The entire Bakshi filmography is a campaign against business as usual, a full-on assault on the medium...

This is one of those flawless wonders where every single frame is perfect.

Although the plot, like the music itself, can be somewhat too strident, the animation is remarkably successful in delineating the sad geography of the human body and the massive backgrounds of American cities.

This is a film that grandly overreaches, attempting to condense a century's worth of triumph and tragedy into ninety minutes. To a surprising degree it succeeds.