I just realized the reason why no one in the land before time universe uses actual dinosaurs names, is because the film acknowledges it’s humanity that named the species and not the dinosaurs themselves.
Yeah, that's honestly so clever. It's just one thing that people often can't get right with the races who are supposed to be different from them - like I believe no "alien" would've liked to be called just an "alien".
But old animation was so god! Look at Pinochio from 40s, the lights, the animations, the colors, the effects....old animation it's so beautiful and good, much better than 3D animation, it's pure art!
@@cupcakedoce956 Yeah, I'm not much of a fan of 3D animation. It's not bad, but I like traditional art better. Though the currently artistical preferences that I've seen in present American shows feelsl azy instead of creative now I'm watching Japanese animation more. XD
Troll in central park is the ultimate "watched it on TV by accident once on a sick day with a fever and it got imprinted in your brain forever while at the same time always wondering if it was a real movie until someone told you" movie
I don’t know why. But watching this movie as a little kid gave me nightmares of being kidnapped by trolls 😂 then for the longest time thought I made up this movie in my head only finding out later it was a real movie. 😅
I have had that happen one too many times, seeing a movie flipping through channels then years later wondering if they were real movies or just fever dreams I had. though a few of them turned out to be actual movies.
@@jfournerat1274 Her father was real pos in real life. A low life drinking drunkard who got jealous of his own daughter's success that he chose to kill her then himself because he couldn't forgive that his life ended up being shit while his daughter's was starting a career that could of been. When you can't even respect and be proud of what your own daughter could have started, you don't deserve to be a father or have children.
Here's a bit of trivia on All Dogs Go To Heaven: During production, the alligator originally had a much larger role where Carface drives him out of his home and they become enemies. Which in context connects with him showing up at the end for revenge.
There *is* something of a leftover of this idea in the final film. In the shot in which Charlie and Carface's casino is shown for the 1st time at the beginnng of the movie, there are two signs that read "Gators Stay Out" and "No Gators Allowed".
@@charmandyorton006 Funnily enough it's not. A BLAM is a scene that comes out of nowhere, has no bearing on the plot, and is never mentioned again. While it does come pretty hard out of nowhere, it's actually the reason Anne Marie develops pneumonia (making it plot relevant), and the gator himself reappears to eat Carface (which is a relevant callback). Although in strict, literal terms-- yes, it is indeed a moment with a big-lipped alligator.
Mrs. Brisby's bravery: I do not remember where I originally heard it, but the best description of courage I've ever heard is _"Real courage isn't the absence of fear, but what you do in spite of it."_ and I think she's a very well-done portrayal of that idea. That movie was one of my favorites growing up as a child of the late '80s-early '90s.
It would basically be impossible due to all the rights issues. Fox (Disney), Universal (Comcast), HBO (WB), Goldcrest, and Sony have all had a hand in either production or distribution of Bluth's films (and that's just talking about the US market).
Hold up this may be fucked up, but the scene that sold me when it came to "all dogs go to heaven" was when Anne Marie started singing, because her emotional performance was very well done because it was (as I later found out) coming from a real place. Judith Barsi was being abused at home, so she actually broke down several times while singing about wanting a family who loves her. It wrecked my childhood to find out that information, and it wrecks me everytime I hear that song. RIP Judith.
My heart was violently ripped out of my chest when I found out what happened to Judith, needlessly and senselessly cruel treatment at the hands of her dickless father.
I've always assumed it was a hellraiser/children of the corn scenario, where only the first couple were good and everything else is terrible. Its hard to pump out that many movies and maintain a strict level of quality.
In my opinion, Don Bluth was an amazing animator that let his grudge cloud good business judgement. There was NO need to release movies at the same time as Disney. Had he not tried so hard to constantly one-up them I feel his animation studio would be up and running today, or at least would have had a lot better chance.
It was actually disney that played the "let's sabotage his releases" game by deliberately scheduling their releases to be at the exact same time as his, at first it was an experiment by re-releasing classics like lady and the tramp to compete with bluth's films, then they got bolder and started scheduling the release of their b material against bluth's movies.
@@Hammerhead547I read the original comment and thought “yeah I guess Don having a grudge seems plausible”. Then I read yours and instantly changed my mind, like no…messing around with scheduling in such a calculated and petty way fits Disney like a glove.
@clown-cult96 Don Bluth himself has said he was the one releasing films at the same time as Disney. Not the other way around. It was his grudge and need to prove himself better then Disney that sunk his studio, Disney didn't need to do anything. This is a rewriting of history based on modern Disney which isn't the same company as it was back in the 80s and 90s.
Me too. I will also always be disappointed that we didn't get to see any of Don Bluth's other movie plans. Like Satyrday, and East of the Sun and West of the Moon. Not to mention, the next animated arcade game The Sea Beast and Barnacle Bill.
It's weird to me that the video poster doesn't understand that Crazy Legs took Banjo to see three hookers, not because they knew what to do... but because he wanted to see hookers
I think what makes Once Upon A December just that little bit more powerful is the fact that these people were real. The ghosts she'd dancing with are representative of real people. Real faces, real names, father, mothers, lovers, all with hopes and dreams and fears and ambitions. And they're just gone. This isn't just a character trying to remember her family. This is a representation of people who have primarily been forgotten and lost to time, depicted as a fairytale through the imagined eyes of this character. That's so damned powerful to me.
Agreed. Also it works so well because it is reminiscent of little details we tend to remember from childhood, so small and inconsequential. You know, dancing bears, painted wings, prancing horses... all these things were just minuscule items no one but a child would have truly appreciated, so it's only fitting that Anastasia remembered those little things just a bit. A jar, maybe a tapestry, a patterned curtain o carpet... we all have memories about something small we used to look at as children, and as we grow up these memories grow thinner, but they never disappear. One of my examples is, when I was around 6 o 7, looking at a wallpaper with SO MANY intricate flowers you couldn't trace a flower with your finger without tracing another one (yes, I tried a million times). No idea where that wallpaper was. No idea when exactly I used to see it. I can just remember the strange flower labyrinth. I guess my painted flowers were my dancing bears.
@@laliclaudesol2350 this is one of the most adorable things I've read and yet a sad reality about growing up. We have pieces of memories that make up who we are but there are parts we may never fully know or understand. Memory is fickle but oh so interesting.
Why are they gone though? Hm? Why did they want to get rid of them? Were the hopes and dreams of the peasants and workers worthless compared to those of the nobility?
The Secret of NIMH will always stand out in my mind. Watched it back in elementary school since during story time my teacher read the book to us and it’s darker moments still disturb me as a result. Honestly that and The Land Before Time is how I fell in love with Don Bluth’s style, not to mention how heavily impactful the atmosphere is in both films.
I think why land before time stuck with me wasn't just because of tragedy of littlefoot's mother, but the music throughout the whole movie. James Horner made a good movie into a great one because of how his music heightened everything happening. Same with titanic. When I watched that as a kid, the final half hour, 45 mins or so of the movie was _really_ intense, and his music was one of the biggest reasons why it's one of my favorite movies ever. I didn't realize until I was an adult though that these two movies had the same composer.
@@ShadowSkyX If you enjoy Land Before Time, you should check out An American Tail. An American Tail is also a really amazing film and it's also composed by James Horner.
I had a similar experience and first saw "NIMH" in my fifth grade class. It was a break day from school assignments and the teacher put on that movie. Secret of NIMH made me a Don Bluth fan for life (although I saw American Tail years before that but didn't watch often due to how dark it was).
I grew up watching NIMH as a child of the late '80s-early '90s so I was was _thrilled_ when the original book was actually one of the ones that was covered in sixth grade at my school. For once I actually enjoyed one of the books I was forced to read in class!
9:45 _"Who keeps hiring this damn artist?!"_ As an illustrator who originally wanted to be a Disney animator but got to witness the closure of the Florida studio in my freshman year at Ringling and the basic abandonment of traditional animation by Disney in the years following, I ask myself that question _ALL THE DAMN TIME._ It flummoxes me how they put out so much off model character artwork sometimes because Disney Feature Animation, Disney Design Group, etc., came to Ringling to recruit graduating seniors every year from the illustration and computer animation departments, and one of the interviewing reps literally told us, verbatim: "If you want to put Disney characters in your portfolio that's fine, but they better be EXACTLY ON MODEL or we don't want to see that shit." I did not add that last part. They literally said "we don't want to see that shit". SO WHY IS IT ALL OVER THEIR MEDIA COVER ART??!
I remember the day two Disney representatives coming to my high school in the 90s. The kid sitting next to me a psyched because she dreamed of being a Disney animator. They crushed her dream, telling her that animators were usually laid off after one movie & replaced with a new crew so more people could enjoy the Disney experience. That was the day I started disliking Disney. Also turns out game publishers do the same thing to their subsidiary developers teams.
@@LikaLaruku That's... not how Disney Feature Animation works. Or DreamWorks. Or Pixar. Or Nickelodeon. I mean job security can be an issue, but they don't shuffle out entire teams to bring in new ones "so more people can enjoy the experience." I don't know why on earth those "reps" said that. I have one friend from Ringling who has been a character animator at Pixar for more than a decade and another friend who was a character modeler at Nickelodeon for several years before choosing to leave for a position at DreamWorks, where she still is now several years later. I also have friends who have worked in game development for the same studios for several years. Being laid off after a project is finished can definitely be a possibility, but it's not the rule by any means.
I know this comment is over a year old bit I freaking agree, I was recently walking through my local K-Mart and I cane across the DVD section and started browsing to kill some time and gone are the days of amazing box art to be replaced by a single off-model image of the main character. Especially noticeable when the character is 2D instead of the CGI or Pixar ones. Moana or Ana/Elasa on the cover of their DVD box looks so much nicer than the weird off-model anime-hybrid Ariel, Belle or Cinderella. And that doesn't even cover the weirdness of the 2D art on the boxes for the princess dolls, again none of them look like their animated counterparts, it's depressing. Parts of me wish I had gone into animation or character design when I was first entering collage, but I'm also kind of glad I didn't given how horrendous things are nowadays. 😅
Don Bluth is such a legend of an animator. When looking at my early days trying to do art. Intentionally or not, Don Bluth has influenced me greatly. Also All Dogs Go to Heaven is just that one nostalgic movie I always go back to. A Don Bluth project I wished happened was his interpretation of the Cat’s musical. That could have been so interesting but alas…we got the thing that shall not be named.
