Blog:The Beatles: Yellow Submarine Remake (Fake Movie)



Note: This film is based on the canceled ImageMovers remake that was intended to be made, but this time however the blog post will be inspired by the canceled remake only with some changes like being fully CGI at Pixar

The Beatles: Yellow Submarine is an American-British computer-animated fantasy musical film based on the 1968 animated film of the same name. It is produced by Pixar Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures with the collaboration with Apple Corps. The film is directed by Andrew Stanton with Mike Jones and Kemp Powers as producers. The film stars Peter Serafinowicz as Paul, Dean Lennox Kelly as John, Cary Elwes as George, and Adam Campbell as Ringo.

Cast

 * Dean Lennox Kelly as John Lennon, an English singer, songwriter, musician, peace activist, and one of the members of the Beatles
 * Peter Serafinowicz as Paul McCartney, an English singer, songwriter, musician, and record and film producer who is the bassist of the Beatles
 * Cary Elwes as George Harrison, an English musician, singer, songwriter, and music/film producer who is the lead guitarist of the Beatles
 * Adam Campbell as Ringo Starr, an English musician, singer, songwriter, and actor who is the drummer of the Beatles.
 * David Tennant as the Chief Blue Meanie aka Venuz B. Meanie, the flamboyant leader of the Blue Meanies
 * Simon Pegg as Max Meanie, the second-in-command meanie and the hapless majordomo to the Chief Blue Meanie
 * Ewan McGregor as Captain Fred, the captain of the Yellow Submarine who befriends The Beatles.
 * Patrick Stewart as Lord Mayor, the elderly ruler of Pepperland.
 * Toby Jones as Jeremy Hillary Boob, a creature who lives in the Sea of Nothing who serves as a mechanic to the crew of the Yellow Submarine.
 * Stephen Fry as the narrator of the film.
 * Chris Martin, Jonny Buckland, Guy Berryman, and Will Champion as the members of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Band Club. They serve as echoes to The Beatles.
 * James Corden as The Fool on the Hill, a new character created for the film as one of the inhabitants of Pepperland.
 * Tom Holland as Julian "Jude", a young man who is an inhabitant of Pepperland.
 * Laura Aikman as Michelle, an inhabitant of Pepperland who is the love intrest of Julian.
 * Emma Stone as Julia, a siren created by the blue meanies who serves as a spy for the meanies
 * Eddie Redmayne as Rocky Racoon, an anthropomorphic raccoon who lives in Pepperland.
 * Peter Kay as Bungalow Bill, an inhabitant of Pepperland.
 * Hugh Grant as The Egg Man, an anthropomorphic egg who lives in Pepperland
 * Mike Myers as Mean Mr. Mustard, anthropomorphic mustard who lives in Pepperland. His name is ironic, but he's pretty tough.

Plot
The plot is the same as the original film. The British pop band traveled to a magical place called Pepperland in the Yellow Submarine to drive away from the evil music-hating Blue Meanies. However, it's a remake of the film.

