Animalympics is a 1980 animated film. Part comedy and part drama, it is an anthropomorphic or furry movie that spoofs the Summer and Winter Olympic Games. Although it was made to coincide with the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, the massive US-led boycott of the 1980 Games adversely affected the movie's popularity.
Animalympics was originally conceived as two short cartoons, separated by season, before being released as a feature-length movie.
Plot summary
The movie is a series of vignettes presented as the broadcast of the first animal Olympic Games through the ZOO television network. Because of the combination of the two short cartoons, the Games combine both summer and winter Olympic events. Many of the characters presented, both ZOO crewmembers and Olympic participants, are celebrity caricatures.
Although many of the segments could easily stand alone, there are a number of recurring events and important characters. The largest such story is the coverage of the marathon, where competitors René Fromage (a French goat) and Kit Mambo (an African lioness) are the favorites to win. Both determined to win — Fromage having devoted his entire life to the marathon, Mambo determined to make a name for herself — they find themselves surprised when their minds wander to thoughts of mutual admiration and then to love. Another important story is that of Kurt Wuffner, German dachshund and skiier, and his disappearance to Dogra-la (see Shangri-la) during a mountain climbing expedition shortly after the slalom event.
A fan of the movie has started the Animalympics Album Project (see link below), an attempt to remaster and re-release the movie's soundtrack (composed by Graham Gouldman, bassist of 10cc) on compact disc.
External links
Last updated: 07-10-2005 20:33:13
