Happy Easter! - The Tale of the Bunny Picnic

HBO, 1986

Voices of Steve Whitmire, Richard Hunt, Jim Henson, and Louise Gold

Directed by Jim Henson and David G Hiller

Music by Philip Balsam; Lyrics by Dennis Lee

This cable special is the closest Jim Henson got to doing something for Easter. He wanted to make another holiday program with realistic animals after the success of Emmett Otter's Jug Band Christmas on HBO in 1977. While that one was a bit gritty and bittersweet, he went with something a little more aimed at children here. This special also introduced Bean Bunny, who would later appear on the 80's version of Muppet Babies and still occasionally turns up in Muppet media to this day. How does this charming story of rabbits who learn compassion when they find out the dog who ruins their picnic isn't as bad as he seems look now? Let's begin with the bunnies singing about the beginning of spring and find out...

The Story: Bean Bunny (Whitmire) is known for his wild imagination and his goofy attempts to dream he's something else. He wants to help set up for the big spring Bunny Picnic, but his older brother Lugsy (Hunt) keeps telling him he's too little. He wanders off into the lettuce patch to daydream when he's chased out by the farmer's dog (Henson). Horrified, Bean tries to tell everyone what he saw, but they think it's just another imaginative story. 

It isn't until the dog attacks the Picnic that the bunnies finally admit Bean wasn't just imagining things. The rabbits try everything they can think of to shake him, until Bean comes up with an idea based on a puppet show put on by the Storyteller Bunny (Ron Mueck). That seems to do the trick, at least until the dog catches on. Bean escapes and saves his brother...but when they see the dog being abused by the mean farmer who owns him (Martin P. Robinson), they realize who the real villain is and decide to teach the bullying farmer a lesson.

The Song and Dance: Considering the sugary reputation this special in general and Bean Bunny in particular have, this was a lot better than I thought it would be. The songs are catchy, and Bean is a lot of fun, especially some of his wilder daydreams! I also like that the bad guy isn't who you think it's going to be. The dog is set up to be the villain until mid-way through, when you realize he's as scared as the rabbits and is just following orders. The ending with how they help him actually ends up being rather sweet. 

The Numbers: We open with the bunnies enthusiastically greeting the warmer weather in "Hello Sunshine." Poor Bean laments that no one will let people do anything special "When You're Little." The dog tells the bunnies "Run, Bunny, Run," because he's coming after them. The Storyteller encourages the bunnies to "Follow Me" as he sets up his puppet show. Bean's parents sing "The Bunny's Lullaby" to put their frightened children to sleep that night. The bunnies empower each other to help the dog and attack the farmer with "Drum of Time." "Hello Sunshine" reappears during the credits after we find out who the narrator was.

Trivia: The special originally opened with a live-action segment as Jim Henson explained what inspired the story. That has been cut from most current copies available, including the ones on video and YouTube. 

What I Don't Like: While it's not quite as cutesy as it's reputation would have it, it's still a lot more child-oriented and sweet than the gritty Emmett Otter or the slightly darker and wackier Muppet fairy tales. Those adorable bunnies may be just a little too precious, with their huge black button eyes, chubby cheeks, and breathless speeches. It's notable that, though this did well enough on cable and has turned up sporadically thereafter on HBO and video, it's not one of the better-known specials. Only Bean is even mildly remembered today.

The Big Finale: Charming and adorable springtime viewing for you and your younger children; older kids and teens may find it a tad too sugary. 

Home Media: As mentioned, the only place you can find this at press time is YouTube. 

YouTube

Valentine's Short Subject Special - The Valentine's Day That Almost Wasn't

Showtime, 1982

Voices of Lisa Buckley, Richard J. Schellbach, Paul Fusco, and Bob Fappiano

Directed by Paul Fusco

Music and Lyrics by Ed Bruder and Jeff Cannata

From 1981 through 1983 Paul Fusco, the creator of ALF, made a series of six holiday specials for cable featuring his unique comic puppets. We've already seen his Easter and Thanksgiving stories over the past year. For Valentine's Day, we get a mystery and action spoof that turns cupids into Bogart-style investigators and gives us a little more action than in the more character-based early specials. In fact, we begin with our first real villain from these specials, Rubella Slime (Buckley) and her brothers, as they create a brew to spread hate in the world and end Valentine's Day as we know it.

The Story: Rubella hates Valentine's Day so much, she and her brothers Bugsy (Fusco) and Weasel (Fappiano) create a hate potion to put into the Cupids' Pot of Love. They first spray it on innocent Cosmo Cupid (Schellbach) when he's giving away puppies at the pound to create a distraction. While Sam Cupid (Fusco) and his boys are dealing with Cosmo, Bugsy and Weasell are able to sneak in and put the potion in the pot. When the cupids shoot their arrows, they turn everyone mean instead of loving. Sam has to find the antidote and stops Rubella, before she and her brothers ruin Valentine's Day for everyone.

The Song and Dance: Well, you can't say this one isn't unique. You don't often see a holiday special, especially for Valentine's Day, framed as a film noir spoof. The city and above the clouds setting gives this one a different vibe from the other specials, and it's a bit more action-packed, as per the mystery thriller vibe. Buckley pretty much steals the show as the hilariously evil Rubella, who wants everyone to hate Valentine's Day because she's never gotten a real Valentine in her life.

The Numbers: "Poison Brew" is Rubella's big song and dance with her brothers early-on. We get their explanation as to why they're doing this, how they plan on doing it, and what it will do to the people on earth.

What I Don't Like: This might be the strangest thing Fusco ever did. Humphrey Bogart-imitating Cupids? Villains who act like a cross between Maleficent and Morticia Addams? A Valentine's Day story framed as a mystery? Yeah, this is pretty weird, and more action than musical. Like Fusco's other work for Showtime, it's also incredibly cheap. Some of the sets are a little bit more interesting than the ones for Easter and Thanksgiving, especially when Cosmo and Sam are in their hot air balloon, using a laser (that is obviously a spotlight) to spread love, but it still looks like something made for cable in the early 80's.

The Big Finale: If you're looking for something different (and maybe a little less romantic) this Valentine's Day, take a trip to the big city with Sam and help him stop Rubella from destroying the holiday forever.

Home Media: Easily found on DVD and streaming, including free on Tubi with commercials.

DVD

Amazon Prime

Tubi

Animation Celebration Saturday - Dot and Keeto

Yoram Gross Films/Hoyts Distribution, 1985

Voices of Robyn Moore and Keith Scott

Directed by Yoram Gross

Music by Guy Gross, Bob Young, John Levine, and John Zulaikha; Lyrics by John Palmer

Let's return to the Australian outback this weekend for the next film in the long-running Dot series. After Dot and the Koala ended up being something of a cross between a typical Saturday morning cartoon of the 80's and Animal Farm, the next film returned to the original format of Dot encountering Aussie animals in the real outback. This time, the theme is the Australian insect world, including a few most people don't really think of as heroic or friendly. How well does Dot do in her time among the insects? Let's begin in the outback, as a live-action Dot (Ashley Ayre) tries to keep her brother Simon (Leaf Nowland) from harming ants and caterpillars and find out...

The Story: Dot (Moore) eats a magic root in order to explain to the insects that she tried to help them, but she eats the wrong root and shrinks to their size. She first befriends Keeto (Scott), a sweet male mosquito who agrees to help her find the root. Dot tries to go inside to find her mother, but she encounters cockroaches who don't take too kindly to her. Militaristic ants who think she's the one who destroyed their home like her even less. Their queen (Moore) looks down on her. She almost becomes food for a nasty wasp (Moore) and befriends a hungry caterpillar (Scott). Meanwhile, Dot's old friend the kangaroo shrinks down and goes looking for her.

The Animation: Same as most of the other movies in this series. After the weird and too-cartoonish Dot and the Koala, it's almost refreshing to see this one go back to drawing the animals more realistically. They're still not that well-integrated with the actual environments, but they look like the animals they're representing and they move well enough.

The Song and Dance: Like I said, after the preachy environmental message and odd Saturday morning vibe of the previous film, it's rather a relief to see this one return to formula. Good-natured Keeto is at least somewhat more tolerable than annoying Funny Bunny from Dot and the Bunny, and we get to see the mother kangaroo and a bit of her close relationship with Dot again this time, too. It's also fascinating to learn more about both insects that are native to Australia, and ones like mosquitoes and caterpillars that most of us have in our own backyards. 

The Numbers: Our first song goes to Dot as she explains why the "Little Things" of nature mean so much. "Cockroach" and his brethren sing to Dot about how they've managed to survive for so long, while the "Work Ant" marches its way to its home carrying a screaming, furious Dot. "Queen Ant" sings about how she's on top of the heap in her ant hill. Butterwalk the Caterpillar (Scott) tells Dot how he'll become a "Butterfly." There's also talk of the fearsome "Spider." We end with a reprise of "In the Kangaroo Pouch" from Dot and the Kangaroo as the Kangaroo takes Dot home.  

What I Don't Like: Honestly, this one shares most of the same problems as the rest of the series. The animation, though it's improved since the previous entries, still isn't great. The story meanders and wanders along with Dot. It's not for someone who is looking for a more straightforward plot. 

The Big Finale: Honestly, if you liked the other films in this series, you'll enjoy Dot's visit with the Australia's smallest residents just as much. 

Home Media: YouTube only at the moment. 

