Dusty Soul 2,611 January 2, 2013 Share January 2, 2013 I recently re watched "Secret Of Nimh" and I realized how truly dark and twisted the whole movie was. It was really shocking to see. I looked up the Director and found that he had made other movies that basically defined my childhood. All Dogs Go to Heaven- Fall of Man, and finally the ascension of Christ The Land Before Time- 5 orphans journey through hell to Heaven I re-watched all of those, and was shocked to see all the stuff I missed. "All Dogs Go To Heaven" is a huge play off the fall of man. I decided to try to find what I missed from these said movies. Also all these movies were directed by Don Bluth. (Spoilered in case someone hasn't seen the movie.) All Dogs Go to Heaven All Dogs go to heaven is a play off of the fall of man. In the Bible Adam and Eve are thrown out of the garden of Eden because they sinned. In this movie the God-dog says "All dogs go to heaven because, unlike people, dogs are naturally good and loyal and kind." This shows us the dogs are born without original sin. Charlie dissatisfied with eternal happiness rewinds his clock, this is the birth of original sin in the world. Once back, Charlie has a dream of his eternal punishment for exiting heaven. He is shown what is quite literally hell. This scene is one of the darkest in the movie. This scene ends. Let's skip a ways and go into the ending part of this movie. The film ends with Charlie dying to save a little girls life. This isn't downplayed at all. He goes straight to hell. This gives us one of the most powerful scenes in the movie. The view of the town and the spirit of Satan standing over. Charlie is given a few moments with the girl he saved. Whilst at the girls house he is visited by the angel he saw in heaven. She allows him to go back to heaven as he has been reincarnated as a "good and just" dog. This is remarkably similar to how Christ had to go to hell before he stepped foot in heaven. The undertones to this just shows how truly dark this movie is. Land Before Time Land Before Time follows the story of 5 dinosaurs who lost their parents. What many don't realize that this is just a road-trip of 5 orphaned dinos going from Hell to Heaven. From the beginning death is a major part of this movie. These little dinosaurs lost EVERYTHING. They are left alone to travel the world to find the Great Valley. To get there though they must face multiple challenges. When you get down to it, this film is a survival story. Don Bluth was one of the greatest writers/directors of all time. He really knew how to hide very dark messages inside his movies. What is your favorite Don Bluth movie? 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TailsIsNotAlone 3,694 January 2, 2013 Share January 2, 2013 Don Bluth is a name I know very well. That guy had a very interesting career, from a short and less than amiable stint at Disney to a solo career where he signed on with heavies like Steven Spielberg, but in the process of trying to draw money to continue his work, he also diluted its impact and ultimate message. Bluth wanted to do Disney better than Disney did, and take animation in places that company wouldn't or couldn't go. And for a little while, he succeeded. My favorite film by him, without a doubt, is The Secret of NIMH. I do think they strayed too far from the book in some areas, particularly in Nicodemus' design and his ultimate fate; plus the book didn't have a crazy rat guard or a crow who sounded like Dom DeLuise. And that duel at the end...totally not in the book. But it was an excellent film nevertheless. While it certainly was dark, I should point out that it was made in an era when animators weren't afraid to go in that direction, not even Disney (just look at The Rescuers and The Black Cauldron). 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hakureimiko 96 January 3, 2013 Share January 3, 2013 I loved the classic arcade games that Don Bluth did animation for which are Dragon's Lair, Space Ace, and Dragon's Lair II: Time Warp https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZrgeI0DDP8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPxRpub81_w 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Champion RD92 8,655 January 3, 2013 Share January 3, 2013 All Dogs Go to Heaven- Fall of Man, and finally the ascension of Christ The Land Before Time- 5 orphans journey through hell to Heaven The Land Before Time was so frigging depressing ;_; I loved all the Land Before Time movies as a kid though. I never did watch All Dogs Go To Heaven, I really need to watch that... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dusty Soul 2,611 January 3, 2013 Author Share January 3, 2013 The Land Before Time was so frigging depressing ;_; I loved all the Land Before Time movies as a kid though. I never did watch All Dogs Go To Heaven, I really need to watch that... YOu should really watch that, In my opinion that's his second best work. Land Before Time is an amazing movie. I remember crying so hard at the mothers death. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
