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Random Non-Disney Animated Features; Especially the ones from before the revival
Topic Started: Apr 3 2013, 10:43 PM (589 Views)
CliffClaven
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1001 ARABIAN NIGHTS; UPA 1959

UPA's first feature looks oddly unambitious, albeit good natured and attractively designed. Mr. Magoo is the uncle of Aladdin, the bland and barely defined hero (he's terrified by the sexy bridal prospects set before him, but he falls in love with the Princess at first sight). The Wicked Wazir has embezzled the Sultan into poverty and can now command the hand of the Princess; he also uses Aladdin to help retrieve the magic lamp.

The difference is that Magoo foils the Wazir's plans and saves the day, all the time unaware his dog Bowser is actually a cat (a carry-over from the TV shorts), that a magic carpet is carrying him over the city, that the Wazir is trying to kill him, etc.

An okay film, and amusing to compare to other takes on the same story. Aladdin and the Princess are both cyphers, but Magoo is in fine, full bluster with the voice of Jim Backus; and individual gag sequences are fun, even if they don't really add up to a compelling story.
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CliffClaven
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HEIDI'S SONG; Hanna-Barbara, 1982

Whoa. This is really sort of a mess, feeling as if several people were making several different movies and trying to force them into one piece.

Little orphan Heidi is dumped on her grumpy goat-farming grandpa. She grows on him, and befriends the local animals and a young goatherd. Then her obnoxious aunt takes her to the city to be the companion of a slightly older girl, confined to a wheelchair by her scheming governess and butler. Heidi cheers up her new friend by smuggling in a litter of destructive kittens. She's locked in a basement full of realistic rats, one of who suddenly does a wildly anachronistic number with the voice of Sammy Davis Jr. Heidi's animal friends, summoned from the mountains by a baby owl who follows Heidi around, arrive to beat up the rats. They all go to the mountains, where the crippled girl rises from her wheelchair to fight off a huge hawk trying to carry off Heidi's little goat friend.

It's a bizarre brew. There's craftsmanship and ambition here, but there's a definite Hanna-Barbara vibe throughout -- "serious" Hanna-Barbara, as seen in "Charlotte's Web" and some of their later shows and specials. At some points it's supposed to be naturalistic. Then a character does a musical number with his horse, who dances like Scooby Doo on two legs; followed a little later by that singing rat. Early on there's a nightmare sequence involving mythical forest things that's just sort of there. And there's an oddly creepy song where the crippled girl fantasizes herself into a young woman for a romantic waltz with a handsome stranger.

It's fascinating in a where-did-this-go-off-the-rails kind of way, with wild changes of tone and a handful of WTF moments.
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Sgt King
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Without a doubt my favorite non-Disney animated feature is "The Iron Giant." Try it - you'll love it.
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CliffClaven
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THE WACKY WORLD OF MOTHER GOOSE; Rankin Bass 1967

The major Rankin Bass identifiers are here: A celebrity voicing a caricature of herself (Margaret Rutherford as Mother Goose); character designs by Mad artist Paul Coker Jr.; perky songs with a old variety-show vibe; and a story intent on literalizing some holiday or childhood lore.

Unfortunately, it's no "Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer" or "Mad Monster Party". Made for theatrical release -- seriously -- at the height of Rankin Bass's success, it's not nearly as good as their TV specials of the same period. It makes "The Daydreamer" look like a real movie.

The songs are listless (in one scene Rutherford simply recites what was obviously intended as a song), the dialogue dull, the voices bland and the pacing slow (as if nobody saw the script before that moment). The drawn animation is indifferent at best (right off the bat we get a character telling Mother Goose how terrified he is, and he smiles throughout). And it runs over an hour. I was reading the Sunday paper while watching it and was still bored.

Here's the plot: Mother Goose is going to visit a sick relative on the moon, flying her pet goose. She's evidently some sort of wizardess whose magic protects the land. Once she's gone, the evil crooked man and his unfunny comic sidekick kidnap the generic princess and her halfwit boyfriend to force Old King Cole to give up his throne. Little Jack Horner and Contrary Mary go on a quest to find Mother Goose. A chorus sings whenever a nursery rhyme is enacted. Mother Goose returns in time to defeat the crooked man in a boring aerial goosefight, Humpty Dumpty has a great fall and Mother Goose restores him. We end with a feast where the big laugh is the halfwit tipping over his glass.

