What if Don Bluth stayed at Disney?/Banjo the Woodpile Cat

***Banjo the Woodpile Cat*** is a 1989 American animated musical adventure comedy-drama film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and Amblin Entertainment, directed by Don Bluth, co-directed by Gary Goldman and Dan Kuenster, and executive produced by Steven Spielberg, Kathleen Kennedy, and Frank Marshall. The film features the voice talents of Macaulay Culkin, Robin Williams, Judith Barsi (her final film role; posthumously), Vic Tayback (in his penultimate film role), Charles Nelson Reilly, TBD, TBD, and TBD.

The 32nd Disney animated feature, the film tells the story of an overly curious and rambunctious kitten named Banjo who, after getting into trouble for setting off a chain of events, runs away from his woodpile home in his owners' farm in Utah by stowing away on a truck to Salt Lake City. After a fun yet chaotic day out there, he realizes that he's made a big mistake and decides to get back home with the help of an alley cat named Crazy Legs and his daughter Cleo while evading a villainous gang of alley cats.

*Banjo the Woodpile Cat* was released by Walt Disney Pictures on April 14, 1989 to positive reviews. While it did not repeat the box-office success of Disney's previous animated films, *The Great Mouse Detective*, *An American Tale*, *Peter Rabbit*, *The Land Before Time*, and *Oliver & Company*, it was successful on home video, becoming one of the biggest-selling VHS releases ever.

TBD.

## Cast

* Macaulay Culkin as Banjo, TBD. His singing voice was performed by Dana Hill.
	+ Culkin is succeeded by Adam Wylie for the 1996 direct-to-video sequel film *Banjo the Woodpile Cat II: The King of the Goblins*.
* Robin Williams as Crazy Legs, TBD.
* Judith Barsi as Cleo, a kitten, Crazy Legs' daughter and Banjo's love interest. Her singing voice was performed by Lana Beeson. This was Barsi's final film role before her murder in 1988. The ending credits song "Love Survives" (a song originally written for and cut from *An American Tale*) was dedicated in her memory.
	+ Barsi is succeeded by Lacey Chabert for *Banjo the Woodpile Cat II: The King of the Goblins*.
* Vic Tayback as Weiston, a scarred, cigar-smoking and ruthless alley cat who is the leader of a criminal cat gang who terrorize other cats, and tries to kidnap Banjo to have him as his heir. This was Tayback's final film role before his death in 1990.
* Charles Nelson Reilly as TBD.
* TBD as Zanzolin.
* TBD as Melina, a dove who TBD.
* TBD as Papa Cat, TBD.
* TBD as Mama Cat, TBD.
* Kirsten Dunst as Emily, one of Banjo's siblings.
* Phillip Glasser as Jack, one of Banjo's siblings.

## Production

The story is partially based on one of Don Bluth's real-life experiences: While living on a farm, his family's cat, who lived in a woodpile nearby, disappeared, only to return to the farm several weeks later.

Bluth begun developing *Banjo the Woodpile Cat* in the late 1970s while working ln *The Rescuers* (1977) and it was intended as his second short film after *The Small One* (1978). Bluth had previously considered producing a short film based on the fairy tale *The Pied Piper of Hamelin*, but felt it was too large a production, although the project was later revived in the 1990s as a feature film that became *Piper* (1996). He invited several other young animators to his house on nights and weekends to discover secrets of classical animation that he felt had been lost at Disney. The team worked in Bluth's garage. Bluth, and animators such as Gary Goldman, felt that Disney were only attempting to reduce the cost of films without paying attention to any artistic values. Due to that, they considered leaving the studio; Disney CEO Ron Miller, after watching *The Small One*, however, persuaded them to stay by promoting Bluth to direct both *The Fox and the Hound* (1981) and what it would become *The Secret of NIMH* (1982).

During the production of *The Fox and the Hound*, Bluth pitched two potential featurette ideas, *Banjo the Woodpile Cat* and *Canine Mysteries* to Miller; he turned *Banjo* down and greenlighted just *Canine Mysteries*, leaving Bluth to work on the latter. In 1985, during the production of *An American Tale* (1986), Bluth became interested in reviving *Banjo the Woodpile Cat* as a feature-length film, and pitched it to new chief Jeffrey Katzenberg at a "gong show" idea suggestion meeting. After seeing the artwork Bluth, Goldman and other animators made for the cancelled short film, Katzenberg approved of the idea for possible development, along with *Oliver & Company* (1988) and *The Little Mermaid* (1989).

TBD

TBD

TBD

TBD

TBD

TBD