20th Century Fox, 1992
Voices of Samantha Mathis, Robin Williams, Johnathan Ward, and Tim Curry
Directed by Bill Kroyer
Music and Lyrics by various
Messages about the importance of saving the environment were all over TV and movies in the late 80's and early 90's. The Exxon-Valdez oil spill and other ecological disasters made people more aware of just how fragile nature was. Along with the TV series Captain Planet and the Planeteers, this was probably the most famous cartoon - and to my knowledge, the only musical - to deal with the importance of saving our Earth. How well does its message come across today? Let's head to the title rain forest on the eastern coast of Australia and find out...
The Story: Young fairy Crysta (Mathis) is in training with elderly Magi Lune (Grace Zabriskie) to take over her role as protector of the forest, but she'd rather be out exploring the many wonders of FernGully. On one such expedition, she encounters Batty Koda (Williams), a fruit bat humans experimented on. His experience left him with an antenna on his head, a constantly-changing personality, and a hatred of all humans. The other fairies believe humans are extinct, but Crysta agrees to check this out.
She discovers a lumberjack, Zack (Ward), helping his buddies cut down trees for a new highway. When a tree nearly falls on him, she shrinks him to save him...but can't figure out how to change him back. Meanwhile, his buddies have cut down the tree that imprisoned Hexxus (Curry), the spirit of pollution and waste. Hexxus targets FernGully, laying waste to all before him. Zack can't bring himself to admit that it was humans who freed Hexxus, but he may not have a choice when the fairies have to defend their homes against this oily menace.
The Animation: Absolutely gorgeous, and probably the best thing about the movie. The animators actually went to Australia to learn more about the rain forests there, and it's obvious they did their homework. Each frame bursts with life, light, and color, from the well-integrated CGI flocks of tropical birds to the lush, hand-drawn flowers and trees. "Dream Worth Keeping," with its glowing fungi and glittering backdrops, is particularly stunning.
The Song and Dance: My family used to watch this quite a bit in the early 90's. It's funnier than I remember, partially due to Williams' wild and creative improvisational riffs (seven months before the release of his more famous role in Aladdin), but mostly thanks to a script that's better than most people give it credit for. Some of Ward's lines are hilarious as he tries to deal with his change in size and his odd new friends who think humans were long gone from this world.
If nothing else, this features one of Tim Curry's best performances as the evil pollution spirit who wants to obliterate everything in his path. He's so over-the-top, he outshines everyone but Williams by a wide margin. Indeed, many fans of the film cheer more for him than for the fairies.
Favorite Number: Williams' "Batty Rap" shows just how batty this rodent went after humans got into his head. This stream-of-consciousness song gives Williams a chance to really go to town with his many references and breathless lunacy. "Dream Worth Keeping" is a slightly syrupy Sheena Easton ballad, but it does accompany a lovely sequence with Crysta showing Zak the forest and its beauty and falling in love with him. Curry scores with "Toxic Love," which was so sexually-charged, it had to be cut down before release in order to get a PG.
Two routines seem a tad out-of-place. A lizard (Tone Loc) tries to eat Zack, to the tune of "If I'm Gonna Eat Somebody (It May as Well Be You)." It's not a bad number, but the lizard is never seen, nor heard of again after Crysta saves Zach from becoming his meal. Likewise, the fairies' routine to a cover of "Land of 1,000 Dances" comes out of nowhere and serves no function, other than introducing the fairies to more of the human world.
Trivia: This was a passion project of producer Wayne Young, whose ex-wife Diana Young wrote the original FernGully book in 1977. Most of the money from film was donated to various environmental causes.
Though by no means a record-setter, it did well enough at the box office to warrant a direct-to-video sequel, FernGully 2: The Magical Rescue, in 1998.
What I Don't Like: While the side message on the dangers of animal testing still comes across thanks to Williams' performance, the main one about the damage to the environment caused by pollution and human negligence is well-meaning but muddled and and annoyingly preachy. Having a "toxic spirit" be the one who causes the damage is too obvious and kind of takes the easy way out, no matter how much fun Curry has with the role. And speaking of Curry, he and Williams pretty much leave anyone else in the dust. Ward isn't bad as sarcastic Zach, but Mathis is too cutesy as curious Crysta, and Christian Slater just sounds bored as her jealous fairy guy friend Pips.
The Big Finale: It's too dark for young guys, but older kids who can handle some of the scarier elements and have any interest in nature or saving the Earth, or folks who grew up watching it on video or cable in the 90's, may find much to enjoy in this one if they can get around the pushy message.
Home Media: Easily found in all formats, often for under 10 dollars.
DVD
Blu-Ray
Amazon Prime
Reviews of musical films, from 1930s black and white to widescreen 21st century extravaganzas.