@@devinianschramm5507 I can see that, Cats Don’t Dance is a very good film, it’s just that the concept art for the Cats’s movie from Bluth looks very Secret of NIMH and that darker vibe would have contrasted the spectacle of the original score I think. Just that typical dark, yet campy charm Bluth is known for.
It was Anastasia for me, hands down. It hit theaters right after I decided I wanted to be an artist for my career at 13/14 years old so I was really buckling down to get better at drawing, and it had a HUGE impact on my style. Even now as an illustrator in my late 30s I still get people here and there who ask if I like Anastasia or say that my work reminds them of it, and it always amuses me. One of my friends saw it not long after we had started chatting online and told me it was in the way I draw cheeks in profile in particular.
Also also I got reminded about Titan A.E and decided to watch it months later after seeing a trailer for it in this video which were the trailers that played before Dinosaur in theaters! ua-cam.com/video/HAHUYRcvmF0/v-deo.html
Not a very hot take, but Anastasia is still my favourite Don Bluth movie. Not only because it’s amazing on it’s own, but also because I, myself, was born in Russia and… I don’t know man, seeing this movie as a kid was literally magical. I saw myself in Anya (although the short version of “Anastasia” would be “Nastya” but oh well doesn’t change that much) and I was amazed when first time in my life all these drawn locations and characters were actually close to me and my culture. Don Bluth truly created a masterpiece with this film, his depiction of Russia is so beautiful and down to earth at the same time (not… the non-existent historical accuracy obviously but if it was historically accurate it would one hell of a grim movie for kids)
Fwiw, I never thought "Anya" was supposed to be _short_ for "Anastasia". I figured she must've just told the people at the orphanage "I don't remember my name, but I _think_ it starts with an A.." and then they just decided to call her Anya.
She was probably named that way to honor Anna Anderson, the most famous Anastasia impostor. Or maybe because Anna is such a common name and it was perfect for an orphan who doesn't remember her own name.
Anytime I think about Land before Time and All Dogs go to Heaven all I think of is what happened to that poor child actress. Rest in peace, you deserved the world
@@existing5442 Get ready because this is dark. Poor girl had an abusive father who treated the girl and her mother awful and and one day her father got REALLY REALLY ANGRY and when she went to sleep her father murdered her and her mother. All Dogs go to Heaven was her last movie
What I noticed from the Land Before Time, Cera had siblings and a mother before the big split and all she had left was her father in the end. Kinda sad almost the entire family died there. Edit: Forgot how to spell the kid-triceratops' name. Sorry about that!
For a second I thought you were talking about Ducky instead of Cera ( because I am running on no sleep ) and thought its even more sad knowing what happened to the voice actress for Ducky. Again I understand you mean a different character now lol
As revealed in 6, not only did her sister make it but had twins. They call her Aunty Cera which amuses me to no end due to her not seeming to be that much older. I know it does happen like that IRL but have never personally encountered it
The Titan was a terraforming vessel. The Dredj feared it because it used vast amounts of energy to accomplish its function-- and the Dredj are energy beings. Something like the Titan is, to them, a weapon of mass destruction specifically aimed at them. Wish that was more clearly stated in the film though. I think keeping the Dredj mysterious was a double-edged sword, in that it kept them menacing but made their motivation less clear and thus creates these kinds of conflicting story points.
Which also gave the reason for it to be made; in order to terraform "dead" planets into human-habitable ones. Humans were advancing, and the Titan would both strengthen their place in the universe and require massive amounts of energy, causing the Dredj to try and stifle it before humans reached a point that would harm them. Really, if the terraforming and energy points were made clear the movie would have a far more coherent plot.
Fun Fact! That scene was so traumatizing they added an entire scene to help make it better. The first half of this video if I remember right: ua-cam.com/video/p3Iukm5_y3M/v-deo.html
Fun Fact: Don Bluth was originally set to be directed Ice Age with Gary Goldman at Fox Animation Studios. But it didn't happened, because the studio was shut down ten days after the box office failure of Titan AE and the project was a migrated to Blue Sky instead.
He was also going to director his own adaptation of Beauty and The Beast, but that was canned along with a Satyrday adaptation, East of the Sun West of the Moon (Norwegian folk tale), and a Velveteen Rabbit adaptation. One blurb from 1990 described his Beauty and The Beast's characters as "Nan, the clairvoyant dog, Max, a bird detective, and Otto, an escape artist lizard, to the King Bats, the Wee Beasties and Queen Livia, herself, the picture has something for everyone."
one thing I wish you included was that Judith Barsi who voiced Ducky in the Land Before Time and Anne-Marie in All Dogs Go to Heaven was murdered by her father and Don dedicated ADGTH to her memory
@@jackhamilton9604 A fun fact about "The Land Before Time": the original voice of Littlefoot, Gabriel Daimon, would later go on to do "Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland", casted as the voice of Little Nemo, the titular character from the 1905 Newspaper Comic series "Little Nemo in Slumberland" that the movie was based on.
Anastasia feels like Bluth took all of the lessons he learned from his past films and actually took them to heart, with an amazing, timeless movie as a result. To this day it remains one of my all time favorite movies. 😊
All the Weakest Don Bluth Movies: Thumbelina, Rock-a-Doodle, Banjo: The Woodpile Cat, Titan A.E., The Pebble and the Penguin and even A Troll in Central Park had a Lot of Potencial to be Good or at least Okay Movies, if Better Writted and Better Developed.
I honestly miss being a kid and feeling real fear for things Now if I'm not on the edge of death, I don't feel alive; total opposite, and it sucks; I want to feel real fear again. I watched the Ring as a 5 year old and that movie haunted me for so long; any time static was on a screen, I would freak out. I would fall asleep to my TV in my room and I would wake up at 2am with it just on static
Where as it was my fave movie as a small child, I watched it so many times my whole family was so sick of my shit Anyone else think the Dukes nephew was a parrot growing up?
So happy to hear Rock A Doodle get praise for once instead of just being torn apart or passed as a 'bad film'. It was one of my favorites growing up, and watching it as an adult I absolutely see where it could have been better but it wasn't his worst film and being so high on your list made me ecstatic. Thank you!
Honestly, I think the movie isnt bad that much, just not entirely consistent or sure what it wants, making it confusing to some and annoying to others. Personaly, I like it. I just wish it was better than it is
Fun fact of something I did when I was an evil babysitter. To punish the kids for being rotten, I forced them to watch the entirety of A Troll in Central park. They were begging and pleeing that they don't want to watch the movie it's awful. I basically told them they are required to watch the whole film until they learn their lesson. I was an absolute monster for making them watch it. And I don't regret it
That's absolutely brilliant. It's both a perfect punishment and one the parents couldn't possibly take issue with. What are they gonna do, get mad at you because you made their kids watch... a G-rated kids animated film? But little do they know...
@@eternalflame9482 no man I'm not a child abuser. I'm someone who is fine disciplining a child if they're acting a fool. Sometimes I have some catharsis from it, but it's not meant as a way to break someone down
One of the scenes that was cut from the first Land Before Time was the scene where Little Foot died, having the twist be that “The great valley” was heaven, where he’s reunited with his mother, never having managed to find his grandparents.
I worked in a movie theater when I was in high school and one of the reasons why movies “needed” to meet 90 minutes is so theater rotation was flexible. Not sure if it was the same in the 80s but my managers would be really annoyed whenever they would get a 3 hour movie. Especially if it’s a big release of a movie and this is before Endgame.
@@TrandafirProdutions I'm also guessing it's because of streaming services, because back then you would have to cut out a lot of scenes to keep the run time short or long enough for theaters, now that we have streaming services and a recent pandemic I guess movie companies dont really care about movie theater sales as much as they used to and they can get away with leaving their movies as long or short as they want
@@TrandafirProdutions That's what I'd like to see. I don't know about anybody else, but streaming and the pandemic has got me used to being able to pause and get up whenever I need to. Movies are getting way too long for one sitting in a theater.
Honestly, I get the gripes with thumbelina. But also I grew up with it and the songs warm my heart so I’m personally really attached to it. Usually I care most about characters and their depth, but even though thumbelina and the prince don’t have a lot of depth you can really tell how much they care about each other even though they just met. Idk, I just think they did a really good job of capturing loving feelings between two characters
I think it’s okay for love stories to be “simplistic” not every movie needs to prove a point of having a badass Princess or a goofy prince, Thumbelina and the prince have a true and deep connection and it was love at first sight which is perfectly fine as is.
I also don’t think Thumbelina herself really needed to have depth because the entire point of it is that she knows what she wants but keeps being told by the world around her what they think is best for her and it’s overwhelming to her because she only has ever known her simple existence with her mother. The personal growth in the story comes from her innocence being broken down (multiple times she becomes resigned to never finding that perfect life she wanted) and then rewarded (her belief paying off). It’s not only a moral to girls to stay true to their ambitions, but that they deserve a partner who understands them and makes them feel like they belong. Compared to Disney princesses who only experience at max a pressure to marry one man, Thumbelina has to deal with not only harassment from men, but the world telling her that harassment is justified and something she should want to achieve. It could also be a but of a religious allegory if you squint. I’m not saying it’s a stellar movie, but I do think its message is meant for a specific group. I do wish Thumbelina had more agency, but I still think it’s a very important one for little girls to watch, because they, too, are small and have little agency.
@@retrofan4963 ew. Secret of NIMH is so much better. Why? Because, I saw it as a 5 year old and never saw it again, and I always had this weird memory of some ethereal cartoon movie in my memories that I could never figure out what it was until pure chance, I saw it when I was 20 and I instantly knew what it was, as all memories flooded back
@@pyropulseIXXI So your reason is only because of nostalgia. That doesn't say anything how Secret of NIMH is better in any shape or form. What you just said can be described by anyone who has nostalgic memories towards any movie, even a crappy film. The reason why I find An American Tail better than Secret of NiMH is because in my opinion, it has a much better story, better and more memorable character, and has a much better soundtrack. This is what I dislike about majority of Secret of NIMH fans, they only treat Secret of NIMH as the only magmus opus work Don Bluth has ever made, while ignore An American Tail as one of the greats Don Bluth has created despite An American Tail is also amazing as well. I won't put picolocity366 as one of those Secret of NIMH fans because atleast he's fair towards An American Tail, even though he still prefers Secret of NIMH, which is fine. But you, with your reaction "ew" just says everything you're one of those Don Bluth or Secret of NIMH fans who's unfair towards An American Tail for no good reason. I don't know why An American Tail is treated so unfairly by Don Bluth fans these days. The fact Just Stop rank An American Tail as #1 best Don Bluth film in this video is honestly refreshing because atleast I'm not alone in this case. I rarely see An American Tail get as much love as other 80's Don Bluth films.
