Review of Heavy Traffic

I positively love animation, and I loved Heavy Traffic. In fact it ties with American Pop as my personal favourite of Ralph Bakshi's films, with Hey Good Lookin' and Coonskin not far off. The story is personal, with some fun and often moving moments, for me this is one of Bakshi's least vague movies story-wise. The satire is satire that really bites hard and all the better for it and the characters have a lot of likability. The soundtrack always has been one of my things-to-look-for in animated movies and here it is wonderful, beautiful but also moody and atmospheric. And then there is the animation, it has a charming rough-around-the-edges look to it with enough of Bakshi's style evident, and the backgrounds look gorgeous. Overall, personal and interesting, one of Bakshi's very best. 9/10 Bethany Cox