YouTube

Musical Documentaries - Hail Hail! Rock and Roll

Universal, 1987

Starring Chuck Berry, Keith Richards, Eric Clapton, and Johnnie Johnston

Directed by Taylor Hackford

Music and Lyrics by Chuck Berry and others

This year, we celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day by honoring another musical pioneer from the dawn of the Civil Rights Era. Chuck Berry had his strongest successes from 1955 through 1964 as one of the pioneers of R&B and early rock. He was overshadowed by the British Invasion and hard rock in the later 60's, even as the Beatles covered "Roll Over Beethoven," but would have one more moment in the sun with the novelty hit "My Ding-a-Ling" in the 70's. By the 1980's, Berry in particular and early rock in particular were getting a reassessment as his songs turned up on TV and on oldies stations and his albums were re-released on vinyl and on CD. We learn just how influential and popular his music was in this documentary honoring his 60th birthday. Let's begin with testimony from no less than John Lennon as we see an array of stars explaining Berry's influence on their music and find out...

The Story: We see rehearsal for two dynamic concerts at the Fox Theater in St. Louis, Missouri honoring Berry's 60th birthday and featuring an array of stars singing his music. Before and between scenes of the concert, Berry discusses his life and career, talking about his beginnings as the house band at the Cosmopolitan Club in St. Louis and how he fought with producers and fellow musicians a like to get his money and protect his music.

The Song and Dance: First of all, I'm glad the Fox Theater still exists in St. Louis, because it's a gorgeous palace with incredible architecture. It's the perfect backdrop for the two electric concerts that showcase Berry at his rollicking, dynamic best. We even get a wide array of stars of the time singing with him, everyone from Linda Ronstadt to John Lennon's son Julian. I like how honest the documentary is, showing that yes, Barry had trouble in the 50's and 60's with racism and whites who didn't really understand his sound covering his music, but the fact that, well, he wasn't always the most pleasant person. In fact, we see in the rehearsals that he could be downright controlling...but he's dynamic onstage, playing likely as well as he ever did.

The Numbers: We open with interviews and a dynamic "Mabellene" between four rehearsal numbers at Berry's home and at the Cosmopolitan Club, "Come On," "Carol," "It Don't Take But a Few Minutes," and a brief take on the standard "I'm Through With Love." We see how hard he pushes his band and hear his arguments with Richards in particular on "Carol" and "It Don't Take." 

"Roll Over Beethoven" featuring blues guitarist Robert Cray opens the first concert. After "Almost Grown," Linda Ronstadt, who recorded a cover of "Back In the USA" in 1978,  joins up for a rollicking duet. Berry tears into "Sweet Little Sixteen," "No Money Down," and "Nadine." Julian Lennon looks a little out of place for "Johnny B. Goode," but he does well enough with the duet and looks pretty good in the 50's-style suit. After "Memphis, Tennesee" and "Little Queenie," Cray returns to put his own stamp on "Brown Eyed Handsome Man." We hear testimonies from Little Richard between "Too Much Money Business" and "No Particular Place to Go." 

Eric Clapton takes the stage for "Wee Wee Hours." He sticks around for "Rock and Roll Music" as Etta James comes in for a duet. The big finale is the song that provided the film's title. Guitarist Joe Walsh joins Berry, Richards, Cray, and Clapton here.

Trivia: Berry had overworked his voice singing at an outdoor concert shortly before shooting began on this film and had to be dubbed at the concert scenes. 

What I Don't Like: First of all, Universal needs to take a crack at restoring this. The copy currently at Amazon Prime seems a bit on the grainy side, especially in the rehearsals. Second, I kind of wish there'd been more focus on Berry himself and less on stars of the time gushing about how he influenced their music. Berry may have been, to be blunt, a jerk, but he was a fascinating one, and it really is interesting to hear his take on his music and how he got started.

The Big Finale: I remember this turning up on cable fairly frequently in the late 80's when I was a kid, and I'm finally glad I got around to seeing it. If you have any interest in Chuck Barry, his music, or the early history of rock, you'll want to ride along in your own automobile and give this take on his life and songs a look.

Home Media: The discs currently seem to be hard to find. Your best best for this would be streaming.

DVD

Amazon Prime

Musicals On TV - Copacabana (1985)

CBS, 1985

Starring Barry Manilow, Annette O'Toole, Joseph Bologna, and Estelle Getty

Directed by Waris Hussein

Music and Lyrics by Barry Manilow

Tonight's venture into 1940's nostalgia has a few things in common with Queen of the Stardust Ballroom. Queen and Copacabana were TV movies that were big hits on CBS at a time when nostalgia for the mid-20th century was at an all-time high. They both won Emmys, despite musicals being passe on the big and small screens. They were also love stories with sudden tragic endings, although at least the end of this one was obvious from the beginning if you watched the opening and know the song it's based on. In most other ways, this one is a much different beast, with a familiar star and a slightly larger budget. How different is it from Queen and its intimate ballroom? Let's begin at the disco club Copacabana with the tattered, tragic Lola LaMarr (O'Toole) before flashing back to when she met her beloved Tony (Manilow) in 1948 and find out...

The Story: Lola and Tony meet when they both compete on a popular radio game show to win a spot at the famous Copacabana night club in New York. Tony wins, but it turns out to be a bartender job. He's still happy to have his foot at the door, even if his mother Bella (Getty) wants better for him. Tony finally finds Lola working in a dime-a-dance joint. He manages to get her a job as a Copa Girl when he reworks her dark ballad as a show-stopping dance routine. Owner Sam Silver (Ernie Sabella) eventually gives Tony a better job playing blues ballads on the piano too when the pianist is fired. 

Tony and Lola have fallen head-over-heels for each other when she catches the eye of Rico Castelli (Bologna), a gangster based out of Havana, Cuba. He convinces Lola she'll become a big star in his Tropicana nightclub, even getting his current mistress Conchita (Silvana Gallardo) to prepare her for their opening act. Tony gets his own major act at the Copa with the help of the wealthy, amorous Pamela Deveraux (Andra Akers). Pamela eventually gets Tony to Havana to rescue Lola and Conchita when he finds out what Tony does to his lovers. Even when Tony gets the ladies out, Rico still follows them back to the Copa...and tragedy comes along with him, leaving Lola heartbroken for 30 years. 

The Song and Dance: Manilow and O'Toole make a charming couple in this mostly delightful salute to vintage musicals. O'Toole in particular is a revelation, hilarious when pushing her dark ballad "Man Wanted," adorable and sweet with Manilow in the lovely "Who Needs to Dream?"Manilow surprisingly isn't bad either. Bologna makes a great nasty gangster too, and Getty has some nice moments as Tony's nagging mama. There's a nice production for a TV movie from this era too, with gorgeous gowns for the Copa Girls and the Havana dancers, lavish tuxes for Manilow and Bologna, and a nice recreation of late 40's New York and Havana in a Los Angels backlot. Director Hussein won an Emmy for his seamless melding of song and dance; "Who Needs to Dream?" is especially good here. 

The Numbers: We open with the last part of the title song in that 1978 disco as we see what became of Lola before flashing back to 30 years before. After the radio show, our first full number is actually three. Tony is "Changing My Tune," and changing the style of the song every time a publisher complains it isn't "now" or "tomorrow" enough. "Let's Go Steppin'" is the first chorus number for the Copa Girls, giving us the lavish, glamorous world of the nightclub Tony and Lola both badly want to work at. Lola originally performs "Man Wanted" as a dark ballad sung on top of a piano. Tony reworks it into a brassy showstopper that gets her the Copa Girl job. 

Tony starts "Lola" as a number on his piano, but he can't finish it until he encounters the real Lola at the dance hall. They dance together as Tony explains that his "big job" at the Copa wasn't so big after all. Walking home, he starts "Lola" on the accordion, which then segways into "Who Needs to Dream?" They're so delightful as they dance and play, everyone in the apartment buildings surrounding them ends up giving them deserved applause. 

"Aye Carrumba" is the second Copa chorus number and Lola's first. The Copa Girls go tropical in frilly dresses and huge Carmen Miranda hats as Lola leads the dance corps. "Call Me Mr. Lucky" is Tony's first song on the piano after he switches to playing. It becomes "Big City Blues" when Lola leaves for Havana. He gets another promotion to lead singer for "Sweet Heaven." This one has him with the Copa Girls, circling him in white and silver. "El Bravo!" is the big chorus number at the Tropicana in Havana. Lola is the damsel in distress in this swashbuckling spoof; Tony is the title hero in the second version. The movie ends with the start of the title song, as we see exactly what happened to kill Tony and break Lola's heart and mind.

Trivia: Copacabana has twice been made into a stage musical. The original one-act version debuted at Caesar's Palace in Atlantic City in 1991. This was expanded into a full musical that played London's West End from 1994 to 1996. Though it went over well in London and has toured and occasionally appeared in regional theaters in the US, it has yet to play Broadway.

What I Don't Like: First of all, as a big Manilow fan since childhood, I know the song ends tragically...but I don't think the movie should have. As with Queen of the Stardust Ballroom, Tony's sudden death in the finale doesn't really work with the mostly lighthearted romp that came before it. The stage versions have Rico as the one on the other end of that fatal bullet, and frankly, that makes more sense with the story seen here. My other problem is, like the vintage film musicals this is imitating, this is incredibly campy. If you're not a fan of vintage musicals, Manilow, or camp, this is no place for you. 

The Big Finale: If you're a fan of 40's musicals or are a big Manilow fan like me, you'll want to track down "the hottest spot north of Havana." 

Home Media: The DVD is out of print and prohibitively expensive at press time. You might be able to find it for a half-decent price used, but you're better off watching the decent copy currently on the Internet Archive.