@@retrofan4963 No, also because it is superior. I am only nostalgic for superior things obviously. In fact, I watched American Tail as a kid and loved it, which means I should be nostalgic for that as well, no? I like secret of NIMH better because of the atmosphere it sets; I like the creepiness and weird characters like the owl and Nostradamus rat. I don't think either plot is better than the other; they both make sense and follow consistent within their own story structure
I remember watching Anastasia when I was little and had the flu, my mom rented the movie on DVD. My dad said the idea of Rasputin being an evil sorcerer kinda ruined the more in realism grounded plot, but my mom actually explained why it made sense kinda. Apparently once he knew he's losing the good graces of the royal family he said that if he should be murdered the Romanovs would follow him soon after....which actually ended up happening.
I think there was a part where someone in the royal family was convinced he was a noble healer, because he was a "holy man". If the song Rasputin is to be believed.😅
I very much appreciate Bluth's darker style. As a kid, it made me feel something. Made my brain think deeply about subjects a majority of Disney movies want you to avoid brooding on. I distinctly remember the scene in Anastasia when Rasputin makes a deal with the Devil and all his flesh and organs is sucked off. Lit a dark fascination in my brain and inspired me, it's metal. As an adult, I can truly admire those qualities, and his movies always challenge my mind.
Crazy to think that more time has passed between Titan and NOW than between Small One and Titan . Bluth has now been an ex-film director longer than he ever was one.
I didn't see Secret of Nimh til I was a teenager but I adored it. I have a soft spot for fluid and expressive hand drawn animation. The story and all that really hit me good. It remains a favorite movie of mine and I always show it to friends who aren't familiar with it. Anastasia was another favorite, while it took liberties with the historical aspects, I thought it was good. The songs pop into my head from time to time, especially In the Dark of the Night, that song scratches my brain just right.
As someone who decided to watch every Disney and Pixar animated movie ever made recently, binging stuff like this is a really cool time because not only do I get to see EVERYTHING I missed growing up, I get new favorite movies, and I get to have interesting opinions on things I can have very heated debates about with my friends. For instance, I consider Turning Red my favorite Pixar movie because I’m a psycho. The hangover after the binge watching is horrific though. I think I’m traumatized and forever have a Mickey shaped hole in my brain now lmao. DAMN there’s a lot of boring Disney movies.
What inspired you to do your viewing? Personally, I was inspired by LSMark's video, but added in (almost) all the companies Disney owns to make it spicier (so, Bluth, Blue sky, Fox, Pixar, touchstone). I fully get the hangover feeling, cause there really are a lot of boring Disney movies out there. I'm also onboard with you on how good Turning Red was (second place Pixar for me), and finding hidden gems or changing my opinions on stuff is really cool (all three Cars movies are better than people say, especially 1 and 3).
The thing with me is that I consider stuff like Monsters Inc, Toy Story 2, Tangled, Wreck-It-Ralph, and hell even Lilo and Stitch way better movies than Turning Red fundamentally but I put it above them because it felt like it was MY type of movie, with lack of a better way to describe how I feel.
Rock-a-Doodle and Thumbelina will always hold a special place in my heart, as my parents showed them to me when I was going through some pretty tough medical stuff as a child, and used them to distract me with cute cartoons, but also to show me that having bad, rainy days is normal, and the sun will always come out again. They gave me a little bit of hope in a really scary time.
I loved Titan AE as a kid. It's super nerdy but I always loved the scene where they are about to break the glass of the ship and he just started yelling "Exhale!" Because in space that's literally the only way you have a chance of surviving even a few seconds. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy movie released around the same time and it always annoyed me so much that they say that you can survive in space if you fill your lungs with air because that will kill you pretty much immediately. Yes, Titan AE giving better advice on a situation none of us will likely ever encounter is one of the reasons I loved it. And the aliens.
Honestly, Titan A.E. cemented itself in my memory probably by using the DESTRUCTION OF EARTH ITSELF as its starting premise. Not the stakes, not the climax, within the first few minutes Earth and its billions of years of natural history, its biosphere, its human history, its monuments and landmarks, are all gone, along with probably millions of humans who couldn't evac in time. What a way to open your movie.
It’s never occurred to me that All Dogs’ musical numbers might not be memorable because they are all permanently etched into my brain due to a childhood obsession with the movie and the fact that I would just sit and watch it on repeat. (And Let Me Be Surprised will always hold a special place in my heart for being one of my favorite movie scenes as a kid.)
Land Before Time is easily my favourite film of Bluth’s and still makes me cry. Edit: Also, your comments on facial animation is accurate. I love that about his animation.
I still lie awake at night thinking of Littlefoot's pain sometimes. The Land Before Time was the first movie to really make me feel what it might be to lose a parent. The Lion King hit me hard too, but I was older then. The Land Before Time has more falling action and a greater focus on Littlefoot's grief and loneliness. Now that I have a son myself, it hits even harder. Not a movie you can just watch anytime.
This Guy will always be a Legend! He faced Disney and somehow won that battle for a while. He challenged Disney and Change Animation as well all know it! My faves from Bluth's is always Nimh, Land Before Time, and An American Tail. Just Stop had given us a Christmas gift. Reminds me of another video on Bluth and Musicals.
As someone who works creatively, I think the point I should take away from this is that I shouldn't strain to get away from all restrictions on my art like I thought I should, but rather, surround myself with people who can put the right restrictions on me. We've seen this with other artists, and now I'm seeing it here with Don Bluth. Freeing myself from all ties and working art exactly how I want to won't make my art better - I still need that oversight. Sorry, I'm rambling now, but this was an epiphany for me.
The thing is: time and money played key roles in Don Bluth's career. Secret of NIMH was self-financed and distributed by United Artists. The rest were made on someone else's money on someone else's time. On the one hand, he lucked out with An American Tail and Land Before Time because he had Spielberg and Lucas serving as middlemen between him and the executives, but because they're also creative geniuses, the two sides still ended up butting heads. It's the same type of situation that would have played out had Walt Disney and Ray Bradbury made a movie together.
Seeing Don Bluth's movie career throughout the years, you can see how he was losing his edge, which showed through the films becoming more sanitized and safe. Like comparing the tone of films like Secret of NIMH and the Land Before Time to stuff like Thumbelina and a Troll in Central Park, it's like night and day.
Having grown up with a lot of animation, Don Bluth has always been one of my favorites. So much so that to this day, I still know The Land Before Time almost frame by frame. It is amazing that even in his years at Disney, he already knew things were going bad even then and has lived long enough to see things going bad again, for like the 3rd or 4th time.
Amen yes Disney that company today is now just F everything in terms of not just Franchises and Companies they never created but also just puking Reboots for 2Ds which they dont do but instead turn into live actions that nobody asked for. Just complete sad that 2D animation of that style or even more cared style just ignored in todays modern day with everything being so convenient and games all CGI and 3D detailed yet we dont make 2D which without Disney can STILL BE SOO GOOD! There were so many animation not from Disney that have shown potential yet short lived almost like the old days of Nickelodeon and Lucasarts.
We just rewatched The Secret of NIMH last week and man does it hold up to my memory. I think Bluth's style is what really inspired me to become an artist as a child. Also, the scene of Brisby frantically scrambling to safe her dying children as they called out to her really hit me different as a new parent, wow!
Wow, I had no idea that Don Bluth wasn't involved with All Dogs Go to Heaven 2, or Fievel Goes West. I'm shocked! Anyways, thanks so much for making this video. I'm a huge Don Bluth fan, and it's nice seeing someone give their thoughts on all of his movies. Seen some of your other stuff and I remember really liking it too.
Particularly since Fievel Goes West is still pretty well animated. The people who did that one did a decent job keeping up with Bluth's style. Story ain't great, but passable I guess. Some good humor too. Overall, not bad as far as animated sequels go.
@@insulttothehumanrace3807 I have a super soft spot for it. James Horner's music is just... so good. The villain I think is also pretty enjoyable: "no no, we will not eat them YET, first we must exploit them for their labors." I think that if Bluth had been more involved, polished it up a bit, it could've been less "what if Fievel was a cowboy??" and more a commentary of its own on the continued story of immigrants coming to the west - the conflicts between different groups, the trials faced - there is some in there, but it could've been improved.
Ok 1) I'm glad you enjoyed NIMH because its one of my all time favorites and I really think its sad not a lot of people know it, its so beautiful and thoughtfully written and animated! 2) the phrase "let the elvis rooster sing you bastard children" is the funniest thing I've heard in weeks and it got u my subscription, i need more of your commentary in my life XD
I spent so long subconsciously burying the memories of A Troll in Central Park and you came yanking them back like a particularly large splinter buried deep in my body. Oof. Also, I was not ready to hear JS fawn over bara penguin tiddies. Great stuff, though. Fun to look back on Bluth's works, some of which I didn't even realize were done by him until now.
I grew up with don bluth's movies. Thumbelina, Anastasia, The Land Before Time and all dogs go to heaven are ones that I remember watching. He is such a legend. One of his favourite works of his is the animation of the game Dragon's Lair.
And a scammer. Ever wondered what happened to his Indiegogo-crowdfunded Dragon's Lair animated adaptation he finished back in 2016? It's transformed into a live-action Netflix show which will either be cancelled anyway or suck ass upon release. And he never once came clean about it, didn't bother to admit to the fans that the movie was not happening, let alone actually promise the return of the funds. I can't believe there hasn't even been a video essay on this excuse of a crowdfunding campaign, this stuff is criminal.
The Secret of NIMH terrified me as a kid and is still one of creepiest movies to me. The story, the atmosphere, the characters with their glowing red eyes 😬 all still gives me the creeps.
I was really hoping you'd mention how cursed the penguins looked with teeth, because that was one of the things that definitely caught my attention in the pebble and the penguin
This video is how i found out about Gilbert Gottfried passing how did i not find out until just now…he was such a big part of my childhood and my life now I appreciate his work so much he never failed to make me smile when nothing else could.
