“Seven years from now. Anaheim, California”
Right off the bat you know you will be in for a strange trip, seeing that this movie isn’t exactly shot normally. It’s animated, but not in a Fred Flinstone/Rick & Morty/Attack on Titan kinda way. Shit, that already outdated now too, ain’t it? This is done in a relatively “realistic” manner of presentation. Except, of course, for the crazy shit goings on. And indeed, the crazy shits be goings on. Why do I always finds myself always watching these kinds of movies?
In the nearish future there’s a “Substance D” epidemic, turning like 20% of the population into addicts, as related to the local Bear Lodge by the shifting reality-suited state agent “Fred” (Keanu Reeves). But fortunately he is there as a sponsored representative that happens to be the only group fighting this drug terrorist assault. What luck! So, the message is, continue to report all suspicious activity and individuals. Ultimately, we see a severely surveilled society in an effort to find the source of this Epidemic, with “Fred,” known to his druggie buddies (including Robert Downey Jr. and Woody Harrelson) as Bob Arctor, all somewhat scoffwits and layabouts and just paranoid dopesmoker types. But there’s some other level of fuckery going on here.
While it definitely starts out weird and then amusing, the lens shifts and it goes from amusing drug-addled antics to dark seriousness. Darkly, so to speak. Based on the Philip K. Dick novel by the same name from 1977, this is an interesting expansion of director Linklater’s palette. Not completely unsurprising given his decent takes on life and philosophies in a lot of his films preceding this. Dazed and Confused is a great slice-of-life time capsule of the times. This? Shades of that but on a whole new level. And roto-scoped (think tracing outlines like Ralph Fritz The Cat (1972)/The Lord of the Rings (1978) Bakshi did so well, just updated with some newer tech here) into an animated technique that makes it much more immersive of a story considering the plotline. Despite its amusing drug-inspired scenarios (at least as initially presented), this isn’t a comedy. It’s a tragedy. Engaging take on the psychological/mental repercussions of the “War Against Drugs” and its past, present and potentially future effect on society. And oddly cyclical considering the date the original the story was written (1977), the release date of the film (2006), and the time this review was written (2024). Weird.