01000111 01101111 01 18 January 5, 2013 Share January 5, 2013 What, No American Tail? I loved that movie when I was a kid, heck, enough that I'd sing along to the songs. Now that I think about it, I loved a lot of Don Bluth's works when I was a little kid. Yes, even Rock-a-Doodle. I think especially Rock-a-Doodle. That reminds me, it's not Don Bluth, but does anyone remember "We're Back! A Dinosaur Story"? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cuteycindyhoney 13,284 January 5, 2013 Share January 5, 2013 I loved "The Secret of NIMH" (The sequel...Not so much) On the one hand the Secret of NIMH is a touching story of how powerful a mother's love can truly be. On the other hand, it's a terrifying tale of science gone horribly wrong. By all rights, the scientists of NIMH should have ordered a nuclear strike in hopes of eradicating what could ultimately be man's replacement on Earth! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Batbrony 15,994 January 5, 2013 Share January 5, 2013 (edited) Don Bluth was one of the greatest writers/directors of all time. He really knew how to hide very dark messages inside his movies. What is your favorite Don Bluth movie? WAS is the key word here. The man has had one of the saddest, and quite frankly most puzzling, declines of any artist in Hollywood of all time! I'll try to keep this history lesson short, so if you want more detail of his decline check out the Nostalgia Critic's reviews of any of his worse movies, but the short version of it is this. In the late 70's/early 80's Bluth, along with a number of other animators at Disney, upset and discontent with the lack of creativity, daring, and innovation at Disney at the time, left the studio and started their own. Bluth had a belief that children could take any amount of dark content and complex storytelling, so long as the heroes won out in the end and there was a happy ending, and, ya know what, his formula worked incredibly well! Throughout the 80's, his studio produced, starting with "The Secret of Nimh", some of the most daring full-length animated features to ever grace the big screen, including, as you mentioned, in addition to Nimh, "All Dogs Go To Heaven," "The Land Before Time," and "An American Tail" (personally, my favorite is "The Land Before Time," to answer your question, but I've really got to rewatch "The Secret of Nimh" since it's been awhile since I last saw it). But then something inexplicable happened. Bluth, for lack of a better term, started getting... weird. It might have had something to do with the fact that, starting with "The Little Mermaid" in 1989, Disney actually began to adapt his stunningly successful formula, launching the Disney Renaissance of the early 90's, and so Bluth might have felt compelled to distance his works from Disney's. But the results were just not on the mark. It started with "Rock-a-Doodle," a rather bizarre flick, and from there it just got worse and worse. "Thumbelina" and "The Pebble and the Penguin" were strange and annoying duds, and my gosh "A Troll in Central Park" is like the anti-thesis of Bluth's earlier work!!!! It is so disgustingly childish and simple-minded, and mind you, this is coming from a brony who can appreciate cute in healthy doses; but I'm sorry, "A Troll in Central Park" is frankly such babbling, babyish nonsense that I don't think any child past 5 can really enjoy it at all. Some people consider "Anastasia" to be a return to form for Bluth, and I'll admit that the animation, especially of the people, is simply stunning, but I've never really been a fan of the movie, mostly because I'm a huge history buff and the movie is frankly revisionist history at its worst, even compared to something as inaccurate as "Pocahontas" (which I loathe as well, probably even more, since there's more wrong with it as a film overall). His last ditch effort at making a comeback was in 2000's "Titan A.E.," but the movie got mixed reviews at best, and Bluth really hasn't done anything since then. Point is, he's had a sad (and again, almost incomprehensible) decline, and I truly am saddened by it considering all he did for animation in the 80's and even, to an extent, in the 90's, since many credit his work in the 80's with forcing Disney to step up their game in order to compete with him, resulting in the Disney Renaissance of the 90's, including