DVD

Internet Archive 

Merry Christmas! - The Christmas Toy

ABC, 1986

Voices of Dave Golez, Steve Whitmire, Kathryn Mullen, and Brian Henson

Directed by Eric Till

Music and Lyrics by Jeff Moss

This year, we celebrate Christmas and New Year's with the Muppets in two very different lesser-known Muppet and Sesame Street specials. The Christmas Toy was Jim Henson's second shot at a holiday special after the more subdued Emmett Otter's Jug Band Christmas on cable. Christmas Toy goes in the opposite direction, with a more traditional holiday story in bright primaries revolving around toys and holiday friendship. How does this Muppet toy story look now, after other animated tales of playthings have come and gone? Let's begin with Kermit the Frog dressed as Santa goes down the chimney and introduces us to the Jones family and the residents of the playroom and find out...

The Story: Rugby Tiger (Golez) is little Jamie's (Marsha Moreau) favorite toy that she got for Christmas last year. When he hears it's Christmas Eve, he thinks he'll be opened and found by Jamie again. Trouble is, if toys are found out of place, they're frozen permanently. Rugby and Mew the Cat Toy (Whitmire) go downstairs to climb into a box so Jamie can open him, but it's not that easy. Jamie does have a new big toy this year, Meteora the Space Queen (Camille Bonora), who thinks they're aliens. Meanwhile, Apple the Rag Doll (Mullen) convinces Cruiser the Cab Driver (Henson), Belmont the nervous ride-on horse (Richard Hunt), and Bleep the Robot (Rob Mills) to help her rescue Rugby and keep him from getting them all frozen. Rugby ends up learning a lesson in real friendship when Mew not only helps him convince Meteora to get back in the box, but sacrifices himself to save the others, too.

The Song and Dance: This charming special is faster-paced and more high-energy than Emmett Otter, but just as much fun. Golez revels in playing the hilariously egotistical Rugby, who thinks that just because he's Jessie's favorite toy means he'll stay that way forever. Whitmire is adorable as Mew, who remains a loyal friend despite Rugby insulting him about being a cat toy. The songs are really catchy too, with "Try the Impossible" and the heartbreaking "Together at Christmas" the standouts. I love the bright color palate on the toys, the deep blacks and glittering silvers and golds of Meteora and the tree in the living room, and some of the gags, especially when they try to get Meteora back in the box!

The Numbers: We open with a big chorus routine for the toys, as we're introduced to their world in the play room and how "Toys Love to Play." "I Was the Greatest Christmas Toy" is Rugby's recollection of the year before and how it made him feel like a big star. Apple reprises it briefly in the living room when she remembers it, too...but she felt left out when Jamie said Rugby was now her favorite. Apple tells Belmont and the other toys to "Try the Impossible" as she rounds up a posse to rescue Rugby and Mew. Rugby coaxes Metora back into the box by singing "The Song of Meteora," telling her how much she'll be adored the next day. Mew already adores her and occasionally adds his besotted asides. "Together at Christmas" is Rugby's sad song to Mew downstairs after he's been frozen. Kermit the Frog joins the toys to reprise it for the finale in the play room.

Trivia: This would be spun off into a series in the 90's, The Secret Life of Toys. 

The copy currently on DVD deletes the opening and closing intros with Kermit the Frog. (Fortunately, most streaming copies are uncut and retain Kermit.) 

What I Don't Like: The story itself is nothing new, and is even less original after all of the Toy Story films have come and gone. In fact, this has a lot in common with the Toy Story movies, including a space-themed protagonist who doesn't believe they're a toy, a favorite toy who is jealous of the space toy, and the general idea of toys coming to life. The special mostly focuses on Rugby, Mew, and their relationship, with a little of Apple and Belmont in the rescue sequence. I'd love to learn more about the other toys, especially wise old teddy Balthazar (Jerry Nelson), super-cool Cruiser, and the fashion doll who, in a running gag, keeps missing all the action because she's constantly changing clothes to fit the mood. 

The Big Finale: A charming special with some great songs and delightful characters that's well worth checking out with your kids this holiday weekend, especially if any of them are big Toy Story or Muppet Show fans. 

Home Media: The DVD is currently expensive, and as mentioned, is missing the opening and closing segments with Kermit anyway. You're better off looking for this one on streaming. 

DVD

Amazon Prime

Thanksgiving Short Subject Special - A Thanksgiving Tale

Showtime, 1983

Directed by James Field

Voices of Paul Fusco, Lisa Buckley, Richard Schellbach, and Lisa Fusco

Music and Lyrics by Richard Schellbach

In 1982 and 1983, Paul Fusco made four holiday puppet-based holiday specials for Showtime that showed off his puppeteering abilities. I covered the Easter special back in April. The Thanksgiving special debuted later in 1983 and would also turn up on Nickelodeon and elsewhere throughout the 80's. Like the rest of Fusco's early work, it vanished in the early 90's, only to reappear in the 2010's as streaming made early holiday programming more widely available. Is it as enjoyable as the Easter special? Let's begin in an alley in Newark, New Jersey with a group of very hungry cats and find out...

The Story: The cats live in a tool shed in the alley. They have a home, but have run out of food. The dogs who guard the restaurant next-door have cleared out all of the mice. They have plenty of food, thanks to their jobs, but live outside in the freezing cold. The cats think they have their Thanksgiving dinner all sewn up when Tom, a turkey with Broadway ambitions (Fusco), turns up on their doorstep. The dogs try to rescue him, which eventually results in a literal cat and dog fight. It's Queenie the female cat (Buckley) and Tom who finally realize that each group has what the other needs. Tom puts on a play that finally teaches both groups the importance of sharing what they have and working together.

The Song and Dance: For 30 years, I had vague memories of a Thanksgiving puppet special involving a group of cats and dogs who end up helping each other. I couldn't remember the title or any other details, until the Fusco shows started turning up on YouTube. I definitely enjoy this one more than the Easter special. The story is charming and unique, Fusco's Tom Turkey and his theatrical aspirations are hilarious (and he doesn't sound too much like his later creation ALF this time), and the cats and dogs all have well-delineated and very funny personalities. The puppets are slightly more interesting, too, with Tom being by far the most expressive.

The Numbers: The dogs get our first song, as they lament shivering outside and being homeless in "They Say It's a Dog's Life." The cats give their side of the story and why they think they own their turf in "We are the Cats." We finish after their Thanksgiving pageant with Tom and both groups realizing how important friendship and cooperation is in "Thanksgiving Magic." 

What I Don't Like: Though the story and puppets are a bit more interesting than the ones made for the Easter show, this is still pretty obviously a low-budget special made for cable in the early 80's. The sets are minimal, the characters can occasionally be grating, the score mainly consists of synthesizer music, and there's some mild Mexican stereotypes with the displaced chihuahua. 

The Big Finale: I'm glad to see that this mostly holds up pretty well. It remains a fun watch before Thanksgiving dinner for families with young kids or fans of ALF, the Muppets, or other similar kids' puppet shows.

Home Media: Streaming only, but it can be found for free with commercials pretty much anywhere, including Tubi and Amazon Prime.

Tubi

Amazon Prime

Election Day Special - I Go Pogo

21st Century Film Corporation, 1980

Voices of Skip Hinnant, Johnathan Winters, Vincent Price, and Bob McFadden

Directed by Marc Paul Chinoy

Music by Gary Baker; Lyrics by Tom Flora

Our first review this week is so obscure, I never even heard of it until last week. I have, however, heard of the comic strip it's based on. Walt Kelly's Pogo started in 1948 and became one of the most popular comic strips of the 1950's and 60's. Its homespun characters, creative use of language, and spot-on political satire made it a favorite of kids and adults alike. The comic had already begun falling out of favor when Kelly passed away in 1973. There had already been two attempts at putting the strip on TV, but this would be its first and only movie outing. How does this laid-back stop-motion comedy compare to the much-loved strip? Let's begin in Georgia's Okefenokie Swamp as the title song introduces our main premise and characters and find out...

The Story: Everyone in the swamp is bound and determined for Pogo (Hinnant) to run for president...except Pogo himself. Pogo would rather be fishing and thinks the entire process is nonsense. Molester Mole (Winters), Deacon Mushrat (Price), Albert Alligator (Stan Freberg), and Howland Owl (McFadden) in particular are determined for Pogo to win the nomination for the presidency. They think of everything they can do to force him to campaign, from painting him as part of "Mount Rushmore" on a fence (his head gets stuck) to attempting to marry him off to skunk Mis Mam'selle Hepzibah (Ruth Buzzi) so he'll have a first lady. Molester and Mushrat even call on the unreliable Wiley Katt (Winters) at one point. In the end, as Pogo and the narrator point out, the more they try to fix things to their own ends, the more of mess they make of it all.

The Animation: The stop-motion has been criticized for not looking much like the characters in the comics. Not having read the comics, I can't make the comparison there. I can say that, though they move decently enough for the time and their facial expressions are occasionally hilarious, they're all so rounded and undefined, it's hard to tell what animal most of them are supposed to be. (I would not have guessed "possum" for Pogo, for instance, or muskrat for the Deacon.)

The Song and Dance: I will give them credit for assembling such a wonderful all-star cast. Hinnant is a charming Pogo, while Price actually manages a decent southern accent as the conniving Deacon. Freburg and McFadden also make the most of the twisty and frequent dialogue. Buzzi does well by her two very different characters, making Hepzibah sweet and silky and motherly Miz Beaver warm and no-nonsense.

The Numbers: We open with the title song as we see the locations that will later turn up in the film. Porky Pine (Winters) laments that "It's Hard to Be a Friend" when the others are all busy with the campaign and he has no one to fish with. It's "Convention Time," and the animals cheer Pogo on. "Pogo In Desperation" is an attempt to point out to the others that he's not suited to the candidacy. The others would rather give "Hail and Cheers" at the rally. "The Chase!" is on as everyone goes after their candidate in the finale.

