Movie Review: The Pebble and the Penguin (1995): There's a really good movie in here

Well... hiatus was fun, but I want to get back to what this blog was meant to be about, exploring the vast world of animation, experiencing the weird, wonderful and creative works that such a wonderful medium can bring us. When it comes to wonderful, there are very few names to make that word synonymous with animation as Don Bluth, a former Disney animator striking off on his own in the 80s, he made movies that not only rivalled Disney, but in many cases usurped Disney's throne. The Secret of NIMH and The Land Before Time are fantastic movies that define the medium and show that not all amazing animation has to come from Disney. So what happened in the 90s? In my review of Rock-A-Doodle, I posited the idea that the movies that Don Bluth wanted to make became more passe in the Disney Renaissance and someone pushed him to adapt to the changing landscape of the 90s, and what followed was some of his... more odd film making attempts. Case in point, The Pebble and the Penguin. Why does that line sound so familiar?

The Pebble and the Penguin follows Hubie, an Adélie Penguin who falls in love with a girl named Marina, and wishes to propose to her with a pebble, however he gets tossed aside by another penguin who has eyes for Marina, a big, hulking obviously designed to be the villain penguin named Drake. Hubie must travel across miles of ocean with a new friend, a Rockhopper Penguin named Rocko, to return to the island before Drake can marry Marina, or she gets banished by law. Overall, I'd say the story is... halfway solid. There is an idea here, and it does almost work. What is the biggest flaw? I guess it would be that it's a bit too formulaic, but it's not too bad in that regard. Obvious tropes like the "friends squabbling only to make up later" and the "Fake Out Death" are here, but for a kids movie, the plot isn't all that bad. I guess it could have probably benefited from fleshing out a few things, like for the most part we completely forget about Marina and Drake save for little snippets before the climax.

Maybe it would have been nice to spend more time with the characters, because they have some charm to them. Hubie is a shy but good-hearted guy, and it might just be that I am soft for this kind of character, but I can't hate him, plus he kicks a leopard seal in the face, that's pretty awesome. Marina is kind of bland, but to be fair, they do give a little moment to explain why she likes Hubie, I love it when the unrequited crush is not actually completely unrequited, and it's clear from the get-go that Marina does actually like Hubie. Really, the worst character in the movie is sadly the villain, Drake, who is just a bland and boring entitled jerk, like come on, I don't need uncomfortably buff Penguin version of Gaston. Sadly, it does not help that he is voiced by Tim Curry, and as much as I love Tim Curry, something about this performance didn't quite work, Tim Curry works as the slimy and sinister evil, not really the pompous and arrogant evil. He is more Maleficent brand evil and less Cruella brand.

This is not to say that the voice acting is subpar, for the most part there are some good talents here. Shani Wallis is the narrator and she does have that voice for it, Jim Belushi as Rocko is pretty good casting, and Annie Golden as Marina was actually really good. Plus, there are cameo appearances by names like Will Ryan, B. J. Ward, Pat Musick, Maggie Roswell, and Scott Bullock who is known for his role as Hades in Kid Icarus: Uprising. Really, it is just Martin Short and Tim Curry who I don't fully gel with, Martin Short as Hubie does feel like good casting, he does have a voice that fits the kind of pathetic but lovable character Hubie is, I guess I just can't separate him from B.E.N. from Treasure Planet, which would come out about seven years later.

Then we have the songs, and the songs are absolutely, complete, one-hundred and ten percent okay. They're fine. I'm probably not going to be humming them, except for the Good Ship Misery song, and Tim Curry's villain song is sadly one of the less good songs in the movie, though least good might go to Martin Short and Jim Belushi's duet. I might flip flop on which one is the worst. Really, the biggest problem is just that the songs are just kind of... there. They fill their purpose and do nothing beyond that. I could imagine a soundtrack by Alan Menkin or Elton John, but instead we got Barry Mannilow. Well, I can think of worse people to get for the music of this movie.

Then we have the animation, and if you want a drinking game that will leave you with a hangover that makes you wish alcohol was banned, take a shot every time you notice an animation error in this movie. I've caught a few, characters in the background being frozen, which also happens during song sequences where they should be singing along in, in some cases you might find unfinished animation, I even think Hubie's hat was coloured incorrectly once. That being said, when the animation is actually animated it is pretty good. Don Bluth is a fantastic animator, and while I don't think this is as good as his early stuff, honestly there are times I think it gets close, like within earshot of something like Secret of NIMH. Really, I get the feeling this movie was rushed for a deadline, and if it had more time to get ironed out, this could have been Don Bluth's best movie since the 1980s instead of his least bad movie of his flop era.

Really that is the biggest problem with The Pebble and the Penguin, instead of being his best movie in a while, it's his least bad movie of a bunch, and that is a darn shame. The movie just needed some more time to iron out the wrinkles, mostly in the script and animation. I get why people can be nostalgic about this movie, I see it, I see a really good movie in here, it's just a shame we didn't get that. I'd actually really like to see an early draft script for this movie because I really do wonder what this movie could have been. Imagine a remake with rewritten songs and more time to flesh out the characters but with the same, or similar traditional animation. Still, I should focus on what we have instead of what could have been, and what we have is alright, like I wouldn't mind showing this to kids, I know the endorsement of "There are worse movies" is not a very... high endorsement, but still, I can't see this movie causing any harm.

Movie Review: Dinosaur Adventure - The WORST Animated Feature Ever

So, you might have noticed I'm not doing a lot of Movie Reviews this year. Basically, I've found that I enjoy writing editorials more and they get more views so I decided to step away and take a break from movie reviews. Really, it's a good thing though because after a hundred reviews you kind of start to run out of ways to say things like "This animation is Bad" or "These characters aren't interesting", so really editorials are just easier to write as well. I mean, is there any kind of animation that is so abysmal, so poorly-constructed, so infamous that it could not only reinvigorate my need to be a critic, but also offend me on such a deep level that I can actually be pissed off at what is ultimately an inoffensive and mostly harmless movie? I mean, what kind of movie would exist that is both harmless and completely offensive? It would have to be something so cheap, so poorly made, so transparently blatant that I would have no choice but to review it, but a movie like that could never exist right? Every one who works in any artistic field has to have some amount of love and passion for what they do, even if it doesn't always end up with a good product. Anyway, this is my review of the Dingo Pictures movie Dinosaur Adventure.

And yes this movie qualifies for a review, it's a "technically" review since the movie is under an hour, but over forty minutes.

This is usually where I would recount the plot. So, a young dinosaur hatchling is forced to go to a dinosaur class where they learn that a volcano is about to erupt and destroy their homeland. Nobody believes the teacher, and then the volcano erupts and destroys their homeland, so the last half of the movie is the dinosaur hatchling, their teacher and another friend looking for dinosaur survivors, including the hatchling's parents. Pretty basic plot right? It is, and you know what else it is? So very ungodly boring. Like I was watching this movie with a friend, and I was zoning out so many times because the movie was just so boring, not that it does any good to zone out because by my friend's words, the movie is full of the characters standing around and doing nothing but talking, very little is shown to progress the plot, everything has to be explained verbally. If you are not paying any attention, or you don't have any audio because you're watching this over a Discord call, you might miss some information. Granted most of the information is absolute filler, but you might miss something.

Of course, you may also miss something because of the awful audio mixing and voice acting. I have heard awful voice acting before, but Dingo Pictures productions really take the cake. It really does sound like they pulled random people out of their offices, gave them one take to record something and didn't bother giving them any directions. It also hurts a lot that a lot of the actors speak so softly that they are almost whispering sometimes, it is not too bad in this movie, Animal Soccer World is far worse in that regard because the voice tracks absolutely get drowned out by the music track in that one, but second worst is not that much better. Speaking of Animal Soccer World, the music is lifted right out of that animation. I bet they reuse that music in other productions too, because why bother getting a cheap keyboard at a second-hand store and futzing about on it?