Showing posts with label Robin Williams. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Robin Williams. Show all posts
Saturday, November 23, 2019
Saturday, May 25, 2019
Animation Celebration Saturday - Aladdin (1992)
Disney, 1992
Voices of Robin Williams, Scott Weinger, Linda Larkin, and Johnathan Freeman
Directed by Ron Clements and John Musker
Music by Alan Menken; Lyrics by Howard Ashman and Tim Rice
In honor of the release of the live-action version of Aladdin yesterday, I'm going to cover the original. Disney's first venture into Arabian Nights lore was an even bigger hit at the box office than Beauty and the Beast, the top-grossing film of 1992. Does the tale of a young Arabian thief who discovers he's a "diamond in the rough" with the help of a wisecracking genie still hold up today? Let's take a flying carpet to the desert city of Agrabah and find out...
The Story: Aladdin (Weinger) is a cunning young thief with a kind heart who spends his days stealing his daily bread and avoiding the guards on the streets of Agrabah. One day, he encounters a beautiful and intelligent young woman (Larkin) who claims to have run away from home. Turns out she's the Princess Jasmine, who fled the castle when she was being forced to choose a prince to marry. Aladdin is arrested by the guards and by the sultan's second-in-command Jafar (Freeman) and his obnoxious talking parrot Iago (Gilbert Gottfried) and tossed in the dungeon.
Jafar poses as an old prisoner in the dungeon and agrees to help him out, if he finds a certain lamp in the Cave of Wonders. Aladdin and his monkey Abu (Frank Welker) do, Jafar abandons him in the Cave. Turns out the lamp holds a magical, wisecracking genie (Williams), who not only helps them out of the cave, but is able to grant wishes. Aladdin wants nothing more than to be able to court the princess. The Genie makes him into a prince, but Jafar has his suspicions, and the Genie is upset when Aladdin may not free him. It takes nearly losing everything he holds dear to make Aladdin understand that one makes their own magic...and you don't need magic to be a good and brave person.
The Animation: Disney wanted to push themselves even further after the success of Beast, and they certainly did that. The Cave of Wonders was one of their earlier ventures into CGI, and it doesn't look half-bad today. The colors are rich and gorgeous, as per the Arabian Knights setting, and some of the expressions are hilarious. Just the way the animators are able to keep up with Williams' stream of lunacy is awesome.
The Song and Dance: Williams was the biggest reason for this movie's success in 1992, and while he's still funny, there's other things worth mentioning. Jasmine is one of Disney's stronger princesses of the era, determined to have love her way, no matter what. Gottfried, as annoying as he can be, does get some good lines as the ever-sarcastic parrot, and Freeman oozes menace as the oily second-in-command who cares about nothing but power.
Favorite Number: Jasmine and Aladdin's big ballad "A Whole New World" picked up the Oscar and "Friend Like Me" was Williams' big showcase, but my favorite song from this one is Aladdin's introduction, "One Jump Ahead." The rollicking tune perfectly introduces Aladdin, Abu, and their life as thieves in Agrabah and is one of the more fun numbers in the score.
Trivia: Unlike Beast and The Little Mermaid, this one had only been in development since the late 80's. It was Howard Ashman's idea and his baby, but he didn't live to see it's completion. Most of the songs he and Menken wrote didn't make it into the film (other than "Prince Ali"). Executives demanded it be completely re-written, eliminating the character of the mother and building up Jasmine and the romance.
A stage musical opened on Broadway at the New Amsterdam Theater in 2014 and is still running there at press time.
Disney would do two sequels, The Return of Jafar and Aladdin and the King of Thieves, and a TV show. I may review the sequels somewhere along the line if I ever run into them; I seem to remember that what little I saw of the TV show was actually a lot of fun, even if they didn't use most of the original voices.
What I Don't Like: Many of Williams' pop culture references are recognizable only to people who were around in the early 90's nowadays, making him maybe a bit less funny than he was in 1992. While the Cave of Wonders generally looks decent, the CGI action sequence is more obvious. Aladdin and Jasmine both look and sound kind of generic and not especially Arabic. I have no idea what's with the opening with Williams as a random peddler introducing the lamp and the story. It has nothing in common with the rest of the movie, and other than allowing Williams to sing "Arabian Nights."
While this has more things in common with the original story than some other adaptations, I can't help but wonder what would have happened if this had retained both Aladdin's mother and the original Chinese setting from the Arabian Nights story.
The Big Finale: I don't love this one as much as I do Beauty and the Beast, but I still like it a lot. It's still one of Disney's funnier movies, and one of their best for grade school-age boys who are turned off by more overtly-"princessy" Disney animated films.