A film for very young, very undiscerning children you don't like.
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CliffClaven
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A few more curios we can sort of whip through:

LEGEND OF BRAVESTARR: Intended to launch Filmation's last big series, it's surprisingly lavish -- for Filmation, anyway -- and more fun than it has any right to be. On the planet New Texas, a sort of pre-steampunk western society is threatened by the supernatural Tex Hex, pawn of a sort of giant demon called Stampede. Enter Bravestarr, a laid-back Native American lawman with mystical powers, and a bunch of action-figure-ready friends and foes. Some stuff falls flat, some story points are not quite coherent, but it delivers unironic Saturday morning fun by way of B westerns. The DVD I found has some episodes of the actual series -- not as good, despite some ambitious stories -- plus a commentary and some special features about Filmation, a studio reviled for trashy shows but remembered fondly.

PANDA AND THE MAGIC SERPENT: 95¢, which seems about right. Sort of a pre-anime, a Chinese folk tale rendered with some technical skill and almost nothing else. What works in a story spoken aloud or read on a page doesn't work onscreen. Disney knew to give Snow White and all the dwarves personalities and agendas; here we have two bland lovers and some not-amusing-enough little animals draining any interest out of the tale of a young man and the spirit of a snake (in the form of a woman) who fall in love, and are divided by a magician who despises spirits. There are some flashes of interest in the story, but too few and far between.

THE THREE MUSKETEERS: This particular one carries the name of John Halas as director and was a British-Italian co-production. Halas, a major British animator with "Animal Farm" on his resume, probably didn't put this sorry mess on his resume. An increasingly grating song, "Wake Up, It's a Lovely Day" is relentless repeated; slapstick duels and battles are ineptly and stupidly executed (Athos is supposed to be in serious peril; he happens to be carrying his horse like a papoose at that moment); and there are all kinds of WTF details you suspect were left over from another version. An owl attaches himself to D'Artagnan as a supposedly comic mascot; in one brief scene he flirts with what seems to be a hooker pigeon. Cardinal Richelieu has a cat who evidently whispers detailed reports to him; Richelieu also has a magic ring that momentarily stuns man and beast (and is only used in one scene early on). The Musketeers are not too surprised to stumble across a battle between French and British troops en route to Paris (and after a series of unfunny gags including men falling dead, the war is completely forgotten).

MAN FROM BUTTON WILLOW: Remember seeing in a theater as a child; also remember stills in Jack and Jill Magazine. Very much a curio; can't help but feel a lot was cut or simply not filmed. Begins with a live-action Dale Robertson riding up to the camera ("Some of you may remember me from 'Tales of Wells Fargo'...") and explaining Justin Eagle is a secret undercover agent fighting villains who drive settlers off their land so they can gouge the railroads. Then the animation starts and we almost forget about this for a long stretch, as Justin, crusty old sidekick Sorry, and adopted little Chinese daughter Stormy return to their strangely ornate ranch inhabited by too many animals, all with some kind of backstory or quirk that's spelled as if it's going to figure. A newborn colt has to be saved from a mountain lion by his father, the faithful dog and a pet skunk. Sorry sings two songs. In town, Justin is harassed by a pushy matron with matrimony on her mind. He also notices the villainous landgrabber and his whip-wielding henchmen hanging about. There's a single scene where the two villains reveal they're in town to hamper Justin somehow, but we never see them again. Finally, Justin is summoned to San Francisco to rescue a kidnapped senator; he gets his orders during a coach ride where the coachman is very obviously eavesdropping (another detail that won't figure later on). Justin allows himself to get shanghaied onto the boat where the senator is held, then defeats the entire crew in mediocre combat. Back at the ranch, Justin puts Stormy to bed while a voiceover explains the landgrabber and henchman were arrested back in San Francisco. Footage of Justin riding his horse as we hear another song. The End. The animation is decent, but not stellar. Some nice stuff here and there, but ultimately doesn't deliver on its promises, general and specific. You got a henchman with a whip, he has to meet your hero. You introduce a story of cowboy spy action, you don't spend more than half the movie with your hero off camera while a bunch of animals have an unrelated adventure. And why waste two scenes on that unpleasant lady?
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CliffClaven
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FOODFIGHT (2005?)