Trivia: 21st Century Film Corporation pulled a little chicanery of their own when they told the animators they would get this national distribution in time for the 1980 election, with a one million promotional budget and a "Pogo for President" write-in campaign. They ended up sending it straight to video instead. It was only available through Fotomat's rental service.

An edited version with added narration would eventually turn up on cable, including HBO, Showtime, and The Disney Channel. This version would also be re-released on video by Disney in 1984 and 1989. (It's this version that I based my review on.)

Skip Hinnant's last theatrical film.

Among the later cartoonists Kelly's work inspired were Gary Trudeau (Doonsbury), Bill Watterson (Calvin and Hobbes), and Jeff MacNelly (Shoe). 

What I Don't Like: For all the great characters, first of all, there's too much talk and way too little action. Three fourths of the movie is just characters plotting and plotting with very little to show for it. The narration they added for cable only makes things more confusing. The plot is barely existent, and is mainly there to show off the cast and Walt Kelly's trademark unique words. And once again, I've never read the comics, but some comments online say this lacks it's charm and wordplay. I have to agree with another comment that the stop-motion doesn't really seem to suit the characters. They would have been better off in regular 2D animation. 

The Big Finale: Only for the most ardent fans of the Pogo comics or the cast. Everyone else can leave this one alone in the swamp.

Home Media: This is so obscure, it's never been on DVD, to my knowledge. The only way you can find it is in the cable-edited version with the narration on YouTube.

YouTube

Hard Rock Nightmare

Baio-Brascia-Venkour Productions, 1988

Starring Martin Hansen, Greg Joujon-Roche, Annie Milkan, and Lisa Elania

Directed by Dominick Brasica

Music and Lyrics by various

This week, we explore how music and horror entwine with one relatively recent and one brand-new film about musicians dealing with supernatural forces. This is apparently low-budget filmmaker Brasica's second movie after the even less-well-known Evil Laugh. If it seems familiar, the story closely resembles another low-budget hard rock horror movie, Rock and Roll Nightmare, from the year before, down to having similar titles. Does it share that movie's (numerous) problems, or does it deserve to escape that cabin in the woods? Let's begin in black and white with a young boy's frightening memories of his grandfather and find out...

The Story: Jim (Hansen) ended up in a mental hospital after he supposedly killed his grandfather when he claimed to be a vampire as a joke. Over a decade later, he's out and now playing in a hard rock band, Bad Boys. When the cops tell them they're too loud to be practicing in a garage, they take their rehearsal to the cabin in the woods Jim inherited from his grandmother. 

Turns out that's not the best idea they ever had. There's something out there in those woods, and it's stalking the group one by one. Jim's horrified when he realizes that this furry menace may be a lot more than a werewolf who doesn't appreciate rock and roll. He may be the ghost of the grandfather he thought he killed...and the answer to what truly happened all those years ago.

The Song and Dance: While still a low-budget, direct-to-video cheese-fest that has "late 80's" stamped all over it, this is slightly better than the truly ridiculous Rock and Roll Nightmare. The pace is ten times faster (they don't spend most of the first half of the film driving) and the ending makes a heck of a lot more sense. The kids actually show a tiny bit more intelligence than usual for these movies, too. Some of them actually attempt to flee or get away, instead of just sitting there and waiting to be killed. 

The Numbers: We open with Bad Boys rehearsing the title song in the garage before the cops show up and complain about them annoying the neighbors. "Prince of Darkness" covers the actual drive to the woods where the guys discuss gimmicks and talk about the girls coming along. They perform "Tell On You" at the first rehearsal in the cabin. "I Think I Want You" is Jim's song for his girl Sally (Elania) before they make love for the first time. The satirical "Friends Forever" is heard over the credits.

What I Don't Like: Um, did I mention this is a low-budget slasher hard-rock horror movie from the 80's? You know what you're getting into here. The acting is dull (especially from the girls) and the dialogue is laughable at best. The special effects may have been passable in 1988, but they look almost comically cheesy now. The ending may make more sense than the one in Rock and Roll Nightmare, but it still comes off as too Scooby Doo-esque for a slasher horror flick.

The Big Finale: Unless you're a huge fan of hard rock or low-budget slasher flicks from the 80's, I'd pass right by this bloodsucker.

Home Media: On Blu-Ray from Grindhouse Video. Currently streaming for free with commercials on Tubi.

Blu-Ray

Tubi

Cult Flops - Earth Girls are Easy

Vestron Pictures, 1988

Starring Geena Davis, Jeff Goldblum, Jim Carrey, and Julie Brown

Directed by Julien Temple

Music and Lyrics by various

If you thought an animated musical about mutated street animals saving a post-apocalyptic world was weird, get a load of this one. This adaption of the hit Julie Brown song apparently had its genesis in 1986, but Warner Bros lost interest when Temple's previous project bombed and they couldn't interest any major stars in the film. It ultimately ended up with the De Laurentis Group and Vestron...but Temple's eye for detail drove up costs and flared up tempers. The fact that it was filmed while the De Laurentis Group was facing bankruptcy likely didn't help matters. By the time it limped into general release in 1989, it was an enormous flop, not even making its relatively small budget back. Does it deserve that fate, or should these aliens get a second chance to show their stuff? Let's begin with three hairy, horny aliens in a spaceship on their way to Earth and find out...

The Story: Valerie Gail (Davis) is having a really bad week. First of all, she let her girlfriend Candy (Brown) give her a complete makeover to put her fiancee Dr. Ted Gallagher (Charlie Rocket) in a more amorous frame of mind. He ends up bringing home a buxom nurse (Stacey Travis) instead, and Val kicks him out. Not long after that, a strange yellow alien ship crash lands in her swimming pool. She nearly drowns investigating it. The aliens turn out to be friendly and help her inside, but she has no idea what to do with them or how to keep Ted from finding them while her surfer friend Woody (Michael McKean) drains her pool

She ends up taking them to Candy for makeovers...revealing three hot, if goofy, guys under all that hair. Mac (Goldblum), the group's leader, ends up falling for Valerie during a trip to a nightclub. Ted, however, does not like Valerie hanging out with three weirdos and calls off their engagement. The aliens also know very little about human culture besides what they've gleaned off TV. When Zeebo (Damon Waynas) and Wiploc (Carrey) land in the hospital, Mac and Valerie go after him before Ted can figure out they're aliens. Valerie still thinks Ted might be the one, but when the spaceship is finally repaired, she begins to wonder if an out-of-this-world love might be better for her than an earthbound doctor who doesn't appreciate her.

The Song and Dance: This is one of the most original live-action musicals in an era where comedies about teen witches, alien stepmothers, and vampire besties abounded. Carrey and Waynas get to show early signs of the wacky, rubbery comic geniuses that would make them household names in the next decade, while Goldblum is charming as the sweetest and least-goofy of the three aliens. Davis is a riot as Valerie, desperately trying to bed Ted while figuring out what to do with these guys, and Michael McKean has a lot of fun as surf bum Woody who has probably had one too many falls off his board. The filming in real-life LA adds considerably to the film's weird charm.

The Numbers:  We open with the title song in the alien's ship and over a unique animated credits sequence depicting sci-fi tropes. Our first chorus number is at the salon where Candy and Valerie work, the Curl Up and Dye, as Candy and the hairdressers claim they're going to turn Val into a "Brand New Girl." Val and Candy take the shaved aliens for a night on the town, where they and the chorus "Hit Me." Mac impresses Val with a charming instrumental number at the piano. "Baby Gonna Shake" lets Zeebo show off his moves against another dancer in a cage. Candy reveals why she's so glad to have gone platinum at the beach in another signature Julie Brown number, the chorus routine "'Cause I'm a Blonde." Woody, Zeebo, and Wiploc "Shake That Cosmic Thing" during a huge car chase downtown. The aliens navigate being turned around on the highway to Depuche Mode's version of "Route 66." The movie ends with Hall & Oates' version of "Love Train" over the credits.

What I Don't Like: Did I mention how weird this is? Weird and very, very 80's. It plays on a lot of stereotypes of the time, including valley girls and their obsession with landing wealthy beaus. Nowadays, Val probably would have kicked Ted's rear to the curb permanently the first time she found him cheating. Brown's Candy can get annoying fast, especially in that "Blonde" number. (Incidentally, if the "Blonde" number seems a bit extraneous, it was added at the last minute to give the film a second hit Brown tune.)

The Big Finale: If you love the cast or other truly unique science fiction or fantasy comedies from this era, you'll want to ride the wave over to California to meet three of the most rockin' aliens to ever crash into a manicurist's swimming pool.

Home Media: Easily found on all formats, often for under $10. Tubi currently has it for free with commercials.

DVD

Blu-Ray

Tubi

Animation Celebration for Adults - Rock & Rule

MGM/Nelvana, 1983

Voices of Don Francks, Paul Le Mat, Susan Roman, and Greg Duffel

Directed by Clive A. Smith

Music and Lyrics by various

This week, we dive into the weirder side of the 80's with two cult flops from the decade of decadence that deserve to be better-known. Although most people still saw animation as merely children's fodder, there were attempts in the 70's and early 80's to move it beyond princesses and talking mice. We saw one such example with Ralph Bakshi's historical epic American Pop back in 2022. This one didn't start as an adult action fantasy. Canadian animation studio Nelvana originally intended their first animated film, about a post-apocalyptic world evolved from street animals like dogs, cats, and rats. Somewhere along the line, it turned into a hard-rock fantasy for grown-ups that filmed without a script. How does this singularly peculiar animated rock-and-roll epic look nowadays? Let's begin with a narrator (Chris Wiggins) explaining our story and find out...

