Animated Movies Throughout the Years: 1992-1994

Animated Movies Throughout the Years: 1992-1994

1992

There were two animated movies released in April. The first was the
Australian-American Ferngully: The Last Rainforest. While the film
did well at the box-office, Ferngully got mixed reviews. However,
it has become a cult classic among animation buffs.

The second was Rock-a-Doodle, which is considered by fans as
Don Bluth's first bad film. The film didn't do that well at the
box-office, but the ridiculous plot and overabundance of unnecessary
songs may be reasons why.

July saw the release of Bebe's Kids. I honestly never seen
this movie, but I heard it was pretty bad.

In August, Japan and America collaborated together for a feature-length adaptation
of Windsor McKay's legendary comic Little Nemo. It was called Little Nemo:
Adventures in Slumber Land, with songs from the Sherman Brothers,
the same duo behind the songs for Mary Poppins and The Jungle
Book.

And finally, in November, Disney released their next big animated movie, Aladdin.
The film got really good reviews when it premiered, grossed over 500 million
dollars at the box-office, and won the Oscars for Best Original Song and Best
Original Score.

1993

Note: Walt Disney Feature Animation didn't release a single movie this year.

The first animated feature for the year was released in May, which was
Happily Ever After. It was an unofficial sequel to Walt Disney's Snow
White and the Seven Dwarfs. The film was a box-office failure and got
rather negative reviews. Happily Ever After did so badly that Filmation,
the production house behind this movie, closed their doors for good.

In June, William Hannah and Joseph Barbara* released one of their last
animated movies, Once Upon a Forest. Unfortunately, the film tanked
at the box-office because it had to compete against Jurassic Park.

In July, the famous cat-and-mouse duo made their feature-film debut with
Tom and Jerry: The Movie. However, the film got rather negative reviews.
Many fans complained that Tom and Jerry can talk. In fact, when Gene
Siskel and Roger Ebert reviewed Tom and Jerry: The Movie, they gave
it two thumbs down. They also said ‘Let's hope that when they make a
Roadrunner and Wile E Coyote movie, that they don't start talking’.

October saw the release of Tim Burton's first stop-motion feature film,
The Nightmare before Christmas. The film did very well at the box-office,
got great reviews, and has since become a beloved holiday classic.

In November, Amblimation released their second film, We're Back! A
Dinosaur's Story. It was about a quartet of dinosaurs who get sent
forward through time to the 1990s to go to the New York Museum of
Natural History. While the film had superb character animation and
impressive vocal talents, We're Back! tanked at the box-office: It had
to compete against The Nightmare before Christmas, Mrs. Doubtfire,
and Schindler's List.

And finally, on Christmas, Batman made his animated feature debut with
Batman: Mask of the Phantasm. Unfortunately, like other hand-drawn
animated movies that year, 'Batman' tanked at the box-office: It earned
only 5 million dollars on a 6 million dollar budget.

1994

The year unfortunately kicked off in March with Don Bluth's Thumbelina.
The film did poorly at the box-office, got rather negative reviews, and
even won the Razzi Award for Worst Original Song. It was the only
animated movie to win a Razzi for 20 years.

June saw the US release of The Princess and the Goblin, the first
animated movie to come out of Wales. However, it got very negative
reviews. 'Princess and the Goblin' did so badly that Hemdale, who
distributed the film, had to convince the critics of children to review the film.

Also in June, Disney released their beast of a film, The Lion King.
The film got very positive reviews, grossed over 780 million dollars
worldwide at the box-office, and won the Oscars for Best Original
Song and Best Original Score.

In October, Don Bluth released his worst-reviewed animated movie
ever, the overly cute A Troll in Central Park. The film earned only 70,000 dollars on
a 22 million dollar budget. John Pomeroy, a friend of Bluth's, even left the company to return to Disney.

There were two animated movies released in November. The first was
The Swan Princess, which is probably best described as a cross between
Sleeping Beauty, Beauty and the Beast, and, even though it didn't exist yet,
The Princess and the Frog. Unfortunately, 'Swan Princess' tanked at the
box-office, but has become a cult classic among some animation fans.

The second was The Pagemaster, the first of two animated movies from
Turner Feature Animation. It was about an overprotective young boy who
goes on an adventure in the library with three talking books: Horror, Fantasy,
and Adventure. Sadly, the film tanked at the box-office. *In case you're wondering who they were, William Hannah and Joseph Barbera were the creators of the world-famous Tom and Jerry cartoons for MGM during the 1940s. After leaving MGM in 1957, Will and Joe decided to make their own studio called Hannah-Barbera Productions, in which they would create beloved animated TV shows like The Flintstones, The Jetsons, Yogi Bear, Huckleberry Hound, and Scooby-Doo. What made their animated productions different from Disney and Warner Bros at the time was the fact that the same backgrounds would be used over and over again. Hannah-Barbera Productions also produced some animated feature films, such as 1973's Charlotte's Web. In 1994, Hannah-Barbera started a division called Cartoon Network Studios, which was focused on original programming for the then-new channel Cartoon Network. Some of their work includes Dexter's Laboratory, The PowerPuff Girls, Samurai Jack, Foster's Home For Imaginary Friends, Regular Show, Steven Universe, and Over the Garden Wall, just to name a few. That's all I have to say for this week's Animated Movies Throughout the Years! Tune in next week when we talk about animated movies from 1995-1997, in which Pixar brought toys to life and changed animation forever, Disney tried to adapt a play from Victor Hugo into an animated feature film, and Don Bluth made his return to quality filmmaking with Anastasia.

