rather unfavorable attributes, such as a tendency to grab onto other unfortunate creatures, which happens twice to poor Samson. From the beginning of the film, he is also teased by a seagull, one of the film's major protagonists and it's major source source of humor (which succeeds.) Samson's mother tells him stories of Moby Dick, the great white whale who had, long ago, protected whales from death at the hands of mankind. Apparently, according to legend, Moby Dick will come back once again to protect whales, and Samson takes this aspect of the story to heart.
Sally is a girl whale whose mother was killed and whose pod was ravaged by 'Steel Beasts', which is what whales call whaling vessels, and ships in general. She meets Samson and his mother as she is hiding near the wreck of a 'Steel Beast'. She is adopted by Samson's pod, and soon, the two are the best of friends. Unfortunately, the two find out rather painfully that there is no such thing as safety in their world. They are attacked by a pair of orcas and forced to hide within the shipwreck where they had met. The attack, however, is repulsed by Samson's mother, who smashes the orcas with a blow of her tail (the crumpled paper noise that is made when the orcas are smashed still makes my stomach swim after all these years.) Later on, they find themselves within the sights of a 'Steel Beast's' harpoon gun. The Seagull saves their lives when he decides to distract the ship's officer at the harpoon gun in a truly hilarious scene. Unfortunately, this victory is soon overshadowed by the tragic death of one of Samson's pod-mates, who suffocates and drowns in an oil slick the pod is later forced to traverse when the 'Steel Beast' bears down on them. This tragedy strengthens Samson's wish that Moby Dick would come back to help them. Soon after, Samson & Sally are truly in love, and the scenes of romance are truly heartfelt. But they face yet another tragedy when Samson's mother sacrifices her life to save him from a horrific death at the hands of the whalers. Her loss wrecks Samson, who finally decides to go on a quest to find Moby Dick...
I'm not going to describe anything else. The final sequence of the film should be a surprise to those who see it.
I would like to tell you that this film does have a BLAM (Big Lipped Alligator Moment, that is, a random musical number that comes out of nowhere,) just about 20 minutes on in the film, that features two walruses who sing in scat-gibberish and dance around amidst the sunken wrecks of several vessels, including the Titanic. But it's very short, thankfully, and actually very funny.
For an animated feature made in the mid-1980s, 'Samson & Sally' is very modern indeed, although the animation might be considered primitive by today's standards. The soundtrack, though, is perhaps the greatest in film history. Although the main theme is very 80's, the rest is almost indescribably beautiful, perfectly fitted with the film's dark theme. One of the greatest pieces, perhaps, is the romantic theme that plays twice in the film. The rest is just as beautiful, and the film's moments of suspense are perfectly scored with some edgy, rough, and very synthesized music that fits in well with the decade.
The voice acting the the American/English dub released by Just For Kids Entertainment in 1991 and 1995 is alright, but there are some odd moments. For the first 7 minutes of the film, for instance, Samson's mother has a male voice. The original Danish version from 1984 is great, but the Swedish dub, released on the same day as the Danish, ranks at the top. The film was directed by Jannik Hastrup, a very popular director of European animated movies, such as the hugely successful 'Benny's Bakadar' ('Benny's Bathtub') in 1971, 'Subway to Paradise' in 1987, and 'War of the Birds' 1990. But his most popular film will always be 'Samson & Sally'.
I'm almost 16 now, and the film has lost none of it's wonder and power. If I were to be stuck on a deserted island out in the middle of nowhere and allowed to choose only one film to watch, my choice would always be 'Samson & Sally'.
The truth is very different. Watching 'Samson & Sally' is more like being plunged into a dark, freezing ocean during a shipwreck at night than being tipped off a pool floatie at the beach. It is a graphic, dark commentary about the cruelties of the whaling industry, about burning oil-slicks and underwater cities, about shipwrecks and killer whales, about death and life. It is deep, thoughtful, and surreal. So surreal, in fact, that it is almost like a Stanley Kubrick film, but animated, and from the perspective of marine life.