Something to consider when talking about the historical accuracy of Anastasia... The Remains of Nicholas II, Alexandra, and three daughters were initially discovered in 1979. However, they weren't fully exhumed until 1991 due to the political climate of the now-defunct Soviet Union in the 1980s. Their identities were confirmed through DNA analysis, and they were properly interred in St Peter and Paul Cathedral in 1998, with experts disagreeing whether one of the daughters was Anastasia or Maria. For the filmmakers and viewers in the late 90s, Anastasia's escape and survival weren't definitely debunked yet. It wasn't until 2007 that the remains of Alexei and either Anastasia or Maria were discovered. I know he only briefly mentioned the musical, but its release in 2016 handled this inconsistency in a way I really adore. It frames the story as a dream, a hopeful 'what if' scenario that captures thousands of people's imagination. This framing is essential, especially when the musical is more historically accurate in other ways such as having the bolsheviks explicitly stated to be the villains who murdered the rest of the family, to make this story palatable to a wide audience after it's been proven for years that Anastasia never survived.
For whatever reason, I had a the book Titan AE that was published before the theatrical release. It had so much more story, at least from what I can recall. Like a bit of Akimas past, and Cale is given a translator when they're captured so he can understand the Dredge. I acknowledge all the flaws in the film but I still love it for nostalgic reasons. Plus the soundtrack is still one of my favorites lol.
I just want to say that Bartok the Magnificent was a prime example of the comic relief side character getting his own spin-off movie done RIGHT! A lot of spin-offs and sequels fall into the trap of putting their comic relief character in the spotlight without doing anything to expand on the character and just stretching out their one-note schtick for an hour and a half or longer, but Bartok is a case where actually competent writers and a crew who knew what they were doing were behind it. Watching Anastasia alone, you might not think you could get a whole movie out of Bartok, but they freaking nailed it in my opinion.
In defense of Bluth making Thumbelina, he was forced to write the screenplay in one week, he said in one interview, "You can't write a script in a week".
Correction: The Emoji Movie got multiple Razzies including the one for worst picture, meaning it joined Thumbelina in the small club of animations to win Razzies
Both _Thumbelina_ and _A Troll in Central Park_ are pretty ironic when you think about it. Don Bluth set left Disney *specifically because* he wanted to avoid the trend that Disney was creating by watering down drama in animation. To bring Star Wars into this: _"You were the Chosen One! You were supposed to destroy the trends, not join them!"_
it's wild that Bartok the Magnificent isn't more well known, cause idk if I or my older siblings had an obsession with Anastasia or we just happened to get both on VHS but I distinctly remember watching Bartok a ton as a kid. I think it may have also had a song included on a music singalong VHS because I watched the one we owned more than either full movie and that's why Once Upon A December occupies the same space in my brain as Po-po The Puppet
Also Rock-a-Doodle explains the reason for the sun only coming up for a short time in the first few moments of the film. Patoo asks the viewer "What if one morning where you live instead of coming up the sun took a look around and decided to go back to sleep? It happened once to us!" or something along those lines.
A Troll in Central Park is when everything is too good and perfect to the point where you become enraged by cute aggression. A Truman Show nightmare that actually becomes a psychological horror.
I do like Disney, but all my favorite animated films are Don Bluth. Even my favorite princess movie, Anastasia, is Don Bluth. I absolutely love his animation style and never get enough of his characters' expressions.
I always thought that little foot's mom was probably the most heart wrenching death of any animated film I've ever seen put on screen. I mean consider this she fought sharp tooth/ t-rex not just once but twice survived for several hours probably all day just long enough so she can see her boy to convey the information that he needs to get to the Great Valley. It's not to play down Mufasa's death but I always thought that Simba's father's dying was nothing compared to littlefoot's mom I mean hes the king of the Sahara and gets ran over by some rush hour wildabeasts and you know the some of those wildabeast was like oh look there's the king here's one for my cousin. 🤣🤣🤣
Which I find it really strange. An American Tail is Don Bluth's best work in my opinion and it's honestly my favorite movie of all time. An American Tail is so underrated.
Given the more realistic tone that's taken to immigration during the Ellis Island era that is present in the film. Which in turn dose not paint life in the United States as Rainbows and Sunshine it's not terribly suprising. Since it came out in the 80s it simply was not payed much mind to. I imagine if this film came out in today's climate some people would absolutely lose thier shit over it which in turn probably would catapult it into the spotlight.
@@rainmabon8232 I doubt that should be the case these days or else An American Tail would've been "considered" controversy" since the DVD and Blu-Ray releases, which did not happen. I mean it would be *SAD* if there are people these days who would see An American Tail as a problem and treat it bad as if it's a controversial topic. Considering it's just a cute and heartwarming story about a little mouse who wants to reunite with his family. There's strong social commentary in the film, but god forbid we can't tell the truth what happen in history back in the 19th century which did happen and its appropriate for people to learn about anyway. And that's actually refreshing. I feel lot of films these days are too safe, including animated films. We need more films like An American Tail. I feel An American Tail gets overlooked because "Don Bluth fans" are busy just talking about Secret of NIMH, Land Before Time, All Dogs, heck even Rock a Doodle, Thumbelina, and Titan AE is more talked about than An American Tail in the comment section of this video. Despite An American Tail is just as amazing as Secret of NIMH and Land Before Time, they ignore it for no reason. That's why I'm glad UA-camrs like No Stop and Nostalgia Critic gives An American Tail a large appreciation and recognition because dang does it feel An American Tail suffered through obscurity lot of times.
The singing out of tune in American Tail I think is beautiful in how raw it is, but I understand how it doesn’t work for some people. I also don’t find much confusing about All Dogs To Heaven. Totally agree on Anastasia. I can easily separate the history from the fiction, it’s just incredible regardless. The Bartok spin-off is excellent as well.
Gotta say, I love the art styles of these movies. A wide variety of body types, smooth and bouncy movements, detailed textures... It really fits the themes of the movies themselves.
I remember in 8th grade for history we watched An American Tail. At that point we were learning about Immigration and watched the movie and wrote and essay about it which was a big grade.
I’ve had bartok on dvd for the longest time and I never see many people talk about it when talking about don bluth so it was so refreshing and cool to see it mentioned here
Once Upon December is just a great song there's a reason why it's popular as a song that doesn't feel annoying or it can't get annoying like Frozen Let It Go
I remember my big brother buying a Don Bluth double-pack DVD which had Anastasia and Titan A.E. I watched these movies almost all the time when I was young to the point where the discs got too scratched up and worn out. They still hold up to this day not only for their plots, but also for their soundtracks.
Secret of NIMH - his magnum opus. All Dogs Go to Heaven - kinda wonky in the story department but such terrifying, powerhouse emotional and nightmare scenes that are some of the absolute scariest animated scenes that don’t involve Chernabog… sorta. And completely a tearjerker given the subject material and what happened to dear Judith. Land Before Time - another emotional powerhouse and not just when the mother dies, either. American Tail - beautiful, stunning, desperate powerhouse. Rock a Doodle - really bonkers and like something from a bargain bin, but still has decent animation. I feel some kinship with it since it’s the last movie from Phil Harris. Anastasia - just needs a bit of fixing in the editing and story department. Rasputin is a terrific villain with a BANGER of a villain song but I see why the musical cut him, that said I love his nightmare fuel. Bluth gave in and did the Disney formula and honestly he could’ve kept doing it because he added his own good twist to it. Thumbelina - no. A Troll in Central Park - no. Pebble and the Penguin - no. Not even Tim Curry could save this one, he sounds awful as a frat boy. It’s BAD when Curry can’t redeem anything. Titan AE - haven’t seen Bartok - haven’t seen aside from memes about the villain having thick proportions during her transformation
Honestly, I thought Anastasia was purely fantasy as a kid. A more "modern" princess to rival Disney's "classic(?)" settings. It took until high school when we were learning about Rasputin's aversion of death, the queen's obsession with Rasputin with his "prophecies" and "healing magic" to keep her only son alive, and lastly the Russian revolution. I know the Czar and the leaders weren't the greatest, but I just feel awful for the kids.
god, the original land before time was so unbelievably good. it was my first introduction to the idea that people we love could be lost any moment and that we therefore need to cherish our loved ones while we still have them. i was 9 when that was introduced to me.... it's been a formative childhood experience for me. really sad, that the sequels are so bad and most of all, bland.
The Michael Malloy clip following the overused alliteration was legit genius, and the fact that it's less than a second long makes it even funnier since that strips it of all context unless you knew it beforehand
I know you mentioned the second American Tail, the western one, but I legitimately loved that one as a kid more. I watched it again recently and it holds up so well. The music and the story is super interesting! If you haven’t, I highly suggest it!
Both the original An American Tail and its sequel Fievel Goes West are really great films. If you've seen the second one, how do you not want to be interested in the original one as well?
I watched this whole thing and man, agreeing on so much. 'In the Dark of the Night' is still my favorite villain song in any animated movie, and Anastasia is still a sleeper hit that I think many animation fans gloss over, but it was super solid, and worth a second watch.
It honestly never occurred to me that anyone wouldn't love ADGTH. It was one of my favorite movies as a kid and I played it over and over again. Anastasia was also one of my favorites, it's still my favorite "princess" movie. It might have sparked my love (obsession) for the 1910s-1920s. And the land before time movies were a staple as well. I have no idea which ones, I know I had the original and watched it a lot but I'm pretty sure I watched some of the others too. Tree Stars
ADGTH nation rise up. It being bonkers sometimes is part of the charm to me, and Let Me Be Surprised, both the song and the scene itself, is one of the earliest pieces of media I remember loving, having seen it when I was a toddler and only having vague memories but a deep desire to watch it again.
I haven't seen the movie in a long time but if I remember correctly, the Dredge wanted to destroy the Titan because the titan, when used, would absorb an ungodly amount of energy when creating the new Earth, which the Dredge didn't like at all considering that they are made of pure energy.
I have a good old VHS of Rock-a-Doodle, the owls songs are so hilarious~. But Sun Do Shine is something that pops into my head randomly to this day and it always brings a smile to my face. My husband had never heard of this movie. I rectified that.
We had Thumbelina on VHS so seeing you rip it into shreds hurt my nostalgic heart while simultaneously making me realise that I remember little more than the frogs (one of which was way too sexy for an animated frog) and the mouse with the weird skirt thing.
The Troll in Central Park was one of those movies that was pretty but some thing you turn on to distract your kids while you and the spouse have "private" time. But it had the most epic thumb war ever
Technical minor correction; in American Tail's the Old World cats were more likely Cossacks (as to win their alliance the Tzars allowed them unrestricted Pogroms)
I once got into an argument with friends who claimed that all mice in animated films were portrayed as Christians. I pointed out that the mice in An American Tail were Jewish and they would not believe me. Took me like six hours to provide evidence they wouldn’t dismiss out of hand.
