The Beatles were once the most revolutionary act in pop culture history — now, two of their surviving members are teaming up again for something that sits at the complete opposite end of the cultural spectrum.
In 2023, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr somehow pulled off the impossible: they released what was billed — with a straight face — as the final Beatles song. Now and Then, assembled using AI and Lennon demos, was equal parts miracle and marketing. A touching, strange, technological resurrection that somehow didn’t feel cynical.
It was never going to be topped.
Which is perhaps why the pair are now channeling their creative energy somewhere else entirely — into a 3D animated film based on a children’s book. High in the Clouds will feature Ringo Starr lending his voice to a character, in what promises to be the most surreal use of a Beatle in animation since Yellow Submarine offered up a kaleidoscopic acid trip to a generation of unsuspecting schoolchildren.
McCartney, ever the whimsical dreamer, co-wrote the original 2005 book alongside Geoff Dunbar and Philip Ardagh. And while this might seem like a world away from mop tops and rooftop gigs, it’s very much in keeping with Macca’s post-Beatles M.O.: charming, innocent, often bewilderingly earnest.
Himesh Patel — yes, the lad from Yesterday, a film that asked, “What if The Beatles didn’t exist and Ed Sheeran saved music instead?” — joins the voice cast. Céline Dion, Hannah Waddingham, Idris Elba, and Lionel Richie also lend their talents in what reads more like an algorithmically generated dream dinner party than a coherent animated film.
Let’s be honest: this isn’t Sgt. Pepper. It isn’t even Give My Regards to Broad Street. But for fans of the Fab Four, it’s another strange, sweet little footnote in their post-mythology.
McCartney and Starr may never change the world again — but they’re clearly not done telling stories in it.
And, honestly? That’s still worth something.