'Samson & Sally' is the story of two whales, whose names are obviously those in the title! Samson is a white whale who has no real friends, boasts about himself, and doesn't eat octopuses. I can't blame him for any of these, especially the octopus issue, since he is young. As I've mentioned earlier, the VHS cover features a smiling pink octopus. In the film, though, octopuses are portrayed as toothy, nasty buggers with some rather unfavorable attributes, such as a tendency to grab onto other unfortunate creatures, which happens twice to poor Samson. From the beginning of the film, he is also teased by a seagull, one of the film's major protagonists and it's major source source of humor (which succeeds.) Samson's mother tells him stories of Moby Dick, the great white whale who had, long ago, protected whales from death at the hands of mankind. Apparently, according to legend, Moby Dick will come back once again to protect whales, and Samson takes this aspect of the story to heart.
Sally is a girl whale whose mother was killed and whose pod was ravaged by 'Steel Beasts', which is what whales call whaling vessels, and ships in general. She meets Samson and his mother as she is hiding near the wreck of a 'Steel Beast'. She is adopted by Samson's pod, and soon, the two are the best of friends. Unfortunately, the two find out rather painfully that there is no such thing as safety in their world. They are attacked by a pair of orcas and forced to hide within the shipwreck where they had met. The attack, however, is repulsed by Samson's mother, who smashes the orcas with a blow of her tail (the crumpled paper noise that is made when the orcas are smashed still makes my stomach swim after all these years.) Later on, they find themselves within the sights of a 'Steel Beast's' harpoon gun. The Seagull saves their lives when he decides to distract the ship's officer at the harpoon gun in a truly hilarious scene. Unfortunately, this victory is soon overshadowed by the tragic death of one of Samson's pod-mates, who suffocates and drowns in an oil slick the pod is later forced to traverse when the 'Steel Beast' bears down on them. This tragedy strengthens Samson's wish that Moby Dick would come back to help them. Soon after, Samson & Sally are truly in love, and the scenes of romance are truly heartfelt. But they face yet another tragedy when Samson's mother sacrifices her life to save him from a horrific death at the hands of the whalers. Her loss wrecks Samson, who finally decides to go on a quest to find Moby Dick...
I'm not going to describe anything else. The final sequence of the film should be a surprise to those who see it.
I would like to tell you that this film does have a BLAM (Big Lipped Alligator Moment, that is, a random musical number that comes out of nowhere,) just about 20 minutes on in the film, that features two walruses who sing in scat-gibberish and dance around amidst the sunken wrecks of several vessels, including the Titanic. But it's very short, thankfully, and actually very funny.
For an animated feature made in the mid-1980s, 'Samson & Sally' is very modern indeed, although the animation might be considered primitive by today's standards. The soundtrack, though, is perhaps the greatest in film history. Although the main theme is very 80's, the rest is almost indescribably beautiful, perfectly fitted with the film's dark theme. One of the greatest pieces, perhaps, is the romantic theme that plays twice in the film. The rest is just as beautiful, and the film's moments of suspense are perfectly scored with some edgy, rough, and very synthesized music that fits in well with the decade.
The voice acting the the American/English dub released by Just For Kids Entertainment in 1991 and 1995 is alright, but there are some odd moments. For the first 7 minutes of the film, for instance, Samson's mother has a male voice. The original Danish version from 1984 is great, but the Swedish dub, released on the same day as the Danish, ranks at the top. The film was directed by Jannik Hastrup, a very popular director of European animated movies, such as the hugely successful 'Benny's Bakadar' ('Benny's Bathtub') in 1971, 'Subway to Paradise' in 1987, and 'War of the Birds' 1990. But his most popular film will always be 'Samson & Sally'.
I'm almost 16 now, and the film has lost none of it's wonder and power. If I were to be stuck on a deserted island out in the middle of nowhere and allowed to choose only one film to watch, my choice would always be 'Samson & Sally'.