A bit of trivia for Banjo the Woodpile Cat. The short was originally going to be a full length film, that would have better explain and transitions areas in the short, such as seeing Banjo’s family missing him and Banjo struggling with more obstacles to get his way back home, but they decided to make into a short instead. But some elements that were rejected in Banjo were put into An American Tail.
In defense of Jeremy and other comic reliefs, Don Bluth believed every story should have a hero, a villain, and a clown. Whether it works or not is all subjective.
The Secret of NIMH is still Bluth's magnum opus in my opinion. It is one of the most gorgeously animated films ever created to date, and it's the perfect movie to adjust small children to darker stories and visuals.
I just realized the reason why no one in the land before time universe uses actual dinosaurs names, is because the film acknowledges it’s humanity that named the species and not the dinosaurs themselves.
Somebody get the writers a Nobel Peace Prize, like actually
Makes sense, they even call the sun the "great circle" .... though they know the word "star".....
Yeah, that's honestly so clever.
It's just one thing that people often can't get right with the races who are supposed to be different from them - like I believe no "alien" would've liked to be called just an "alien".
@@genera1013 stars would be those little lights in the night sky. The sun is big and shows up in the day.
@@absolutezerochill2700 Yeah, my thing is they know the word stars but not sun.
I don't understand how Bluth's crew managed to make _Secret of NIMH_ so incredibly good in spite of how borderline-cursed its development process was.
I know right, it's a really good, worth a watch.
But old animation was so god! Look at Pinochio from 40s, the lights, the animations, the colors, the effects....old animation it's so beautiful and good, much better than 3D animation, it's pure art!
@@HannahHäggAutisticTransWoman An American Tail is also a really great film as well.
@@cupcakedoce956 Yeah, I'm not much of a fan of 3D animation. It's not bad, but I like traditional art better. Though the currently artistical preferences that I've seen in present American shows feelsl azy instead of creative now I'm watching Japanese animation more. XD
@@dreamimgflowerd976 The good news is that while 2d animation is dead in the states, it's still alive in Europe and Japan.
Troll in central park is the ultimate "watched it on TV by accident once on a sick day with a fever and it got imprinted in your brain forever while at the same time always wondering if it was a real movie until someone told you" movie
I used to get it confused with "The Little Troll Prince." They have quite a bit in common.
Relatable…. I think i saw this randomly on an old C-Band satellite dish in the 90s.
As a child who had that VHS, yeah, that and Black Cauldron are that for me.
I don’t know why. But watching this movie as a little kid gave me nightmares of being kidnapped by trolls 😂 then for the longest time thought I made up this movie in my head only finding out later it was a real movie. 😅
I have had that happen one too many times, seeing a movie flipping through channels then years later wondering if they were real movies or just fever dreams I had. though a few of them turned out to be actual movies.
37:34 Don't forget that with the death of Judith Barsi, Bluth entered a bit of a depression. Honestly I think everyone did, she was taken too soon
It doesn’t help that the person who killed her was her own father.
@@jfournerat1274 Her father was real pos in real life. A low life drinking drunkard who got jealous of his own daughter's success that he chose to kill her then himself because he couldn't forgive that his life ended up being shit while his daughter's was starting a career that could of been. When you can't even respect and be proud of what your own daughter could have started, you don't deserve to be a father or have children.
@@jfournerat1274 yeah that shit was fucked up.
Here's a bit of trivia on All Dogs Go To Heaven:
During production, the alligator originally had a much larger role where Carface drives him out of his home and they become enemies. Which in context connects with him showing up at the end for revenge.
But as is, it’s a…
A…
…
Big Lipped Alligator Moment?
There *is* something of a leftover of this idea in the final film. In the shot in which Charlie and Carface's casino is shown for the 1st time at the beginnng of the movie, there are two signs that read "Gators Stay Out" and "No Gators Allowed".
@@charmandyorton006 Funnily enough it's not. A BLAM is a scene that comes out of nowhere, has no bearing on the plot, and is never mentioned again. While it does come pretty hard out of nowhere, it's actually the reason Anne Marie develops pneumonia (making it plot relevant), and the gator himself reappears to eat Carface (which is a relevant callback).
Although in strict, literal terms-- yes, it is indeed a moment with a big-lipped alligator.
@@MmeCShadow it is the moment, which the BLAM was named for.
but yeah, your explanation, for why THE BLAM is not a BLAM makes sense.
*Now rank every Disney movie!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!* even if you don’t like it.
Mrs. Brisby's bravery: I do not remember where I originally heard it, but the best description of courage I've ever heard is _"Real courage isn't the absence of fear, but what you do in spite of it."_ and I think she's a very well-done portrayal of that idea.
That movie was one of my favorites growing up as a child of the late '80s-early '90s.
Ya it's a good saying. How I've heard it phrased is, 'Courage isn't the absence of fear, rather, bravery in the face of fear'.
I heard that in the movie version of "The Princess Diaries".
"Courage is being scared to death but saddling up anyway"
- John Wayne
They need to make a box collection of all the Don Bluth works. A lot of his stuff is sadly going to be lost to time if it doesn’t happen
lost to time? huh???
what specific works are gonna be lost?
They boxed The Land Before Time but not the things Don Bluth actually had a hand in
It would basically be impossible due to all the rights issues. Fox (Disney), Universal (Comcast), HBO (WB), Goldcrest, and Sony have all had a hand in either production or distribution of Bluth's films (and that's just talking about the US market).
learn how to set sail for treasure
Hold up this may be fucked up, but the scene that sold me when it came to "all dogs go to heaven" was when Anne Marie started singing, because her emotional performance was very well done because it was (as I later found out) coming from a real place. Judith Barsi was being abused at home, so she actually broke down several times while singing about wanting a family who loves her. It wrecked my childhood to find out that information, and it wrecks me everytime I hear that song. RIP Judith.
My heart was violently ripped out of my chest when I found out what happened to Judith, needlessly and senselessly cruel treatment at the hands of her dickless father.
Judith Barsi couldn't even sing it so they had to get Lana Beeson to do it.
I still can’t register the fact there are over a dozen Land Before Time movies to this day.
And a tv show.
Now I want Just Stop to make a video where he talks about every Land Before Time movie.
I've always assumed it was a hellraiser/children of the corn scenario, where only the first couple were good and everything else is terrible. Its hard to pump out that many movies and maintain a strict level of quality.
It's sad that a movie about baby Dinosaurs has more sequels than most 70's and 80's Slashers
@@TUM_Toons The fact that it’s a franchise at all is a joke in itself.
In my opinion, Don Bluth was an amazing animator that let his grudge cloud good business judgement. There was NO need to release movies at the same time as Disney. Had he not tried so hard to constantly one-up them I feel his animation studio would be up and running today, or at least would have had a lot better chance.
It was actually disney that played the "let's sabotage his releases" game by deliberately scheduling their releases to be at the exact same time as his, at first it was an experiment by re-releasing classics like lady and the tramp to compete with bluth's films, then they got bolder and started scheduling the release of their b material against bluth's movies.
@@Hammerhead547 Yeah, that sounds like Disney
@@Hammerhead547 Ahhh good to know. I always thought it was his choice.
@@Hammerhead547I read the original comment and thought “yeah I guess Don having a grudge seems plausible”. Then I read yours and instantly changed my mind, like no…messing around with scheduling in such a calculated and petty way fits Disney like a glove.
@clown-cult96 Don Bluth himself has said he was the one releasing films at the same time as Disney. Not the other way around. It was his grudge and need to prove himself better then Disney that sunk his studio, Disney didn't need to do anything.
This is a rewriting of history based on modern Disney which isn't the same company as it was back in the 80s and 90s.
As much as I like the Disney version, I will always be disappointed we didn't get the Don Bluth adaptation of Beauty and the Beast.
#tellDonBluthtoreopenhisBeautyandtheBeastproject
Me too. I will also always be disappointed that we didn't get to see any of Don Bluth's other movie plans. Like Satyrday, and East of the Sun and West of the Moon. Not to mention, the next animated arcade game The Sea Beast and Barnacle Bill.
@@dreamguardian8320 #reopenDonBluthcancelledmovies
It's weird to me that the video poster doesn't understand that Crazy Legs took Banjo to see three hookers, not because they knew what to do... but because he wanted to see hookers
@@dreamguardian8320
There can be fanfiction stories and Fanart for that
I think what makes Once Upon A December just that little bit more powerful is the fact that these people were real. The ghosts she'd dancing with are representative of real people. Real faces, real names, father, mothers, lovers, all with hopes and dreams and fears and ambitions. And they're just gone. This isn't just a character trying to remember her family. This is a representation of people who have primarily been forgotten and lost to time, depicted as a fairytale through the imagined eyes of this character.
That's so damned powerful to me.
Agreed. Also it works so well because it is reminiscent of little details we tend to remember from childhood, so small and inconsequential. You know, dancing bears, painted wings, prancing horses... all these things were just minuscule items no one but a child would have truly appreciated, so it's only fitting that Anastasia remembered those little things just a bit. A jar, maybe a tapestry, a patterned curtain o carpet... we all have memories about something small we used to look at as children, and as we grow up these memories grow thinner, but they never disappear. One of my examples is, when I was around 6 o 7, looking at a wallpaper with SO MANY intricate flowers you couldn't trace a flower with your finger without tracing another one (yes, I tried a million times). No idea where that wallpaper was. No idea when exactly I used to see it. I can just remember the strange flower labyrinth. I guess my painted flowers were my dancing bears.
@@laliclaudesol2350 this is one of the most adorable things I've read and yet a sad reality about growing up. We have pieces of memories that make up who we are but there are parts we may never fully know or understand. Memory is fickle but oh so interesting.
Good riddance, greetings from every Eastern European country oppressed by Nicholas II
Why are they gone though? Hm? Why did they want to get rid of them? Were the hopes and dreams of the peasants and workers worthless compared to those of the nobility?
@@bewilderbeastie8899
Not really trying to start history debate. I just think it adds to the artistry of the scene.
The Secret of NIMH will always stand out in my mind. Watched it back in elementary school since during story time my teacher read the book to us and it’s darker moments still disturb me as a result. Honestly that and The Land Before Time is how I fell in love with Don Bluth’s style, not to mention how heavily impactful the atmosphere is in both films.
What about An American Tail?
I think why land before time stuck with me wasn't just because of tragedy of littlefoot's mother, but the music throughout the whole movie. James Horner made a good movie into a great one because of how his music heightened everything happening. Same with titanic. When I watched that as a kid, the final half hour, 45 mins or so of the movie was _really_ intense, and his music was one of the biggest reasons why it's one of my favorite movies ever. I didn't realize until I was an adult though that these two movies had the same composer.