I will give the movie this over Animal Soccer World, it looks somewhat, maybe even partially better. The animation is horrible, some characters look traced from other properties (Cough, The Land Before Time, Cough), some character designs are just absolutely baffling, lip-sync is almost non-existent, There is a scene with a realistic dinosaur skeleton just photoshopped into the environment, movement is stilted, and sometimes the characters heads just vibrate because... animating laughter is hard. However, everything in this movie mostly looks like it belongs, you're not going to get a dalmatian and a jungle panther standing next to a duck biker gang for instance. Still, that may be a knock against this movie because it is absolutely nothing special to look at, like most of the scenes are filled with nothing and are completely barren to look at. Animal Soccer World at least, I can't believe I'm writing this, retained some interest, even if that interest was just by wondering what could be stranger than an anthropomorphic bird in a trench coat or cheerleader pigs.

I mean, you knew all this right? This movie and company are notorious thanks largely to memes. They are worse than Golden Films, WowNow Entertainment, The Asylum, arguably even worse than Vídeo Brinquedo. Is that really fair though? It's not like they're making anything that is genuinely harmful or offensive, they just make cheap kids movies right? Wrong, they make cheap, soulless, transparent cash grab kids movies. I'm fairly certain showing this movie to children counts as child abuse and a violation of the Geneva Convention, and I'm not even being facetious when I say that because watching this movie was torture. I Have never had such an unpleasant movie viewing experience in a long time, and the fact that this movie is just a transparent attempt to swindle people into buying a movie because it looks like another movie, or has something that kids might like on the cover. That is what offends me, that they could not even pretend to care about the movie they were making.

I have said it before that I have less respect for those kind of "-Lite" knock-offs, you know movies like The Swan Princess or Quest for Camelot, movies which are very clearly knock-offs but they have a budget and are released theatrically. I said that I have less respect for those movies than direct-to-video mockbusters, largely it is an elitism thing, I think that there is more meaning and prestige to a movie that gets released theatrically and putting a prettied up mockbuster in theatres is just kind a waste. The truth is I don't really have respect for either, but direct-to-video releases are easier to ignore. Still, I think this might be the least respectable movie I've ever seen, it is also the least good, least entertaining and least redeemable movie I have ever seen. The mere existence of this movie offends me, which is not something I can say about The Misty Green Sky, yes, this movie is worse than The Misty Green Sky. At least that movie had ambition, ideas, I'd even argue passion. Do I even need to say it? This movie gets the rating of "AVOID".

And I didn't even watch the Italian version with the "Yee" meme, I watched the English dub!

Where is the Affection Coming From for Raggedy Ann & Andy: A Musical Adventure?

In may of 2021, I did a review of the 1977 movie Raggedy Ann & Andy: A Musical Adventure, a bizarre and kind of over-stimulating movie that I thought was worth watching solely for the fact that it was one of very few kinds of movies. Weirdly enough, this little cult movie has taken on quite an interesting legacy, as in 2023 a pilot was released for this internet series titled The Amazing Digital Circus, and to say that the show has obvious influences from Raggedy Ann is putting it lightly. It is interesting to me because, this show may have revived the Raggedy Ann fandom, or at least made it more visible. Everyone pointing out references and entire lines taken from the movie, it is quite clear that the movie had left an impact on Gooseworx, enough for them to sneak all the references into their own show. There definitely is a growing appreciation for this movie, and while I cannot say that it is all thanks to The Amazing Digital Circus, I think it helped to put this movie back into the spotlight. Which makes me ask, where does the affection come from?

I think it's pertinent to begin with the movie's reception at the time, because like most cult movies it did not have the smoothest start. From what is documented as a four-million dollar budget, the movie was a massive flop not even coming close to breaking even, this is of course, not the biggest budget or lowest box office returns, Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within had a budget of 137-million dollars and only made up just over 85-million at the box office, but the disparity is still pretty notable. The film also did not do so hot critically, which is not to say it didn't do well critically, Roger Ebert had some positive words on the movie, and another critic even said the movie "Compares favorably with the best of Disney." This is not low praise, however there were criticisms about the story, pacing, characters, and the songs. As of right now (March 12th, 2025 as of writing) the movie has a 6.7 Rating on IMDb and 58% on Rotten Tomatoes. Clearly this is not a movie that everyone will enjoy, but those who do enjoy it absolutely enjoy it.

I must confess, I can't argue with the movie's criticisms, I think the movie does have a sloppy plot, sort of bland characters and an overabundance of songs, I also found the movie to be very overstimulating at points, but with all of that said, I still can't help but love it. I don't think I can put this highly in my list of favourite movies, but I can't think of any other movie that is this level of anything, in my review I said "It's like Yellow submarine dialed up to twelve", and I stand by that, it is a one of a kind movie that I don't think we've seen the likes of before or since, and that is why I admire the movie as much as I do like it. If there was one movie I could suggest you absolutely have to watch at least once, it would be this one, solely because it genuinely is a "You have to see it to believe it" kind of movie, and that is no guarantee you'll like it, I don't think all that many people will like it, but it's just that kind of movie where watching it is an experience, something that really showcases what is possible in animation, and I think this is what a lot of people are gravitating towards.

If I had to hazard a guess as to where the affection for this movie comes from, and I must stress this is simply assumption on my part, I think the affection comes largely from the unique identity of the movie, and the love for bizarre animation. I think people have a craving for things that are weird and more out-there, stuff like a Don't Hug Me, I'm Scared or even a Sam & Max: Freelance Police, and we shockingly get little of that in animation. Yeah, there are weird things in animation, but there is always a grounding in these weird projects that give them a sense of normalcy, and there really is not much of that here. Plus, there also has to be affection for this movie on a technical level, the animation is excellent at points, almost hypnotic, and when the songs are good, they are memorable and well put together. I think affection for this movie also comes from the same kind of affection I have for Ralph Bakshi's Lord of the Rings movie, in that there is an ambitious project here that is not fully realized, but in this case I think it is a lot more realized than Lord of the Rings was.

Given the movie's unique identity, animation and songs, and the ambition of Richard Williams and the rest of the crew, I think the affection this movie has is more than understandable. Of course there is one aspect that has yet to be touched upon; nostalgia. Raggedy Ann & Andy are a big part of a lot of people's childhoods, and seeing as this was the only movie based on the characters, it makes sense people nostalgic about them would gravitate towards it. It also does not hurt that this is probably the best Raggedy Ann animation we currently have, with things like the Fleischer Studios cartoon being kind of sucky, the Chuck Jones shorts being alright, and the 1980s cartoon series being... a thing that exists, the only real competition the movie has are the original books, and maybe the comics. It makes sense that someone feeling nostalgic would probably find this movie, give it a watch and have the bizarre adventure stick in their mind like that annoying commercial jingle that will never go away.

I think it's nice to see this movie kind of given a second life, it's practically one of a kind so I like that it's being pulled out from the obscure abysses. I don't see this movie taking over the internet in the same way that Shrek or SpongeBob or even Bee Movie ever has, but I definitely see a growing fanbase for it. While I can't say it is a particularly great movie, the affection for it is not undeserved in the slightest. Maybe the fanbase will be vocal enough at some point for the characters to come back into popularity, but as for now we have some charming books, some delightful comics, a wild and wonderful movie, and some other animated properties that are nice to have around. Plus that Fleischer Studios short film, that one also exists. If you haven't seen this movie yet, I gave it a slight recommendation in my initial review, but that is still a recommendation, I do not want anyone to pass up the experience of this weird, bizarre, but all around lovable movie.

Analyzing The Simpsons: Is Bart Simpson Actually "Cool"?