The Onion AV Club's take:
http://www.avclub.com/articles/cringe-as-mascots-for-the-worlds-most-beloved-bran,88212/

Howlingly awful CGI film: Bad animation, worse character design, and a botch of a story. And it doesn't really deliver on the main promise: All your favorite corporate mascots in a wacky adventure. At best you get a handful of cameos ("Sorry Charlie"). Most of the "icons" are ugly made-up ones since no sane corporate exec is going to let, say, Snap, Crackle and Pop do fart jokes. Or make gay overtures to a chocolate squirrel. Or get killed (seriously, although they offer an implausible out at the very end).

The hero is a dog detective, supposedly a breakfast cereal mascot. When he misplaces his too-young-seeming girlfriend -- a blonde girl with cat's ears, featured on a raisin box -- he quits the detective biz and opens a nightclub where the California Raisins sing and the Hawaiian Punch guy punches somebody. Lots of the expected bad puns and grocery references; a lot of overexplained yet unsatisfying plot and backstory. The idea that the villains represent the Brand X line of products is cute; the heavy-handed Nazi parallels are not.

Serious students or even moderately conscious fans of computer animation will enjoy yelling and hooting at it. Cartoon Brew has explored the film's history. After years in legal limbo it's on DVD. I found it used (already) for $3.95; worth it for the curiosity factor.
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CliffClaven
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THE SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS MOVIE (2004)

Finally caught up with this one on clearance. I can take or leave the show itself -- some episodes are better than others, but it's usually amusing and manages to be eccentrically clever without being smug or more than mildly gross. The movie is basically an episode of the series writ large. If you get a few giggles out of the TV version, you'll find the movie engaging, immature nonsense .

Where the show begins with a painting of a pirate singing the theme song, this begins with a shipload of live-action pirates offering an intentionally cheesy rendition before storming a theater to see the movie. The plot centers on the villainous Plankton framing Spongebob's boss Mr. Krab for stealing King Neptune's crown, in order to steal a recipe and rule the world. Neptune's mermaid daughter Mindy, a hired killer named Dennis and David Hasselhoff fill out the main cast. Spongebob's semi-girlfriend Sandy (a squirrel in a diving suit) is relegated to a cameo. But the primary action is Spongebob and his idiot pal Patrick on a heroic quest to prove they're Men, saving Mr. Krab and ultimately liberating their entire hometown from Plankton's mind-control buckets.



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CliffClaven
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BABES IN TOYLAND (1996)

Cute orphans Jack and Jill come to Toyland to live with their evil Uncle Barnaby, who throws them in an attic and focuses on his schemes to close down the toy factory because he hates toys and happiness. Buff young Tom is the master toymaker; the factory owner is pretty and sensible Mary (who has a little lamb). They're obviously close and flirty, but Humpty Dumpty, our approximate guide and narrator, says they've yet to realize their mutual attraction. Barnaby hires a couple of scalawags to sabotage the factory and later to feed the orphans to the goblins. When those schemes fail, Barnaby leads the goblins into Toyland to eat everybody, but Tom's giant toy soldiers save the day.

An MGM direct-to-video that doesn't quite make it. It's well designed, much better animated than television, and on the surface radiates talent and professionalism. But the script is clumsy and more than a little cheesy; songs are lame despite good vocals (only "Toyland" and "March of the Toys" survive from Victor Herbert), and it ends up playing as a weak imitation of its obvious forebears.

One forebear is "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?", which was packed with anthropomorphized objects and buildings to evoke 30s cartoons. This version of "Babes" is also heavy on them, but they don't add anything to the plot or the fairy tale mood. They're just . . . there.

There's also a very definite Disney vibe, as if executives studied all the post-Mermaid films and handed down a checklist (strong heroine who looks a bit like Belle, check. "I Want" song, check. Showy comedy voices, check. Scary scene, check . . . ).