The Story: Mok Swagger (Francks) is a legendary rock musician who is seeking "one special voice" that will unlock a powerful demon from another dimension. He and his goons return to the village of Ohmtown to see one last band. Turns out the female member, Angel (Roman), has just the voice he needs for his machine. Mok and his henchmen Sleazy (Brent Titcomb), Toad (Wiggins), and Zip (Duffel) lure Angel and the male band members Omar (Le Mat), Stretch (Duffell), and Dizzy (Dan Hennessey) to his mansion. He kidnaps Angel and traps the other three in an energy ball to force her to sing.

After Omar and the other two are thrown out of Mok's mansion, they steal a police car and follow Mok to Nuke York. The cops catch up with them, and they end up in jail. Dizzy's Aunt Edith (Catherine O'Hara) bails them out. Angel escapes with Cinderella (Catherine Gallant), the eager sister of Mok's goons, but Mok gets his claws on her again. He also makes Omar think she doesn't want to be with him anymore and brainwashes him, Dizzy, and Stretch. They finally come out of when Mok moves his concert to Ohmtown due to the huge need for power. Now, it's a race against time as Omar and his friends try to save Angel from the hideous demon, and discover that it takes more than once voice to take down real evil.

The Animation: While still not at Disney's absolute best, this is light-years beyond anything Nelvana was doing on TV at this point. The designs are appropriately hideous and wildly unique at turns, like an urban 80's fever dream crossed with a faded Art Deco print. The special effects, with all its glitter, light beams, and very early CGI, screams "early 80's." The characters move well enough, but even the "good guys" like Omar can sometimes be a little too grotesque - and there's Mok Swagger and his collection of hairpieces and wildly dramatic expressions, too.

The Song and Dance: Well, you can't say this one isn't original. Canada's first dive into English-language feature-length animation is a really weird blend of the unique butting up against the mythic. Mok Swagger alone is something else, with his bony body and ever-changing headgear. Francks gives him just the right tone of oozing menace. Duffel does especially well with Zip, the sweetest of Mok's goons who questions what they're doing, and Gallant is hilarious as party-hearty Angel. 

The Numbers: We open with Omar and his band's noisy hard rock number "Born to Raise Hell." After they're cut off, Angel manages to sneak in her "Send Love Through" which is enough to impress Mok. Toad catches Angel and Omar making love in their car to "Angel's Song." "Hot Dogs & Sushi" introduces us to Mok's enormous and rather ugly mansion. The flickering beams in Lou Reed's "Triumph" is what hypnotizes Omar and the guys. "I'm the Man" takes Omar and the guys to Nuke York in their stolen cop car.

Cindy and Angel get into the nightclub and on the dance floor with "Dance, Dance, Dance." Mok gives us his big scheme at the first concert, complete with female dancers echoing his name, in "My Name Is Mok." "Ohm Sweet Ohm" is Omar's too-sugary song under hypnosis. Angel is forced to perform the "Invocation Song" while drugged at the second concert. "Pain and Suffering" gets scary - and kind of of gross - with freaky imagery and nasty lyrics. It takes Omar and Angel together to reprise her "Send Love Through" and send that freaky demon back where he came from.

Trivia: MGM had little faith in the film, giving it almost no promotion in the US, recutting it, and replacing Omar's original voice Greg Salata with the better-known Paul Le Mat. Needless to say, it was a monumental failure that remained hard to find for years.

What I Don't Like: Hooo boy, calling this one "weird" doesn't begin to do it justice. Some of the creepy, unsettling, or flat-out gross imagery, especially during the demon's arrival, almost pushes this into horror turf. This is most definitely not kiddie animation. There's sex, exposed rears, fairly strong violence, some suggestive humor. Frankly, neither Angel nor especially Omar are all that interesting. Omar in particular is such a jerk, you don't mind seeing him hypnotized all that much. He certainly can't match Mok's theatrical flair. The story is all over the place and occasionally dips into end-of-the-world cliches. No wonder audiences (and MGM) in 1983 had a hard time figuring out what was going on. 

The Big Finale: This dark dive into a wildly strange future isn't for everyone, but fans of Deborah Harry (who is Angel's singing voice) or those wanting to see some really unique adult animation might be willing to give this early 80's fever dream a shot.

Home Media: The US DVD is wildly out of print (though the Canadian copy is available). The best way to see this one in the US is on YouTube.

YouTube

Rappin'

The Cannon Group, 1985

Starring Mario Van Peebles, Eriq La Salle, Melvin Plowden, and Richie Abanes

Directed by Joel Silberg

Music and Lyrics by various

Let's return to the US to celebrate Juneteenth with this early look at rap culture. By 1985, rap had just begun to get off the streets and into mainstream homes. Movies were starting to take notice of this dynamic new urban culture, too. Even smaller studios wanted to cash in on that gritty new sound. The Cannon Group was also at their apex, considered to be one of the strongest "B" movie studios at that point. Having dove into the breakdancing craze with Breakin' and Breakin' 2, they moved in on the even more novel and popular rap craze. How does this attempt look today, when rap is one of the dominant musical genres in the world? Let's begin as Pittsburgh ex-convict Rappin' John Hood (Peebles) is released from prison and find out...

The Story: John returns to his decaying Pittsburgh neighborhood to live with his grandmother (Eyde Byrde) and little brother (Leo O'Brian). He reunites with his gang, only to discover that greedy developers want to knock it down and displace its diverse, impoverished residents. He doesn't exactly make himself popular with the local hoodlums, either, especially their leader Duane (Charles Grant). Duane isn't crazy about John's attentions to his girlfriend Dixie (Tasia Valenza), either. 

Dixie is the one who finally convinces John and his buddies to audition for rap recording contract. Even that might not be enough to save their homes. Developer Thorndyke (Harry Goz) is under pressure to evict John and his neighbors and tear down their dwellings for new development. John's not about to let them get thrown out. They rally the neighbors to fight back, but the rap really heats up with Duane and his boys attack, and the stage is set for a showdown at the courts, where John and his friends prove that music has the power to bring together communities and shared dreams.

The Song and Dance: This was honestly better than I was expecting, and probably better than it has any right to be. It's cheesy, yes, but it's a fun cheesy. Everyone really gets into their roles, with an intense Van Peebles and big, tough La Salle coming off best as the friends whose fondness for rap manages to unite their community. Melvin Plowden (in apparently his only movie) is adorable as their always-hungry friend Fats, and Valenza is sweet enough as Dixie to make you understand why John goes after her, even though she's already taken. There's some genuinely cute rap numbers and some surprisingly decent filming in real-life Pittsburgh.

The Numbers: We open with the title song performed by Lovebug Starski, reintroducing John (and introducing us) to the people of his neighborhood. John and his brother reunite with their rap "Two of a Kind." The first chorus number and the big number at John's welcome-home party is Claudja Barry's dynamic "Born to Love," which underscores the confrontation between Duane and John where the latter won't fight. John and his buddies are musically annoyed with Fats' "Snack Attack" at the produce warehouse where Richie (Albanes) works. 

"First Love Never Dies," performed Eugene Wilde and Joanna Gardner, is our first glimpse of where Dixie works. "Golly Gee" seems like a slightly sexualized number for the members of Tuff, Inc, whose collective ages can't even be in double digits. It's enough to amuse the local kids their age, as is John taking them on a "Neighborhood Walk." "Killer," the first rap audition at Dixie's job, gives us a satirical look at the darker side of rap culture that almost seems like a spoof of darker "gangsta' rap" in the 90's. The Force M.D's are a lot less scary with their matching sweaters and "Itchin' for a Scratch." John beats them both by rapping to two brawling drunks with "Lady Alcohol." 

Dixie's listening to teen singer Warren Mills record "Flame In the Fire" when she has to deflect Duane's call. John's first recording is "Livin' With the Buzz," underscoring his brother's arrest. "Call Me" details how John and his neighbors fight the construction workers and get their heat back during a frigid Pittsburgh winter. "The Fight Rap" at the courtroom reminds everyone of the importance of fighting to the very end. The entire neighborhood reprises "Rappin'" as they celebrate saving their homes in the finale.

Trivia: Master Gee of the Sugarhill Gang dubbed Peebles' numbers.

What I Don't Like: Did I mention how cheesy and cliched this is? I'll pass the cheap sets - this is an urban wasteland, it's not exactly supposed to look lavish - but the "save the neighborhood" story isn't anything you haven't seen in dozens of movies going back to the silent era. I don't know much about rap, but I know enough to note that none of the songs in the movie are especially memorable, and most of the numbers edge into absurd West Side Story imitations. 

The Big Finale: This is far from a masterpiece, but it's enough fun to be worth seeing for fans of Peebles, early rap, or 80's urban-set musicals.

Home Media: Easily found pretty much anywhere. Can often be found streaming for free with commercials, including on Tubi.

DVD

Blu-Ray

Tubi

Easter Short Subject Special - An Easter Story

Showtime, 1983

Voices of Paul Fusco, Lisa Buckley, Rich Schellbach, and Robert Fappiano

Directed by Terry Kyne

Music and Lyrics by Ed Bruter, Michael Solden, and Jeff Cannata

Let's celebrate Easter with a unique blast from my childhood. Fusco is best-known today as the creator and long-time voice of the furry alien ALF. From 1981 to 1983, Fusco made a series of holiday specials for Showtime featuring cuter and more cartoon-like puppets. The Easter special debuted in 1983 as his second-to-last holiday show. It would turn up on Nickelodeon and elsewhere on cable for a few years before disappearing for three decades. Now that Fusco's early work has re-emerged online, how does this one stack up to that better-known visitor from Melmac? Let's begin with the Easter Bunnies at their factory in a cave as they prepare for Easter and find out...

