YMMV / Samson and Sally

• Angst? What Angst?: Sally watched her parents die, as well as some of her friends, but she seems none the worse for wear. This could arguably apply to Samson, who loses his mother in one scene but appears to forget about her by the next
• Anvilicious: The Green Aesop of this movie is NOT subtle in the slightest.
• Awesome Music: The haunting electronic score by Jens Vilhelm Pedersen (AKA "Fuzzy"), but especially the droning strings that open the oil slick scene and the slow jam that plays as Samson swims around the sunken New York ruins.
• Big-Lipped Alligator Moment: When briefly asked to identify themselves by Samson, a pair of junk-dealing walruses abruptly stage (without any significant impetus) a goofy song-and-dance routine (complete with singing canned sardines, a bizarre re-enactment of Noah's Ark and lyrics entirely composed of nonsense scatting) upon a derelict oilrig, culminating in the pair contracting (and presumably later dying from) radiation sickness. Upon witnessing the duo's tusks falling from their mouths in anticipation of their implied horrific fate, Samson nonchalantly mentions that he and Sally need to return home, abruptly concluding the scene (which is never mentioned ever again). Weirdly enough, considering the tone of the movie, the song is a virulent ear worm.
• Fridge Horror: By the time Samson meets up with his hero Moby Dick, the latter is now an elderly, decrepit, and senile whale who can no longer hunt for food. His home in the underwater ruins of New York City is hidden far away from humans so he won’t have to worry about them, but there are no other whales living there. Moby doesn’t appear to be long for this world by the time of the movie, and if, or more accurately when, he dies, he will do so all alone, with no family, friends, or children.
• Fridge Logic:
  • So, the environment is destroyed to the point that part of the ocean is on fire and whole cities have sunk into the ocean. What does mankind decide to do? Go whaling! Could be Fridge Brilliance if most of the land animals are killed off and whales are one of the last sources of food, but then you see that we still have Polar Bears, animals that are in danger of extinction now.
  • Also, how is Moby Dick still alive? This movie takes place in the future. How far is up to debate, but New York looks like it's been under for a while. And he would have been well over a hundred even in modern times!
    • There have been cases of live whales found with antique, 200 year old harpoons lodged in them. They can last for quite a while, although his longevity is indeed improbable.
  • Not just the polar bears, but the whales themselves still being around in this particular scenario is kind of odd.
• Moment of Awesome:
  • Whenever a killer whale gets beaten by a bigger whale, which also doubles as a Curb-Stomp Battle.
  • When Samson and Sally need to escape from a whaler, the seagull comes to their rescue. He screws with the whaler, manages to tie him up in his own harpoon line, then shits on his head. Doubles as a Funny Moment.
• Nightmare Fuel: Many who watched the movie as children were understandably terrified by a few scenes:
  • Some prints were so dark that a few scenes were almost pitch-black. Samson and Sally exploring the sunken ship largely looked like a black screen with the occasional surreal, creepy image popping out. Check out this comparison video if you ever wondered what these scenes were supposed to look like!
  • When the pod dives to go under the oil slick and escape the whalers, the nigh-total darkness and tense music make the threat of the whales dying very apparent. It culminates in one member of the pod being unable to hold his breath any longer, rising to the surface to breathe, and then promptly suffocating and sinking down into the abyss as his blowhole becomes clogged with oil. A bird is also seen trapped in the oil, flopping its oil-coated wings on the surface and squawking frantically (accompanied by a despairing synthesized string drone) before it sinks out of sight.
  • Samson getting sick and passing out at the toxic waste site. He's rescued by the baleen whale, but that whale gives a few brief shudders, indicating he's not so well himself. He's later found dead. The creepy music doesn't help.
  • The Killer Whales are pretty scary in general. they look much more shark-like than actual killer whales and behave like ravenous, seemingly non-sentient beasts.
• Tear Jerker:
  • The death of Samson's mother, although the over all lack of importance it has in the story might dampen it.
  • The smiling baleen whale even moreso. It's all in the sad look Sampson gives when he realizes what has happened. And given the supposed state of the planet in general and his species' current rarity due to hunting and other pressures, he might well have been one of the, if not the, Last of His Kind.

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