Pluk, Naufragé de l'Espace |
France • 1979 • 74m •
Zillionair playboy Terry has built a spaceship so that he can see the galaxy together with his girlfriend Ferma. Along comes a spaced-out alien who needs to find back to his planet. The trio brings along Little Orbit the Astrodog to assist in the search. On their fantastical journey they battle a phantom space-bird, asparagus monsters (with Bronx accents) that want them for lunch, and a race of space-robots on a machine planet.
  • Directed by: Jean Image. • Starring: colspan="3" align="left">Produced by, ...., ...., colspan="4"> . • Music by: Fred Freed. |
Review:
The story's about a young couple and their zany dog, who are asked by a robot from another planet to help him find his way back home. They take off in a flying saucer and run into many a challenge. The dog is completely neurotic, while the robot is coolly rational and has drawers on his chest, which seem to have an infinite amount of space in which to keep all sorts of practical tools (much like Felix The Cat's magic bag of tricks).
I re-watched this decades after my first viewing and found that I was still amused by much of it. Many of the jokes still made me laugh. This said, some of the humor is dated and politically incorrect. For example, there are some aliens who are referred to in the English version of the cartoon as "gringos", in reference to their green color. When the robot uses his translator machine to understand what they're saying in their strange language, they sound like Mexicans speaking English. And the leader of the green aliens is called The Big Enchilada, ha ha... (THAT made me laugh.) Other aliens are referred to as "rednecks", only because of their red color. It's all extremely goofy and nonsensical, but offensive terms like 'gringo' or 'redneck' wouldn't be used in today's cartoons and I doubt aliens would be made to sound like Mexicans. Another detail that caught my eye is that only the boy gets a medal in the end, even though his girlfriend participates in the same adventures. That would be unthinkable these days.
Again, I'm describing the English version. I'm very curious to know what the original script in French is like. I'd imagine in the French version the young couple isn't from Miami nor is there any talk of enchiladas. Maybe the green aliens speak with a German accent? After all, some of them carry spiked helmets like those worn by German soldiers during World War I. In English, the best line is the robot's recurrent "Yeah, man!" I can only wonder what he says in French!
If, like me, you have vague memories of having watched this as a kid and are curious to see what it was all about, you can find the entire film on YouTube. It will feel like traveling through time!
Review by birthdaynoodle from the Internet Movie Database.
Movie Database