The Story: O'Hare, the Easter Bunny's right-hand rabbit, recalls the year the factory almost had to stop production. The factory was running out of paint, and Miss Fifi and her chickens couldn't produce enough eggs, even when the head Easter Bunny gave them a color TV to watch soaps. His magic-obsessed son tries to help, but his spells keep producing jelly beans instead of eggs. E.B is worried he won't be able to live up to his father's legacy...but when all seems dark, he gets a spark of inspiration from two boys who waited to see the Easter Bunny and suggest that they might be able to color their own eggs to help out. 

The Song and Dance: Charmingly goofy story features some nifty puppet work from Fusco, especially down below with all of those rabbits working on the production line. The subplot with E.B's son and his constantly producing jelly beans is actually pretty funny and may be my favorite part of this. That opening and closing "Work, Work, Work" number is kind of catchy, too, despite the synthesizer arrangements. 

The Numbers: We open and close with "Work, Work, Work" as the bunnies explain what they do and how they're getting ready for Easter Day. E.B gets a number directly to the camera mid-way through, which is sort of a song/recitation on how E.B wishes he could live up to his father's legacy and what he'll do if the factory closes, "Pressures." 

What I Don't Like: First of all, nitpicking, but...Fusco is so recognizable as ALF by now, it's hard to hear him as an Easter Bunny who's concerned about his workers. You keep expecting him to try to eat a cat or something. O'Hare sounds kind of annoying, too. It's also obvious that there was only one female puppeteer, as the two female characters have the same breathy voice. Second, it's pretty obvious all of these specials were low-budget. The rabbits barely move, and until E.B goes above-ground and catches the kids waiting for him, we're mostly in the rather dull-looking factory.

The Big Finale: That said, this is still a fun watch before the Easter egg hunt, especially for fans of ALF, the Muppets, or other similar puppet shows. 

Home Media: Easily found on streaming for free, including on Amazon Prime and Tubi.

Tubi

Amazon Prime

Cult Flops - Forbidden Zone

The Samuel Goldwyn Company, 1980

Starring Herve Villechaize, Susan Tyrell, Marie-Pascal Elfman, and Phil Gordon

Directed by Richard Elfman

Music and Lyrics by various

Our second cult musical of the week jumps ahead five years to a very different rock group. The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo began life in 1972 as a surrealist street performance troupe. They added 30's and 40's jazz and their own material when original founder Richard Elfman's brother Danny joined in 1976. By 1979, Danny Elfman wanted to take the group in a whole new direction. This movie was seen as a way for Richard Elfman to transition from making music to making movies, and for Oingo Boingo to move from being a theatrical troupe to a New Wave rock group. How successful were they? Let's begin as the title card explains about the house with the entrance to the Sixth Dimension in its basement and find out...

The Story: Drug and slum lord Huckleberry P. Jones (Gene Cunningham) sells one of his houses to the Hercules family. They're told not to open the door to the basement, the Forbidden Zone. Sister Frenchy (Marie-Pascal Elfman) does it anyway and is captured by the Princess (Gisele Lindley), who brings her to King Fausto (Villechaize) and Queen Doris (Tyrell) of the Sixth Dimension. Fausto falls for Frenchy and wants to marry her. The Queen is insanely jealous and orders their frog servant Bust Rod (Jan Stuart Schwartz) to throw her in the dungeon.

Meanwhile, Frenchy's brother Flash (Gordon) and their Gramps (Hyman Diamond) have also gone to rescue her, but are taken prisoner as well. Their father (Cunningham) is blasted into the Sixth Dimension and ends up captured as well. Flash and Gramps escape and discover the first Queen (Viva), who wants her revenge on Doris for seducing her and locking her in the dungeon. There's also their meek friend Squeezit (Matthew Bright), who reluctantly goes looking for Frenchy and his sibling Rene (Bright), only to run a foul of Satan (Danny Elfman) and his Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo.

The Song and Dance: Um, yeah. You can't get much more out there than this movie. With its wacky pastel cardboard sets and surreal animation, this is about as cult as you can get. No wonder Danny Elfman would go on to work extensively with Tim Burton for years. They share a very similar sensibility. For all that they insult every race out there, this movie is surprisingly decent to its transvestite characters. At the very least, Renee and Squeezit are no worse or less strange than anyone else. Bright and Tyrell come off best as the sensitive drag duo Squeezit and Rene and Susan Tyrell as the Queen who is determined to fight off every newcomer and keep her throne and her short man. 

The Numbers: We open with the title song over the animated credits, performed by Danny Elfman and the Mystic Knights. Our first full-on number is a version of the standard "Some of These Days," performed by Ma, Pa, and Frenchy to explain why they shouldn't go into the Sixth Dimension. We then go down below for an instrumental version as a mostly-naked chorus performs it in the Sixth Dimension. Frenchy dances to the Josephine Baker number "La Petite Tonkinoise" during class, joined by two blind dancers. 

Frenchy arrives in the Sixth Dimension finds The Kipper Kids dressed as boxers joining real-life Latin singer Miguelito Valdes singing "Bim Bam Boom" in the ring. Queen Doris' introductory song is "Witch's Egg," on why she's such a bad girl and doesn't want to share her hubby. Frenchy briefly performs another Baker number, "Plure," while begging for help. Queen Doris does not like her husband watching this number one bit! "The Alphabet Song" is a spoof of the Three Stooges' "Swinging the Alphabet" that begins with Miss Feldman (Kendric Wolfe) giving their own version and ends with it becoming a rock number and those "kids" tossing out some pretty sweet dance moves. 

Rene laments what the Queen will do to them, while Doris rages about the "Queen's Revenge" and how she intends to eliminate her rivals. "Pico and Sepulveda" is the chorus number for Pa Hercules and the workers at the La Brea Tar Pits, singing with the real voices of Felix Figureroa and His Orchestra. Satan himself and his men get to lay into the jazz parody "Squeezit the Moocher" as Squeezit begs to help Frenchy and his sister. Queen Doris is not impressed with Mr. Bernstein's "Yiddishe Charleston" and zaps him out of existence. The wild "Finale" brings everyone who is still alive together to celebrate rock, jazz, and taking over the universe.

Trivia: The movie was filmed in black and white. It was originally going to be hand colored, but that was eventually discarded as expensive and inefficient. It would be digitally colorized under Richard Elfman's supervision in 2008. (I reviewed the colorized version currently at Tubi.)

Richard and Marie-Pascal Elfman were married at the time. They originally financed the movie repairing and selling houses. They ran out of money but were helped by a benefactor.

Richard Elfman has been trying to make a sequel to this for years and has discussed putting out collectibles and books based after the Sixth Dimension characters as well. 

What I Don't Like: If anything in the above descriptions offends, annoys, upsets, or mystifies you, this probably won't be your thing. This movie insults pretty much everyone else besides transvestites, including gay people, Jews, and African-Americans. The opening animation includes blackface, and the school "kids" include gay and black stereotypes. (The Mystic Knights' makeup in the "Squeezit the Moocher" sequence and the clown drug seller in the opening are said to be more obviously blackface in the original black and white version.) Violence, heavy swearing, women who spend the movie running around in little or no clothing, and some noisy and very casual sex makes this for adult cult movie fans only.

The Big Finale: Some things are just too weird, even for me. I thought this had some great music, but was otherwise a bit much for my taste. If you're a bigger fan of Danny Elfman or Oingo Boingo than me or are more into the weirder side of his work, you might find a lot more in the Hercules family's adventures in the Sixth Dimension than I did.

Home Media: Easily found pretty much everywhere, including on disc and free with commercials at Tubi.

DVD

Blu-Ray

Tubi

Musical Documentaries - Say Amen, Somebody

United Artists, 1982

Starring Thomas A. Dorsey, Willie Mae Ford Smith, Delois Barrett Campbell, and Zella Jackson Price

Directed by George Nierenberg

Music and Lyrics by Thomas A. Dorsey and others

We celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. weekend with this joyous celebration of gospel music, from the director of the delightful tap documentary No Maps On My Taps I reviewed in 2021. Considering King himself was a minister, a musical on gospel and those who brought it to the masses seems extremely appropriate. Nierenberg was a young Jewish man who knew little about the subject, but like with the revival of tap, thought its story deserved to be told. Let's begin with one of the extraordinary performers he brought back into the limelight, Father of Gospel Thomas A. Dorsey, and see how well he did...

The Story:  We hear the story of gospel and how it was brought to the masses, via long-time performers like Dorsey, "Mother" Willie Mae Ford Smith, and the Barrett Sisters. Smith and Dorsey in particular recall the difficulties they had bringing gospel music to churches in the 1930's and the creation of Dorsey's most famous song, "Take My Hand, Precious Lord."

The Song and Dance: What a delight! I'm glad Nierenberg found these people. It's sheer happiness to see them belting their religious numbers to the heavens. They're all obviously having a wonderful time, especially in the finale during the gospel convention. Their stories are fascinating. I've only seen one or two other documentaries on gospel music, so it was interesting to hear it performed and discussed by people who made it what it is today. And  thankfully, unlike Maps, there's more than enough time to learn about all of these people and how many of them sacrificed everything to bring gospel to the masses. 

The Numbers: We open with Willie Mae Smith, the mother herself, belting "Singing In My Soul" and "What Manner of Man" for the huge crowds at the convention. Dorsey gets a brief "When I've Done My Best." We see no less than beloved gospel singer Mahalia Jackson performing Dorsey's "Take My Hand, Precious Lord" in older footage. Zella Jackson Price gets "I'm His Child," Smith reprises "Soul" later for a smaller crowd. 