my favorite animated film of all time, "The Lion King". I do hope he gets back to form some day, but sadly, I doubt that'll ever happen. Edited January 5, 2013 by Batbrony 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dusty Soul 2,611 January 5, 2013 Author Share January 5, 2013 (edited) What, No American Tail? I loved that movie when I was a kid, heck, enough that I'd sing along to the songs. Now that I think about it, I loved a lot of Don Bluth's works when I was a little kid. Yes, even Rock-a-Doodle. I think especially Rock-a-Doodle. That reminds me, it's not Don Bluth, but does anyone remember "We're Back! A Dinosaur Story"? American Tail is one of my favorite movies, though I like the sequel better. Snip Yeah I was rather saddened how he had declined. I personally disliked Anastasia. It was just meh... Titan AE was a great movie, but it was a LOT like Treasure Planet, if you look at the animation 2d mixed wtih 3d and the characters. Miracles do happen. Edited January 5, 2013 by Dusty Soul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
01000111 01101111 01 18 January 5, 2013 Share January 5, 2013 American Tail is one of my favorite movies, though I like the sequel better. You know, Fievel Goes West was one of the few straight to video (I think) sequels that I liked as much, if not more than the original. Nice to see someone else agrees. Tiger was my favorite in that movie. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dusty Soul 2,611 January 5, 2013 Author Share January 5, 2013 You know, Fievel Goes West was one of the few straight to video (I think) sequels that I liked as much, if not more than the original. Nice to see someone else agrees. Tiger was my favorite in that movie. Yeah, it was shown in theaters, (according to ChaCha). I love the whole scene where the indian mice think of Tiger as a god. I laughed so hard at that scene. Also remember Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Batbrony 15,994 January 5, 2013 Share January 5, 2013 (edited) Yeah I was rather saddened how he had declined. I personally disliked Anastasia. It was just meh... Titan AE was a great movie, but it was a LOT like Treasure Planet, if you look at the animation 2d mixed wtih 3d and the characters. Miracles do happen. Frankly, like I said, I think he mostly got scared by Disney's success and thus compromised his own creative principles for the sake of doing something different from Disney, and, as a result, just lost his creative genius and form in the process. I mean, like I said, "A Troll in Central Park" is disgustingly sweet!!! Think of Don Bluth's earlier work as G4 MLP; starting with "Rock-a-Doodle" he starts producing G2 productions; and bucking "Troll in Central Park" has all the disgusting, blithering, mindless sweetness of G3 and G3.5!!!!!! Never seen Titan A.E. myself, and, like I said, I've always heard mixed reviews on it; people love it, hate it, feel meh about it, it's all over the place really. Maybe I'll check it out sometime. And yeah, I'm sorry, now that I'm older I simply can't make it through the first 10 minutes of "Anastasia". I'm not, nor ever have been or will be, a proponent of the Soviet Union, but I get why the Russian Revolution happened, considering Russia had at that time one of the most inefficient, medieval aristocracies in existence, so when I hear the queen mother in that movie start narrating about how they all "lived in a world of magic" I simply can't help but think "yeah, ya'll aristocrats did, but not the starving serfs!!!!!!". And then when he goes and says the Russian Revolution was started by an evil wizard casting a spell over the masses, I'm sorry, but my intelligence feels insulted! After that, I just can't salvage the movie, it's gone too far by that point. Edited January 5, 2013 by Batbrony 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Betez 1,734 January 5, 2013 Share January 5, 2013 It's been so long since I've seen any of these movies. Now that I think about it, you're right. Both of these movies have a hidden message, I was just too young when I watched them to realize it. I really liked All Dogs Go to Heaven. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
