Gulliver's Travels Beyond the Moon (1965)

A street urchin learns of Gulliver on the screen while sneaking into a theater, but is kicked out when found out. He befriends a stray talking dog and a live clockwork soldier (found in a trash bin.) They spend some time in a fantasia (music by Milton and Anne Delugg, who had provided the song "Hooray for Santy Claus" for Santa Claus Conquers the Martians (1964)) within a closed amusement park, but are chased out of it as well. Upon escaping they go into a forest where the meet the aged Gulliver, who has built a rocket but considers himself too old to do any further exploration. The boy convinces him to make the trip and soon, with the aid of Gulliver's pet raven they are off into outer space.I have a strange relationship with this movie, it may not be the first theatrical experience I had, but it remains one of my earliest memories in a theater. The movie was released the year I was born, but it was likely translated into Spanish and projected on Mexican screens two or three years later so I may have seen it when I was two or three. Apparently it debuted in the US in 1966... Could it possibly be that I saw it before the age of two?It could have been even later depending on how long it lasted in theaters, but I can't be certain one way or another.This must certainly be also my first exposure to ideas of space travel, some scenes are fairly straightforward in that manner - bothering to present (eating in) zero G for example, but also strange effects of space radiation as becoming younger or older (and surely an inspiration for Yellow Submarine (1968)), and also to the name of Gulliver, which must have caused endless confusion as I later encountered and recalled the (unrelated) character's name in films, television, books or comics in the subsequent years, up to the point where I ceased to recall that original instance.Also, when viewing Yellow Submarine (1968) I must have had flashbacks to Gulliver without really understanding them or being able to fully comprehend the why of the similarities.As an adult I confused this film with Pinocchio in Outer Space (1965), which I purchased upon DVD release, although I quickly found out it wasn't the film I was looking for. I may have also seen that as well, but I have no memory of it.An Amazon reviewer also apparently conflates the two movies:"I've been looking for this movie since I was a little kid! Now, maybe the nightmares will go away. No, seriously, I saw this when I was 7 or 8, and ever since I've had terrifying nightmares about space whales and robots, and weird little puppydogs with bad Brooklyn accents. In fact, the "Rise, Robots, Rise" part of the movie STILL terrifies me. That being said, this movie is a trip. A trip down the memory lane of strange early 60's Japanese animation, and a bad, bad acid trip. Highly recommended." Eric PalmerThis is probably your 'typical' Japanese children's fantasy feature for the time containing strange and surreal elements and scenes which must have burned strange imagery and warped many young minds (as it did mine.) That one mentioned scene where the dog de-ages to a puppy, the boy turns into a diaper wearing toddler and the crow reverts back to an egg not only must have fueled phobias and fears of The Incredible Shrinking Man variety but may very well had triggered microphilia* and age regression fetishes into existence onto unsuspecting and unaware psyches.A young Hayao Miyazaki worked on this film so it is related to Taiyou no ouji Horusu no daibouken (1968) aka Horus, Prince of the Sun a film I recall better with actual complete scenes and not simply with more-or-less random imagery.Seeing it once again it doesn't seem spectacular at all, even if some details and ideas remain impressive for such a weird, little, economically animated item.I suggest to adjust your mindset and see it from the point of view of an innocent and clear mind (as it is exposed to psychedelia,) if you are able to.There is bound to be much there to appreciate.Available on Amazon Prime for free.* Help! (1965) strangely enough, also indulges in a microphilic fantasy.

A young Hayao Miyazaki worked on this film as an in-between animator. The ending is done quite beautifully with an excellent score.

This is a very dated animation film with a moral message designed for the kiddos! It was probably a Drive-In third feature bill on a Weekend billing for a family showing in small towns all over Amerika! It's too loud and the music reminds me of some early TV cartoon series, that I never watched back then either!

That old saying, "you get what you pay for", doesn't even come close to what you get from this Synergy release. Obviously copied from a very well used VHS tape the picture and sound quality (at times almost inaudible) are extremely substandard. The original Japanese issue was Widescreen, but this version is Full Frame. At times it goes to the Widescreen version on the Full Frame format with white bars at the top and bottom of the screen which is really annoying. Speaking of annoying, what really bugged me was near the beginning of watching this title I had the message " VIDEO CALIBRATION" flash across the movie a few times. Synergy should be ashamed of releasing a DVD-R on the public in this condition.

I saw this film as a child and the image of the princess in the black rook stuck with me into my 40s.Finally saw it again and I was impressed with the animation. The good/bad robot worlds, how the robots fell apart when hit with water.Fortunately I didn't remember the singing! I'm not sure why animated films for children feel the need to have singing.The story is a little silly but it was good.

I remember seeing this as a kid, just wanted to see again. The anime is like the original speed racer cartoon, so if you seen that then you know what to expect.