@@ShadowSkyX If you enjoy Land Before Time, you should check out An American Tail. An American Tail is also a really amazing film and it's also composed by James Horner.
I had a similar experience and first saw "NIMH" in my fifth grade class. It was a break day from school assignments and the teacher put on that movie. Secret of NIMH made me a Don Bluth fan for life (although I saw American Tail years before that but didn't watch often due to how dark it was).
I grew up watching NIMH as a child of the late '80s-early '90s so I was was _thrilled_ when the original book was actually one of the ones that was covered in sixth grade at my school. For once I actually enjoyed one of the books I was forced to read in class!
9:45 _"Who keeps hiring this damn artist?!"_
As an illustrator who originally wanted to be a Disney animator but got to witness the closure of the Florida studio in my freshman year at Ringling and the basic abandonment of traditional animation by Disney in the years following, I ask myself that question _ALL THE DAMN TIME._
It flummoxes me how they put out so much off model character artwork sometimes because Disney Feature Animation, Disney Design Group, etc., came to Ringling to recruit graduating seniors every year from the illustration and computer animation departments, and one of the interviewing reps literally told us, verbatim:
"If you want to put Disney characters in your portfolio that's fine, but they better be EXACTLY ON MODEL or we don't want to see that shit."
I did not add that last part. They literally said "we don't want to see that shit".
SO WHY IS IT ALL OVER THEIR MEDIA COVER ART??!
I remember the day two Disney representatives coming to my high school in the 90s. The kid sitting next to me a psyched because she dreamed of being a Disney animator. They crushed her dream, telling her that animators were usually laid off after one movie & replaced with a new crew so more people could enjoy the Disney experience. That was the day I started disliking Disney. Also turns out game publishers do the same thing to their subsidiary developers teams.
@@LikaLaruku That's... not how Disney Feature Animation works. Or DreamWorks. Or Pixar. Or Nickelodeon. I mean job security can be an issue, but they don't shuffle out entire teams to bring in new ones "so more people can enjoy the experience." I don't know why on earth those "reps" said that.
I have one friend from Ringling who has been a character animator at Pixar for more than a decade and another friend who was a character modeler at Nickelodeon for several years before choosing to leave for a position at DreamWorks, where she still is now several years later. I also have friends who have worked in game development for the same studios for several years. Being laid off after a project is finished can definitely be a possibility, but it's not the rule by any means.
I know this comment is over a year old bit I freaking agree, I was recently walking through my local K-Mart and I cane across the DVD section and started browsing to kill some time and gone are the days of amazing box art to be replaced by a single off-model image of the main character. Especially noticeable when the character is 2D instead of the CGI or Pixar ones. Moana or Ana/Elasa on the cover of their DVD box looks so much nicer than the weird off-model anime-hybrid Ariel, Belle or Cinderella. And that doesn't even cover the weirdness of the 2D art on the boxes for the princess dolls, again none of them look like their animated counterparts, it's depressing.
Parts of me wish I had gone into animation or character design when I was first entering collage, but I'm also kind of glad I didn't given how horrendous things are nowadays. 😅
Don Bluth is such a legend of an animator. When looking at my early days trying to do art. Intentionally or not, Don Bluth has influenced me greatly. Also All Dogs Go to Heaven is just that one nostalgic movie I always go back to. A Don Bluth project I wished happened was his interpretation of the Cat’s musical. That could have been so interesting but alas…we got the thing that shall not be named.
I would like to think that “Cats Don’t Dance” is something of a worthy substitute. Not Bluth, but is a very solid film nonetheless.
@@devinianschramm5507 I can see that, Cats Don’t Dance is a very good film, it’s just that the concept art for the Cats’s movie from Bluth looks very Secret of NIMH and that darker vibe would have contrasted the spectacle of the original score I think. Just that typical dark, yet campy charm Bluth is known for.
It's a shame he lost the plot and thought making "A Troll in Central Park" was a good idea.
It was Anastasia for me, hands down. It hit theaters right after I decided I wanted to be an artist for my career at 13/14 years old so I was really buckling down to get better at drawing, and it had a HUGE impact on my style. Even now as an illustrator in my late 30s I still get people here and there who ask if I like Anastasia or say that my work reminds them of it, and it always amuses me. One of my friends saw it not long after we had started chatting online and told me it was in the way I draw cheeks in profile in particular.
Also also I got reminded about Titan A.E and decided to watch it months later after seeing a trailer for it in this video which were the trailers that played before Dinosaur in theaters! ua-cam.com/video/HAHUYRcvmF0/v-deo.html
Not a very hot take, but Anastasia is still my favourite Don Bluth movie. Not only because it’s amazing on it’s own, but also because I, myself, was born in Russia and… I don’t know man, seeing this movie as a kid was literally magical. I saw myself in Anya (although the short version of “Anastasia” would be “Nastya” but oh well doesn’t change that much) and I was amazed when first time in my life all these drawn locations and characters were actually close to me and my culture. Don Bluth truly created a masterpiece with this film, his depiction of Russia is so beautiful and down to earth at the same time (not… the non-existent historical accuracy obviously but if it was historically accurate it would one hell of a grim movie for kids)
Then don't call it a hot take?
Fwiw, I never thought "Anya" was supposed to be _short_ for "Anastasia". I figured she must've just told the people at the orphanage "I don't remember my name, but I _think_ it starts with an A.." and then they just decided to call her Anya.
Nastya sounds so cute though
She was probably named that way to honor Anna Anderson, the most famous Anastasia impostor. Or maybe because Anna is such a common name and it was perfect for an orphan who doesn't remember her own name.
"I was hypnotized by male penguin knockers". That's a sentence I hope no one has ever said before.
Welcome to the internet, you must be new here.
That’s probably something on rule34. I’m not looking though
As someone with connections to the furry community, I can assure with with 100% confidence it absolute has been.
Me watching Surf’s Up and seeing Tank.
50:55
Anytime I think about Land before Time and All Dogs go to Heaven all I think of is what happened to that poor child actress. Rest in peace, you deserved the world
R.I.P. Judith Barsi
What happend
@@existing5442 Get ready because this is dark.
Poor girl had an abusive father who treated the girl and her mother awful and and one day her father got REALLY REALLY ANGRY and when she went to sleep her father murdered her and her mother.
All Dogs go to Heaven was her last movie
@@PaintSplashProductions omg i didn't know that
🙏
What I noticed from the Land Before Time, Cera had siblings and a mother before the big split and all she had left was her father in the end. Kinda sad almost the entire family died there.
Edit: Forgot how to spell the kid-triceratops' name. Sorry about that!
It's spelled "Cera."
For a second I thought you were talking about Ducky instead of Cera ( because I am running on no sleep ) and thought its even more sad knowing what happened to the voice actress for Ducky. Again I understand you mean a different character now lol
@@Mecharnie_Dobbs Her last name is Topps
As revealed in 6, not only did her sister make it but had twins.
They call her Aunty Cera which amuses me to no end due to her not seeming to be that much older.
I know it does happen like that IRL but have never personally encountered it
@@SpaceRodan Could be an older sister from an earlier clutch who was close to adult age when the great earthquake happened.
The Titan was a terraforming vessel. The Dredj feared it because it used vast amounts of energy to accomplish its function-- and the Dredj are energy beings. Something like the Titan is, to them, a weapon of mass destruction specifically aimed at them.
Wish that was more clearly stated in the film though. I think keeping the Dredj mysterious was a double-edged sword, in that it kept them menacing but made their motivation less clear and thus creates these kinds of conflicting story points.
And the comics showed that humans had reached the Dredj's technological prowess.
Which also gave the reason for it to be made; in order to terraform "dead" planets into human-habitable ones.
Humans were advancing, and the Titan would both strengthen their place in the universe and require massive amounts of energy, causing the Dredj to try and stifle it before humans reached a point that would harm them.
Really, if the terraforming and energy points were made clear the movie would have a far more coherent plot.
& the Titan was made because Earth was dying due to climate change I believe?
Fun Fact!
Land Before Time's mother death scene actually scared me as a kid so much, I actually started calling my own mom Mother by consequence.
Fun Fact!
That scene was so traumatizing they added an entire scene to help make it better. The first half of this video if I remember right: ua-cam.com/video/p3Iukm5_y3M/v-deo.html
Fun Fact: Don Bluth was originally set to be directed Ice Age with Gary Goldman at Fox Animation Studios. But it didn't happened, because the studio was shut down ten days after the box office failure of Titan AE and the project was a migrated to Blue Sky instead.
woah
He was also going to director his own adaptation of Beauty and The Beast, but that was canned along with a Satyrday adaptation, East of the Sun West of the Moon (Norwegian folk tale), and a Velveteen Rabbit adaptation. One blurb from 1990 described his Beauty and The Beast's characters as "Nan, the clairvoyant dog, Max, a bird detective, and Otto, an escape artist lizard, to the King Bats, the Wee Beasties and Queen Livia, herself, the picture has something for everyone."
one thing I wish you included was that Judith Barsi who voiced Ducky in the Land Before Time and Anne-Marie in All Dogs Go to Heaven was murdered by her father and Don dedicated ADGTH to her memory
what does ADGTH stand for
@@naomii_star All Dogs go to Heaven
@@jackhamilton9604 A fun fact about "The Land Before Time": the original voice of Littlefoot, Gabriel Daimon, would later go on to do "Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland", casted as the voice of Little Nemo, the titular character from the 1905 Newspaper Comic series "Little Nemo in Slumberland" that the movie was based on.
Anastasia feels like Bluth took all of the lessons he learned from his past films and actually took them to heart, with an amazing, timeless movie as a result. To this day it remains one of my all time favorite movies. 😊
All the Weakest Don Bluth Movies: Thumbelina, Rock-a-Doodle, Banjo: The Woodpile Cat, Titan A.E., The Pebble and the Penguin and even A Troll in Central Park had a Lot of Potencial to be Good or at least Okay Movies, if Better Writted and Better Developed.
Fun fact; Rock-a-Doodle scared the SHIT out of me as a kid. It didnt help that I was also terrified of roosters as a kid.
I was SOOO confused when the kid was turned into a cat
Lmao what made you scared of Roosters?
So it was tour fear of roosters why the movie scared you.
I honestly miss being a kid and feeling real fear for things Now if I'm not on the edge of death, I don't feel alive; total opposite, and it sucks; I want to feel real fear again.