Home Media: Technically out of print, but not that hard to find, including on several streaming services.
DVD
Amazon Prime (Buy Only)
Voices of Robin Williams, Scott Weinger, Linda Larkin, and Johnathan Freeman
Directed by Ron Clements and John Musker
Music by Alan Menken; Lyrics by Howard Ashman and Tim Rice
In honor of the release of the live-action version of Aladdin yesterday, I'm going to cover the original. Disney's first venture into Arabian Nights lore was an even bigger hit at the box office than Beauty and the Beast, the top-grossing film of 1992. Does the tale of a young Arabian thief who discovers he's a "diamond in the rough" with the help of a wisecracking genie still hold up today? Let's take a flying carpet to the desert city of Agrabah and find out...
The Story: Aladdin (Weinger) is a cunning young thief with a kind heart who spends his days stealing his daily bread and avoiding the guards on the streets of Agrabah. One day, he encounters a beautiful and intelligent young woman (Larkin) who claims to have run away from home. Turns out she's the Princess Jasmine, who fled the castle when she was being forced to choose a prince to marry. Aladdin is arrested by the guards and by the sultan's second-in-command Jafar (Freeman) and his obnoxious talking parrot Iago (Gilbert Gottfried) and tossed in the dungeon.
Jafar poses as an old prisoner in the dungeon and agrees to help him out, if he finds a certain lamp in the Cave of Wonders. Aladdin and his monkey Abu (Frank Welker) do, Jafar abandons him in the Cave. Turns out the lamp holds a magical, wisecracking genie (Williams), who not only helps them out of the cave, but is able to grant wishes. Aladdin wants nothing more than to be able to court the princess. The Genie makes him into a prince, but Jafar has his suspicions, and the Genie is upset when Aladdin may not free him. It takes nearly losing everything he holds dear to make Aladdin understand that one makes their own magic...and you don't need magic to be a good and brave person.
The Animation: Disney wanted to push themselves even further after the success of Beast, and they certainly did that. The Cave of Wonders was one of their earlier ventures into CGI, and it doesn't look half-bad today. The colors are rich and gorgeous, as per the Arabian Knights setting, and some of the expressions are hilarious. Just the way the animators are able to keep up with Williams' stream of lunacy is awesome.
The Song and Dance: Williams was the biggest reason for this movie's success in 1992, and while he's still funny, there's other things worth mentioning. Jasmine is one of Disney's stronger princesses of the era, determined to have love her way, no matter what. Gottfried, as annoying as he can be, does get some good lines as the ever-sarcastic parrot, and Freeman oozes menace as the oily second-in-command who cares about nothing but power.
Favorite Number: Jasmine and Aladdin's big ballad "A Whole New World" picked up the Oscar and "Friend Like Me" was Williams' big showcase, but my favorite song from this one is Aladdin's introduction, "One Jump Ahead." The rollicking tune perfectly introduces Aladdin, Abu, and their life as thieves in Agrabah and is one of the more fun numbers in the score.
Trivia: Unlike Beast and The Little Mermaid, this one had only been in development since the late 80's. It was Howard Ashman's idea and his baby, but he didn't live to see it's completion. Most of the songs he and Menken wrote didn't make it into the film (other than "Prince Ali"). Executives demanded it be completely re-written, eliminating the character of the mother and building up Jasmine and the romance.
A stage musical opened on Broadway at the New Amsterdam Theater in 2014 and is still running there at press time.
Disney would do two sequels, The Return of Jafar and Aladdin and the King of Thieves, and a TV show. I may review the sequels somewhere along the line if I ever run into them; I seem to remember that what little I saw of the TV show was actually a lot of fun, even if they didn't use most of the original voices.
What I Don't Like: Many of Williams' pop culture references are recognizable only to people who were around in the early 90's nowadays, making him maybe a bit less funny than he was in 1992. While the Cave of Wonders generally looks decent, the CGI action sequence is more obvious. Aladdin and Jasmine both look and sound kind of generic and not especially Arabic. I have no idea what's with the opening with Williams as a random peddler introducing the lamp and the story. It has nothing in common with the rest of the movie, and other than allowing Williams to sing "Arabian Nights."
While this has more things in common with the original story than some other adaptations, I can't help but wonder what would have happened if this had retained both Aladdin's mother and the original Chinese setting from the Arabian Nights story.
The Big Finale: I don't love this one as much as I do Beauty and the Beast, but I still like it a lot. It's still one of Disney's funnier movies, and one of their best for grade school-age boys who are turned off by more overtly-"princessy" Disney animated films.
Home Media: Technically out of print, but not that hard to find, including on several streaming services.
DVD
Amazon Prime (Buy Only)
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