The Don Bluth Thread

fuzzygobo

Well-Known Member
Joined
May 11, 2004
Messages
5,596
Reaction score
5,072
I was 18 and in college when American Tail came out, and that movie made me CRY! My heart really bled for Fievel. And at the end seeing him reunited with his family was beautiful. (I'm getting misty-eyed here.)

It's ironic that Bluth left Disney over creative and artistic differences, but over time Disney came back to compete against him. Every Bluth film had a Disney rival:

American Tail vs. Great Mouse Detective
All Dogs Go To Heaven vs. Little Mermaid
Land Before Time vs. Oliver and Company
and so on ...
 

frogboy4

Inactive Member
Joined
Apr 13, 2002
Messages
10,080
Reaction score
358
I also enjoyed Bluth's animation growing up. I particularly like that he tried to steer away from the typical Disney formula. It didn't always work. The stories were hit-or miss, but the animation was always gorgeous and I've left his films playing on mute while I've turned on a music mix. They work remarkably well that way!

Nothing beats the Secret of Nimh. I'm not sure about the status of the proposed CG remake. It was a book first, but Bluth's telling is so iconic. I just don't see anyone else doing it justice...and in CG.
 

Drtooth

Well-Known Member
Joined
Apr 16, 2002
Messages
31,718
Reaction score
6,707
Yes! The only Don Bluth movie with otherwise was the underrated a Troll in Central Park where he plays the star. I enjoy all his movies except Titan AE, and Dragon's Lair which to this day I have not seen.
Dragons Lair is a video game. Like certain Sega CD games, that is, where you have to press buttons in a certain succession in relevance to what's happening on the screen. One wrong move, and you have to start over.

There was a VERY rare DVD-Rom release that had the game edited together to make a movie without having to actually do anything to change the action, but it was impossible to find when it came out, and I can only tell how expensive it is on amazon. I really wanted to see the movie without having to press buttons timed to perfection every 5 seconds.

I also enjoyed Bluth's animation growing up. I particularly like that he tried to steer away from the typical Disney formula. It didn't always work. The stories were hit-or miss, but the animation was always gorgeous and I've left his films playing on mute while I've turned on a music mix. They work remarkably well that way!
Bluth's a genius in my book... but the films that he did in the 90's were, as respectful as I can phrase this, disappointing. Thumbellina was terrible. I only saw that for the Animaniacs short at the beginning. Anastasia was pretty good, but it missed something to it. There's just something very magical about LBT, AT, and especially SON that just didn't come through in those later movies. But I'd blame the studios for that one. They were trying to force the Princess movie on him with those two. So much so that Anastasia has a misconception of being a Disney movie in some circles. Didn't actually see Titan A.E. But that's our American "cartoon movies are for kids" mindset. That totally ravaged Cool World... Ralph Bakshi supposedly punched a studio head in the face for rewriting the script behind his back on that one.

I long for the day the US gets a home grown animated film for older audiences once again. And I don't mean South Park/Aqua Teen Hunger Force/Beavis and Butt-head type stuff. Something with action and high violence you'd see in a live Action film.
 

D'Snowth

Well-Known Member
Joined
Aug 8, 2003
Messages
40,651
Reaction score
12,811
I actually haven't really seen Anatasia, but I actually wasn't aware it too was a Bluth movie... now it kind of makes sense... as for Thumbellina, I've only seen it once maybe twice, and yeah, it wasn't one of his best (I think the Carol Channing mouse could probably have had a movie all on her own and be better, lol).

As for Ralph Bakshi, well, somehow these adult animators seem to eccentricity to a whole new level, :laugh:.
 

CensoredAlso

Well-Known Member
Joined
Sep 16, 2002
Messages
14,028
Reaction score
2,292
I did not like Anastasia, mainly for its blatant distortions of history, lol.

Ralph Bakshi, yeah he's weird, but I love what he did with Lord of the Rings. In some ways it was closer to the books than even the Peter Jackson film.
 