I watched the Ring as a 5 year old and that movie haunted me for so long; any time static was on a screen, I would freak out. I would fall asleep to my TV in my room and I would wake up at 2am with it just on static
Where as it was my fave movie as a small child, I watched it so many times my whole family was so sick of my shit
Anyone else think the Dukes nephew was a parrot growing up?
So happy to hear Rock A Doodle get praise for once instead of just being torn apart or passed as a 'bad film'. It was one of my favorites growing up, and watching it as an adult I absolutely see where it could have been better but it wasn't his worst film and being so high on your list made me ecstatic. Thank you!
Honestly, I think the movie isnt bad that much, just not entirely consistent or sure what it wants, making it confusing to some and annoying to others.
Personaly, I like it. I just wish it was better than it is
Tbh I've only seen it once, but i remember it pretty fondly (vaguely tho)
Rockadoodle is the physical embodiment of the Chad meme.
Why is "bad film" in air quotes?
@@addison_v_ertisement1678 To indicate that it is a widely stated opinion but does not necessarily reflect my own.
Fun fact of something I did when I was an evil babysitter. To punish the kids for being rotten, I forced them to watch the entirety of A Troll in Central park. They were begging and pleeing that they don't want to watch the movie it's awful. I basically told them they are required to watch the whole film until they learn their lesson. I was an absolute monster for making them watch it. And I don't regret it
That's absolutely brilliant. It's both a perfect punishment and one the parents couldn't possibly take issue with. What are they gonna do, get mad at you because you made their kids watch... a G-rated kids animated film? But little do they know...
Yeah even as a little kid I watched that movie at my grandma's house and was just "what the heck am I watching?"
Damn I didn't know you were the real life version of Vicky.
@@eternalflame9482 no man I'm not a child abuser. I'm someone who is fine disciplining a child if they're acting a fool. Sometimes I have some catharsis from it, but it's not meant as a way to break someone down
@@eternalflame9482 also the male equivalent is Vic, who only appeared in the past episode with Denzel Crocker having Cosmo Wanda as his godparents
One of the scenes that was cut from the first Land Before Time was the scene where Little Foot died, having the twist be that “The great valley” was heaven, where he’s reunited with his mother, never having managed to find his grandparents.
That is absolutely cool and cruel, I wish that was the ending
I've never heard of this before? Source? I'd like to read or hear more :)
That’s just an internet myth. The Great Valley was never meant as an allegory for death.
@@Awoo_SanWell, there is no source since it’s not true.
@@robinanwaldt LOL I belive it
I worked in a movie theater when I was in high school and one of the reasons why movies “needed” to meet 90 minutes is so theater rotation was flexible. Not sure if it was the same in the 80s but my managers would be really annoyed whenever they would get a 3 hour movie. Especially if it’s a big release of a movie and this is before Endgame.
Also why is it suddenly normal for movies to be 2 hours long nowadays?
@@Sephus912 Not entirely sure but I’ve noticed that too. Could be a streaming thing, “binge worthy” in a sense perhaps?
@@TrandafirProdutions I'm also guessing it's because of streaming services, because back then you would have to cut out a lot of scenes to keep the run time short or long enough for theaters, now that we have streaming services and a recent pandemic I guess movie companies dont really care about movie theater sales as much as they used to and they can get away with leaving their movies as long or short as they want
@@0iqgremlin414 It’s possible that audiences don’t mind longer films nowadays. Perhaps ‘intermissions’ might make a return.
@@TrandafirProdutions That's what I'd like to see. I don't know about anybody else, but streaming and the pandemic has got me used to being able to pause and get up whenever I need to. Movies are getting way too long for one sitting in a theater.
Honestly, I get the gripes with thumbelina. But also I grew up with it and the songs warm my heart so I’m personally really attached to it. Usually I care most about characters and their depth, but even though thumbelina and the prince don’t have a lot of depth you can really tell how much they care about each other even though they just met. Idk, I just think they did a really good job of capturing loving feelings between two characters
Jodi Benson and the costume designs are what saved the movie for me. The beetle segment was stunning to watch.
I think it’s okay for love stories to be “simplistic” not every movie needs to prove a point of having a badass Princess or a goofy prince, Thumbelina and the prince have a true and deep connection and it was love at first sight which is perfectly fine as is.
Well, your personal attachment doesn't reflect its quality.
@@addison_v_ertisement1678 yes, well, if you read my comment closely you would know I literally said that
I also don’t think Thumbelina herself really needed to have depth because the entire point of it is that she knows what she wants but keeps being told by the world around her what they think is best for her and it’s overwhelming to her because she only has ever known her simple existence with her mother. The personal growth in the story comes from her innocence being broken down (multiple times she becomes resigned to never finding that perfect life she wanted) and then rewarded (her belief paying off).
It’s not only a moral to girls to stay true to their ambitions, but that they deserve a partner who understands them and makes them feel like they belong. Compared to Disney princesses who only experience at max a pressure to marry one man, Thumbelina has to deal with not only harassment from men, but the world telling her that harassment is justified and something she should want to achieve.
It could also be a but of a religious allegory if you squint.
I’m not saying it’s a stellar movie, but I do think its message is meant for a specific group. I do wish Thumbelina had more agency, but I still think it’s a very important one for little girls to watch, because they, too, are small and have little agency.
The Secret Of Nimh was great. So ethereal and beautifully animated.
I still find An American Tail superior.
@@retrofan4963 I can see why! Its great as well. I just prefer the story and characters of Nimh way more.
@@retrofan4963 ew. Secret of NIMH is so much better. Why? Because, I saw it as a 5 year old and never saw it again, and I always had this weird memory of some ethereal cartoon movie in my memories that I could never figure out what it was until pure chance, I saw it when I was 20 and I instantly knew what it was, as all memories flooded back
@@pyropulseIXXI So your reason is only because of nostalgia. That doesn't say anything how Secret of NIMH is better in any shape or form. What you just said can be described by anyone who has nostalgic memories towards any movie, even a crappy film. The reason why I find An American Tail better than Secret of NiMH is because in my opinion, it has a much better story, better and more memorable character, and has a much better soundtrack. This is what I dislike about majority of Secret of NIMH fans, they only treat Secret of NIMH as the only magmus opus work Don Bluth has ever made, while ignore An American Tail as one of the greats Don Bluth has created despite An American Tail is also amazing as well. I won't put picolocity366 as one of those Secret of NIMH fans because atleast he's fair towards An American Tail, even though he still prefers Secret of NIMH, which is fine. But you, with your reaction "ew" just says everything you're one of those Don Bluth or Secret of NIMH fans who's unfair towards An American Tail for no good reason. I don't know why An American Tail is treated so unfairly by Don Bluth fans these days. The fact Just Stop rank An American Tail as #1 best Don Bluth film in this video is honestly refreshing because atleast I'm not alone in this case. I rarely see An American Tail get as much love as other 80's Don Bluth films.
@@retrofan4963 No, also because it is superior. I am only nostalgic for superior things obviously. In fact, I watched American Tail as a kid and loved it, which means I should be nostalgic for that as well, no?
I like secret of NIMH better because of the atmosphere it sets; I like the creepiness and weird characters like the owl and Nostradamus rat. I don't think either plot is better than the other; they both make sense and follow consistent within their own story structure
I remember watching Anastasia when I was little and had the flu, my mom rented the movie on DVD.
My dad said the idea of Rasputin being an evil sorcerer kinda ruined the more in realism grounded plot, but my mom actually explained why it made sense kinda. Apparently once he knew he's losing the good graces of the royal family he said that if he should be murdered the Romanovs would follow him soon after....which actually ended up happening.
Your parents are great for discussing an animated film together like that, that's so neat
I think there was a part where someone in the royal family was convinced he was a noble healer, because he was a "holy man". If the song Rasputin is to be believed.😅
I very much appreciate Bluth's darker style. As a kid, it made me feel something. Made my brain think deeply about subjects a majority of Disney movies want you to avoid brooding on. I distinctly remember the scene in Anastasia when Rasputin makes a deal with the Devil and all his flesh and organs is sucked off. Lit a dark fascination in my brain and inspired me, it's metal. As an adult, I can truly admire those qualities, and his movies always challenge my mind.
Crazy to think that more time has passed between Titan and NOW than between Small One and Titan . Bluth has now been an ex-film director longer than he ever was one.
:’(
I didn't see Secret of Nimh til I was a teenager but I adored it. I have a soft spot for fluid and expressive hand drawn animation. The story and all that really hit me good. It remains a favorite movie of mine and I always show it to friends who aren't familiar with it.
Anastasia was another favorite, while it took liberties with the historical aspects, I thought it was good. The songs pop into my head from time to time, especially In the Dark of the Night, that song scratches my brain just right.
All Dogs going under Rock-A-Doodle was absolutely criminal.
FOR REAL
As someone who decided to watch every Disney and Pixar animated movie ever made recently, binging stuff like this is a really cool time because not only do I get to see EVERYTHING I missed growing up, I get new favorite movies, and I get to have interesting opinions on things I can have very heated debates about with my friends. For instance, I consider Turning Red my favorite Pixar movie because I’m a psycho. The hangover after the binge watching is horrific though. I think I’m traumatized and forever have a Mickey shaped hole in my brain now lmao. DAMN there’s a lot of boring Disney movies.
It's not a hole, it's a parasite!!
CONSUME HO-HO!
What inspired you to do your viewing? Personally, I was inspired by LSMark's video, but added in (almost) all the companies Disney owns to make it spicier (so, Bluth, Blue sky, Fox, Pixar, touchstone). I fully get the hangover feeling, cause there really are a lot of boring Disney movies out there. I'm also onboard with you on how good Turning Red was (second place Pixar for me), and finding hidden gems or changing my opinions on stuff is really cool (all three Cars movies are better than people say, especially 1 and 3).
Glad to see Turning Red getting the love it deserves.
I thought Turning Red was “fine.”
The thing with me is that I consider stuff like Monsters Inc, Toy Story 2, Tangled, Wreck-It-Ralph, and hell even Lilo and Stitch way better movies than Turning Red fundamentally but I put it above them because it felt like it was MY type of movie, with lack of a better way to describe how I feel.
Rock-a-Doodle and Thumbelina will always hold a special place in my heart, as my parents showed them to me when I was going through some pretty tough medical stuff as a child, and used them to distract me with cute cartoons, but also to show me that having bad, rainy days is normal, and the sun will always come out again. They gave me a little bit of hope in a really scary time.
