Evolution (1971)

A brightly coloured animation that pretty much does it what says on the tin. Jollied along by a cheery ragtime style of score, we see life emerge from the murky waters and evolve from cells to plants, other vegetation and well you can guess the rest. If the eye is the window to the soul, it's also the source of much of the joy here as hugely optically endowed creatures want to chase, play with and eventually eat each other - though always for survival, never for sport! Times change and the extinction of some leads to the development of others. The environment also changes and there's even room for some frolicking and a bit of shy romance before the original body clock delivers broods of offspring, a scenario of the survival of the fittest takes over - for four legs then two and next thing you know, it's us - and the wheel. I quiet enjoyed this light-hearted observation of what came when, who ate whom and the style of the drawing and exaggerated characteristics of the critters works quite entertainingly for ten minutes. It's vaguely prophetic, too!