Why It Rocks

 * 1) Despite being a remake of the 1968 film of the same name, it does justice to not only the source material that the film is based on, but it also does add in some new material that was not featured in the movie thus making it into its own variation of that Beatles film. So you see, not all remakes have to be bad as it learns the mistakes of a lot of remakes suffer from such as The Lion King 2019, A Nightmare on Elm Street 2010, Alice in Wonderland 2010, Annie 2014, Beauty and the Beast 2017, Hellboy 2019, The Grinch (both Illumination's and Jim Carrey's adaptation, especially the latter) you name it. If films like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Pokémon: Mewtwo Strikes Back—Evolution, It 2017, The Nutty Professor 1996, or The Karate Kid 2010 can be both a remake and its own film, then it proves that this Pixar film can too!
 * 2) *In the remake, we get to learn more about the lore of the film such as how The Blue Meanies came to be music-hating meanies or the lore behind Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Band Club.
 * 3) The animation and visuals like always for Pixar is well made and creative that it's seen with a lot of modern Pixar films like Inside Out, Coco, Onward, Soul, Luca, Cars 3, Toy Story 4, and Finding Dory. In fact, this film has Pixar animation that is so reminiscent of the psychedelic art style and can be considered to be Pixar's trippiest film ever made (in a good way). The animation alone can be compared to that of Pixar Sparkshorts or Short Circuit.
 * 4) *One of the best examples of this would be Pepperland as a whole. The same can go with The Seas the Beatles travel too. And who could not forget the musical numbers present in the film including Only a Northern Song, Eleanor Rigby, and Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds?
 * 5) The characters are still likable and no one is flanderized in the film. We even get to see character development being present in the film like the Beatles themselves.
 * 6) Good voice acting. Yes, it does not use the same voice actors from the original film yet it manages to capture the spirit of the characters. The Blue Meanie Chief and Max are the funniest examples of this due to the comedic yet evil nature of the Blue Meanies. The film also uses a lot of UK voice actors so it makes sense since The Beatles is UK themselves.
 * 7) Pixar is no stranger to making films that take place in a different country as it portrays the United Kingdom during the 60s in such an accurate way without having to rely on assumptions and instead accuracy. A lot of the people who help the creative team behind Pixar's film were from the United Kingdom.
 * 8) The remake shows respect to the Beatles' legacy and fans of The Beatles. All is said right here.
 * 9) The art style of the film is different from the usual Pixar library. Luca and Turning Red did have an art style that is beyond Pixar. This movie decided to take a page from those films and make a unique art style that still looks good even for Pixar standards. Even the character designs stay true to the original film without being too off.
 * 10) The story stays true to the original film. Even if not many people don't even know about the film, the storyline still has a solid foundation that is enough for the film. Pixar also managed to make improvements to the story such as the already mentioned lore or some plot holes that could use some better explanation (Like how did a blue meanie knew where Jeremy was at the Sea of Holes). Hell, this is Pixar and they are known for such creative storytelling.
 * 11) Great soundtrack. It doesn't really just use soundbites from the original film as it's all a new arrangement. They may be the same soundtracks used in the film, but it's not copied and pasted there. It even got some new songs that fit the mood on certain scenes the original film didn't have.
 * 12) *The Beatles Songs. Who could not forget about the Beatles' songs? The songs for the Beatles are remastered enough in quality for the remake. We did get some new Beatles songs like "Here Comes the Sun" which is used for the credits.
 * 13) The musical sequences are better than ever thanks to improved technology.
 * 14) We get references to Beatles songs that many Beatles fans would enjoy. It's like Pixar was making a love letter to the Beatles despite being a remake. Of course, you know, that was present in the original film.
 * 15) *Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Band is another easter egg as they are echoes of The Beatles' lives outside the band alone. How clever.
 * 16) New characters make an appearance in the film and they are properly introduced without having to shoehorn them. Yes, the new characters may not be as prominent as the main cast, but they do have a reason as to why they are present in the film. It's all thanks to the lore.
 * 17) Stephen Fry (who may be recognized as the narrator for LittleBigPlanet or Oscar Wilde from Wilde) does a good job at being the narrator of the film.
 * 18) Still has some funny moments present in the film like "You're advancing the wrong way! Retreat backwards!". The Blue Meanie Cheif is a good example of his humor.
 * 19) Good pacing. It gives enough time to make the movie progress with the story.
 * 20) Gorgeous cinematography, a lot of the shots are legit eye candy and some animation techniques are creative and fit well with the psychedelic style the film is aiming for. The GCI does help out a lot.
 * 21) The Blue Meanies could serve as an interpretation of society nowadays. Cancel culture and a lot of bad things occur in life and the meanies appear to do similar tasks.
 * 22) The message is simple. The main message here is about friendship. The Blue Meanies redeemed themselves and acknowledge their own mistakes thus letting music not bother them anymore. It's still the same ending as the original film, but Pixar put the ending to good use without any hesitation or any Oscar-baiting cliches.
 * 23) Before the credits, we see the Beatles go back home and play with their souvenirs from the events of the film. The original film had a live-action skit, but Pixar went in a different direction with the ending. Speaking of the ending, it was nice to see the Beatles miss the characters they met on their journey. Even the ending still stays true to the "newer and bluer Meanies have been sighted within the vicinity of this theatre" ending
 * 24) The post-credits scene had a live-action skit that had the real-life versions of Paul and Ringo appear still having their souvenirs as a nod to the two people being the last living Beatles members.
 * 25) Overall, this film shows that Pixar can tackle the cliche Hollywood saying "whatever is old is new" in a pleasing way possible.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) The animation is still good, but it can be somewhat weird. True, the film does capture the psychedelic tone but some could find it weird
 * 2) The scene where we see Pepperland being raided by The Blue Meanies is pretty dark for some.
 * 3) The infamous scene where Ringo gets tempted by a siren created by The Blue Meanies during his introduction is pretty disturbing.

Production
A remake for The Yellow Submarine has been reported as early as 2009 when Walt Disney Pictures, Apple Corps, and ImageMovers were doing a collab on a 3D computer-animated remake of the film via motion capture. It was hoping to be released just in time for the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. However, Disney closed ImageMovers Digital after the unsatisfactory box-office performance of A Christmas Carol in 2010, but in 2011 the project was abandoned after the box office bomb of Mars Needs Moms. Criticism toward motion-capture technology was also a factor. After its cancellation at Disney, Zemeckis tried to pitch the remake to other studios. By December 2012, Zemeckis expressed that he gave up on the project stating: "That would have been great to bring the Beatles back to life. But it's probably better not to be remade – you're always behind the 8-ball when do you [sic] a remake." Later on, it was then reported that Walt Disney Pictures and Apple Corps once again doing a remake of the said film only this time Pixar is involved in the project.

Trivia

 * The Chief Blue Meanie and Max became popular in the meme community thanks to this movie.
 * The Eleanor Rigby sequence is different from the original film, but it still kept some parts from the original film. Even the Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds sequence has some differences. A lot of the musical sequences stay true to the source material but with some differences.
 * Adam Howden was intended to join the cast, but it was deconfirmed. Even Joseph May was going to appear but was scrapped. Yoko Ono was also in the talks as well but was scrapped.
 * Peter Serafinowicz, Dean Lennox Kelly, Cary Elwes, Adam Campbell, and David Tennant were previously intended to voice their characters in the canceled motion-capture remake.
 * There is test footage of the canceled motion-capture remake.
 * Russell Brand makes a voice cameo as a police officer in the Beatles world.