What the HELL is Rock & Rule? (A Box Office FAILURE) 

*VIDEO INFORMATION UPDATE* I made some mistakes while researching this video and confused some information. A person who actually worked on a restoration edit for Rock & Rule mentioned a few things about the film and what I got wrong. Sincerely, I apologize for the mistakes. I value accurate information above all else in my videos but some things fell through the cracks here. Moving forward, I'll make sure to be more thorough with my research and that the information I have is 100% accurate an also letting you all know when information is my personal opinion or a theory and not a proven fact. That being said, here are a few primary things I got wrong. By the way, I'm copy/pasting the following info from the corrected comment: -The longer 1 hour 21 minute version is the Original Version, Greg Salata playing the more cocky, arrogant Omar, Zip surviving and lacking the extended explanation of the world at the start (no mutated dogs/cats/mice, etc.) -The version posted on RU-vid is the altered MGM US Cut, it was heavily reworked and Omar was redubbed/rewritten to be more ''sympathetic'', with Zip dying at the end (which was their intention judging by the workprint, which I used to restore the film's final act) -The version on RU-vid is also not ''the first time'' it's been on the platform, Clive A. Smith's personal account once had an upload of the film which was much better quality than the one which is a VHS rip of the US Cut from back in the day, and before that my own uploads of my restorations which amassed 70k and 200k before they got pulled If you'd like to watch the restored version of the movie from this commentator, go hit up their channel: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-O37op2fVAPI.html Once more, I apologize for any mistakes on my end. I never had the intention of putting out wrong info. I honestly thought what I found was the truth but mistakes were made. I'll make sure it doesn't happen again in future videos and that I start to source my videos in the description

“Oh you’ve seen Rock n Rule? Who’s your favorite character?” “Mok’s lips.”

So, this movie failed not because audiences got a fair look at it and decided it was trash, it failed because a studio deliberately sabotaged it. Damn.

Dude, Mok is what I imagine Jeffree Star is gonna look like in 20 years.

Adult animations from pre-1990 are so..... Stylized, but so fluid and well down. I really wish that adult animations would come back. I imagine that theres a large market for them now, but so many people don't pay attention to the plot of what theyre seeing before they take their kids to the theater.

Nelvana's first animated movie: Rock and Rule Nelvana's second animated movie: The Care Bears Movie *Press F to pay respects*

As the Nelvana animator of Cindy, Mylar the club owner, and Officer Quadhole, I’m very glad you enjoyed my animation on Rock & Rule.

i keep hearing nirvana instead of nelvana, and i was like "when tf did kurt animate movies..??"

I can see your point about Omar, but as someone who hangs out with a lot of musicians (I do a lot of band photography), he really rings true as having "frontman syndrome". So does the dynamic with Angel and the other bandmates. It really feels like something written by musicians for musicians. Watching it made me really eager to see live shows again!

The art style is hella cool, actually. It’s like Disney but grittier.

Me: "It made 30 million? That doesn't sound like that much of a failure." Saber: "It made 30 thousand" Me: "Oh..."

My mom has been hunting for and explaining this movie to me since I was a child, and I gave up trying to find it and assumed it was a bizarre fever dream on her part. So glad to see your coverage and to know it actually exists.

despite adult cartoons existing theres still this mentality oh cartoons are just for kids anime is just for kids it pisses me off so damn much.

Mok wanted to summon a demon to slaughter his fans just because his last concert wasn't sold out. The funny thing is, according to several members of the production crew, there were only two empty seats at said concert. Mok is just THAT petty.

This is one of those movies that, before the internet, you'd catch as a kid some late night on TV and for years afterward think it was some sort of insane fever dream.

The most sinful part of the “recut” is when they put silly loud music over the car scene and removed Omar and Angels intimate dialogue. That was one of the few parts of the movie where you see them interact and really see them care for each other. But MGM had to make the scene “haha for kids.” What’s frustrating is that there’s another cut where at the end Omar gets up and rises off his feet to sing with Angel, a clip which is cut in some versions and I think really helps transition his character more.

When the villain is introduced I swear that’s something David Bowie would do.

