Don Bluth

All righty, I'm firing up a sequence of related Top Ten Tuesdays focusing on one of my favorite art forms - animation. I'm going to start off by saying that animation (from the outside) seems a confusing business. There are animators, directing animators, and animation directors.... all of which are different jobs. Of course, some overlap and many directors have a special touch. But today I'm focusing on someone who rose up through the ranks as an animator and became a director - but he has such distinct style that you can pick out his involvement no matter what role he is filling*: Don Bluth. I'm serious about that distinctive bit. Curious? Watch The Rescuers, Secret of NIMH, and An American Tail, all three star mice so you can really notice the similar movements. My other litmus test? Toss the character into some moving water and watch how they come up for air. THAT is super distinctive, but wouldn't you know it, no one has bothered to put together a compilation for me.

*almost - his earliest work is exempt... and the dreaded DD

10. Rock-A-Doodle (1991)

Why, yes. That rooster does call Elvis to mind.

So... there is a well known truth among Bluth fans. Movies he direct fall into three categories. The first two catagories are ah-mazing and ah-bomination, more on the third category later. This one is the first movie in his downward spiral and therefore the least painful to encounter. There is plenty of energy and color. Plus, the designs are fun and unique, I mean an Elvis wannabee that's actually a rooster? Gold. Alright, maybe not gold, but definitely not the turd that the next several films would be.

9. The Fox and the Hound (1983)

Wait, Disney? Yup. Don Bluth worked as an animator for the Disney Corporation, a pretty popular one at that. Part-way through the production of this film he up and left - taking a good chunk of the animation staff with him. This betrayal was a real punch in the gut to Disney and EXACTLY what they needed. He was right, Disney was getting stale. The formation of a rival company forced them to up their game. His bits were limited to basically the minutia of Widow Tweed's life - milking a cow, playing with Tod, shooting a gun, and... nope that's it. But the legacy begins here, shooting it up the list.

8. The Rescuers

Bluth worked for Disney beginning in the late 1950s on movies like Sleeping Beauty and Robin Hood, but in my mind this is where the real Bluth style begins to show in earnest. I guess mice are kind of his thing. Anyway this a fine film and it certainly kept Disney chugging along a little longer at a time when they were about to fold up. Seriously the history on this film is fascinating and I've seen more than one source crediting it with saving Disney, seems ironic that it's directing animator would leave partway through the next film to form a competing company.

7. The Small One

I've only seen this gem a couple of times, but it is really lovely. It has a lot of the characteristic Disney design but with a heaping helping of Bluth. Plus it is Christmas, and really, who can resist that? Additionally, it is really the first project where Bluth got to practice his directing skills. It isn't a feature film but rather a short, check it out next Christmas.

6. All Dogs Go to Heaven

Don Bluth has a policy that kids can handle anything... as long as there's a happy ending. And he is playing that card to his fullest ability in this film. Death, homelessness, child exploitation, child endangerment, and the mob(?) to name a few things in the film. It has a dark color palette to go with it's dark themes. Unfortunately this was the final AUTHENTICALLY BLUTH film to be released. His art style would appear in a couple more films, but his original approach to stories was about to fade away.

5. Anastasia

So here's that third category I spoke of earlier - Diet Disney. But in fairness Bluth's Diet Disney beats the pants off most others in terms of quality. Don't expect any historical accuracy here, but you can expect a great villain, handsome leasing man, and a thumping good soundtrack. While I like the movie it isn't one that you can peg right off as a Bluth film - because with Diet Disney he simply tries to copy the look and feel of a Disney movie.

4. Bartok the Magnificent

This could easily snuck onto the guilty pleasures list. Don Bluth's films have a reputation for generating sequels, and not just sequels - but sequels completely different from the original film. But this is the only one Bluth was involved with. Is it a more outstanding film than Anastasia? Heck no. Do I like it better for no apparent reason? Heck yes. The art style has only the briefest shades of Bluthiness but it is very welcome. And the story is totally insane, not as dark as Bluth-classic but a little off of Diet Disney.

