--- title: "Yellow Submarine: the reviews" canonical: "https://film.one/film/yellow-submarine/reviews" title_page: "https://film.one/film/yellow-submarine" critics_score: 75 critics_reviews: 14 licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Yellow Submarine (1968): what the critics said Critics' score 75 from 14 reviews: 12 positive, 2 mixed, 0 negative. Most critics like Yellow Submarine, and mostly for the look of the thing. Heinz Edelmann’s design draws the warmest notices, with reviewers listing the pop-art imagery, the shifting styles and the grotesque, matter-of-fact creatures as the film’s real achievement. The songs are the other constant. The set-pieces built around them are where the film comes alive; the Eleanor Rigby sequence is named more than once as the standout. Several reviewers think it has aged better than the Beatles’ live-action films. The reservations gather around the story, which is variously called perfunctory, disposable and flabby, with dull patches whenever the music stops. The spread is narrow, most reviews sitting between good and very good, and only Paste dissents, finding nostalgia rather than brilliance and some of the animation creepy. The Guardian is warm but declines to rank it among the band’s best, and The Times warns that children may be bored. ## RogerEbert.com — Roger Ebert Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 2 December 1968. The film is the most original and inventive feature-length animated cartoon in years, sailing in a world of pure fantasy with strange creatures and designs that delight the eye. It exists on two levels, beautifully simple and childlike on one and erudite and deep on another, with fanciful animation illustrating the Beatles songs. [Read the review](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/yellow-submarine-1968) ## Slant Magazine — Joseph Jon Lanthier Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 10 July 2012. Yellow Submarine is an extended pop-art commercial for the Beatles' records and the most worthwhile object to emerge from their shadow, with gloriously lysergic excess and a cheerful naïveté encapsulated in its message that music is better than violence. The critic singles out the phenomenal high-def restoration for praise. [Read the review](https://www.slantmagazine.com/dvd/yellow-submarine/) ## Empire — Caroline Westbrook Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 1 January 2014. The critic finds the animation dazzling and the film a charming, imaginative pop art example that highlights the Beatles' fun with their craft, despite a perfunctory plot. They single out the wildly imaginative imagery for praise. [Read the review](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/yellow-submarine-review/) ## Time Out — Dave Calhoun Rating 4/5. 4 July 2018. The critic finds the film trippy and tune-filled in its re-release, praising its hallucinogenic set-pieces and the way the Beatles songs soar amid the psychedelic fantasy, though noting it is not the best of the band's films. [Read the review](https://www.timeout.com/movies/yellow-submarine) ## Vulture Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 5 July 2018. The 50th-anniversary restoration highlights the film's idealistic resistance to the status quo through pacifism, positivity, and the power of music in a children's-film register. The critic singles out the counterculture optimism exemplified by 'All You Need Is Love' as a potent but now-cherished utopian mantra. [Read the review](https://www.vulture.com/2018/07/revisiting-the-beatles-cartoon-lsd-utopia-yellow-submarine.html) ## The AV Club — Keith Phipps Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 29 March 2002. The film holds up well as a preservation of the Beatles' public image as clever, innocent lads who save the world through music and love. The critic praises the imaginative animation, musical sequences, and the appealing naïve message despite some dull patches in the script. [Read the review](https://www.avclub.com/yellow-submarine-1798195453) ## The New Yorker — Pauline Kael Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 23 November 1968. Yellow Submarine travels from the nursery to the boutique with charm and ease, lighthearted and unpretentious despite its artistic effects, and the story seems as disposable as the banter and images. The movie is charming and has done what hasn’t been done before in animation on this scale, though it is derivative and ultimately nostalgic for the happy anarchism of love. [Read the review](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1968/11/30/metamorphosis-of-the-beatles) ## The New York Times — Renata Adler Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 14 November 1968. The Beatles' first feature-length cartoon is designed for the most part beautifully by Heinz Edelmann in styles ranging through various artists and mainly the spirit of the Sunday comic strip. It features the songs of the Beatles and emerges as a pepper cartoon. [Read the review](https://www.nytimes.com/1968/11/14/archives/screen-yellow-submarine-emerges-songs-of-the-beatles-pepper-cartoon.html) ## The Times — Kevin Maher Rating ★★★★☆. 6 July 2018. This animated freakout strings a loose mock-heroic narrative around Beatles hits and trippy visuals from 200 animators. Arthouse fans and nostalgia lovers should be thrilled by the Pop Art style, though kids will be bored. [Read the review](https://www.thetimes.com/culture/music/article/film-review-yellow-submarine-1968-0b8shs833) ## Variety — Variety Staff Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 31 December 1967. This is a full-length animated cartoon in which the prime factor is the appearance of the Beatles in caricature form, with all the ingredients of a novel entertainment including a fantastic voyage, pop music, and puns. Unlike Disney the film makes no concession to sentiment, with characters that are matter-of-fact, grotesque and anti-heroic. [Read the review](https://variety.com/1967/film/reviews/yellow-submarine-1200421447/) ## The Guardian — Peter Bradshaw Fi1m's normalised score 65/100 (inferred from the text). 4 July 2018. The 2018 re-release of the 1968 Beatles animation has real charm and archival interest in its frame-by-frame restoration, but the critic finds it not in the top rank of Beatles achievements due to flabby whimsy and treading water between songs. The standout is the powerful Eleanor Rigby sequence with its surreal Liverpool imagery. [Read the review](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/jul/04/yellow-submarine-review-the-beatles-animation-rereleased) ## Consequence Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 12 November 2018. The critic celebrates the film's vibrant, colorful animation and imaginative visuals as its greatest strength, calling it a parade of color and a joyful reminder of animation's potential, despite a slim story. [Read the review](https://consequence.net/2018/11/classic-film-review-yellow-submarine/) ## Eye for Film — Jennie Kermode Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 5 July 2018. The critic praises the film as a landmark of psychedelia and animation that has stood the test of time better than the Beatles' live-action films, highlighting its coherent (if nonsensical) story, diverse animation styles, and effective integration of the songs. She singles out the imaginative imagery, bizarre creatures, and the fun, accessible appeal for all ages as key strengths. [Read the review](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/yellow-submarine-1968-film-review-by-jennie-kermode) ## Paste — Norm Schrager Rating 7.0. 7 June 2012. The critic finds the restored film evokes nostalgia more than brilliance, with the animation entertaining but sometimes creepy. The timeless Beatles songs lift the film, especially when synced with visuals like in “Eleanor Rigby” and “When I’m 64”. [Read the review](https://www.pastemagazine.com/movies/yellow-submarine) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Our review: https://film.one/film/yellow-submarine.md