01000111 01101111 01 18 January 5, 2013 Share January 5, 2013 Yeah, it was shown in theaters, (according to ChaCha). I love the whole scene where the indian mice think of Tiger as a god. I laughed so hard at that scene. Also remember The lazy eye scene... I remember that sometimes I'd fast forward through the tape to just watch that part. I should've figured it was released in theaters. Now that I watched that scene, the animation's way too good for it to be a straight to video deal. I wonder if people could get away with that depiction of Indians now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dusty Soul 2,611 January 5, 2013 Author Share January 5, 2013 The lazy eye scene... I remember that sometimes I'd fast forward through the tape to just watch that part. I should've figured it was released in theaters. Now that I watched that scene, the animation's way too good for it to be a straight to video deal. I wonder if people could get away with that depiction of Indians now. I highly doubt that anyone would actually try to get away with it. XD It's been at least 5 years since I watched this movie, and watching this scene, I am surprised at how great the animation is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
01000111 01101111 01 18 January 5, 2013 Share January 5, 2013 (edited) I highly doubt that anyone would actually try to get away with it. XD It's been at least 5 years since I watched this movie, and watching this scene, I am surprised at how great the animation is. Definitely. The shadows on the rock that Fievel was sitting on alone made me trip. That's one of the nice things about getting older. You actually appreciate the little things in movies, especially animated ones. In fact, the "little things" is what made me a pegasister. Edit: I should've specified. The little things in Friendship is Magic is what made me a pegasister. Edited January 5, 2013 by Magdalene Reads 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cuteycindyhoney 13,284 January 5, 2013 Share January 5, 2013 (edited) I can't stress this enough. If you haven't seen "The Secret of NIMH 2: Timmy to the Rescue" STAY AWAY! Don Bluth had nothing to do with it, and it has nothing to do with "Racso and the Rats of NIMH" (The sequel book to "Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH") Compared to "The Secret of NIMH" Timmy to the Rescue is a load of fetid Dingo's kidneys! Edited January 5, 2013 by cuteycindyhoney Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SBaby 660 January 6, 2013 Share January 6, 2013 There's only one movie that could be my favorite Don Bluth movie, and it's probably a favorite of alot of people. And that's Secret of Nimh. It really needs no introduction. If you haven't seen it, rent it, buy it, find some way to see it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grtxkkyz 387 January 10, 2013 Share January 10, 2013 Ah,Don Bluth,one of the greatest animators ever.I've been one of his biggest fans.My favorite Bluth films are The Land Before Time,An American Tail,All dogs Go to Heaven and Secret of NIMH.Specially The Land Before Time.His downfall makes me feel quite sad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Dash 1,818 January 10, 2013 Share January 10, 2013 Ah.... Memories. I've only seen the Secret of Nimh as a kid, but I can still remember the emotion I got from watching it. I loved The Land Before Time as a kid. Like All Dogs go to Heaven. An American Tail and Fivel Goes West I really liked as a kid as well. I also really like the game Dragons Lair. I had the port for PC when I was a kid. Could never beat the dragon though. I need to re-watch The Secret of Nimh though, it's probably been 15 years or so since I've last seen it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
angels_gal 204 January 10, 2013 Share January 10, 2013 I actually a few of his films that i absolutely adore An American Tail - The first time i saw this film I was a small filly. One of my favorite songs of the movie was "Somewhere Out There" oh my goodness. Anastasia - Yes I know This one is cheesier than the older films such as American tale and land before time. But I can't not love this film. Land Before Time - Again this is one movie that I saw as a young filly. I absolutely love this film. All Dogs Go To Heaven - I will watch any movie that has dogs in it, but the end always makes me cry! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Discordian 6,013 January 10, 2013 Share January 10, 2013 I love Don Bluth films. They are always so amazing. I love the All Dogs universe including the Christmas movie and animated show. I just wish the animated show was put in full on DVD. All I can seem to find is ones with random episodes on it. I also love Secret of Nimh 2: Timmy to the Rescue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darker 1,351 August 28, 2014 Share August 28, 2014 Don Bluth is what Disney wanted for a brother. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stancet 674 August 28, 2014 Share August 28, 2014 The Secret of NIMH I absolutely adore. Many Don Bluth films I adore, but there are a boatload of bad ones I hate to admit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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