3. Secret of NIMH

Many people consider this film the height and glory of Bluth's career. I love it but I prefer to believe that the man didn't climax on his first outing. (I also never experienced it until high school.) This is the film that launched a career away from Disney - and made Disney realize that they had competition. Not a box office success by any means (opening the same time as E.T.) but garnering crazy positive reviews from the critics describing it as 'beautiful', 'thoughtful', and 'interesting'. I imagine it had a few Disney execs sweating.

2. An American Tail

If Secret of NIMH made Disney sweat then An American Tail was causing panic attacks. It beat the record for highest grossing animated film set in 1977 by... The Rescuers. Produced by Steven Spielberg (the E.T. competition) he apparently asked Bluth to create, "something pretty, like you did in NIMH." The marketing for this film was much better and resulted in a great box office success. About this time Disney started shaking up the way they worked and a new project was about to begin...

1. The Land Before Time

I could watch this film over and over as a child - even though it was kinda scary compared to my normal fare. It raised the bar and once agin set the record for animation box office. Oliver and Company (which Disney had been working on for quite some time) released the same year and came closer than other Disney offerings. But Disney was about to change the landscape of animated film with a release that would affect how every company made animated films for the next decade... the animated musical.

Movie Monday

Movie Monday!

I'm telling you right now that I saw one of this year's best animated films! It was all about emotions...

No... not that one.

I'm talking about Home, Dreamworks Animation's newest film based off the novel The True Meaning of Smekday by Adam Rex.

Now first things first... this an AWFUL adaptation. It says 'based on'... but it should really say 'loosely inspired by'. In my mind this compares with The Jungle Book in terms of adaptation faithfulness. But... here's my little secret:

I liked the movie better than the book.

The horror!

I read the book a couple months ago and gave it a solid 'meh'. I wasn't much interested in the film until I found myself with a couple free days to myself, a theatre next door, and lots of other movies I cared even less about.

Anyhow, how does the film compare?

In the book the main aliens look something like this:

Which on film would really encourage this response:

Dreamworks gives us the same basic idea but a lot less terrifying:

The book was a war book, that's really the only way to describe it. Dark, violent, and scary. The film is more of a road trip movie with a couple intense sequences - sequences that I feel are more triumphant and poignant for having been preceded by more light-hearted fare.

A large amount of time passes in the book, with the initial invasion lasting several months and then following with a few months of relocation. The movie... never satisfactorily nails down its timeline. The invasion/ relocation takes 30 minutes tops (in movie time) and then Oh is seen hosting a housewarming party on the first day on Earth but when know one comes to his party he creates a big mess making him a fugitive. While running away he meets Tip who is looking for her mom This all happens in one basic day ~14 hours. They then travel to Paris and search the database for her mom (40 hours). They see her mom who claims to have been searching for TWO WEEKS, sorry movie but the film I'm watching could only charitably give three days.

Perhaps the biggest deviation is SPOILER ALERT SKIP TO PIC!

The Gorg. In the book they are a violent race that goes through consumables so quickly they must take planets over. They are all clones of the last member (the species fought themselves to near extinction), but the clones have a weakness - they are allergic to cats... which now that I think about it is biologically improbable but whatever. In the movie there is also one Gorg, but he is actually just the last adult. He becomes violent when trying to retrieve the next generation.

Besides showing a wonderfully convincing friendship develop between Oh and Tip this movie shows emotions in a beautiful and simple way. Boov change color. Yup, even at the beginning when they are a species unconcerned with things like art, parties, friends (heck, even neighbors), or individuality - but they still feel, most notably, fear - and when they experience an emotion they change color. AND IT IS MY FAVORITE THING EVER.

Working with preschoolers you can see that even though they feel and act on emotions they aren't always aware that they are doing so. At the beginning the only boov to really stretch out beyond purplish (default/ happy), yellow (afraid), white (terrified), or red (mad) is Oh. He noticeably shows orange (excitement) and blue (sadness). But as he gets to know Tip and experience the world and discover beauty he adds subtle shades to his colors and even gains pink. Pink is a color that seems to signify something deeper than mere happiness, it is that emotion you feel in your diaphragm that is all warm.