We all know who The Simpson family members are as characters. Homer is the dimwitted but ultimately loving father, Marge is the caring but no-nonsense housewife, Lisa is the smart and principled daughter, Maggie is the surprisingly competent baby, and Bart is the cool, trouble-making son. However, is that actually true? I stand by most of what I say about Homer Simpson, I think that beneath his callousness, he is still a good person who cares deeply about his family, and I would love to make a whole analysis on as to why I believe that. However, there has been someone else in the Simpson family that absolutely mystifies me, someone who has such an established persona that I'm no entirely sure is accurate to who the character is. It's time I ask this question in earnest, let's take a page out of Super Eyepatch Wolf and TheRealJims and talk Simpsons; Is Bart Simpson inherently a cool kid?

Now, to begin with, it will be important to define the word "Cool". What is "Cool"? There are a lot of definitions for the word "Cool" which range to unfriendliness, calmness and the temperature. The "cool" definition we're going for is the aesthetic one. Described as "Being compatible with admirable social norms of society or a group of people" by the Oxford English Dictionary, or at least, by Wikipedia sourcing the Oxford English Dictionary. This definition is going to be the big point of contention for this argument, because the perception of what is "Cool" varies from not only group to group, but also person to person. So, it will be good to analyze the kind of culture that Bart Simpson wants to fit in.

First and foremost, Bart Simpson is a rebel, he is someone who likes to act different from the crowd. This is showcased especially in "Bart's Inner Child", where he finds that once everyone starts acting like he does, he is not as fond of it as he thought. This is because, at his core, Bart Simpson wants to stand out, he wants to be noticed. In "Summer of 4 Ft. 2", when Bart sees Lisa trying to make new friends, he does a whole routine to get their attention, even sabotaging Lisa out of jealousy. It's very much in Bart's character that when attention is taken away from him, he doesn't always handle it well. This is why Bart constantly has to pull bigger and more destructive pranks, because the old cherry bomb in the toilet would get old, so to keep the attention on him, he has to do more outrageous things.

On my Tumblr, I put up a poll where I asked this question. Tumblr can be a fantastic place for communities and fandoms, but it is also a total hellhole of a website, plus the poll only got nineteen votes anyway so take it with a grain of salt. On the poll, I gave three options, "Absolutely" Bart is inherently cool, "Well... Kinda" Bart isn't cool, but has his moments, and "No, he's a dork", which should be self-explanatory. Out of the nineteen votes, the majority of voters, 47.4% of them, said "Well... Kinda", falling into the middle where Bart does have his moments of being cool, but overall isn't really a cool kid. 36.8% of voters thought that Bart is inherently cool, while a minority, 15.8% of voters, voted that Bart isn't cool, and he's a dork. To be absolutely clear, I don't vote in my own polls, largely because I want the results to surprise me, and I can't really say I'm surprised by these results. Even if I had one hundred votes, or even a thousand votes, I expect the results would be rather similar, with most people taking the middle ground, but a larger majority saying that Bart is cool. The irritating part of it is that I specifically put "(Explain)" in the options because I wanted to hear people's opinions, and there were only two comments that gave one sentence explanations, and I'm pretty sure one is a role-play blog.

So it's clear that a majority of people do, on some level, think that Bart is a cool kid, and I can see why. Remember, The Simpsons was a big part of the pop culture of the 1990s, so Bart encapsulated a lot of the clichés and stereotypes of disenfranchised youths. Bart was not afraid to disrespect authority, be it his principal, his father, or whoever he sets his mind on. However, I don't think that inherently makes anyone "Cool", being a rebel is not just how you respond to something, but how you stand for something. Bart will pull pranks, do graffiti, put cherry bombs in toilets, but when push comes to shove, he still goes to Church with his family, even though he openly dislikes it and thinks it's rubbish. What I'm saying is, I don't think Bart is actually cool at all, he very clearly does what he does for attention, not for any other reason. He may take a stand for something, sometimes, but more often than not, he's doing something solely for the attention he receives from it.

This may have changed in later seasons, I'm not exactly TheRealJims or The Simpsons Theory over here, but my view of the character is that, he only causes trouble because it gets him attention that he craves. Bart is very much the kind of person who would openly mock a pop-star one minute, and then become their biggest fan the minute they become cool to like. Bart may be a rebel, but he still follows a crowd because that is where the most eyes will be on him, and I don't think that is particularly cool. I think being "cool" is a lot about being true to yourself, but also standing for principles, and being willing to stick to those despite how much others try to beat you back into conformity. When people are mocking you for being Vegetarian, or are trying to force you back into Christianity when you left, and you stand by your principles to defy them, that is what I think is genuinely cool. What I'm saying is, I think Lisa is actually cooler than Bart is.

It's kind of ironic in a sense, Bart, the bad boy rebel who skateboards and disrespects authority is the uncool kid, while Lisa, the over achieving nerd who has few regular friends and spends most of her time alone is the actual cool one. However, that is only ironic on a superficial level, if it's ironic at all, look the word "Irony" is thrown around so much in analysis that it's kind of lost any meaning. Regardless, the point I'm making here is that Bart is really only cool on a surface level.

I think that saying Bart is a "Dork" is a bit much, like I wouldn't put him in the same league as Milhouse. That being said, Bart comes off as someone who is very conscious about his image, so he'll only try something new if others encourage it. Bart is someone who could very easily slip into that "loser" role, become someone who is washed up and desperate for attention. If we were to use an analogy, I see Bart as a YouTube channel that has millions of subscribers, but the content is just kind of bland and same-y, while Lisa is a more specialized niche channel that has large gaps between uploads, but the content is engaging and gets genuine engagement. In other words, Bart is a MrBeast while Lisa is a DefunctLand.

In some respects, I don't think this revelation is really that shocking, there are lots of moments where we get a glimpse behind the curtain of Bart. I think even the writers kind of pegged Bart as a follower in a rebel's jacket from the start, as seen in "The Telltale Head", where Bart almost proudly shows that he cut the head off the Jebediah Springfield Statue, until the bully trio start saying they're going to beat up the person that did it. It makes sense that Bart does things that he thinks will get him the most attention. Really, the idea that Bart is not as cool as he thinks he is, probably isn't that new of a concept, I mean his best friend is Milhouse of all people, the ultimate follower. It kind of says something when hanging out with Martin is an upgrade. I wouldn't go so far as to call Bart a "Poser", mostly because that word is like "Irony" in that it's been thrown around so much it's lost all meaning, but also because I do think Bart does genuinely enjoy the things he does, but it seems like that is more of a perk to doing them than anything else.

Bart Simpson is not a cool kid, that is the main argument I'm making, that is the opinion I am expressing. However, I think the main takeaway here is, Bart isn't uncool because of the things he does, he's uncool because he does things for essentially the wrong reasons. It kind of reminds me of when influencers or celebrities make a statement, there is a difference between Conrad Veidt mandating in his contracts that any Nazi he portrays has to be a villain, and Madonna making the "American Life" album, one is an actor making a demand that others have to follow because of something he believes in, the other is a musician who is making claims and statements to drum up attention and controversy to keep the spotlight on them for just a little bit longer. Bart Simpson is an attention seeking kid who does things predominately for the kind of attention he would get from it, and I don't think that makes him cool. Still, he's cooler than Milhouse, so that's got to be worth something, right?

The Christmas Tree (1991) - The Worst Animated Holiday Special Ever

You know what I haven't done in a while? A "Technically" movie. I love doing these, because if I'm ever feeling burn-out or something, I can always rely on my old standard of "This technically counts". So, the AFI and BFI, those are the American and British Film Institutes, state that a film must be a minimum of forty minutes long to qualify as "Feature Length", so I have a stipulation that any movie that runs over forty minutes but is still under an hour falls under the category of "Technically", and boy was I excited to learn that this counted as a "Technically". I think most people who are in the animation or film review circles on the internet are aware of The Christmas Tree, one of the many animated products of the 1990s that somehow feels like a product of a much earlier time in animation. This movie has a reputation, and sometimes I love watching movies like that, because sometimes, you have to see a movie to really know how bad it actually is. Plan 9 From Outer Space? Not that bad. The Room? Pretty bad. Cat in the Hat? One of the best "So Bad It's Good" movies. Now, I get to scratch another one off my list, because at forty-two minutes, The Christmas Tree does qualify as "Feature Length".