The O'Neal Twins with the huge Interfaith Choir get the dynamic "He Chose Me" and "Highway to Heaven," along with "Jesus Dropped the Charges." The Barrett Sisters' numbers include "The Storm Is Passing Over," "No  Ways Tired," and "He Brought Us." Dorsey gets a chance to sing his own "Precious Lord" in front of that enormous crowd at the gospel convention near the end of the movie. 

What I Don't Like: Honestly, this might have the opposite problem from Maps. Sometimes, these people go on a little too long before they actually show how good they still are at singing. I kind of wish it had gone even further into its subject, including the reasons these people and their music were barred from so many churches in the 30's and 40's - namely, the racism. that kept the music from spreading faster then. 

The Big Finale: Even non-gospel fans like me can appreciate this joyous celebration of how gospel music and attitudes towards it and those who sing it have changed over the years.

Home Media: The discs are currently out of print but can be found on the secondary market. You're better off looking for this one on streaming.

DVD

Blu-Ray

YouTube (buy or rent) 

Animation Celebration Saturday - Dot and the Koala

Yoram Gross Films, 1985

Voices of Robyn Moore and Keith Scott

Directed by Yoram Gross

Music and Lyrics by Gairden Cooke

The Dot series was wildly popular in its native Australia, enough to continue for eight films. This is the third of those 8 films, coming after Dot and the Bunny. It also varies the formula a bit, trading in Dot's interaction with real-life animals for something closer to what you'd find in an animated series from this era, a town of talking animals. How does Dot get involved with the story of how one all-animal town created a dam for more power...and learned a lesson when the animals in the bush whose homes were flooded out fight back? Let's begin in that sleepy all-farm-animal town and find out...

The Story: Mayor Percy Pig is certain that their big new dam will thrust their little town into the 20th Century and bring many jobs to the community. What he doesn't consider is that their dam would flood the Outback and destroy the homes of the animals who live there. Bruce the Koala (Scott) encourages all the residents to fight back, but it just ends with them building the dam anyway. They finally bring in Dot (Moore) to help them stop the opening. She's the one who shows Percy, rat detective Sherlock Bones, and his none-too-bright cat sidekick Watson that small towns have their own charms, and there can be progress without destroying the environment.

The Animation: This one takes a different route with the style of animation. The animals look far smaller and less realistic than they do in previous films, with shorter, less detailed bodies and larger, goofier eyes. There's also far less live-action footage, and the animals barely interact with it at all. Dot looks more-or-less the same, but then she also has a lot less to do. 

The Song and Dance: Unique story almost comes off as a lighter version of Animal Farm, with the two sides warring over what one sees as "progress" and the other only knows will destroy their way of life. Some of the action sequences, especially in the beginning where they're all fighting, are kind of fun. Scott has fun playing most of the voices, including the stuffy pig mayor who thinks that power is the best way to shove his little town in the 20th Century and feisty little Bruce the Koala.

The Numbers: The local children's "Dam the Power!" chant leads everyone in town to chant about how the dam will mean "progress." The animals in the outback aren't as amused. They go to tell the animals in town what they think of their dam and "Stop It From Happening." Dot and Bruce show how a "Small Town" is just as important in the finale, which continues into the credits.

What I Don't Like: I liked it much better when Dot was helping animals in the real Australian outback. First of all, she doesn't turn up until 40 minutes into a movie that runs a little over an hour, and when she does appear, she doesn't have all that much to do. Second, the animation is grotesque, weird, and a little too goofy, lacking the realistic details of the previous three. The story veers between Sherlock Bones and Watson's dumb gags and the darker story of how so-called "progress" isn't always the answer with no rhyme or reason, and the environmental message is forced and cliched.

The Big Finale: With weirdly goofy animation and a story that veers between cliched, dark, and too silly, I'm going to say this is only for the most ardent fans of the Dot series or Australian animation. All others are fine with the previous three films or the ones that came afterwards.

Home Media: Which makes it just as well that at press time this is one of the harder-to-find Dot films. To my knowledge, the only place it can currently be found in North America is YouTube.

YouTube

Happy Halloween! - The Midnight Hour

ABC, 1985

Starring Lee Montgomery, Jonna Lee, Shari Belafonte, and Peter DeLuise

Directed by Jack Bender

Music and Lyrics by various

We remain in the mid-80's on this warm Halloween night with another 80's spoof of 50's and 60's cliches. We move the festivities to television, once again with bored teens out for kicks...but this time, their seemingly harmless antics don't merely dredge up a few well-meaning aliens and a crazed killer. These kids somehow manage to bring no less than the living dead out for some Halloween thrills...but we also have proof that the undead isn't always so scary when one of the living kids falls for a beauty from the 50's who is far from what she seems. How does this bloody romance look nowadays? Let's begin with one little boy preparing his bike and his costume for trick-or-treat and find out...

The Story: Hoping to find really cool Halloween costumes for a big party, high school kids Phil (Montgomery), Melissa (Belafonte), Mary (Deedee Pfiffer), Vinnie (LeVar Burton), and Mitch (DeLuise) steal their ancestor's clothes from the local history museum, along with an old chest containing a ring and a parchment scroll sealed in wax. They don't think it's a big deal to recite the words of the scroll at the local cemetary...until suddenly, the undead come to life and start lumbering around their New England town. Led by Melissa's witch ancestor Lucinda (Jonnelle Allen), they turn almost everyone into town into vampires and zombies. 

Phil is the only person in town who avoids this fate. He spends the night with Sandy (Lee), a pretty, sweet girl in a 50's cheerleader outfit whom he finds wandering around, wondering why everything looks so different. Sandy is the one who realizes that they must find the bones of Mitch's ancestor and seal the scroll, before the vampires make Phil into one of them as well. 

The Song and Dance: When the movie puts the spotlight on Sandy and Phil and their feelings for one another, it's actually kind of sweet. Montgomery and Lee have chemistry, and Lee being a 50's cheerleader instead of a lumbering zombie like some of the other creatures in this movie is unique for a horror film. I also appreciate the diverse cast, with Belafonte and Allen coming off best as the teen girl whose insistence on reading the scroll inadvertently brings in her spooky ancestress. Some of the costumes aren't bad either, including the ones they stole from the museum, Sandy's cheerleader outfit, and the very 80's outfits at the masquerade party. Killer soundtrack too, especially if you're a classic rock fan.

The Numbers: Sam the Sham and the Pharaoh's spooky hit "Little Red Riding Hood" is our first number, as a zombie wanders around town in time to the music. His "costume" is so good, no one gives him two glances, even Phil when he almost runs him over. "Clap for the Wolfman" by the Guess Who plays as Vinnie tries to get Melissa to dance with him and Phil attempts to ask Mary to join him, neither with much success. Mitch finally gets their substitute teacher to dance with him to a remake of "Sea of Love" by Phil Phillips. Bobby Vee's "Devil or Angel" accompanies Phil and Sandy as they dance in front of the mall that stands when the malt shop Sandy once hung out at used to be. Melissa turns the only original song "Get Dead" into a huge dance number with the zombified kids at the party.

Trivia: Listen for DJ Wolfman Jack in vocal cameos throughout the film, including one last request from Sandy in the finale. 

What I Don't Like: Uh...did I mention this is a made-for-TV movie from 1985? At times, it's even more confused about its genre than Voyage of the Rock Aliens was. It can't decide if it wants to be a satire of teen horror flicks, an actual teen zombie horror flick with blood and gore and everyone attacking each other, or a touching supernatural romance. I wish they'd focused even more on Sandy and Phil's relationship. You don't really learn much about Sandy, other than she realizes her time is running out. They could have at least mentioned how she died so young...and didn't come back as a zombie or a vampire like the rest of the town. 

There's also Phil's so-called friends being smarmy, obnoxious brats whose instance on stealing from a museum started all the trouble in the first place. Not to mention, they think of the most ridiculous excuse to get them and the costumes into a cemetery. They couldn't have tried them on anywhere else, especially on Halloween? The sets and special effects are pretty chintzy, too. 

The Big Finale: Critics came down pretty hard on this in 1985, and while it's far from the best horror comedy ever, it's certainly more palatable than Voyage of the Rock Aliens. Worth checking out at least once during your Halloween party, especially if you have actual teens around. 

Home Media: Out of print on DVD for years. Your best best at the moment would be YouTube. 

YouTube

Cult Flops - Voyage of the Rock Aliens

Fox Lorber, 1984

Starring Pia Zadora, Craig Sheffer, Tom Nolan, and Alison LaPlaca

Directed by James Fargo

Music and Lyrics by various

For Halloween week, we leap into cult horror and sci-fi with two truly unique rock musicals.  This began life as a spoof of B horror, science fiction, and Beach Party-style teen musicals from the 1960's. Though the producers mostly sought singers rather than actors, they did get two actors for the lead roles and an actual New Wave rock band to play the music-obsessed aliens of the title. How well does this mess of weird drive-in cliches come off today? Let's begin in space with the arrival of the aliens' guitar-shaped spaceship and find out...

The Story: Beings from another planet (RHEMA) search the reaches of outer space for the source of rock music. After considering other planets, they finally land on Earth with their robot companion 1329 (Peter Cullen). Speelburgh is a pretty typical southern industrial town in Georgia...too typical for bored teenager Dee Dee (Zadora). Dee Dee would give anything to sing with her boyfriend Frankie (Sheffer) and his band (Jimmy and the Mustangs), but he thinks the band is fine without a singer. 