It is fascinating to watch how Oh reacts to situations and what color he is at different times. During a particularly intense moment towards the end he is gyrating through colors quickly, easily showing us that he is experiencing conflicting emotions and having an internal battle. I swear, when this comes out on DVD I am going to watch at least once focusing solely on Oh's color changes. Which brings me back to little kids. They don't always have a name for what they are feeling, sometimes they are experiencing so many emotions they simply act out without stopping to give a name to their current state - but this film acknowledges feelings in a simple way for children to pick up on. They can't always interpret facial cues, but they can tell the difference between blue and yellow. 

If anyone knows the creative people at Dreamworks behind this ingenious color idea, or the team that picked Oh's colors throughout the film tell them thank you from me!

All in all, definitely a movie I'm buying and enjoying many more times.

Have you seen Home? What were your thoughts? Did you like the changes made from the book? Let me know!

Top Ten Tuesday

So..... this is where I let the internet in on my deep-dark-secrets. Haha, not really. I watched Moulin Rogue for the first time this weekend and... well it was weird. But I can see why people like it. However, it reminded me of this bit:

(by the way they totally swear in here, so head's up for tender ears in the cornfield)

Yup. I'm about to outline my guilty pleasures. Those things which I like but am embarrassed to like. Usually things that are waaaaaay outside my intelligence level, just plain bad, or something I normally look down upon. I am by no means a student of film, literature, or any other media, so when I say something is bad it is usually pretty obvious.

Also since it is a guilty pleasure it can't be something that I openly enjoy with no qualms. Is Dumbo outside my age range? You bet! But I'm not going to blush if you catch me watching it. See the subtlety? Anyway, ranked from mild blush to 'HIDE THE EVIDENCE!!!' here are my Top Ten Guilty Pleasures.

10. Guardians of Ga'Hoole

This one ranks so low because, as a book (series), the only way for you to really see what is going on is for you to have read them yourself. I find that exceedingly few people have actually read this series, so I'm pretty safe enjoying it in public. The guilt comes from the fact that these are probably a fifth grade reading level. Something I was way past before I ever opened one. Oddly enough the guilt does not transcend to the movie. I think that it was changed enough- plus the topics on film - make it much more... I don't know. Commonplace? Plus the art is gorgeous.

A talking animal fantasy - where the animals in question are pretty much only kinds of owls- it does a decent job of world-building. But it is really dark (pardon the pun) as well. Like, much darker than your average kids fare. It covers racial supremacy, kidnapping, brainwashing, war, nature-vs.-nurture, and a host of other topics that are completely the opposite of what I normally enjoy reading. I mean that's depressing stuff right? Except.... I can't get enough.

9. Star Trek TOS

Where

To

Begin?

I said it. Yes I watch this and realize it has a really devoted fan base. But I'm embarrassed that I enjoy it so much. Guys, it really is bad. The sets are bad, the writing is corny, and much of the acting... leaves something to be desired. However, it is fun - sometimes even thought-provoking. But guys, it's bad. I genuinely love it though, and will totally watch it on TV. Just don't expect me to make eye-contact with you if you catch me at it.

8. Independence Day

So everyone seems to have seen this movie, and most people seem to like it... but I'll stand my ground that it is actually not a good film by any definition of the word. But every once in a while I need an action movie in my life and it comes down to this film or Jurassic Park. Jurassic Park usually wins because DINOSAURS but, on occasion, what I really need in my life are massive explosions. That's where this film delivers.

7. The Chipmunk Adventure

Well, The Chipmunks were mildly annoying on the best of days, The Chipettes were exhaustingly annoying every day, and their remixes are atrocious earworms that eat away your brain cells. I can't even justify liking this movie. It has annoying characters, singing annoying songs, nonsense villains, a nonsense plot, and some of the most offensive racial stereotypes put to screen in the last thirty years. Yes, we're entering both truly bad and truly embarrassing territory now.

6. Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd Century

I think that the title speaks for itself, and trust me when I say that it is exactly what it says on the can. They reanimate the preserved body of Sherlock Holmes to work for New Scotland Yard. He then solves mysteries that are eerily similar to the ones he came up against in the Victorian age, all while coming to terms with new surroundings and his robotic assistant Watson. This show premiered before the RDJ movies and the BBC show, and honestly - I can't believe I'm crediting this - it gave Holmes back some of his dignity. He had been regulated for years to the musty, scholarly corners of literature. This show helped introduce kids to the badbutt that he actually is: Master of Disguise, Underground Fighter, and Overall Stronger Than You'd Ever Guess. Just when you start to think: "How bad could this be? Why should this be considered embarrassing?" the theme song plays.