Finally, we have the whole attack-on-Toyland climax from Laurel and Hardy's version. Early on, Tom makes an army of giant toy soldiers -- now tricked out with weaponry and firefighting equipment -- because Santa ordered them that big (At the end Santa laughs and shrinks them to fit into his sack; no hint whether Tom got the order right or wrong). The bogey men are replaced with demonic-looking goblins, who actually talk about eating human beings. There are specific shots and gags that are obviously shoutouts to L&H fans, but it still comes off more as off-key imitation than tribute. The goblins fear light but carry torches to set buildings on fire; the whole battle looks like a half-dozen goblins and soldiers are running around a deserted backlot.

To be fair, I've yet to see a version of "Babes in Toyland" that didn't disappoint except for the Laurel and Hardy version, and that was more a comedy than an operetta. I'd rank this ahead of the Drew Barrymore version (hilarious for all the wrong reasons) but behind the Disney version (it falls apart when they get to Toyland, but for boomers it's dripping with pure Sunday-night Disneyness). Shirley Temple's one-hour TV version is basically a long variety show skit, notable mainly for Shirley herself, burying her grown-up beauty under makeup to play a hammy comic witch. Her jokes are lame, but she seems to be having a grand old time.
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CliffClaven
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PINOCCHIO IN OUTER SPACE (1965)

This got a nice Image release a few years back, with an audio commentary by the still-proud producer and a few bits of production art. Intriguingly, there was a drawing of a float for the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. I think I would have remembered seeing that, if it existed. I DO remember commercials for the movie itself, an American-produced, Belgian-animated oddity that runs a tad over an hour.

It begins with stock footage under an Ed Wood-type voiceover stating that this story draws on Scientific Facts -- sort of. We then learn that Pinocchio reverted to a puppet for backsliding, and is trying to reform himself so the Blue Fairy might give him another chance (The Blue Fairy is telling her mother the whole flashback). Gephetto sends him off to school with his last quarter as lunch money, and the Fox and the Cat (the latter a stuttering 50s beatnik) promptly sell him a hypnotism pamphlet for 25¢. Pinocchio decides he can hypnotize Astro, the mysterious space whale who's been orbiting the earth and smashing satellites. This portion of the film, modern dress aside, tries for a fairy tale vibe and subjects us to three songs in quick succession.

Then Pinocchio meets Yertle, a space alien turtle with a lousy sense of direction. He's trying to get to Mars to investigate mysterious radiation, and figures Pinocchio for an expert because he knows Mars is the FOURTH planet from the sun. They find a the ruins of a Martian city, and beneath it caves where sand crabs, lizards and other small Earth critters have grown into gigantic hungry monsters because of a radioactive diet. Pinocchio figures out that Astro came from here, escaping and smashing the city above (and presumably rendering the martians extinct) before heading off to bedevil NASA. They barely escape themselves before a sandstorm and an earthquake causes sand to reach the nuclear reactors, which of course causes a nuclear explosion.

En route back to earth, their rinky-dinky ship is swallowed by Astro. On a tip from the Blue Fairy, they escape through the blowhole (which is usually spewing fire like a rocket to power Astro forward). A bent fin causes their rocket to follow a corkscrew path, which hypnotizes Astro. Pinocchio risks his little wooden life to bend Astro's blowhole appendage forward, so it'll act as a retro rocket and prevent Astro from incinerating on re-entry. Then we get a sorry attempt to clone the deathbed scene from Disney's version, and we end with a carnival where a drunk-looking astro is tethered like a balloon and Yertle takes off for home.

There are a few Scientific Facts scattered about: Re-entry causes heat; solar flares mess up equipment; puppets don't need helmets; and the surface of Mars is covered with sand. Everything else is cartoon logic, if that. And the Mars sequence has a depressing 50s sci-fi vibe, with uninhabited ruins and heavy-handed Lessons (sort of blurred in the dialogue to stay kid friendly).

Not an exciting film, and definitely not educational (despite the producer's touching belief it was). The animation is okay, with an odd not-quite-anime feel. While there's nothing unduly awful beyond a few moments of running from giant creatures, I'd hesitate to show this one to small children. But it might be a hoot for slightly older kiddies who know anything about science.
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