Today’s quick review: Rock & Rule. Mok (Don Francks), a rocker with mystical powers, needs only one more thing to summon a demon from another dimension: a singer with a perfect voice. He finds what he’s looking for in Angel (Susan Roman), an aspiring rock star, and forces her to go along with his plan. But Mok gets more than he bargained for when Angel’s bandmates Omar (Paul Le Mat), Dizzy (Dan Hennessey), and Stretch (Greg Duffell) try to save her.
Rock & Rule is a rock-and-roll-themed animated fantasy movie set in a dystopian future. The movie pits an upstart band against a rock legend who has set his sights on unlilmited power. Rock & Rule features a lavish and original world where music takes center stage, and its story is peppered with songs from Cheap Trick, Debbie Harry, and Lou Reed. But in spite of a promising setup, the film’s idiosyncrasies make it something of a niche pick.
Rock & Rule has the makings of a great rock musical, but some of its choices hold its back. The story is a bare-bones struggle between good and evil, with a minimum of plot and no real reward for investing in the characters. The art style is loose and exaggerated in a way that some viewers will find unappealing. The music works well enough, but it never drives the movie the way it is meant to, and there are no standout hits to act as payoff.
How much you get out of Rock & Rule will depend heavily on taste. For the right viewer, the setting, the art style, and the music will make it a unique experience that blends bread-and-butter fantasy with a rock-centric aesthetic. But most viewers will find that it’s missing something, whether in terms of its visuals, its soundtrack, or its story. Rock & Rule has true potential, but much of it goes untapped.
For an animated fantasy movie done in an even more exaggerated style, try Wizards. For an animated, album-length music video with a similar plot, check out Interstella 5555. For live-action science fiction with a similar setting, try Escape from New York. For a lavishly animated sci-fi movie with a bizarre world and a heavy emphasis on its soundtrack, check out Redline. For a rock-and-roll parody, check out This is Spinal Tap.
6.6 out of 10 on IMDB. I give it a 6.0 to 6.5 for a creative vision with mixed execution.