Wow. Dat animation. Such narration. Much cheesy.

5. Lizzie McGuire Movie

There are some movies that you go to without friends, there are some you go to without family, there are some that you go completely by yourself.... and then there are movies where they literally flipped the switch just for you because no one else is there. Imagine wielding that power as a 13 year old. I did. Years later I get a weird satisfaction of having completely owned a giant screen for a private screening of this film. I get a little power trip just singing the song 'This Is What Dreams are Made of'. But really, I never made time to watch the TV show, never really did the whole teeny-bopper pop thing (I was, and still am, a John Denver kinda girl), romances, ESPECIALLY SUMMER FLING TEEN CRAP, rate pretty low on my list. And I haven't even mentioned the ridiculous graduation, the fact that the eighth grade graduates go to Europe with ONE chaperone, the pop star/identical twin but not really mix-up, and the LIP-SYNCING CONSPIRACY. Yet.... THIS IS WHAAAAAT DREEEEEEEAMS ARE MADE OF!!!!

Plus it all goes down in... the Colosseum?

4. H2O Just Add Water

We are now entering Officially Embarrassing. As in, admitted to a very few. So this is Australian children's programme about three teen girls that swim in a moonlit volcano and now every time they touch water they turn into mermaids! Things and stuff ensue. It contains all the teeny-bopperness of Lizzie McGuire but with fun accents... and an internet cafe. It is basically all the Disney shows that I despise of the past decade: (pre)-teen(s) has giant secret, known to only a few, must hide secret and deal with everyday life, secret is nearly revealed, must cover tracks, secret comes in handy, all is well. I don't know why I can suddenly accept it because they come from the land down under.

3. My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic

This gets sooooo stuck in my head.

This show has a somewhat famous following of adults. That doesn't stop me from enjoying it with the door closed and the blinds drawn. The colors! The music! The social caricatures stereotypes! The quirky animation style! Gah. I never meant to get so into it, but there it is. I've definitely Netflixed it the whole way through twice, with several episodes getting preferred treatment. I think we've spent enough time here...

2. Land Before Time Sequels

Somewhere along the line I did lose track...

I'm sorry for not being sorry. (Except, yes, I am sorry.) I can't take the nostalgia glasses off here, I view them with the same tenderhearted forgiveness I did as a child. You see... DINOSAURS. I've never been super-scholarly about them, or even a little scholarly - I've been known to use Land Before Time names for species - but I just love to LOOK AT THEM. And here is a whole fleet of dinosaurs without those darn scientists popping up every two minutes to tell me what I'm looking at. 

I have to believe that this maelstrom began with the best of intentions...

Universal Exec A: Man oh man. This Jurassic Park. Am I right?

Universal Exec B: You are correct. People are loving them some dinosaurs.

Universal Exec A: Hey, we should make a dinosaur movie for little kids. What kind of rights do we have in the way of dinosaurs?

Universal Exec B: Well.... Jurassic Park and... oh hey! Remember that animated one? With the baby dinosaurs?

Universal Exec A: Yeah, let's make a sequel. But tone it back and make it less scary. That Bluth man is making kid's feel all emotional.

And a series was born. Why it hasn't fizzled out we may never know. I am of course not ripping on the original (long live Bluth) but I think by now the entire world is aware that the original and the sequels basically exist in separate Mysterious Beyonds. What people may not know is that the original is edited to make it more child-friendly! There are ten missing minutes that are among the most drama-filled of the movie and we may never see them.

So what could possibly be guiltier than sitting down to Land Before Time VII???

1. The Tinkerbell Movies

I'M SORRY!!!

I do not like Tinkerbell as an entity. She is annoying as all get out. I'm not that big a fan of the Disney movie Peter Pan either. So explain to me how I CAN LIKE THESE MOVIES!!!! I don't get it, at all. They are predictable, corny, contrived, saccharine, and sort of ugly.

But sometimes... I lock the door, close the blinds, turn the volume down low, dim the lights, whisper 'Let's do this.', and press play.

There you have it! My top ten guilty pleasures! What are yours?  What should next week's Top Ten Tuesday be? Let me know!