"She can sing or she can *SCREAM!* But she still pissed me off." Mok was too good for this movie.

Can you just imagine if Cardi B got sick of people saying that she and her music is trash so she summons a demon to take on revenge on those people?

The main issue that led to its downfall was timing. It came out too early. If it was released in the 90s it would have definitely rocked ... And ruled.

im a 2D animator and I love hand drawn animation like this! you can see the age in it but you can tell the animators had fun (with mok mostly) but knew what they were doing from an animation perspective

This movie is like if the people who directed “Heavy Metal” were put together to direct “the goofy movie” (the Disney movie)

Man, the main villains design is outrageous. He looks like he was specifically designed to be voiced by Tim Curry.

its such a shame some of the full music tracks were also lost in the fire. it almost brings me to tears that i wont ever be able to hear them.

"A story set in a post-apocalyptic world with anthropomorphic animal characters about rock and roll" could be used to describe both this and sonic underground. This information is completely useless, but its funny that such a specific sentence could lead you to two wildly different shows

“There is no Easter Bunny, there is no Tooth Fairy... and there is no Queen of England!”

Why does this movie taste like David Bowie

I love "My name is Mok" "Angels Song" and of course "Pain and Suffering"...The musical talent in this show is AMAZING!

In my opinion, Angel actually deserved to get with Dizzy instead of going back to Omar. Dizzy actually genuinely cared about her, he actually strived to save her, he uses his wit and brain to help save the day and make good decisions, and more. Dizzy > Omar. And I will stay by that opinion forever.

Mok is like David Bowie's evil Goof Troop OC fursona.

Mok’s back must hurt from carrying this entire movie

Man this is sad to hear that this experimental piece of art got trashed in such tragic ways. By a fire, and worse by the company do didnt believe that animation was for adults at the time. I hope there’s a way we could find the best version, unedited and upload it to the internet archive

So glad I got introduced to this movie. I ended up watching the whole thing right after this and just, yes the movie has it's flaws for sure, but idc. I love it. This is definitely a guilty pleasure movie for me now mostly because the animation and soundtrack kick ass. And plus idk I just get sick of seeing the same shit over and over again so it's really refreshing to just see something weird but wonderful like this.

“his lips should be separated to form a different character” SABER SABER CALM DOWN

Animation media: exists Out of touch corporate: "duUuuUuuRRrrr iS tHiS f0r cHiLdReN??"

The character designs are really good! Like it doesn’t look uncanny at all. With these anthropomorphic designs it easily could’ve lol. The animation honestly carries this movie like legs carry a chair.

Every time he said Nelvana, I pictured a studio where Kurt Cobain, Krist Novaselic and Dave Grohl were doing animation.

I felt SO HORRIBLE when the kind hearted lackey sacrificed himself, my man was just listening to Uncle Mickey to be good. On the other side, I felt SO GOOD when his brother tossed Mok into the portal *chef's kiss*

“Disney wasn’t putting out their best work” Sees Aristocats and Robin Hood: BOI

Ayo can we get this to grow and become popular because this genuinely looks awesome.

Just found out today my professor was the head of the effects department for this movie! I wouldn't have even known the movie existed if it weren't for this video. He actually animated the plasma and the glowing effect when Mok first shows up and it's amazing!

I’m a sucker for hand-drawn animation, especially when it’s really smooth and all the characters have unique designs. Even if this movie wasn’t the “best”, I still enjoyed how hard the animators worked to make this movie look good for its time.

A villain that shows up and immediately offers his guests a beer is a fine bloke by me.

20:33 Technically speaking, we humans live in a post-apocalyptic world, since… well, we all know what happened to the non-avian dinosaurs. And on top of that, the dinosaurs themselves lived in a post-apocalyptic world, since they came about because of the great Permian extinction just a couple tens of millions of years prior.

I remember seeing this for the first time on a cable service in the 80s, I think it might have been HBO. I was in my mid teens, and I thought it was the coolest thing ever. It's great to see people talking about it.

Saberspark: What the HELL is Rock and Rule ? Me: Me, someone who loves this movie to death: I WASN'T BORN FOR LOVING, I WAS BORN TO RAISE HELL!