Movie Review: The Star Part 2

Movie Review: The Star Part 2                                                                                                   12-9-18

From Sony Pictures Animation, The Jim Henson Company, and Walden Media comes The Star, based on the story of the birth of Jesus. Bo is a donkey who dreams of a life beyond the grain mill. One day, he finds the courage to break free and teams up with a lamb named Ruth and a dove named Dave with lofty expectations. Along with three wisecracking camels and some eccentric stable animals, Bo and his friends follow a star in the sky on the adventure of their dreams, and become part of the greatest story ever told.

Now, what do I think of The Star? Well, it obviously doesn't hold a candle to The Prince of Egypt, but is much better than another Biblical animated film, 2007's The Ten Commandments. It looked something like this.

THIS is from 2007?! That looks like something from the 1990s!

Instead of being animated at Sony Pictures Imageworks, like Surf's Up, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, and Hotel Transylvania, The Star was animated at Cinesite in Montreal.

Now what do I think of this movie? Well, to be honest, I found it disappointing. The Star has paper-thin characters, unfunny jokes, and a story that should've focused on Mary and Joseph, voiced by Gina Rodriguez and Zachery Levi. I can't believe that I'd ever say this, but I actually think I prefer some of the characters in The Secret Life of Pets, which was also made after an overabundance of talking animal movies from different studios, instead of this.

You would also think that since Abby, the pygmy jerboa voiced by Kristen Chenoweth, was featured a lot in the promotional material, she would end up being a major character, right? Wrong. She only has about five minutes of screen time in the entire film. In fact, you could remove Abby from the story and it would still be the same!

In conclusion, while not as bad as The Emoji Movie or the Korean-produced Spark: A Space Tail, The Star is a film that might charm younger viewers, but doesn't have much for teens or adults. If you want to watch a good biblical animated film other than The Prince of Egypt, I recommend the half-hour Disney short film, The Small One. It's included on most DVD releases of Mickey's Christmas Carol. The Small One looked something like this.

Rating: 2.5 stars out of 5.

Movie Review: The Star Part 1

Movie Review: The Star Part 1                                                                                                12-8-18

I know what some of you are thinking. 'Why are you reviewing this piece of CG fodder?' Well, I decided to review The Star because it was co-produced by The Jim Henson Company. This is partially a big deal for me because I admire Jim Henson as much as Schroeder admires Beethoven.

While he was professionally known as a puppeteer, Jim Henson actually had a fascination with computer animated characters, and even had an idea of making a special about computer graphics with a brief appearance of a CGI Kermit.

In 1989, Jim Henson's dream can true with a new Muppet: Waldo C Graphic, a computer generated Muppet who was controlled in real time by a remote control glove.

After Jim's death in 1990, following the success of Steven Spielberg's Jurassic Park, Jim Henson's Creature Shop decided to start making CG characters. One of their first CG characters was a bee named Tizzy, who would appear as a regular character during the first two seasons of The Animal Show with Stinky and Jake.

During the second half of the 90s, computers threatened the future of puppets and animatronics. The Creature Shop needed to find a way to make animatronics and computer graphics live symbiotically. Not only did they make CG characters that were controlled by animatronics, but they also experimented with motion capture, including unused CGI centaurs for a proposed film adaptation of The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe.

Today, The Jim Henson Company no longer does puppetry, since only Disney and Sesame Street can use the term 'Muppet'. Instead, they had created successful preschool CG animated TV shows like Sid the Science Kid, Dinosaur Train, and Splash & Bubbles.

In 2017, The Jim Henson Company teamed up with Sony Pictures Animation, Walden Media, Affirm Pictures, and Franklin Entertainment to make a low-budget animated film based upon the story of the first Christmas: The Star.

To be continued in Part 2, which will be posted tomorrrow...

Animated Movies Throughout the Years: 1988-1991

Animated Movies Throughout the Years: 1988-1991 In memory of Will Vinton, Stan Lee, and Stephen Hillenburg. 1988 In March, there was The Pound Puppies in Search of the Big Paw, based on the toy line by Tonka. The film got very negative reviews and did poorly at the box-office.
In May, from French animation legend René Laloux came an English dub of the science-fiction film Gandahar- Light Years. Instead of using cutout animation (think South Park and Monty Python's Flying Circus) that Laloux is famous for, Gandahar used traditional hand-drawn animation.

There were two animated movies released in November and even on the same day. The first was Don Bluth's next collaboration with Steven Spielberg, The Land before Time. It did very well at the box-office, got good reviews, and spawned more than 10 direct-to-video sequels. The second was Disney's feature that year, Oliver & Company. It took the story of Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist and turned it into a dog tale like Lady and the Tramp and 101 Dalmatians. While not as loved as 'Land', Oliver and Company did better at the box-office and was even rereleased in theaters in 1996!