This is one of those movies that I almost guarantee that most reviewers writing about it only sit through about the first ten minutes, because that is more time than you need to figure out every single issue with this movie, honestly the tricky part is where do I start because the problems become apparent with the title and opening credits. I don't normally comment on opening credits, because if you're watching a movie for the opening credits than you're watching it for the wrong reasons. However, I have to comment on this one because, like think of other Christmas specials and their opening credits, they have things like falling snow, winter landscapes, twinkling lights, maybe some cold blues or bright reds and greens. This movie just has a black background, and the music doesn't even have any kind of festive spirit to it, frankly I think that's just a bad omen, if your Christmas special doesn't even have the least bit of Christmas in its opening credits, than how's the rest of the movie going to fare?

Here's a criticism that I don't think anyone has brought up, this special feels like a Philips CD-i game, and I don't just means it looks like one, I mean genuinely it feels like a cheap, early 90s shovel-ware CD-ROM game, the editing, the voice acting, the audio editing, here's a tip for anyone who wants to get into audio editing, always have some kind of a gap between two pieces of recorded dialogue. Does that sound like something that everyone should know even if they're just an amateur screwing around in Audacity? Well, in many cases, you can hear instances where whoever was editing the audio just smashed two takes together without any kind of natural pause. And yeah, let's talk about that animation, because it really does look as cheap as it possibly could. Movement is limited and stilted, facial expressions are weird and uncanny, and lip syncing never matches the vocal track, not that that last point really matters since the voice acting is so awful, the kids are mumbling most of their words and the adults are putting zero enthusiasm into this.

I think the most frustrating thing about this is that the designs are not completely awful. All the kids look distinct from each other, Judy is a fine woman for the most part, and honestly, the backgrounds do look nice, they are the only thing I can look at and make the connection that this movie was made outside of the seventies. It does not convince me that this special wasn't originally meant to be an interactive storybook on CD-ROM though, because the story is undoubtedly the worst part of it all to me. Not the story itself, it's a pretty decent little short story that would make for a classic holiday special, but how the story is told. We get to the Christmas season at eleven minutes into the special and everything before that is just brought up and glossed over, like they want to establish these important plot details, but not actually spend any time to introduce them naturally. It really is just the cherry on top of this crap sundae, and I hate cherries.

I mean, what other rating can I give it except for "Avoid"? It is easily one of the worst animations I have ever seen, like what else is there? Friendship is Witchcraft? 12 oz. Mouse? That SpongeBob Episode where he adopts another pet that terrorizes Gary? Okay that last one may be worse, but this is still up there. It's just so incompetent, the editing, voice acting, animation, there is no quality to this product what-so-ever. One of my favourite critics, Todd in the Shadows, says "The worst is not always the most bad, sometimes it's the least good" and I can't think of anything that is "less good" than this. I almost want it to do something offensive, just to do something that will piss me off, but no, it's just really poorly made. I've seen some really poorly made movies, but I think this is the worst of them, The Misty Green Sky at least had something behind it, I could sense some kind of ambition to it. This has nothing, except the reputation, and I just can't recommend it on any level. This movie gets an avoid.

Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island (1998) - A Perfect Halloween Feature

Scooby-Doo Movies are pretty much a dime a dozen, wow that line feels familiar. Back all the way in December of 2018, I had the itching to watch a couple movies that I was nostalgic about, that is what pretty much started this blog. The second movie I ever reviewed here was Scooby-Doo and the Ghoul School, a charming, if a little sloppy Television Film. However, it wasn't until the late 1990s and early 2000s that Scooby-Doo movies would become dominating, all starting with Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island in 1998, I'm actually not that much older than this movie. I think it's about time that I give a Scooby-Doo movie a better written review, and it should be perfect for Halloween.

The movie actually takes place in a bit of a time jump, if the Mystery Gang is high-school age in the original show, here they're all adults. Daphne, being fed up with how every mystery they solve ended up being a guy in a mask, takes on a different job as a TV Reporter, with Fred being her cameraman. While Daphne desires to find a real ghost, Fred gets the old gang back together as they explore the hauntings of New Orleans. After a montage of duds, they get a tip from a woman named Lena that a local island holds a real haunted house. I like that the plot is not too out of the ordinary for a Scooby-Doo episode, there is still a mystery and still a bunch of ghouls, only this time, they aren't guys in masks this time... well by some technicality the bad guys are people in a mask, but spoilers. The movie really is asking, "What would happen if the Mystery Gang was up against real monsters?" and I think they nailed it.

None of the characters feel out of character here, Velma is still the inquisitive one, Fred has a thing where he always tries to find logical explanations to everything, which is fitting since he's seen all of this before, so, being one of the more logical of the crew, he would try to find logic in everything. Shaggy and Scooby are still Shaggy and Scooby, and Daphne had a bit of an upgrade, going back to the original 1969 series (Yes, Scooby-Doo is that old) I really do struggle to think of what Daphne offers to the group, but in this movie she is very much taking charge, you could say that she's slipped into the leader role of the gang, it's actually kind of refreshing, and it makes sense given the trajectory of the character arcs. Daphne, going into TV hosting, would be taking more a lead role in this case. On top of that, we have some new characters, and I like that they throw red herrings our way with them, though I can't spill too much here, again spoilers.

One thing I also want to comment on is the voice cast, because this is probably as good of a voice cast for the Mystery Gang as possible, Frank Welker being the only person to reprise his role from the original show, and most of the other cast being replaced for one reason or another. Billy West steps in as Shaggy, B. J. Ward steps in as Velma, and Mary Kay Bergman might be my favourite Daphne, I'll have to do a lot of comparisons, but she is currently at the top for me. Don Messick, the original voice of Scooby-Doo, passed away in 1997, so he was the only original actor they couldn't bring back with Casey Kasem refusing to reprise the role unless they made some changes to Shaggy's character (Honestly, it sounds like he was being a bit of a diva), Heather North being replaced after only a day of recording, and Nicole Jaffe being in retirement at this period of time. Anyway, Scott Innes steps in as Scooby-Doo in this movie, and he's pretty good, I grew up with Frank Welker being Scooby, but Scott does a good job. Other voice actors like Adrienne Barbeau, Tara Strong, Cam Clarke and Jim Cummings all do great jobs, and a Mark Hamill cameo is always admired.

What is also worth admiring is the animation, done by Japanese Studio Mook Animation. I have said before that going Direct-to-Video or DVD is usually a better option for movies based on cartoons, because it allows them to keep the style they have without having to give it that "Cinematic Shine", I think this movie is a good balance of the two. It definitely looks better than any other Scooby-Doo product prior, and that is a bit of a curse as much as a blessing. The animation looks great, the zombies look wonderfully decayed, but, and I am fully aware this may just be because I've been reading Uzumaki lately, there were some scenes that did squick me out a little. I wouldn't say this movie is entirely on par with the work of Junji Ito, but there is some light body-horror in here. There were multiple times throughout this movie I just had to squirm and go "Ick!", but in this case I am willing to say that it is a good thing.

And because I know some people will be shocked if I don't mention it, the music in this movie is pretty great. Everyone goes crazy for the song "It's Terror Time Again" by Skycycle, and yeah, it is a pretty great song, though I also quite like "The Ghost Is Here", I think that one should also be put on some Halloween Playlists.