Mok seems like the kinda character that would have been voiced by Tim Curry.

“And it’s original copy got lost in a fire” Next clip shows the prince of the fire nation, zuko Me: damn did you have to do it like that tho

This is one of my favorite movies of all time, and I'm so glad you reviewed it. I agree that Mok carries this film, but I have a soft spot for Angel too. She is clearly a very empathetic, non confrontational character, but she has an independent edge to her. That's why Cindy is such an effective contrast to her. And at the end her character development is that she has the courage to stand up to Mok's demon and "sing it back" even though she should be running in terror. In fact, that's what first drew me to the movie. There was a commercial on Night Tracks one night that showed the scene of her pulling off her choker and throwing it aside. She looked so determined that I wanted to see the show just for that one scene. (I also thought it was a weapon, like Xena's chakram, but thowing aside the device that had forced her to sing was fine too) I'm sorry you ended up so confused about MGM's edits as well. Personally, I can't picture anyone but Paul Le Mat in the role, and if the scene you showed was typical of the original performance, he was even a bigger ass than Paul's Omar. I felt that there was a tone in his voice that showed he wanted to go after Angel, but he was so caught up in the "heartless rocker who doesn't care about anything but fame" role that he felt he had to pretend to be angry and dismissive about her. He's still an ass at the end, but he decides he loves Angel enough to try and consider her feelings from now on. (Symbolically represented by joining in the song with her) What I'm not sure is if MGM cut the drugs scene at the club, but if they did they put it back, because it's on the DVD. I agree with you that they were right to cut the scene of Zip's revival, because that ruined the whole ending. Angel and Omar might have done away with the demon, but in the end Mok caused his own death, by acting so callous to Zip. Finally, I'll point out that Angel and Omar's hometown is called "Ohmtown". That's a great pun, and foreshadowing of the town's role in the climax.

This movie gives me nostalgia for memories that never happened

I’d like to point out that an episode of Total Drama Action is also called “Rock n’ Rule”. Considering they’re both made by Nelvana, I now know the reference. Edit: I shouldve been more clear, but one of the founders of Fresh TV (Makers of TD) their father works at Nelvana. Sorry!

This is interesting. I saw this as a kid in an AMC theater in Clearwater Florida. It stuck with me as awesome. I do remember that the theater was empty and my dad complained a lot, but I loved it. I also saw it on HBO when it was new and was super happy to see it again. I have a copy now on DVD, and it is exactly as awesome as I remember.

I can't believe I just now found this video and now I can't find the full Rock & Rule movie anywhere on RU-vid

Fun fact: Nelvana also produced the Beetlejuice cartoon series.

Right when the antagonist said, “Nothing can stop me”, I got an ad. Irony.

20:09 “There is no Santa, there is no Tooth-Fairy, and there is no Queen of England” please tell me someone else thought that too

Nelvana did this? As in the same Nelvana that brought us “Little Bear” and “Franklin and Friends” ? 😂

The animation is stellar, let me tell you, especially back then. The characters were much more fluid and dynamic and I just miss the more diverse and creative style animation used to have. I wish movies were still animated this way (Probably cuz I have bias towards old 90's cartoons) I miss the quality and old school feel of the gritty Disney animation style, its so unique and dated and I miss it so much.

The irony of all this is that The Care Bears Movie saved Nelvana despite no one wanted a movie adaptation of it.

I watched a vhs of this growing up about 10,000 times. Its sad but reasonable that we’ll never see animation like this again. This final era of great (hand illustrated, movie) animation included movies like this, Akira, roger rabbit, the hobbit and some others. It’s telling that most of these struggled with budget and schedule even then; so their time is beyond passed now. No one would spend or wait long enough to do anything like this now.

@1:55 "Disney wasn't putting out some of its best work..." (Screenshot shows Robin Hood and Winnie the Pooh) YOU TAKE THAT BACK SIR.

I wish we lived in the universe where this movie was a smash success, and we could keep bizarre, unique, and beautifully 2d animated movies for all audiences....but alas.

