From: pochron@rt1.cs.wisc.edu (David Pochron)
Subject: Re: Rock-a-Doodle - reviews?
Summary: S&E don't know what they are talking about. (as usual)
Keywords: RaD
Organization: University of Wisconsin, Madison -- Computer Sciences Dept.
Date: Wed, 8 Apr 1992 18:12:50 GMT

In article <1992Apr7.221828.28954@msuinfo.cl.msu.edu> klein@kira.egr.msu.edu (Jeffrey Klein) writes:
>Last weekend, I caught the end of Siskel and Ebert, who gave "two thumbs
>WAY down" for Rock-A-Doodle, calling it "violent and depressing".

They are completely wrong.  If anything, the film suffers from being to cute
& cuddly.  Siskel complained that his daughter walked out of the film because
the story introduces a "bad guy" (The Duke) near the beginning.  OOOh!  That
kid has got a lot to learn about life!

I went to see RaD last weekend and its biggest problem is a plot so thin it
is almost non-existent.  All three of Bluth's last three films, "Land Before
Time", "All Dogs go to Heaven," and now this one have had simple, one-layer
storylines.  Bluth should forget about David N. Weiss as his writer, and go
find a good book to convert into a film.


Excuse me while I climb onto my soapbox....

I only need to point out the sheer utter greatness of "The Secret of NIMH" to
show that a good story is the most important thing in any film!  "SoN" is
still Bluth's finest film to date (and, my personal favorite film of all time!)
and he needs to get back to his past if he ever wants to succeed again.

"SoN" only failed because:

1) MGM/UA got cold feet and stopped all funding shortly before its release
2) They only let it run for 3 weeks(!!!)
3) The summer of '82 was The Summer of "E.T", "Poltergeist", "ST:TWOK",
   "Firefox", and about another half-dozen good films.  There was too much
   competition.

The critics loved it, most people I have talked to loved it, and I love it.
His only other decent film was "An American Tail," which, I believe gave him
the crazy idea that musical adventures are inherently better than fantasy
films.  (FALSE!)

I'm climbing off my soapbox now....


Now, back to "Rock-a-Doodle" - it isn't a total loss.  The animation is still
great, the songs are MUCH better than the ones from "All Dogs go to Heaven,"
and there are some good characters - Peepers, voiced by Sandy "Vixey" Duncan,
is probably the best character he has had in a long time.  There are some neat
"stream of consciousness" sequences reminiscent of "Twin Peaks"/"Twin Beaks"
(for you DW fans out there) that were really eerie.  If you see this film,
just don't expect much meat on the story.  I had a pretty good time while
actually watching it, but when I left the theater, I immediately had several
criticisms.

BTW: Edmund (the cat) is very reminiscent of Banjo, the Woodpile Possum, er,
I mean cat!


I am a big fan of Don Bluth, as I think most people on the net are.  But I know
he can do MUCH better than he has done in recent years.

Where's Mrs. Brisby when you need her!  :-)


>Jeff Klein                  | "One of you is a Charlie Brown mutant,
>                            |  and the other has a hand growing out  
>klein@kira.egr.msu.edu      |  of his(?) head!" - Blue Bunny


-- 

   David M. Pochron             | "Don't shoot!  I have a wife and kids!!  Hmm,
   pochron@garfield.cs.wisc.edu | when did that happen??"  - Capitol Critters
Newsgroups: rec.arts.animation