It's All Too Much - The Beatles Yellow Submarine

“Once upon a time, or maybe twice, there was an unearthly paradise called, Pepperland.”

Pepperland had once been a beautiful place full of life and color and music. It was a place of happiness and positivity, where all kinds of people could dream in Technicolor. Pepperland was always joyous and full of wonder for all inhabitants except for the Blue Meanies. These horrendous blue creatures decided one day to attack Pepperland and destroy everything that was good. With a few despicable moves, the meanies had frozen all the townspeople and sucked all the life and color from the whole city. They even launched an anti-music missile that landed on Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band trapping them inside a big blue glass bubble. Old Fred, who was the only one cunning enough to escape the attack, narrowly fled in the Yellow Submarine.

Fred conveniently searched for help in just the right place, a hilltop building in Liverpool, England that just so happened to have a man inside named Richard Starkey, more commonly known as Ringo Starr. Ringo decided that his pleas were worthy of his assistance, but he couldn’t do it alone. He would have to find the rest of the band. After locating John, George and Paul, on they went, pounding overwhelming waves in the Yellow Submarine.

The journey was not easy. They traveled backwards and forwards through the Sea of Time. They lost and found Ringo in the Sea of Monsters. They met a Nowhere Man named Jeremy who fixed the motor. After getting lost in the foothills of the headlands, our friends even traveled through the Sea of Holes into the Sea of Green, which finally took them back to Pepperland.

Once they made it back, with just the snap of a tune, they brought the Lord Mayor back to life who told them the way to get rid of the meanies was to play music. After a coup to get into the meanies’ lockup, our friends found the instruments and the old uniforms from good ol’ Sgt. Pepper’s band. With just a quick beat count, they broke into song, bringing back life to the citizens of Pepperland, and driving the meanies to retreat. After only a few more songs, the Blue Meanies were ready to throw in the towel. Until now, the word, “Yes” had been forbidden and only “No” was acceptable, but since the head meanie had now seen a new perspective, he introduced the final song by saying, “Yes, let us mix Max, I never admitted it before, but my cousin is the bluebird of happiness!”

“It’s All Too Much” is the perfect song to bring this film to a close. With the bizarre lyrics and psychedelic riffs, the ending scene is what I believe to be the best part. The constantly changing colors of the scenery and characters really bring this song to life. It feels like watching a rainbow exploding for three minutes. There are so many things that are out of this world, it’s kind of like being inside a kaleidoscope. Random scenes stick out like a lion shaking hands with a lamb, both wearing suits, and flying fish in the sky. The giant words of positivity are reinforcing as well, like “OK, and YES” and the vibrancy of all the varying shades of colors are almost overwhelming.

Another interesting thing is that the colors vary depending on whether the movie is playing on VHS or DVD. There are so many things to look at in this scene, I could watch it 100 times in a row and still see something new every time. This is definitely a movie that everyone should be aware of. It’s not just for acid-heads or little kids. There is something in this film for everyone. Yellow Submarine is a classic animated film from 1968 based on the Beatles album with the same name. The Beatles did help with the production and direction of the film however they did not provide the character voices. If you watch any behind the scenes footage, you can tell by their eyes that it was probably best they left that up to others. Regardless of what they were doing in their spare time, the Beatles were revolutionary, and this movie just adds another facet proving how impacting the Fab Four was and still is. This continues to be my favorite animated movie of all time and this final scene really ties the whole movie together, like the icing on a cake or the center of a Tootsie-Pop.

"All the world is birthday cake, so take a piece, but not too much."

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