Lead alien Absiid (Nolan) falls for Dee Dee and asks her to be the lead singer at the high school's Cotillion Dance. Frankie is jealous, but Dee Dee is smitten, until she realizes why love is so foreign to Absid. Meanwhile, there's also two escapees from the local mental hospital (Michael Berryman and Wallace Merck) roaming around with a chainsaw, the Sheriff (Ruth Gordon) determined to figure out just what's going on here, and a huge tentacled monster emerging from the polluted lake...

The Song and Dance: "Weird" does not begin to do this movie justice. This is off-the-charts Looney-Tunes bizarre. If you're a fan of the synthesizer-laden "New Wave" dance music from this era, you might actually get a kick out of it. Zadora was more known at the time for being famous and her marriages than for actually appearing in anything, so it was kind of interesting to see her here. Nolan came off best as the alien trying to figure out just what this "love" thing is; Gordon has her moments as the tough Sheriff who wants to know what these invaders are up to.

This may be the most 1984 musical in existence. It reeks of "MTV in the mid-80's," with the ladies running around in baggy shirts, tight jeans, and poofy polka-dot sundresses and the guys either in tight shirts and leather, 50's-inspired pompadours and jeans and jackets. If the aliens hadn't thrown stuff around at the malt shop, they wouldn't have looked all that out of place in their tight metallic and studded jumpsuits. There's a few funny gags, and I love how some cliches are subverted, especially when Dee Dee's best friend Diane (La Placa) ends up befriending the chainsaw-wielding nut instead of getting killed by him.

The Numbers: We begin with "Openhearted" over the credits as we get our first glimpses of the aliens' guitar-shaped ship. "When the Rain Begins to Fall" was originally filmed as a music video...and it looks it. Zadora and Jermaine Jackson enact a Romeo and Juliet story on a warring planet that has nothing to do with the rest of the movie. "21st Century" describes how the aliens feel about their home and their roaming as they check the monitors on their ship. 

"New Orleans" gives us a glimpse of how the kids in Speelburgh defy the rules not to swim in the heavily polluted Lake Eerie. Dee Dee flirts and wiggles for Frankie as she sings about "Real Love," even as the tentacled monster invades the party. All of the kids really go wild for the Pack singing "Try To See It My Way" and "Justine" at the malt shop. Dee Dee sings in the bathroom about how "You Bring Out the Lover In Me," with the ladies in the stalls managing to dance along. "Combine Man" really gets New Wave as the aliens put Absid back together after he literally loses his head over Dee Dee and get him around the Sheriff. 

Absid dreams of a cosmically romantic relationship with Dee Dee in "Little Bit of Heaven." He claims "She Doesn't Mean a Thing to Me," even as he insists on his friends helping him find ways to impress her. "Come On" and "Troublemaker" provide the background for the introduction of the murders as they attack the deputy sheriff and others. "Let's Dance Tonight" is the big number at the Cotillion. Dee Dee finally gets her wish to sing with a band, much to the frustration of her jealous boyfriend. "Get Out and Dance" is the aliens' response. Frankie reveals his jealousy and how it's the "Nature of the Beast" in overwrought and badly written "I am" number. The aliens do their best to remove the remaining obstacles to Frankie and Dee Dee's romance in an encore of "When the Rain Begins to Fall." 

What I Don't Like: Hooooo boy. This is 80's cheese of the ripest and most ridiculous sort. For one thing, none of these people are remotely teenagers. (Pia Zadora was 30 during shooting.) The movie looks as cheap as it is, with a rubber tentacle spitting bubbles and cardboard sets. The music isn't terribly memorable, either, especially if you're not into New Wave. Frankie is such a sexist jerk, you can understand why sweet-if-dim Dee Dee rushes to the arms of an alien. The genre-mash-up gives it a real tone problem. It veers from near-horror to comedy to musical, sometimes within the space of seconds. The musical numbers tend to either get cut off or, as with the opening at the polluted lake and the Cotillion, go on for way too long. 

The Big Finale: If you're a fan of 80's music or cinema or like your movies on the cheesy or "so bad they're fascinating" side, this is worth checking out for the sheer camp value alone.

Home Media: It was only on DVD in Germany, but the Blu-Ray is widely available, and it's easy to find on streaming. (Tubi currently has it for free with commercials.) 

Blu-Ray

Tubi

Animation Celebration Saturday - The Fox and the Hound

Disney, 1981

Voices of Pearl Bailey, Mickey Rooney, Kurt Russell, and Jeanette Nolan

Directed by Ted Berman, Richard Rich, and Art Stevens

Music and Lyrics by various

Disney was in transition when they made this one. This dark and unassuming animal story was a first for them in many respects. It was their first animated movie whose creation Walt had no involvement with. The book it's based on debuted in 1967, the year he died. It was also the last movie made by their Nine Old Men who had helped animate many of their earliest films, and the first for many animators who would help create hits for them and elsewhere in the 90's and beyond. How did all this effect the tale of a fox cub and hound puppy who are friends when they're young, only to become mortal enemies when they grow into adulthood? Let's begin with Big Mama Owl (Bailey) rescuing an abandoned fox cub after the death of its mother and find out...

The Story: Big Mama and her bird friends Dinky (Dick Bakalyan) and Boomer (Paul Winchell) bring the cub to lonely Widow Tweed (Nolan). She names him Tod (Keith Coogan) and raises him as a pet. Around the same time, hunter Amos Slade (Jack Anderson) brings home a hound puppy named Copper (Corey Feldman). When the two meet in the woods, they become fast friends and vow to stay that way forever. Neither Tweed nor Amos are thrilled with their relationship. Amos thinks Tod is after his chickens, and Tweed doesn't like Amos harming animals. 

Amos takes Copper and his older dog Chief (Pat Buttram) on a long winter hunting trip. When they return in the spring, Copper (Russell) and Tod (Rooney) have grown to adulthood. Tod wants to renew their friendship, but Copper doesn't want to go against his owner and friend. After Chief is badly hurt in an accident with a train, Copper is determined to track Tod down. Widow Tweed lets Tod into a nature preserve to protect him. Tod's lonely, until Big Mama introduces him to sweet Vixey (Sandy Duncan). Amos and Copper are still after them...but when a bear attacks the entire group, Copper has to decide if he wants revenge, or to respect the friendship they once had.

The Animation: Disney was only just pulling itself out of its 70's slump when they made this. It isn't the best they ever did, but it's also not without its virtues. It's kind of obvious Don Bluth worked on some scenes before he and 13 other animators walked out. This looks and feels more like one of his movies at times, especially in the beginning when Tod and Copper are younger and play with their tongues hanging out. 

The Song and Dance: Considering how much they softened from the original anti-deforestation novel, this still wound up being one of their darker films. I forgot what a terrific cast it has. All four of the actors playing Tod and Copper are splendid; Rooney and Russell give a lift to the dramatic scenes in the second half, and the younger boys would go on to have substantial careers as teens and young adults. Bailey's three songs are charming and sweet, and Anderson and Nolan play off each other well as the cantankerous hunter and the kindly old widow who wishes he'd leave her pet alone. 

The Numbers: The first song isn't until more than 15 minutes in, but it's the charming and bittersweet "Best of Friends." As Tod and Copper frolic in the woods, Mama wishes they really could stay friends forever. Mama and Dinky try to explain why a "Lack of Education" could lead Tod to an early grave, and why Copper won't be his best friend for much longer. Amos claims he's "A Huntin' Man." Widow Tweed talks the lyrics for the heartbreaking "Goodbye May Seem Forever" as she releases Tod into the wild before the chorus takes over. Big Mama encourages Tod to "Appreciate the Lady" and get to know Vixey better after his bad night in the woods.

Trivia: This was also the last Disney movie to simply feature a "The End" graphic at the end and push all the credits to the beginning and the first to use CGI graphics (mainly when Amos is trapping Tod and Vixey in their burrow). 

Though Kurt Russell did ten other Disney movies, this would be his only appearance in one of their animated films. 

Phil Harris and Charo were originally going to appear in the film as two goofy cranes, but it was decided that they and their comic number slowed the pacing and they were removed early in development. 

What I Don't Like: Did I mention how dark this is? Amos and Chief get hurt, there's shooting and gunplay, not to mention the fact that Tod and Copper's relationship, no matter how adorable it is in the beginning of the film, is doomed from the start. Despite all that, I wish they'd gone even darker. Not as dark as the book, where everyone dies and the woods are demolished, but at least let Chief die and give Copper more of a reason for wanting to attack Tod. Unfortunately, I think that was the Disney old guard getting wishy-washy.

And I'm glad they cut the Harris and Charo cranes. Winchell and Bakalyan do have some funny moments as the two birds relentlessly chasing a caterpillar, but their side story seems out of place and disconnected from the main plot about Tod and Copper's relationship. Other than "Best of Friends," Bailey's songs don't really seem to belong, either, and she doesn't have much to do besides sing and rescue Tod in the opening.

The Big Finale: This has never been my favorite Disney movie, thanks to the uneven tone and dark themes, but if your older kids are fans of other animated animal movies like The Secret of NIMH or you're a fan of anyone in the cast, it's worth checking out for that great voice cast and the animation. 

Home Media: It took them so long to release this on video, it was the last movie to appear in the original Walt Disney Classics line in 1994. Thankfully, it's long out of the Vault and is now easily found in all formats, including on Disney Plus. The current disc versions bundle it with its direct-to-video sequel, which I'll be looking at next week.

DVD - The Fox and the Hound and The Fox and the Hound II

Blu-Ray - The Fox and the Hound and The Fox and the Hound II

Disney Plus