Honestly, I can list Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island as another movie that I am absolutely shocked was as good as it was, I always heard it was good, but I just figured it was good " by Scooby-Doo standards" which by this point has gotten pretty abysmal, but I'll be damned this one was actually good. A solid mystery, great animation, good amount of light-horrors, a rocking soundtrack, and the delightful characters that we've all grown to... well tolerate at this point, but loved back then. I really do think this is a great movie to put alongside stuff like Hocus Pocus or Coraline for a solid Halloween movie night. I'd say it's not as creepy as Coraline, but I'm not a good judge for that considering. Still, if you are tired of the Hocus Pocus and Corpse Bride and you haven't given this movie a chance, put it on, I think you'll be shockingly surprised.

Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland (1989) - Absolutely Superficial, a Beautiful Pile of Nothing

So, I've been getting into comics recently, and I can't help myself, whenever history is involved I have to talk about it, and when it comes to comics and animation, you really can't get more prominent than Winsor McCay. Winsor McCay was the man who you can trace back all of modern animation and comics to. You ever heard of Walt Disney? R. Crumb? Carl Barks? Art Spiegelman? Chuck Jones? Pablo Picasso? All of them were fans of Winsor McCay, mostly his Little Nemo in Slumberland comic strip. I've got to say, these comics are fascinating, but I'm not here to gush about a comic strip from 1905, I'm here to talk about the 1989 film adaptation that... happened. I've talked about this movie before, because it was nominated for the Best Animated Feature Annie, but I didn't really go into any detail due to the fact that I haven't actually watched it at the time, and now that I have watched, I still have to wonder why it was nominated for any Annie Award.

In some respects, the Little Nemo movie is a loose adaptation of the original comics, sort of. Nemo is excited when a traveling circus is coming to his home town, but he's unable to attend as his parents are busy. That night, he is approached by royal servants of the King of Slumberland, whose Daughter invited Nemo as a playmate. However, a shady clown makes Nemo unlock a forbidden door and unleash a nightmare across Slumberland. Strangely enough, there are details in the movie that make me consider this a loose adaptation, it does recreate some of the iconic moments from the comic, like the bed sprouting legs and walking around, and most of the designs are pretty much right out of the comics, for better and for worse, plus they even give a nod to the main gag of the comics of Little Nemo being scolded for eating something before bed. That being said, as much as I can respect the nods to the comic, the problem ultimately is just that a whole lot of nothing really happens in this movie. Even in moments where the action is more intense, it's just not that thrilling. I don't know what the solution to this would be, maybe streamline the story a bit, or shorten it to be a short film, or make a series of short films and compile them as a package film, but this ultimately just wasn't the way.

It is tempting to say this is a case of "Too many cooks in the kitchen" because a lot of people were involved and interested in this movie. Immediately, the ones who were credited include Chris Columbus, Moebius, Ray Bradbury, Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston, and Brian Froud, even people like Brad Bird, John Lasseter and Hayao Miyazaki were involved at one point. However, I am hesitant to say this is the case because, again this movie is just a big lot of nothing, like if this is the end result of too many creatives trying to get their own input into this movie, I don't feel like they were really giving it their A-Game.

Speaking of not giving their A-Game, the Sherman Brothers were responsible for the music here. I don't want to say too much here, because Richard Sherman only recently passed away as of writing this, and let's not let what I say take away the amazing work that the duo have done, I've said it before, but basically all modern movie musicals walk a path that the Sherman Brothers laid with some of the best musical scores in film history... but this isn't one of them. The songs in this movie were pretty bland and it does feel like they were running out of steam by this point. That being said, on the other end of audio, the voice acting is alright. Decently big names like Mickey Rooney and Rene Auberjonois are here, and they do decent performances, but the child actors are mixed, I feel like this was more of an issue directing wise because Gabriel Damon is not a bad voice actor, I mean he voiced Littlefoot in The Land Before Time, but here, he doesn't have the chance to really express his range. Plus we get some cameos from names like Tress MacNeille, Nancy Cartwright and June Foray, which is always cool.

Animation wise, this movie looks fantastic. You can really see the Ghibli influence in things like the facial expressions, the little environmental details and even some of the background textures. I do feel like TMS was the right choice to bring this movie to life, I don't think Disney's style would have been beneficial to this movie. It really needed that extra detail to really make it pop. That being said, some of the designs were pretty weak, like the Nightmare Kingdom just looked like a generic swamp, nothing really creepy or nightmarish about it, even the castle looked like a generic evil castle, and the Nightmare King himself just kind of felt like Chernabog-lite design wise. It is always a shame when the animation is the best part of a movie too, because it's just like, really, this amazing animation was wasted for this writing?

Honestly, I have seen much worse movies, absolutely, however I don't think I've seen any... "Less" movies, I guess "Lesser" would be the proper term but it doesn't feel right. This movie just felt like a big load of nothing, I guess I don't hate it, there are things I can respect and I can see why this movie has garnered a cult following, but like, there really was not a lot this movie had to offer. Mediocre songs, and wonderful, if sometimes uninspired animation don't really add to the entire experience. Honestly, watching this movie, I couldn't help but think about how interesting it would be as one of those 4D Ride attractions at an amusement park, cut out anything that involves the plot, add a motion simulator and you have a pretty neat sounding attraction. Someone should do that, make a VR attraction based on Little Nemo. As for this movie, I do almost want to recommend it, because this is pretty great animation, but the rest of the movie just isn't really worth it, so I'm gonna give it a Not Recommended score, but I am curious to see what else could be done with the Little Nemo property.

First Impressions; Despicable Me, Sandy Cheeks and Ultraman

I have to wonder, at what point can we call a year "Bad" for something, like did people decide that 1980 was the worst year of Pop Music in 1980 or only after a few years have gone by? It's easy to say that 2024 is a mediocre year for animated movies now, but we're just over half-way through, but like, what really has there been animation wise? 2023 was a pretty empty year for animated releases, but at least there were good movies released then. 2023 was no 2022, but it had some good stuff, but what has their been for 2024? There's been Inside Out 2, Which I still have yet to get to, and Kung Fu Panda 4, which seems to have gotten a mixed reception. It's telling when the best animated movies released are sequels and a documentary about a notoriously bad animated movie. Still, we have some new releases to talk about, so maybe we'll see something good?

Despicable Me 4
Released: July 3, 2024
Portion Written: July 28, 2024

I mean… it’s an illumination movie, what more needs to be said? Okay, that is a bit unfair, it's not like Illumination makes movies that aren't worth talking about, it's just... I feel like all my major problems with this movie are the same problems I have with the rest of Illuminations line-up that I've seen, it's just not trying to be anything that great. Granted, this is probably on the lesser side quality wise, and that mostly falls to the story. There is just too much going on, and a lot of stuff that just doesn't really get much of a resolution. The kids have a Karate class and that goes nowhere, the wife becomes a hair-stylist and that goes nowhere, the Minions become super-powered and that also really goes nowhere despite it being the most advertised aspect of the movie. I was waiting for them to show up in the climax and when they appeared I was like, "Ah, this is all this subplot is going to amount to, alright." I mean seriously, the Minion stuck in the vending machine had a more rewarding pay-off.

I feel like the story would have been better if it was just Gru and Poppy or Gru and Maxime, because I can imagine the former being a fascinating character study of Gru deciding whether he wants to return to being a villain or if he wants to stay with his family, and the latter would be a standard, but fairly entertaining, family-comedy film. Do I think this is the worst animated movie of the year? Honestly, no. Illumination movies just don't really get there for me, again they don't try to achieve greatness, and the benefit to that is that they also never hit absolute failure either. I can't really recommend it, but like... it's pretty innocuous.

And if anything, it got "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" stuck in my head, so thanks for that movie.

Saving Bikini Bottom: The Sandy Cheeks Movie
Released: August 2, 2024
Portion Written: August 2, 2024

At least it's better than Sponge on the Run.

