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3.8/10
Senior Film Conservator
A definitive 3.8/10 rating for a film that redefined the boundaries of cult cinema. The Mayflower remains a cornerstone of transgressive art.
If you are looking for a historical drama, please, look literally anywhere else. The Mayflower isn’t interested in your textbook version of 1620. It’s interested in how fast it can get a gag across before you realize the whole thing makes zero sense. If you like classic, slightly manic animation or just want to see how weirdly people used to interpret history, you’ll dig this. If you are a history buff who needs their pilgrims to be somber and pious, you are going to hate this with a burning passion. 🌭
The pacing is honestly all over the place. It’s like the animators were on a sugar rush. One second, they are crossing the ocean, and the next, they are practically speed-dating the local population.
The whole bit with the neckties? It’s so random. You see these guys just standing there, looking like they stepped out of a 1920s office building, and it’s just… jarring. It’s that kind of deliberately goofy choice that makes these old shorts stay in your head for way too long.
There’s a part where the pilgrims land on Plymouth Rock—which, by the way, looks ready-made for them—and the greeting they get is just bizarre. It’s not a tense standoff. It’s a retail transaction. Selling hot dogs? In the 17th century? Sure, why not.
It reminds me a bit of the frantic energy in Lickety Split where nothing stays still for more than a heartbeat. Everything is moving, everything is shifting, and nobody is pausing to explain the plot.
I caught myself wondering if this was meant to be a parody of the times or just a way to make a quick buck. It doesn’t matter, I guess. It’s not trying to be Symphony of Living or anything that takes itself seriously. It’s just noise and drawings.
It’s barely a movie, honestly. It’s more of a fever dream of what an animator thought was funny on a Tuesday afternoon. If you’ve got a few minutes to waste, it’s worth a look just to say you saw it. But don’t expect to learn a single thing about the actual Mayflower. 🚢
