American Pop
Some of the gangland scenes are rotoscoped footage from The Public Enemy (1931).,When Tony meets the waitress in Kansas, he asks her a number of questions which are references to songs about the state. He asks her, "Is everything up to date here?" which references Rodgers and Hammerstein's song "Kansas City" from the musical "Oklahoma!" However, that song actually concerns the Kansas City in Missouri, as another song from that show indicates.,Zalmie: Hey, Louie. I just seen the most beautiful thing I ever seen in the whole world.
Louie: Some pre-Prohibition booze, huh?
Zalmie: No. I seen the stripper gettin' dressed.
Louie: A stripper gettin' dressed ain't beautiful unless she's ugly to begin with.,Disclaimer before soundtrack listings: The following songs were depicted as being written by fictional characters. The producer would like to thank the true composers.,In some versions of the film, dialog has been redone in at last two scenes, presumably to make points more clear. For example, in Little Pete's first scene, he is asked what his Dad would say about him hanging backstage with a rock band. In one version, Pete says "Nothing. He's dead." In the other version, he instead says "I never met my Dad. He's some kind of mystery" (which serves as a better setup for information learned later) Also, Tony returns to the band's apartment after his release from the hospital, only to find they have moved out. In both versions, under 'People Are Strange,' we hear him on the phone with a friend, but the phone conversations begin completely differently. In one we never learn what happened to the band, only that they seemed to have moved out and left Tony behind, while in the other we learn that the band has gone on to big things, with a gold album. Both versions' phone calls end the same way, though, with Tony desperately asking his friend for money or drugs.,Edited from Applause (1929),American Pop Overture
Arranged by Lee Holdridge,In Ralph Bakshi's prior films Wizards and The Lord of the Rings, he relied heavily on his rotoscoping technique to support his admittedly substandard animation talent. While that wasn't the best of ideas for those movies, in American Pop proves that Bakshi can use various techniques with amazing effect. He knows things like fire are impossible to animate in a realistic fashion, so he uses real footage intercut with his cartooning. It works on varying levels, but does feel like a cop-out.

Violence has always been one of Bakshi's curious inserts, even in The Lord of the Rings he can't resist the occassional spray of blood. Here his violence feels distant and impersonal, but I liked the contrasting made between the period music and scenes of brutality. Unfortunately, due to his immense level of rotoscoping, personal details of the characters are abandoned. Disney puts more effort into making their characters different than this, but their action is in the exaggerated fashion of Mickey Mouse.

The music is what the movie is about, anyway, and the soundtrack covers almost everything possible. From swing to rock and pop, I loved the selection. I'm just happy they stopped with the early 80s and didn't get into Britney Spears or The Backstreet Boys. Unfortunately, I didn't like how so much time was devoted to Tony (the 3rd generation) compared to everyone else. If more time had been given to everyone else or if Tony's tale of woe had been shortened, the movie could've been better.

For an animated movie, American Pop is incredible, but still falls short in the tactical storytelling department. While other films like Akira, The Lion King, and even An American Tail have better artistry and family appeal, American Pop proves that animation can be mature in theme even in its simplicity.

Overall, worthwhile for music afficionados. I think of it as a mixture of "The Godfather", "Born on the Fourth of July", and "Forrest Gump". Casual animation fans will probably be turned off by the rotoscoping and lack of imagination. This is Bakshi's best work. 3 out of 5 stars.,