Okay, that's a bit harsh, because I'm gonna be honest, I didn't think this movie was awful. There were some gags I actually liked here, even some dumb ones, like they almost felt like classic SpongeBob gags, and I'm not gonna lie, I did like Sandy's family, though I also just like Johnny Knoxville so take that for what it's worth. Is this movie great? No, it does have some issues, some of the effects, most notably the live action mixing were noticeably off and uncanny, the human actors just didn't feel right, the songs aren't really anything I'd want to listen to, I really don't get what the obsession with this stylized Computer Animation is, I think it looks ugly, and the movie is kind of... there. I mean, I wouldn't classify it on the same level as a movie like Mummies, but like, it really isn't something I'd probably come back to, but you know what, it is better than Sponge on the Run. I'll make jokes about its content, like Squidward being a bisexual furry (Only half kidding), but I don't think it's that bad, I can accept this movie's existence as a SpongeBob movie, albeit not a good one. I can't really recommend it on any real level, but like... I can't say I didn't have some enjoyment out of it, I'll go "Slight Recommendation" but take that with a grain of salt.

Ultraman: Rising
Released: June 12, 2024
Portion Written: August 17, 2024 (I watch these sporadically, shut up!)

On some level, I do have to admire this movie. There are elements here I can really appreciate, like the stylized animation, the choice to have a grey morality, honestly even the character relationships and drama I can kind of admire. Despite that though, this is kind of just another one of those movies where I have to ask, "Am I just getting jaded?", because I did kind of peg how a lot of this story was gonna go, for an Ultraman movie, I didn't assume that the movie I was gonna be reminded of most would be Mr. Baseball of all things. Even the animation, though I do recognize it as being of high quality, it often does just come off as Spider-Verse-lite. Still, I can't say this is a bad movie, it's quite well done, it's just, I think I would just rather watch The Sea Beast. I dunno, this was just another movie that failed to grab me, maybe I just had high expectations. Do I recommend it? Yeah, I arguably is one of the best movies I've seen all year, but like... honestly, if this is it, than this year just seems ready to accept the title of "Worst year for animated movies".

The Imaginary
Released: Dec 15, 2023
Netflix Release: July 5, 2024
Portion Written: August 25, 2024

Yet another movie that I just have to ask myself if I'm becoming too jaded or if the movie is just genuinely not that good. Something about this movie just does not entertain me, I dunno, maybe it's how the movie looks, something about the art-style and animation is just not pleasant to me, it's like putting an anime face on a real human head sometimes. Maybe it's the villain, who is holding onto an imaginary friend as an adult, which has a bunch of implications regarding the theme, maybe it's just that I wasn't a huge fan of Spirited Away, that could be a factor too. I dunno, something about this film doesn't sit right with me. I guess I'll withhold a full rating for now because, I mean how can I really rate a movie when I can't describe my reaction towards it? This... is a first for First Impressions, a movie I just straight up can't really articulate myself with, bound to happen sometime I guess.

Yeah, this year isn't looking to great for animated films, and if I'm being honest, I'm not really looking forward to the rest of the line-up for this year. We've got Moana 2, Mufasa: The Lion King, and The Wild Robot, and honestly, I'm most dreading The Wild Robot. Hopefully I'm wrong on that one, but I dunno, this year's track record has been unimpressive so far. I don't even know if I'll be able to do a best list... maybe a "Movies that weren't complete trash" list... I'll think of something.

Two Forgotten 1990s Cartoons; Calamity Jane and Sherlock Holmes

So I've talked about Tubi before, it's another streaming service, but this one specializing in... well let's call it what it is, crap. Tubi is full of stuff that would most likely be pretty cheap to acquire the rights to, and as I have said before, ease of access and quality tend not to go hand-in-hand. That being said, Tubi isn't all full of bad stuff, sure it's where I watched The Misty Green Sky, but I also watched The Point on the service, as well as two shows that have been partially forgotten, and those two shows were quite frankly, not bad at all.

A large part of my interest in media history is wondering why things turned out the way they did, and in this case, why these shows didn't become more popular. So, I wanted to give these shows a sort of review and talk about why I feel they didn't take off, and hopefully give them some more attention. These two cartoons are 1997's The Legend of Calamity Jane, and 1999's Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd Century.

The Legend of Calamity Jane

I'll start with The Legend of Calamity Jane because I watched that one first. I remember ages ago looking at videos from what used to be Channel Awesome, which used to be That Guy With The Glasses. I was fond of many of the creators on that platform, Todd in the Shadows, Linkara, and Suede, formerly That Dude in the Suede. I remember Suede did a video about the Top 11 American Anime Shows, or American cartoons that were heavily anime inspired, and while you had some expected entrees, Samurai Jack, Avatar: The Last Airbender, and Ben 10, there were some more obscure stuff on the list. Number eleven specifically was The Legend of Calamity Jane, and I remember looking up the show on YouTube, this was back when I believe there was a limit on how long your videos could be, and so the available episodes had to be split into parts. Good times... no they weren't.

The series was actually considered Lost Media for a longtime, but in March 2023, yes it was that recent, the entire series has been available on Tubi, all thirteen episodes, and I was excited to finally finish the series that I had started all those years ago, and I'll be honest, I had a really good time.

The show is a heavily fictionalized take on the real like Calamity Jane, and I'm just gonna say this now, if you really don't like the mythologization of the Wild West, y'know stuff like Tombstone, that kind of mythologization, this may not be the show for you, but I think it is pretty upfront with the idea that this is a fictional version, I mean I'm certain that the real Calamity Jane didn't have this long, blood red hair. Basically it's kind of your typical "villain of the week" kind of show, there's a crime Jane needs to solve, she fights the crooks, Jane wins. It's not entirely a wholly unique show, but that isn't a bad thing, especially if you're not wholly unique in the best dang decade for animation prior to the 2010s.

The Legend of Calamity Jane clearly took a lot of influence from the DC superhero shows at the time, Batman especially. That is also very much in tone, though it never got as dark as Batman did, it wasn't afraid to go into heavier places. The first episode begins with a lynching and the final episode has Jane actually coming close to death. Again, it doesn't really get as dark as Batman: The Animated Series did, but I feel a lot of that is more that they didn't have the chance to, rather than they didn't want to. However, there is something else that they took from Batman for this show, the inherent silliness of it. Batman is a silly concept, but we take it seriously because the people who work on it take it seriously, and this show also gets a little silly. Episode two has the villain literally being a Napoleon cosplayer, and the big reveal of episode four is that the villains are triplets.

That all being said, it is a much more serious show than one would anticipate, there are moments, and an entire episode, that do deal with racism, a popular topic of the 90s. Jane often corrects people on using umbrella terms for the native peoples, and episode seven has Jane try to break up a feud between the Blackfoot and a settler who is openly racist.

I feel that one of the other big influences this show took from is very clearly the anime that was starting to become more prominent in the west. I'm not the only one who thinks that the opening sequence of this show is kind of similar to Cowboy Bebop, which wouldn't reach America until a few years after. You can see this in the animation, which looks great, despite the drab colour pallet. The characters all stand-out from each other, and they're all wonderful. The voice cast is surprisingly good for this show, Barbara Scaff is probably the only "unknown" here, Frank Welker, Michael Horse, Tim Matheson and Clancy Brown are all main actors and they all give great performances. I wonder if Frank Welker has any memory of this show.

So, I really did enjoy my time watching this show, but I do have to admit, I can kind of see why it didn't take off. It really does feel like one of those shows that got lost in the shuffle, I mean why watch this show when you could watch Batman? It kind of sucks, but that's how it be sometimes. Some shows really aren't unique enough to get the attention, but don't confuse that for a lack of quality, this show is well written, well designed and all around just a quality show, I can definitely give it a High Recommendation from myself.

Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd Century

I had a similar introduction to this show like I did with Calamity Jane, I watched a video online about "Cartoons that shouldn't be given movies", and this was on that list. Intriguing concept, I must admit, Sherlock Holmes being resurrected into the 22nd Century is a fun idea. I was never really that curious about this show, or maybe it was just that by the time I heard of this show I had learned it was more trouble than it was worth to try and watch forgotten cartoons on YouTube. Like I said, those were not good times.

While I believe that it was simply the fact that it was like other shows at the time is the reason The Legend of Calamity Jane didn't really have the chance to get popular, I think the main reason this show didn't really become popular is because, well... It isn't bad, but I don't really think it's that great, it really did feel like one of those shows you would watch because nothing else you liked was on. It kind of, doesn't really have much of an identity to itself, it's just Sherlock Holmes, except in the 2100s, and that's is kind of the biggest problem with the show.

Each episode is predominantly based on an existing Sherlock Holmes story, and I'm not against that on principle, this show would be someone's entry point into the franchise so I could understand the episodes being adapted from existing stories. The problem is that, not one episode is a truly original mystery, and that does kind of mean that there really isn't much to truly take advantage of the setting. It's just, here's flying cars and robots, and the Hounds of the Baskervilles is now taking place on the Moon, it's not really taking advantage of the entire premise. I could imagine a cyberpunk style Sherlock Holmes, which I guess this was trying to be, but it's not very good cyberpunk.

And speaking of robots, Watson this time around is a robot with a mask, and it is uncanny and frankly kind of gross. It's tolerable when Watson has a coat on, but whenever he is coatless, it's a human head on a robot body and it just looks wrong. Futurama got away with it because their human heads are in jars, so when Nixon is on a robot body, it still looks robotic enough to not be entirely wrong. That being said, he isn't a bad character, I don't think any of the characters here are bad, though Sherlock himself is a bit of an arrogant prick, but he has the abilities to back it up, so whatever. We also have a new Lestrade, Inspector Beth Lestrade, she's hot-headed and often frustrated with Holmes, but there is mutual respect between the two, and I really only mean respect, I did not pick up any chemistry between Holmes and Lestrade beyond work-partners. I guess that is a limitation of the premise though, that we can't really see what everyone gets up to when they aren't solving mysteries.

The animation also isn't that spectacular. It doesn't look bad, most of the time, the 2D animation looks nice, but the 3D integration is pretty rough. It looks okay on the buildings and vehicles, but in other places it is really dated. Which is to be expected from a series that lasted from 1999 until... 2001? Wait, how can that be? This series lasted thirteen episodes right? Actually it lasted twenty-six, it's just that thirteen are what is available on Tubi.

So a lot of my complaints with this show do seem the stem from the limited availability of the remaining episodes, it does appear that full DVD releases of the series do exist, but I can't imagine they'd be easy to find, or cheap. The other question is if they are worth looking for and honestly, yeah, I can kind say they are. This show does have flaws, but I did really get into the mystery elements of the show, I was eager to see how all the clues and deductions would fit together, and I do think that is really the key to any great mystery. I think the main problem was that above all else, the show does have some wasted potential, but for what we do have, I can't say I disliked it. I'm gonna give this a Recommendation.

Honestly, I am kind of glad that these shows are being given the chance to earn a larger audience, even if it is on a service nobody uses. The Legend of Calamity Jane is especially one I'm glad is available to watch because I could really see it garnering the reputation of an underappreciated gem. Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd Century is an interesting premise that I would love to see taken advantage of more than the show did. Overall, I think both shows are worth checking out, and hopefully I'll have someone else to talk about Calamity Jane with.

The Point! (1971) - A Fascinating Piece of Seventies Animation

The 1970s has kind of a reputation when it comes to animation. See, American animation wasn't doing so well this decade for a number of factors including television censorship and Disney was still trying to figure out what to do after Walt Disney himself died. This isn't to say that the decade was devoid of good, or even great American animation, and this decade did give us a lot of unique pieces, like Ralph Bakshi's take on The Lord of the Rings or Richard Williams' Raggedy Ann & Andy movie. However, the decade had plenty of low-points, I won't deny that, but I think it is fair to also point out some of the higher points in animation... uh, no pun intended. Anyway, this time I'm looking at the 1971 Television Movie, The Point, because... I think it's an interesting piece of animation, and it's available on Tubi.

The story is read by a father to his son, the father serves as our narrator for the story of Oblio, a kid born in the land where everything has a point, literally, everything is pointed, except for Oblio. After he beats the Count's Son at a game, the Count calls upon a tribunal to exile Oblio to the Pointless Forest, but as Oblio explores the forest, he finds that it might not be as pointless as it's named. The film is an adaptation of the 1970 studio album of the same name by Harry Nilsson, and the plot is not all the dissimilar to Yellow Submarine, in that a lot of it is mostly just there to take you from one musical segment to the next. It ain't bad though, I also really like the themes of the story, Oblio ascribing a point to everything even when he's told it's pointless, and there are even some underlying themes at the beginning, with Oblio being exiled for how he was born, one could make the connection between this film and the struggles that people in minority communities, ethnic minorities, disabled and LGBTQIA+ groups especially, have to endure.

I also have to comment on the musical sequences, because they are very unique. This film was done in the early seventies, so the sixties wasn't completely over yet, in a cultural sense really, so you get a lot of bizarre, trippy almost avant-garde musical sequences. That Yellow Submarine comparison wasn't just made for no reason, there was a point to it (Pun intended), because this movie is kind of Yellow Submarine-Lite, and you can see that in the animation. While I love the musical sequences, the animation is very obviously seventies quality, flat colours are everywhere, character designs are pretty basic, lip sync is more like lip-stuttering, basically it looks like what you would imagine a made-for-TV movie from the 1970s would look like. I can't say it's ugly though, on the one hand, I've seen ugly, but on the other hand, it doesn't look unappealing, I never wanted to look away or hated looking at this movie at any point. I dunno, I guess it's middle ground, not great animation, but I have seen way worse.

The characters are pretty charming. Oblio does feel like a real kid, he's curious, kind and interested in the world around him. Seeing as he is the character we spend the most time with, it is good that he has some personality. The other oddities Oblio meets are interesting too, a Rock Man, a Leaf Man who produces leaves to sell, and The Pointed Man, all of their scenes are fascinating. I also should give credit to the voice actors, and a lot of these voice actors are iconic names, golden age voices like Paul Frees, June Foray, Lennie Weinrib and Joan Gerber, these are definitely names that any fans of animation and animation history would, or at least should know, and they are all excellent in their roles, even if Paul Frees has nearly half of the entire cast of characters to voice. Plus, Ringo Starr narrating this version of the movie is a treat, there are other broadcast versions narrated by folks like Dustin Hoffman and Alan Thicke, but Starr's narration is what is available on the Home Release version.

The Point really is a fascinating film, it's one of those productions that you don't really see to often, a unique specimen of music and animation. I can't say it's as strong as Yellow Submarine, but I think it is a much more digestible version, something that kids could watch without being too weirded out. It's another movie that really has a lot of charm to it, charming characters, animation, and plot, but it's really the themes of the story that I think hold this movie together the best. I do think this is something that any animation fan really needs to see, the themes of having a point, I feel, can also reach people on a deeper level, something more philosophical, and beyond that, it's available on Tubi, and probably elsewhere online, so the only real cost is about an hour and fourteen minutes of your time. I can definitely recommend this movie, I think it absolutely deserves to be looked at as more than a curio from the lesser era of American Animation.

