Yellow Submarine is a triumph of animation and music, but not of cinema. The kernel of the idea was to take songs recently published by The Beatles and string them into some sort of story. The only new music created for the film was incidental music used to connect sequences. The animation is the reason to see Yellow Submarine. It is a definitive 1960's Mod style. Nothing is painted in a monotone, nothing is a simple color when all is well. When things are bad is when the designers bring in the blue-greys and the lack of color. The message is freedom bursts with a diversity of color.

The Beatles aren't really themselves in the picture. The Fab Four agreed to let themselves be portrayed in the film, but turned down the opportunity to appear until the very end, when they saw a rough cut. The film was better than they had anticipated. Suddenly they wanted to be in Yellow Submarine. The solution was the one live-action shot that closes the film.

What doesn't work in Yellow Submarine is the story. It's very disjointed, running around trying to find a way to connect up all the songs. The story fails to present any real meaning or message. That is left to the music. The songs are among The Beatles best from the late 1960s. The song Yellow Submarine gives us the motif, Nowhere Man tells us to stay connected to the world, and All You Need is Love gives us the message.