Voices of Shawn Hoffman, Belinda Montgomery, Ray Porter, and Christie Albers
Directed by Brian Nissen and Richard Rich
Music and Lyrics by various
Warner Bros still wanted to compete with Disney in the late 90's, even after Quest for Camelot was a box-office disappointment. Animation director Richard Rich joined the studio at this point, looking to come back from the failure of his independent The Swan Princess. He couldn't have come at a worse time. Animated fantasies, even from Disney, were starting to go out of fashion, hastened by the spectacular thuds of ill-conceived projects like Rich's first Warners movie The King and I. In fact, that movie went over so badly, Warners tossed this one straight on video. Did it deserve that fate, or should this scarecrow get a second chance to dance? Let's begin with our narrator Miss Bee Bee (Albers) as she explains the rather complicated situation, and find out...
The Story: Miss Bee Bee is a witch who is driven out of Grisham Heights by it's nasty owner and namesake Grisham (Porter) after he confiscates her book of spells. She moves up into the mountains with her living broom and creates a tiny house and garden. Polly (Montgomery), an orphan in Grisham's working mill, finds the garden and buries the money she's earned to set her and three children free under Miss Bee Bee's scarecrow (Hoffman). Miss Bee is quite lonely herself and brings the scarecrow to life in order to keep her company, even teaching him to dance.
She takes off before Grisham figures out where she is, but leaves the Scarecrow a magical feather. When he wears it in his hat, it gives him a true human form he names Feathertop. Now he can ask Polly to dance with him...but Grisham wants her, too. Feathertop has to sacrifice himself to save another, and learn a little bit about real love in the process, if he wants to remain human forever.
The Animation: I'm not sure why they thought this was theater-worthy. It's not horrible, but it's not up to even the quality of Rich's previous films The King and I and The Swan Princess. Admittedly, the characters move well, particularly when they're dancing, but they lack detail. The cartoony animal characters, including Feathertop's friend Max the Rat (Corey Feldman), look more like they came out of a later Looney Tunes short than colonial literature.
The Song and Dance: Based after the Nathaniel Hawthorne short story Feathertop, the core story is actually a charming little fantasy. The Beauty and the Beast-esque story of the scarecrow who wants to be human in order to reveal his love to a young girl has its heart in the right place. Some of the dancing sequences aren't badly done and certainly have energy to spare.
Favorite Number: Our first actual number isn't until ten minutes in, but it's a sour chorus routine for the unhappy workers at Grisham's mill who make costumes "So the Count Can Dance" while Polly hopes she and the younger orphans will soon be "On Our Way." The human Feathertop encourages the people to "Come One, Come All" to see him dance with Max in drag on a stage in town. He and Polly have a romantic duet as he teaches her to dance "In Your Arms." "We Gotta Do Better Than That" turns into a huge dance showcase for Polly and Feathertop as they show off moves ranging from 30's jitterbug to 70's disco to 90's pop star.
What I Don't Like: You get an idea of what to expect the moment Miss Bee Bee opens her mouth and sounds more like someone's annoyed aunt in 2000 than a colonial woman put out of her home. It's too bad they didn't actually try to adapt Feathertop, instead of tossing together a mess of clichés from animated films of the time. As I mentioned, there's the kernel of a good idea here, but it's buried in a morass of silly dialogue, inane and dull characters, and topical references completely unsuited to either the story or the Colonial New England setting (like Miss Bee Bee turning up in a computer hologram, complete with buttons to push).
The Big Finale: Yeah, I can see why this was Rich's second and last movie for the studio. Reviews online indicate that this seems to have picked up a small cult following that rented it on video in the early 2000's and have fond memories. I'm afraid it's too dated and silly for me. Only if you really remember seeing that video or have kids who may enjoy the romantic storyline.
Home Media: Not currently on disc, but it can be found streaming at several sites.
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