Franklin and the Turtle Lake Treasure (2006) - A Wonderful and Respectable Adventure For Young Kids

 

Hey, It's Franklin! Yeah, I wanted to do something else that was relatively easy to review because, movie review last week, but I'm getting back on schedule, as a bonus for me it's another movie based on a property for preschoolers. I remember watching Franklin growing up, if I remember correctly I even had a Build-a-Bear turtle that I named Franklin, I think I preferred Franklin over Little Bear as a kid, but I don't actually remember too much about it now, I remember some episodes, but I think Little Bear just kind of stayed with me longer. To be fair though, Franklin had the better theme song, sung by Canadian icon, Bruce Cockburn (pronounced KOH-burn). Anyway, I wanted something familiar to review this week, so I chose Franklin, and as another bonus, this movie is available on YouTube via the officialfranklin YouTube channel and the Treehouse Direct YouTube channel.

Franklin finds his Aunt Lucy has returned to Woodland, and brought her Goddaughter, Sam along. Wanting a real adventure before the summer ends, Franklin and Sam are given an old map drawn by Franklin's Grandmother that lead to a small time capsule she buried when she was a kid. Seeing the old map causes her to remember a tragic event in her childhood. When she later falls ill, Franklin, Sam, Aunt Lucy and his friends Beaver, Bear and Snail, travel to Turtle Lake to find the time capsule, and the talisman that was inside of it. I really have to respect this movie a lot, beyond the fact that the plot is well structured with few diversions from the main plot, and even then they keep in the spirit of the theme so they aren't that big. The fact that the story does go to such a dark place, it does not hide the fact that Franklin's Great Grandparents didn't make it out of the fire. I admired The Little Bear Movie because it did not shy away from the dangers the characters could face on their journey, and similar can be said about this movie.

I feel like I should talk about things like this because, animation has a reputation amongst certain audiences as solely being for kids, unless it specifically goes out of its way to be raunchy and violent, and that does lead to a certain kind of image. I've ranted about this in the past, movies like Mummies, UglyDolls, Robinson Crusoe, Open Season, movies that are just uninterested in being anything other safe entertainment for children, stuff that doesn't stick with them as they grow up. Now, I'm not saying we should be letting children watch Felidae or anything, but there are plenty of kids movies that take risks, that go into darker places, and it always irritates me when a movie like Open Season or UglyDolls is made, because here is a movie for the same, arguably a younger demographic, and it takes more risks, it makes children experience harsher emotions, possibly more confusing ones. If Franklin the Turtle can take more risks and go darker places than your kids movie, you better hope that movie has some other strength to it, because that is frankly embarrassing.

The characters are charming, Franklin, Bear, Sam, they feel like genuine kids, and they have problems like kids too. Bear has a moment where he feels Franklin is putting someone else over their friendship, and it comes from an understandable place. I also like all the odd characters they meet, they all have their charm and even some kind of magic to them. If you are familiar with the old cartoon, I don't believe there is much difference between the characterizations. Also, Snail is just really adorable. What I can also praise this movie for is the animation. I'll be honest, I do like it when an animation style is polished for a movie, and the movie just has a warm and visually pleasing look to it. The only downside is that both official YouTube uploads are locked at low quality rates, with the Treehouse Direct upload only being 480p. So I would recommend finding this movie on DVD if possible, but if you don't mind 480p YouTube quality, the movie still looks good, just not as good as it could look.

I really was surprised by Franklin and the Turtle Lake Treasure when I first watched it, I love watching movies like this because they really do shoot the whole idea that these movies have nothing good for anyone after a certain age in the foot. Sure, kids will absolutely love the adventure and the pretty visuals, but I feel grown ups will have an appreciation for the story, the character moments, the theme, and the artistry. It really is one of those movies that I believe children that grow up watching will have an appreciation for animation afterwards. Put it up there with The Little Bear Movie and Blue's Big Musical Movie as something perfect to show really young kids. I would probably put this under Blue's Clues, but above Little Bear. All in all, Franklin and the Turtle Lake Treasure is a wonderful movie for kids, and I absolutely recommend it for kids and parents.

Sleeping Beauty (1959) - Disney's Silver Age Equivalent of Frozen

 

Okay, I am back from my trip and as you can imagine, I didn't have a lot of time to really pick a movie. In situations like that, I like to do a review of one of my comfort movies, unfortunately I've kind of already reviewed all of them, The Emperor's New Groove, The Nightmare Before Christmas, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, so I figured I would do the next best thing and review a movie that I was still familiar with. I have made comments about Sleeping Beauty in the past, and I already reviewed that Maleficent movie a while back, so I figured it was about time to really put my full opinions out there. I have described it as "Classic Disney's equivalent of Frozen" or something to that extent. What do I mean by that, and is that really a bad thing?

The famous story of Sleeping Beauty is a classic Fairy Tale, we all know it, and Disney does a pretty fair retelling of the story. At a celebration of the birth of the Princess Aurora, the evil Fairy Maleficent curses the princess to prick her finger on a spinning wheel's spindle and die. To protect the Princess, the three good fairies, Flora, Fauna and Merryweather, take Aurora into the woods and disguise her as a peasant girl. On her sixteenth birthday, the Fairies intend to return Aurora to her father, so she can be wed to the Prince Philip. However, Maleficent manages to find out and thwarts their entire plan. I think a lot of people may view this as a particularly weak story, and I won't really disagree, but at the core of this movie is a fairy tale, and most of those are not particularly strong or deep stories. As a fairy tale, Sleeping Beauty does do a decent job of telling the tale. I don't think it's as strong as Cinderella, but I can imagine a worse telling of this story.

Another thing people might, and have, criticized this movie for are the characters, particularly the leads... sort of. Aurora and Philip are not the most interesting characters in Disney history, and honestly I don't really know if I can truly call them "The leads". It really does feel like the real "leads" of this movie are the three good fairies, they're the ones that have the biggest discussions, the big dilemmas, even arguably something of an arc. Even then, I wouldn't say they're the best characters in the movie, and you know exactly who I think that honour goes to. Maleficent is easily one of Disney's best villains, and she really has the best of everything in the movie, she has the best design and the best performance. Not that the rest of the performances are bad, but Eleanor Audley absolutely steals the show with this performance, in fact I think this is better than her performance as Lady Tremaine. I feel I should also talk about the two kings, King Stefan and King Hubert, but I feel they could have mostly been cut from the movie.

On the topic of "The best of the movie", I think we can all agree that Sleeping Beauty is one of Disney's most beautiful movies. I've heard it described as "Disney's Living Tapestry" before in a 2019 Article headline by Jen Seggio for moviebabble, and I got to be frank, I absolutely agree. The artstyle and design work is genuinely some of the most gorgeous work of the Disney Crew in this era, if I had to rank all the pre-Death era movies by how beautiful they looked, I think this would top the list, or it would tie with Fantasia. Speaking of, the music in this movie is alright, the backing score is fantastic, but I think the songs are not the best. Actually, that is not entirely accurate, because their is really only one real song throughout the entire movie, and it's repeated like five times. Even the best Disney songs I don't really want to listen to at five points in the same movie. It's a shame because Once Upon a Dream is genuinely a decent song, like I probably should have given it an honourable mention on my list of favourite Disney songs, and there are two other songs in the movie, but they aren't very memorable.

I think I kind of laid out why I view Sleeping Beauty as the Pre-Death equivalent of Frozen, it's an okay at best movie with a weak story and mostly weak characters, but the animation is really great, and it has that one song that overshadows the rest. The only real difference is that Sleeping Beauty has a fantastic villain, while Frozen does not. Still, I don't think that makes this movie "bad" per se, just not one I think I'd actively choose to watch very often. I can imagine this being someone's comfort movie, like the movie you put on when you're having a bad day or are just really sad. Honestly, I get that, I wouldn't argue that Muppet Treasure Island is the best Muppet movie, but it is still one of my biggest comfort movies. It's kind of hard for me to recommend as a movie, but at the same time I can't really not recommend it, I do think it's one of those movies you need to see at least once, so for that, I'll give it a Slight Recommendation. Not a great movie, but I'm glad I had the opportunity to see it.