1989

In July, Babar, the famous children's book elephant created by Jean de Brunhoff,
made his leap to the big screen with Babar: The Movie.

Once again, there were two animated movies released in November on the same day.
The first was Disney's 28th animated movie, The Little Mermaid. It was Disney's
first fairytale since Sleeping Beauty in 1959, grossed over 100 million dollars
worldwide, got great reviews, and won the Oscars for Best Original Song and
Best Original Score. 'Mermaid' was also the last animated Disney movie to
use cels*, but lead to the wondrous era known as the Disney Renaissance.

The second was Don Bluth's fourth feature film, All Dogs Go To Heaven.
The film was largely overshadowed by The Little Mermaid, but managed
to spawn a sequel and a TV series.

And finally, on Christmas, the super-violent anime film Akira made it to the US.
It would demonstrate to Americans what anime is capable of doing story-wise.

1990

In July, The Jetsons made their jump to the big screen with The Jetsons Movie.
Despite the show's popularity and legacy, the film got rather negative reviews,
with 27% on Rotten Tomatoes.

In August, Scrooge McDuck, along with Huey, Dewey, and Louie, made their
feature film debut with Duck Tales: The Treasure of the Lost Lamp. This was
the first movie to come out of the now defunct Disney Toon Studios, who would go on to make nearly every Disney direct-to-video sequel and the Tinkerbell films.

And finally, in November, Disney's 29th animated movie, The Rescuers Down
Under, soared into theaters. It was the first Disney movie to use CAPS, which
stood for Computer Animation Process System. This means the characters
were still animated by hand, but they were colored digitally. CAPS was
produced by Pixar, who were then a little-known company. Unfortunately,
The Rescuers Down Under tanked at the box-office, as it was released the
same day as Home Alone.

1991

In August, from the creators of The Brave Little Toaster came Rover Dangerfield,
a forgettable and unbalanced animated film. It's basically about Rodney
Dangerfield as a dog with a mishmash plot reminiscent of The Aristocats,
All Dogs Go To Heaven, and, even though it didn't exist yet, Babe.

There were two animated movies released in November. The first was the far
superior and immortal Beauty and the Beast. It received overwhelmingly
positive reviews, grossed over 400 million dollars at the box-office, and won
the Oscars for Best Original Song and Best Original Score. Beauty and the
Beast was also the first animated movie to receive the Oscar nomination for
Best Picture, but ultimately lost to Silence of the Lambs.

The second was An American Tail 2: Fievel Goes West. It was the first
movie from Amblimation, a predecessor to DreamWorks. In this movie,
Fievel and his family move to the Wild West and meets his hero Wilie
Burp, a dog sheriff who's a parody of Wyatt Earp. While 'Fievel Goes
West' may not live up to the original, it's definitely better than Don Bluth's
feature at the time, the notorious and ridiculous Rock-a-Doodle.

*Cels, short for celluloids, were how most cartoons during the 20th century were made.
After the animation was done, poses of the character would be painted onto cels and
placed on a painted background. A camera would be hoisted from above and would
take pictures.

For more information on how cels worked, watch these links below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oktGlZQgYWs
This one is from British animation veteran Sheila Graber. She gives a demonstration on how an episode of Just So Stories, a British cartoon that recreated fables from Rudyard Kipling, would have been made.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhfp6Z8z1cI
This one was a promotional film for Snow White, which demonstrated how Disney
cartoons were made at the time. However, this video is in black and white, since color was
expensive back then. That's all I have to say for this week's Animated Movies Throughout the Years! Tune in next week when we talk about animated movies from 1992-1994,in which a lamp was rubbed and a genie granted us a memorable film, the king of Halloween discovers Christmas and tries to mix the two holidays, with disastrous results, and an African lion cub ran away from home only to return home years later to take his place as king.

Movie Review: The Greatest Showman

Movie Review: The Greatest Showman                                                                                                     12-1-18

In this rags-to-riches story, Phineas Barnum (Hugh Jackman) has been a street rat his entire life. He falls in love with the beautiful wealthy woman Charity (Michelle Williams), marries her, and started a family with two daughters. After getting fired from the bank, Phineas and his family get loaned a worn-down museum. When the ticket sales for the museum start to dwindle, Phineas decides to round up a group of misfits to help put on 'the Greatest Shown on Earth'.

Now, what do I think of this film? Well, I think that The Greatest Showman is a surprising delight with a decent story, likable characters, historically accurate sets, well-rehearsed choreography, and toe-tapping music that rivals anything Disney has put out in the last decade.

This film is inspired by the true story of the beginnings of the Barnum and Bailey Circus, and people such as bearded women, irregularly tall and short men, and talented acrobats were ridiculed as freaks. This is how society was back then.

The songs in this film also prove that Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, the songwriters for this film as well as La La Land, are this generation's Alan Menken and Howard Ashman.

In conclusion, while not as good as Coco, which was released a month earlier, The Greatest Showman is an underrated surprise that, in my opinion, outshines Beauty and the Beast (the 2017 film) and Frozen.

Rating: 3.5 stars out of 5.