Don Bluth Discussion Thread

I seem to remember hearing from somewhere that Thumbelina was his cheapest movie, so I would'nt doubt it.

I re-watched Rock-a-Doodle for the first time in years yesterday; and god is it awful. The child character is unnesecary and unspeakably annoying; the plot has gi-nourmous holes in it, including one I noticed even back when I was five; and the color pallete is either too bright and childish or too dark and muted. Probably his worst production.

Also, I'm getting Titan A.E. tomorrow. Yay:).
 
Out of the Don Bluth films I've seen (the original Land Before Time,All Dogs Go To Heaven,An American Tail,The Secret of NIMH,Titan A.E.,and Anastasia),my favorites are...
Anastasia- I love the songs,and the characters are interesting (I especially love how Anya and Dimitri's relationship evolves over the course of the movie)
All Dogs Go To Heaven...Again,I like the music/songs,and the ending STILL manages to bring me to tears,nearly 20 years later....

Don Bluth always manages to do both emotionally moving(Littlefoot's mom's death in Land Before Time,the All Dogs ending),and creepy scenes well (one of my favorites is Charlie's nightmare about going to Hell from All Dogs)....
 
I'm not sure if this is encouraged, but I've found one interview with Don Bluth himself. In it, he talks about the origins and productions on some of the films (nothing on Rock-A-Doodle though), the future, his influences, his background, what HE likes, all that good stuff (careful though, there will be things you'll obviously disagree on).

Enjoy!

As for my thoughts on him, well, what I can tell is that while I am glad he kept animation alive in the 80's, he really has some story structure problems. He knows on how to make a great looking movie, but in terms of story, he was pretty flawed. Some films didn't had a big problem with this and made some pretty decent movies to actually pretty enjoyable movies (Little Before Time, Anastasia, Secret of NIHN), but others you have just to wonder on why he thought it was a good idea (Pebble and the Penguin (other than the opening song), Rock-A-Doodle, Thumbelina). So, in a nutshell, basically the same thoughts on what most people think of him (well, excluding some the non-GAC people).
 
I'm not all that big on the films of Mr. Bluth. An American Tail, was probably, in my opinion, the best film he did. Maybe because it's a childhood favorite of mine, but another reason could be that it seemed to have a good solid storyline. All Dogs Go to Heaven would have been better had it not been for the "Big-Lipped Alligator Moment." It's still a fairly enjoyable film, but that scene should not have been added as it didn't contribute anything to the story. Another scene in that movie that wasn't necessary was during the song in which Charlie the German Sheperd sings to the puppies the importance of sharing. This is a film about a con artist dog and he breaks out of character to share a message about sharing.:confused:

I think that perhaps the reason for all these unecessary songs was because Bluth, being a wonderful draftsman and animator, had weak storytelling skills. I had the unfortunate experience of watching Rock-a-Doodle for the very first time on Youtube a year or so ago. There was no solid storyline to that film and there were too many unecessary songs (the "Battletoad" bouncers singing about how they are bouncing others out, the owls singing about how the farmyard animals are running out of batteries). I loved the Nostalgia Critic's review on that movie.
 
They're doing re-writes on the script, last I heard.

"Thumbelina" is easily his worst film.

"Rock-a-Doodle" is terrible story-wise, but at least it's still somewhat fun to watch. "Thumbelina" just bores me.
 
I loved Secret of NIMH since I first saw it in 5th grade. It plays fast and loose with the book but it still works. Not terribly familiar with his other works, but I do think Goldie from Rock-a-Doodle is kinda... um... sexy?
 
Oddly enough, my biggest problem with Rock-A-Doodle was that it felt very...rushed. I know most people are probably glad its so short, but the movie just seems to gloss over scenes with Patou's narration. In the end, I find it to be more a string of cool animated sequences without any real cohesion.

The Secret of NIMH will always be my favorite Bluth film. It's not that it's atmosphere was merely "dark", it was also the charm (I honestly can't think of another animated character like Mrs. Brisby) and the almost alien feel of the "mouse world". I mean, most works will just give a mouse an obvious set of discarded objects and call it home, but I remember a scene in this film taking place in a discarded lobster trap that could just as easily been an alien ruin, using the lighting and atmosphere alone.
 
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