Voices of James Ingram, Oleta Adams, B.B King, and Zucchero
Directed by Michael Coldway, Eberhard Junkersdorf
Music by Peter Wolf; English lyrics by Ina Wolf
By the late 90's, the popularity of Disney's animated fantasies were so all-encompassing, even overseas companies put out their own versions. Warner Bros got together with Munich Animation for this retelling of the Grimm's Fairy Tale "The Bremen Town Musicians." How does this tale of four unwanted animals who hope to become famous singers look nowadays? Let's begin on the hunt with the owner of Buster the Dog (Ingram), who would rather be singing than chasing foxes, and find out...
The Story: Buster encounters Fred the Donkey (King) when he's fleeing the miller who replaced him with a mechanical centaur. Gwendolyn the Cat (Adams) joins them after her late owner's family tries to kill her and get her owner's fortune. Tortellini the Rooster (Zucchero) is kicked off the farm after romancing one too many hens.
Bremen's been taken over by the evil Dr. Greed (Ian James Corlett) and his henchman Platini (Garry Chalk). Dr. Greed doesn't allow laughter or singing...but he's so impressed with their singing, he hires them. Turns out he has a lot more in mind for them than singing a few songs. When they learn what he really has in mind for the unwanted critters of Bremen, the animals strike back and prove that every creature deserves another chance at life.
The Animation: Pretty easy to tell Warners animators worked on this. It's about on par with their other movies from the era, like The Scarecrow and Quest for Camelot. It reminds me a great deal of Don Bluth's later films, but a bit cheaper. The early CGI, including in the factory and the mechanical centaur that replaces Fred, must have been fairly impressive in 1997 but just looks blocky and badly integrated with the 2D animation now.
The Song and Dance: Kudos for them adapting "Bremen Town Musicians" at all. I can only think of two other versions of this story in North America, a rare Muppet special from 1972 and an episode of the HBO animated show Happily Ever After: Stories for Every Child from 1999. The first half before the quartet arrive in Bremen actually adapts the original fairy tale pretty well. And at the least, they chose a fairy tale that goes off the beaten track from Disney princess tales and romantic fantasies.
Favorite Number: We open with Buster claiming he's "Never Been Better" to the animals in the near-by woods, even though he's supposed to be chasing a fox. Fred laments to the animals at the mill that "Life Is One Long Rainy Day" of hauling bags of flour. Powertool, the big mechanical centaur who replaces Fred at the mill, brags about his superiority to an animal that can get worn down as he sings "Powertool" and shows off how many bags he can lift. Gwendolyn's lament is the dark ballad "Big Girls Never Cry." "Song of Freedom" is the big number the Musicians perform at the election show for Mr. Greed to reveal what he really has in mind for all those animals he has at his factory.
What I Don't Like: The second half is where this one falters. The original folk story has the animals posing as a "monster" to scare off burglars and opting to stay at their abandoned home. It probably did need some padding to make it feature length...but how did this turn into a rather dark parable about corporate greed and repression? The middle feels more like an attempt at the big action films from this era with vaguely Orwellian overtones and is even a bit depressing. The generic pop and blues songs are pretty dull too, despite having two of the great voices in blues and R&B sing it.
Oh, and why did they build up what happens when you pull Buster's tail early in the film, only to not use that device again? Likewise, Powertool appears, sings his one song, and promptly vanishes. And apparently the English version cuts out a lot of the finale. You barely see Dr. Greed's fate, how Gwendolyn finally pays for her home, and the party in the very end. It also gets fairly violent, especially in the factory.
The Big Finale: While I do give them credit for trying something different, this one just gets too strange for its own good. A few folks in Europe, especially England and its native Germany, seem to have seen this and kids and have fond memories. For everyone else, it's a quick curiosity at best for families with animal or music-lovers on hand.
Home Media: As far as I can tell, this one is currently streaming only in North America.
No comments:
Post a Comment