Review – Tales of the Rat Fink

As the title suggests, this is a documentary about Ed “Big Daddy” Roth, legendary cartoonist and car customizer. The film-makers make this easy to watch by throwing in a lot of animated sequences and telling part of the story by having celebrities provide voices for some of the actual cars (Roth’s and otherwise) used in the movie. It’s a soft, clever little way to make a documentary, a style that wouldn’t work with a lot of subjects but seems to fit this one rather well. Of course they fall into the usual trap of making the subject sound like he invented American popular culture all by himself, but in light of the important contributions Roth actually did make, a little hyperbole can be excused. Mildly amusing