Drtooth

Well-Known Member
Joined
Apr 16, 2002
Messages
31,718
Reaction score
6,707
Ralph Bakshi, yeah he's weird, but I love what he did with Lord of the Rings. In some ways it was closer to the books than even the Peter Jackson film.
Say what you will about Ralph... he's completely underrated. Crackers, yes.. but underrated. Too bad that his LOTR movie went overbudget and never got a real ending. His version of Mighty Mouse is my absolute favorite... the stories that show has are amazing in and of themselves.
 

fuzzygobo

Well-Known Member
Joined
May 11, 2004
Messages
5,596
Reaction score
5,072
Yes, Bakshi's Mighty Mouse was tremendous. It gives a nod to Paul Terry's classics while giving a modern twist. (Have you seen the notorious "flower sniffing" scene?)
Around the same time he also did the animation for the Rolling Stones' "Harlem Shuffle" which gave a young John K. his big break, and soon he'd unleash Ren and Stimpy on us. :smile:
 

Dominicboo1

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jul 4, 2011
Messages
2,408
Reaction score
877
Dragons Lair is a video game. Like certain Sega CD games, that is, where you have to press buttons in a certain succession in relevance to what's happening on the screen. One wrong move, and you have to start over.

There was a VERY rare DVD-Rom release that had the game edited together to make a movie without having to actually do anything to change the action, but it was impossible to find when it came out, and I can only tell how expensive it is on amazon. I really wanted to see the movie without having to press buttons timed to perfection every 5 seconds.

Bluth's a genius in my book... but the films that he did in the 90's were, as respectful as I can phrase this, disappointing. Thumbellina was terrible. I only saw that for the Animaniacs short at the beginning. Anastasia was pretty good, but it missed something to it. There's just something very magical about LBT, AT, and especially SON that just didn't come through in those later movies. But I'd blame the studios for that one. They were trying to force the Princess movie on him with those two. So much so that Anastasia has a misconception of being a Disney movie in some circles. Didn't actually see Titan A.E. But that's our American "cartoon movies are for kids" mindset. That totally ravaged Cool World... Ralph Bakshi supposedly punched a studio head in the face for rewriting the script behind his back on that one.

I long for the day the US gets a home grown animated film for older audiences once again. And I don't mean South Park/Aqua Teen Hunger Force/Beavis and Butt-head type stuff. Something with action and high violence you'd see in a live Action film.
I didn't know that. I thought Dragon's Lair waas both so you taught me something!
 

Yorick

Well-Known Member
Joined
Oct 6, 2008
Messages
745
Reaction score
81
There was a VERY rare DVD-Rom release that had the game edited together to make a movie without having to actually do anything to change the action, but it was impossible to find when it came out, and I can only tell how expensive it is on amazon. I really wanted to see the movie without having to press buttons timed to perfection every 5 seconds.
Hopefully someone who owns this will put it online for all of us to see one day! :smile:
 

Pig'sSaysAdios

Well-Known Member
Joined
Aug 12, 2015
Messages
6,506
Reaction score
4,646
I didn't watch most of the Don Bluth films when I was younger, I guess they were slightly before my time. BUT the one I did watch a lot was The Land Before Time. I'm not exaggerating when I say i've seen that movie over 100 times. I freaking loved it. I remember every single line from the movie, every scene, every tiny little detail. And you know what? It's still one of my favorite movies of all time.

I've only seen An American Tale once and I still haven't watched Secret of Nimh. Hopefully i'll be able to watch them sometime next week.

Also, many of you may have heard but, Don Bluth and Gary Goldman are trying to make a movie version of "Dragon's Lair". If they have their way than the movie will be the first major 2D animated movie since "The Princess and the Frog. Unless of course, because it's not CGI it ends up not getting picked up by a major distributor and just ends up getting dumped to Netflix like that beautiful "Little Prince" adaption that totally deserved to at least have a limited release in theaters.
 
Top