Don Bluth… You are a great animator!

I wasn't really into this movie, since I saw the sequel first when I was young. I had no idea it was even a sequel to a movie from before my time on Earth.

Now that I have seen it for what it is, I can appreciate it more now.

Don Bluth has worked on a few Disney movies before forming his own animation studio. The hit arcade game, Dragon’s Lair became a masterpiece. But I am not supposed to be talking about that, the focus is on a movie from 1977.

STORY

To start, the beginning of the movie sets the entire mood of the whole thing; dark, and artistic. A bottle is travelling across all the way from Devil’s Bayou to New York with some very dramatic, but very great music sung by Shelby Flint, who is singing almost all of the songs in this underrated movie.

Once the message in a bottle has reached NYC, a special group of mice in the United Nations called the Rescue Aid Society find it and decide to answer the call. They call on a Hungarian representative by the name of Bianca. She is allowed to take one co-agent with her, so she decides on taking the janitor with her. His name is Bernard, a former janitor and a representative for America by the second movie.

They both discover that a human orphan girl, Penny, was kidnapped by Madame Medusa, an evil woman who looks like the long lost sister of Cruella De Vil. Medusa plans on using Penny to go down into a well to retrieve a very valuable diamond called the Devil’s Eye, so in other words, Medusa is using Penny for child labor.

CHARACTERS

Bernard is played by Bob Newhart. Like I said before: was a former janitor, but has now been part of the RAS throughout the rest of the first movie, and the entire second movie, he is kind of a coward when it comes to superstitious bad luck rumors, like the number 13 it seems. Watch it through and see how many 13’s are heard or seen.

Bianca, played by Eva Gabor, is a representative of the RAS for Hungary. The plot of the movie is considered her very first rescue mission, along with Bernard’s since he was formerly a janitor.

Madame Medusa is the core villain of the movie. She is power hungry for diamonds and other valuables, but for now has her sights on the Devil’s Eye, and is ignoring less valuable jewelry. She also runs a pawnshop in New York when she is not in Devil’s Bayou.

Medusa keeps two pet alligators, Brutus and Nero; they are usually there for comic relief. The organ scene with them will be one of my favorite parts of the movie. They also help Medusa capture Penny whenever she ran away.

Snoops is Medusa’s lackey, who happens to be the most civil person in the film. He is usually kind of a coward though, kind of like Bernard.

Penny is an orphan at the Morningside Orphanage of New York. She is hoping to get adopted soon by a loving family. Medusa comes by the orphanage to take Penny with her, but Penny refuses to go with her. Medusa eventually kidnaps her, and the orphanage assumes she ran away.

Penny’s best friend is an old elderly cat by the name of Rufus; he is very friendly towards everyone at the orphanage, even Bernard and Bianca who happen to be mice! From I assume, he seems to be very wise.

Orville is an albatross who helps Bernard and Bianca travel to Devil’s Bayou. Since he is an albatross, his whole body is used as the airplane, because of the size of the mice. He also has a brother named Wilbur, but we don’t see him until the second movie. The scene where the swamp-mobile sucks up Orville was a funny moment for a lot of fans! Here is a fun fact: Both Orville and Wilbur are named after the Wright Brothers, who both invented the airplane!

Evinrude is another favorite character, he doesn't talk at all throughout the course of the movie, he just makes dragonfly sounds, which is what he is supposed to be. From what he does, he seems to be brave most of the time.

ART

Like I said before, Don Bluth is an amazing animator! He developed the Dragon’s Lair games for Pete’s sake! The animation looks very smooth and so beautiful; I don’t understand why this great guy would leave Disney! The movement and face expressions on characters are amazing; to me, it almost looks like another Don Bluth game!

Anyways, the art is like every other animated movie, sometimes colorful but sometimes, it can be dark and evil at times, sometimes it’s like Sonic SatAM or Red Sky TMNT!

The opening art is like eye candy for art fans. It looks almost as beautiful as when I was in art class back in high school!

MUSIC

The instruments that play through the film really set the mood for each scene; it seems like Disney knew what they were doing!

The lyrical songs, like I said before, are sung by Shelby Flint who seems to have an amazing voice!

The songs are so good; they almost make me want to cry! They are almost as powerful as songs from Pinocchio or The Lion King!

The songs seem to tell the story in their own sense as well. If you listen well enough, you might understand then.

Overall the story was fine, but didn't excite me as much as Down Under did. The detail in art, music, and animation in that movie was much better considering it was the beginning of the 90’s!

The art styles differentiate between the two movies, but in this, it is fine for what it is. Remember, this was the 1970’s, even before my time, so some people might be a bit judgmental about the animation style in this movie.

Maybe I could go into more detail, but this would get pretty long, so I covered some of the parts that people would understand. I hope you understand the opinions that I have shared.

And remember; never fail to do what’s right.