Rarg (1988) User Reviews

Dream On.

[morrison-dylan-fan · 8/10 · 24 November 2018]

With Christmas coming up,I started looking for items I could list on eBay. Despite always seeing this film around with The Snowman on video when I was growing up,I somehow never got round to viewing the film. Opening an old box of videos to try and sell online, I was surprised to find a tape of the movie, which led to me finally visiting Rarg.

View on the film:

Keeping the classy narration and voice-over by Nigel Hawthorne and Michael Gough to giving a brief sketch of the Rarg world, writer/director Tony Collingwood crafts magical dreamscape animation, with the detailed, rough edges of the hand-drawn animation Rarg a fading, dreamy atmosphere. Drawing in the same lines as Collingwood, composer Philip Appleby knits an enchanting score giving a whimsical gust to the flight of fantasy twist ending, where everyone starts to dream of saving Rarg.

Life Is but a Dream...

[Rectangular_businessman · 7/10 · 6 November 2023]

This is perhaps the most whimsical apocalyptic story I have seen, depicting the tale of a fantasy dream world on the verge of disappearing before the person dreaming about it wakes up.

Rather than taking an existential route, the short decides to keep its light-hearted tone, showing instead the possibility of dreams and reality merging: The dreamer is taken inside his dream world, leading to an unexpected but fun conclusion.

A pretty charming short, very clever and imaginative, even if its animation isn't particularly incredible from a technical standpoint.

Definately worth-watching.

7/10.

Superior Animated Flight Of Fancy

[Ron Oliver · 10/10 · 12 April 2001]

All is peaceful in the lovely land of RARG, that is, until an old professor & a tiny baby make an alarming discovery about the nature of dreams...

Tony Collingwood's thought provoking tale is given a delightful animated production in this little British film. Viewers of all ages should find something here to beguile them.

Sir Nigel Hawthorne narrates & Michael Gough gives voice to the Professor. Philip Appleby's lilting music is performed by The London Symphony Orchestra, with an antique assist from The Museum of Mechanical Music in Chichester, England. The introduction by James Earl Jones, as seen in the PBS presentation, is utterly charming.

a great little film with some extremely trippy moments

[Weeble the Womble · 10/10 · 24 September 2000]

This is one of those films that is great for kids to watch but would also appeal to that group of adults who like to watch the trippy bits in Dangermouse and the Magic Roundabout. It is extremely well animated and voiced. The plot revolves about the kingdom of Rarg which the chief scientists discover that Rarg is in fact someone's dream and that soon the person dreaming will wake up. So they try their best to stop him waking up. Its one of my favourite animated features (puts Disney to shame - but then what doesn't) worth 10 *s any day of the week.

Bizarre and strange, but not bad

[Horst_In_Translation · 6/10 · 22 July 2016]

"Rarg" is a BAFTA-nominated 23.5-minute short film from 1988, so this one is almost 30 years old. With the aforementioned honor, it is of course a British production and the writer and director is Tony Collingwood. This is a little animated movie and it is one of the rare mixes of animation and science-fiction. I am certainly not a great science fiction fan, but I still ended up liking this one. Yes there were moments in the story that I did not care about, but the way they included dreams here was fine and the overall premise of the planet Rarg was okay too. I think this film looks accurate in terms of when it was made. The animation is retro, but you can see that it is not from the 1950s or so. The story is okay, but could have been better. The voice actors, actually a couple big names, were possibly the best aspect about the film. People who love Sci-fi and animation may have a great time watching this. It's a pretty unique film for the 1980s. I recommend it.

poetry at 24 frames/sec

[kkrabat · 10/10 · 1 June 2002]

a beautiful and beautifully animated story of wanting to stay alive, even if one is only a dream in the mind of a dreamer in another universe. Reminds me of the old fantasy of our universe being just one atom in the left finger nail of a giant black woman stirring a pot in a forest somewhere - does it matter if her nail breaks to fall and stir in the pot - will we ever ever know the difference?

What a gem

[stuart-54 · 10/10 · 12 November 2002]

I caught this animation a few times on television (channel 4, UK) many years back, and it tickled me pink (hehe) every time. A beautiful little premise, a civilisation to be admired and a great, bizarre, but entirely logical twist in the tail.

Imaginative tale brought to life with terrific artwork

[pacificboy · 10/10 · 6 May 2008]

What a fun animated short. Others here have related the synopsis, so I'll simply weigh in on the inspired settings and character design. Everything in Rarg, from the streets to the palace, is lovingly detailed. It's a kind of hyper-reality that demonstrates perfectly the craft of animation design. The characters, likewise, are caricatures with distinct personalities. While the plot is only revealed bit by bit, the viewer understands each character's role. This is no small feat in a film that features an infant as one of the city's most advanced minds.

Oh, and I'd be remiss if I left out the charming moment when the two Rargians (?) sent to our world muffle the alarm clock. I've seen Rarg dozens of times, and it never fails to tickle me.