"Anyone want a beer?" I aspire to have an entrance as graceful as this guy.

I need a remake of this with a redeveloped plot, and Tim Curry voicing Mok.

the death of the villian of this movie and the villian of the princess and the frog are EXTREMELY similar, rock and rule: he gets killed by his sidekick, the princess and the frog: gets killed by his ghoul friends. also they both go into these weird portal looking things

Can we all agree that Mok is basically the son of David Bowie and Tim Curry?

I legitimately could not stop staring at the amount of money they lost for like 4 minutes

4:59 I love how in sync this is

I had a dim and deeply buried memory of being dragged to this movie for a friends 8th birthday party randomly knocked loose from the recesses of my brain. Thank you for providing me with the context that I've been sorely lacking for the better part of 40 years.

Fun fact: the song that plays during the club scene, "Dance dance dance" by Earth Wind & Fire, for a very long time was extremely rare, being the only song in the group's discography to not get a reprint outside of the movie's soundtrack despite the fact that even back then it was described as one of the highlights of the movie. Thankfully these days it's available digitally and on streaming services, because it's an awesome track that deserves to be heard, even if one don't care for the movie it was made for.

a couple of things you missed: The animation team was divided into sets of people who were tasked with sharing a style format, each character had their own team of animators, utilizing a different style for each set of characters, giving them each their own distinct flair and flavor visually. Dizzy and Stretch got one team, the Roller-Skating Sclepper Brothers got another team, Mok got a team, Omar got a team, Angel got a team, and throughout, there were different teams working on some of the other background characters. The background characters in the Anti-gravity club was done by yet another team of animators, and yet, it all fit together so perfectly and bizarrely, which, in a way, almost mirrors how Heavy Metal was done utilizing different artists for it's entire run. Then there are the wide sweeping overhead/godview scenes of the city of Ohmtown. That was an actual model that sat on 2 pingpong tables, with little tiny vehicles being moved along through slots underneath the table. To say they went above and beyond the call of duty is an understatement. The only reason I know this stuff is because a friend and I did a review of it, ourselves, about 3-4 years ago and it involved a lot of research.

Nelvana actually worked on a TON of early 2000-2010 kids shows! Bubble Guppies, Team Umizoomi, and more!

I discovered this movie by buying a comic book version of the film back in the 80's! I NEVER got to watch the movie. i finally got to watch it, it did not disappoint! I loved it!

"...and commissioned them to do the animated segment of the Star Wars Holiday Special" Oh god...ohhhhhhhhhhh god...

"Anyone want a beer?". God, I can see the VA channeling his inner Bowie.

At least a good villain can carry a movie with mediocre protagonists. Mok was superb and very well voiced by the late Don Francks, managing to be both suave and slimy. He was a good combination of Mick Jagger and Thin White Duke-era David Bowie, and his increasing villainy finalized with a mad scientist look straight out of classic pulp sci fi was really well done.

I remember I picked this movie up in Blockbuster circa 1993 when I had exhausted my anime choices in my local store. I loved the artistic musical choices and that's what attracted me to rent it. It became my favorite animation really quick! I love this movie, Angel's song makes me have goosebumps every single time. i love the animation, the craziness and chaos when Mok summons the demon, the simplicity of the character motivations and the passion in those motivations. I don't know why it resonated with me as a teen and I still love watching!

Mgm: Adult cartoons dont sell well Nelvana: But Fritz the cat did.. Mgm: I mean we will let you release it but we wont advertise this smut! *film fails because of no advertising* Mgm: See? Adult cartoons dont sell well

