Don Bluth discussion

[GeffreyDrogon]

It seems like for some creative minds, working with others and having others keep you in check on those projects can seem to be quite helpful at times. George Lucas seems to also be an example of this.

[Evergreen]

The Land Before Time is my favorite Bluth film. I love the tension, the real sense of danger in that film. It's very terrifying. I miss films like this, The Lion King, The Little Mermaid, etc. where there was real fear and darkness. You can't have a fully satisfying children's story without them, imo. And of the films that deal with losing a parent, this was always the one that impacted me the most. The scene of Littlefoot and his mother in the dark, and she simply stops speaking--then Littlefoot sees her throughout the film in shadows and clouds. Then there's Diana Ross' beautiful theme on top of it all.

I think *most* of Bluth's films are decent objectively, but the only other one by him aside from TLBT that I have much personal attachment to is Thumbelina, tbh, even though it's marred by the cutesiness of the background insects and animals. I always took those as an attempt to imitate the Dwarfs and mice in Walt Disney's Snow White and Cinderella, respectively--those characters are my least favorite parts of those Disney films, too. I sort of enjoy Carol Channing's and Charo's characters though, they make me laugh, but of course the parts of the film I love are the music and the "human" / fairy characters. Imhoff's and Benson's voices are just glorious in the opening scenes with "Soon" and "Let Me Be Your Wings." Perhaps it's the ending being the strongest portion of the film that ends up leaving me with a positive feeling about the movie that wipes its shortcomings from my mind. I just adore the scene of Thumbelina at the Vale of Fairies, when she's become bitter and jaded, and how the flowers burst open in some sense like a visual representation of her heart being pricked and learning to hope again, and how from there it leads through the wedding ending with minimal dialogue.

But I feel there are several other Bluth films that have high points while being flawed. Rockadoodle--the only "great" thing about that film to me is the villain. All Dogs Go to Heaven and Anastasia are mostly good, although have things that keep me from fully loving them. A Troll in Central Park is very, *very* syrupy. Titan A.E. has a lot of moments where it just looks ugly and the alien designs as well as the CG integration (the same two flaws as Disney's Treasure Planet, actually) are hit-and-miss--mostly miss. The Pebble and the Penguin is definitely the hardest one for me to watch though, personally...

[James]

This just feels wrong: "First ‘Anastasia’ Merchandise Arrives at Walt Disney World"

All those people who used to say Anastasia was their favorite Disney movie? They should be mocked, not rewarded!

[Ben]

Oh, the irony, the irony!

[Dacey]

James needs to watch Anastasia already!

[EricJ]

All those people who used to say Anastasia was their favorite Disney movie? They should be mocked, not rewarded!

Oh, don't worry, they are, and have been since it came out. When and if we see Ferngully merchandise at the parks, then those fans should be mocked.

It's just a technical perk of Fox ownership, although, as Ben points out, the irony, the irony's pretty heavy here, considering the only reason most of us still went to the theater to see a Don Bluth movie after Thumbelina was that Disney was deliberately trying to crush Anastasia's opening by counterprogramming a Little Mermaid revival for the same weekend, and the anti-Eisner crowd came out to deliberately shove it down Disney's throat.
Fortunately, it turned out to be Bluth's only GOOD movie of the 90's, who knew?

(And if I tell the old story about 90's Fox trying to fight back against Disney's stunt by saying that they would deliberately counter any Disney merchandising with their own Anastasia marketing, it'll just sink back into that old argument where Dancey says "Nope, never happened!", and I'll have to post that "Anastasia on Ice" clip again.
In the meantime, here was their Orlando-theme-park counter: https://youtu.be/jfBqyeCqNSE?t=40 It's often helpful to rely on YouTube, like I always do.
It's also worth noting that they now have a Broadway musical, although I'm not sure if that was after the Fox sale.)

[Dacey]

Disney doesn’t own Ferngully.

That’s not why people went to Anastasia.

And my name isn’t “Dancey”

[Ben]

Eric, fyi, the Anastasia musical has been performed on stage since 2016 and moved to Broadway in 2017, predating the Disney sale.

And…again…"the 90's" what? You keep using years as a possessive term, which doesn’t make sense!

[James]

I used to add the apostrophe to decades too until Ben drilled it out of my system from repeated mockery!

[droosan]

It's somewhat acceptable to put an apostrophe before a decade, i.e., the '90s, the '80s .. since it's a placeholder for the missing (unwritten) 19.

As we've gotten further into the 2000s, though (and especially now that I find myself with a few co-workers who were only just born in this century ) .. I've taken to just always including the 19, for full clarity.

[James]

Were actually talking about the apostrophe after the decade and before the "s", like 90's. Looks like youre on Bens side!

[Farerb]

Fortunately, it turned out to be Bluth's only GOOD movie of the 90's, who knew?

Anastasia wasn't even good. Just really mediocre. I agree that it's his best film from the 90s but it's not really on the same level as the Disney films that were released that time, or Prince of Egypt.

[Randall]

I like that mug, but it feels really wrong for it to be on sale a WDW. Weird.

[EricJ]

And my name isn’t “Dancey”

And neither is Dan's...What, do you flip a coin to see who gets to do the Fact-Check?

That’s not why people went to Anastasia.

You weren't in MY town's theater...
(I'll admit that Disney trying to crush Prince of Egypt's opening by adding the Bug's Life end-credits outtakes to their movie the same weekend didn't get as much press, but Ariel vs. Annie certainly made the headlines.)

Anastasia wasn't even good. Just really mediocre. I agree that it's his best film from the 90s but it's not really on the same level as the Disney films that were released that time, or Prince of Egypt.

I would argue that of the genre of 90s Disney Wannabe, it was probably #2, by being the spiritually closest. Hence the confusion.
It certainly knocked itself out trying to be.

Prince of Egypt, of course, being in first place, and third?...I don't want to put the animated "King & I" that high up, but it had its isolated moments.

[Dacey]

I don't think there's anything wrong with selling Anya merch at WDW. It's a property they own which fits their brand (even if it was, of course, initially trying to compete with that brand!).

And Anastasia is a great movie. King & I isn't!