Hey I'm the one that worked on the Rock & Rule restoration featured in this video, (not the one Saberspark reshuffled with the US cut, the one he used as basis) Having worked on restoring this film from 2013 to 2017 I've amassed A LOT of information about the actual development and making of the film and I can GUARANTEE you, that literally every single thing you said on this review, without exception is wrong. 37 minutes of wrong. Demonstrably wrong and it is BOUND to cause misinformation. The longer 1hour21 minute version is the Original Version, Greg Salata playing the more cocky, arrogant Omar, Zip surviving and lacking the extended explanation of the world at the start (no mutated dogs/cats/mice, etc.) The version posted on RU-vid is the altered MGM US Cut, it was heavily reworked and Omar was redubbed/rewritten to be more ''sympathetic'', with Zip dying at the end (which was their intention judging by the Workprint, which I used to restore the film's final act) The version on RU-vid is also not ''the first time'' it's been on the plataform, Clive A. Smith's personal account once had an upload of the film which was much better quality than the one which is a VHS rip of the US Cut from back in the day, and before that my own uploads of my restorations which amassed 70k and 200k before they got pulled. This is just scratching the surface, there's a lot more on this review I'm afraid is gonna cause so much confusion and misinformation and harm to this particular film, especially after so many years of research I put into it, I would be VERY happy if you could contact me in some way.

You missed a few things: - Mok is supposed to be a Mock Jagger pastiche. - The original town is Ohmtown. Ohm, like the unit of power. "Home"town.

I have been watching all your videos lately, and this one by far has changed my life. I went and watched Rock & Rule about 10 times, and I’m in love with it. What a piece of history, a treasure trove of 80’s pop rock culture....phenomenal, and Mok is my new bf

Not gonna lie: I absolutely ADORE this artstyle. It reminds me so heavily of the secret of nhym.

“Rock and rule is an adult animated film” *Rated PG on Amazon Prime*

I had never heard of this movie and only had your thumbnail as a reference, and still just by seeing the thumbnail I couldn't understand how it did so bad. The design looks unique and cool, nothing like Delgo.

This was one of my favourite movies and still high key is, thank you for this review and a bit of history that I wasn't aware of.

Did you miss the part where Angel tried to seduce Mok into giving up on his world domination plan, effectively sacrificing herself to save the world? You know, the scene you made a GIF of? Doesn't seem very basic to me.

"Evil is just live spelled backwards... and you want to live don't you?"

Ty 4 sharing they did a great job on the animation and all of it. Better yet I'm very proud of them

Omg! I actually saw this one a few years ago! So cool to see you make a review!

That guy at the beginning looks like Tim Curry in The Rocky Horror Picture Show

I actually really like Omar’s character because he was an asshole in front of the whole group, but he was very sweet on angel when they were alone, and his main issue was that it was hard for him to admit his feelings. He showed he cared about angel a few times but was bitter about it. Angels more cunning side that you saw in the first scene is shown when she tries to seduce Mok to trick him. Omar’s character change isn’t out of nowhere, because he was insecure in believing Angel chose Mok. He gets distant and bitter and divaish, and regresses and storms off, but decides to come back and save Angel.

I didn't even know about this movie until this review and then found it here on RU-vid. It is awesome! I was especially excited when I saw that some of the best rockers from the 80s actually sang in this! They had Robin Zander from Cheap Trick, Debbie Harry from Blondie, Lou Reed, and Iggy Pop! Thanks Mom and Dad for growing up in the 80s and loving music enough to be music educators so I can get exposed to this great music!

I remember when i found this at a random video store playing on the preview tv. The guy working there that day was a fan. I fell in love with that movie and its been one of my favorites ever since.

Imagine a timeline where this was a box office success.

I never knew it did so poorly in the box office. This was, actually is, one of my favorite animated movies ever.

I've loved this movie my whole life. I had it on VHS as a kid and must have watched it a dozen times at least. I still remember the lyrics to all the songs. It's full of fantastic, quotable dialogue and features great character designs. Nelvana's greatest triumph.

So: in conclusion... *MGM is the literal devil.*

The most shocking part of this video is that Saber hasn’t seen Heavy Metal

Mok is the Grinch and Mick Jagger combined

Two bits of info you may or may not know: 1: TCC (The Childrens Channel) based in the UK broadcasted it at some point during the early 90s (I think) in their afternoon slot for older kids/young teens. I believe that this is where most europeans who learned about it discovered that it existed. Channel could be viewed via cable in some countries. 2: If you aren't already aware of this, look up Debbie Harry "Maybe for sure". It's a reworked version of Angels Song. :)