I loved Titan AE as a kid. It's super nerdy but I always loved the scene where they are about to break the glass of the ship and he just started yelling "Exhale!" Because in space that's literally the only way you have a chance of surviving even a few seconds. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy movie released around the same time and it always annoyed me so much that they say that you can survive in space if you fill your lungs with air because that will kill you pretty much immediately. Yes, Titan AE giving better advice on a situation none of us will likely ever encounter is one of the reasons I loved it. And the aliens.
Nerd moment 🤓
Jk, I love Titan AE too
@@ALIEN-DUDE yes I like it cause I haven’t seen any other Don Bluth movies.
That is the scene that sticks with me too.
Honestly, Titan A.E. cemented itself in my memory probably by using the DESTRUCTION OF EARTH ITSELF as its starting premise. Not the stakes, not the climax, within the first few minutes Earth and its billions of years of natural history, its biosphere, its human history, its monuments and landmarks, are all gone, along with probably millions of humans who couldn't evac in time. What a way to open your movie.
@@tazinboor3913 Huh...?
It’s never occurred to me that All Dogs’ musical numbers might not be memorable because they are all permanently etched into my brain due to a childhood obsession with the movie and the fact that I would just sit and watch it on repeat. (And Let Me Be Surprised will always hold a special place in my heart for being one of my favorite movie scenes as a kid.)
Let Me Be Surprised is still absolutely wonderful the songs from that movie are great Idc
Land Before Time is easily my favourite film of Bluth’s and still makes me cry.
Edit: Also, your comments on facial animation is accurate. I love that about his animation.
That and all dogs go to heaven has layers of sadness to them.. and yes they make me cry still
I still lie awake at night thinking of Littlefoot's pain sometimes. The Land Before Time was the first movie to really make me feel what it might be to lose a parent. The Lion King hit me hard too, but I was older then. The Land Before Time has more falling action and a greater focus on Littlefoot's grief and loneliness. Now that I have a son myself, it hits even harder. Not a movie you can just watch anytime.
This Guy will always be a Legend! He faced Disney and somehow won that battle for a while. He challenged Disney and Change Animation as well all know it! My faves from Bluth's is always Nimh, Land Before Time, and An American Tail. Just Stop had given us a Christmas gift. Reminds me of another video on Bluth and Musicals.
As someone who works creatively, I think the point I should take away from this is that I shouldn't strain to get away from all restrictions on my art like I thought I should, but rather, surround myself with people who can put the right restrictions on me. We've seen this with other artists, and now I'm seeing it here with Don Bluth. Freeing myself from all ties and working art exactly how I want to won't make my art better - I still need that oversight.
Sorry, I'm rambling now, but this was an epiphany for me.
The thing is: time and money played key roles in Don Bluth's career. Secret of NIMH was self-financed and distributed by United Artists. The rest were made on someone else's money on someone else's time. On the one hand, he lucked out with An American Tail and Land Before Time because he had Spielberg and Lucas serving as middlemen between him and the executives, but because they're also creative geniuses, the two sides still ended up butting heads. It's the same type of situation that would have played out had Walt Disney and Ray Bradbury made a movie together.
Seeing Don Bluth's movie career throughout the years, you can see how he was losing his edge, which showed through the films becoming more sanitized and safe. Like comparing the tone of films like Secret of NIMH and the Land Before Time to stuff like Thumbelina and a Troll in Central Park, it's like night and day.
Having grown up with a lot of animation, Don Bluth has always been one of my favorites. So much so that to this day, I still know The Land Before Time almost frame by frame. It is amazing that even in his years at Disney, he already knew things were going bad even then and has lived long enough to see things going bad again, for like the 3rd or 4th time.
Amen yes Disney that company today is now just F everything in terms of not just Franchises and Companies they never created but also just puking Reboots for 2Ds which they dont do but instead turn into live actions that nobody asked for. Just complete sad that 2D animation of that style or even more cared style just ignored in todays modern day with everything being so convenient and games all CGI and 3D detailed yet we dont make 2D which without Disney can STILL BE SOO GOOD! There were so many animation not from Disney that have shown potential yet short lived almost like the old days of Nickelodeon and Lucasarts.
@goufr3540 You mention you enjoy the Land Before Time. You also enjoy An American Tail?
As someone who grew up with Land Before Time, I appreciate the love that Bluth is getting recently
You should check out An American Tail as well.
We just rewatched The Secret of NIMH last week and man does it hold up to my memory. I think Bluth's style is what really inspired me to become an artist as a child. Also, the scene of Brisby frantically scrambling to safe her dying children as they called out to her really hit me different as a new parent, wow!
Wow, I had no idea that Don Bluth wasn't involved with All Dogs Go to Heaven 2, or Fievel Goes West. I'm shocked!
Anyways, thanks so much for making this video. I'm a huge Don Bluth fan, and it's nice seeing someone give their thoughts on all of his movies. Seen some of your other stuff and I remember really liking it too.
Particularly since Fievel Goes West is still pretty well animated. The people who did that one did a decent job keeping up with Bluth's style.
Story ain't great, but passable I guess. Some good humor too. Overall, not bad as far as animated sequels go.
@@insulttothehumanrace3807 I have a super soft spot for it. James Horner's music is just... so good. The villain I think is also pretty enjoyable:
"no no, we will not eat them YET, first we must exploit them for their labors."
I think that if Bluth had been more involved, polished it up a bit, it could've been less "what if Fievel was a cowboy??" and more a commentary of its own on the continued story of immigrants coming to the west - the conflicts between different groups, the trials faced - there is some in there, but it could've been improved.
@@insulttothehumanrace3807 Yeah, it's impressive!
Ok 1) I'm glad you enjoyed NIMH because its one of my all time favorites and I really think its sad not a lot of people know it, its so beautiful and thoughtfully written and animated!
2) the phrase "let the elvis rooster sing you bastard children" is the funniest thing I've heard in weeks and it got u my subscription, i need more of your commentary in my life XD
I spent so long subconsciously burying the memories of A Troll in Central Park and you came yanking them back like a particularly large splinter buried deep in my body. Oof. Also, I was not ready to hear JS fawn over bara penguin tiddies.
Great stuff, though. Fun to look back on Bluth's works, some of which I didn't even realize were done by him until now.
I grew up with don bluth's movies. Thumbelina, Anastasia, The Land Before Time and all dogs go to heaven are ones that I remember watching. He is such a legend. One of his favourite works of his is the animation of the game Dragon's Lair.
And a scammer. Ever wondered what happened to his Indiegogo-crowdfunded Dragon's Lair animated adaptation he finished back in 2016? It's transformed into a live-action Netflix show which will either be cancelled anyway or suck ass upon release. And he never once came clean about it, didn't bother to admit to the fans that the movie was not happening, let alone actually promise the return of the funds.
I can't believe there hasn't even been a video essay on this excuse of a crowdfunding campaign, this stuff is criminal.
@keyaunna2217 You're missing out if you haven't watched An American Tail. An American Tail is a really great film and his best work in my opinion.
The Secret of NIMH terrified me as a kid and is still one of creepiest movies to me. The story, the atmosphere, the characters with their glowing red eyes 😬 all still gives me the creeps.
I was really hoping you'd mention how cursed the penguins looked with teeth, because that was one of the things that definitely caught my attention in the pebble and the penguin
This video is how i found out about Gilbert Gottfried passing how did i not find out until just now…he was such a big part of my childhood and my life now I appreciate his work so much he never failed to make me smile when nothing else could.
Something to consider when talking about the historical accuracy of Anastasia...
The Remains of Nicholas II, Alexandra, and three daughters were initially discovered in 1979. However, they weren't fully exhumed until 1991 due to the political climate of the now-defunct Soviet Union in the 1980s. Their identities were confirmed through DNA analysis, and they were properly interred in St Peter and Paul Cathedral in 1998, with experts disagreeing whether one of the daughters was Anastasia or Maria. For the filmmakers and viewers in the late 90s, Anastasia's escape and survival weren't definitely debunked yet. It wasn't until 2007 that the remains of Alexei and either Anastasia or Maria were discovered.
I know he only briefly mentioned the musical, but its release in 2016 handled this inconsistency in a way I really adore. It frames the story as a dream, a hopeful 'what if' scenario that captures thousands of people's imagination. This framing is essential, especially when the musical is more historically accurate in other ways such as having the bolsheviks explicitly stated to be the villains who murdered the rest of the family, to make this story palatable to a wide audience after it's been proven for years that Anastasia never survived.
For whatever reason, I had a the book Titan AE that was published before the theatrical release. It had so much more story, at least from what I can recall. Like a bit of Akimas past, and Cale is given a translator when they're captured so he can understand the Dredge. I acknowledge all the flaws in the film but I still love it for nostalgic reasons. Plus the soundtrack is still one of my favorites lol.
The dragon transformation scene in Bartok made me feel a weird way that I'm still trying to figure out to this day.
I just want to say that Bartok the Magnificent was a prime example of the comic relief side character getting his own spin-off movie done RIGHT! A lot of spin-offs and sequels fall into the trap of putting their comic relief character in the spotlight without doing anything to expand on the character and just stretching out their one-note schtick for an hour and a half or longer, but Bartok is a case where actually competent writers and a crew who knew what they were doing were behind it. Watching Anastasia alone, you might not think you could get a whole movie out of Bartok, but they freaking nailed it in my opinion.
Bartok The Magnificent is terrible, never seen anyone genuinely defend it
In defense of Bluth making Thumbelina, he was forced to write the screenplay in one week, he said in one interview, "You can't write a script in a week".
He obviously hasn't talked to anyone at Disney recently.
Doh-ho-ho-ho-ho-ho!
Correction: The Emoji Movie got multiple Razzies including the one for worst picture, meaning it joined Thumbelina in the small club of animations to win Razzies
Both _Thumbelina_ and _A Troll in Central Park_ are pretty ironic when you think about it. Don Bluth set left Disney *specifically because* he wanted to avoid the trend that Disney was creating by watering down drama in animation. To bring Star Wars into this: _"You were the Chosen One! You were supposed to destroy the trends, not join them!"_
it's wild that Bartok the Magnificent isn't more well known, cause idk if I or my older siblings had an obsession with Anastasia or we just happened to get both on VHS but I distinctly remember watching Bartok a ton as a kid. I think it may have also had a song included on a music singalong VHS because I watched the one we owned more than either full movie and that's why Once Upon A December occupies the same space in my brain as Po-po The Puppet
One of the big things about The Land Before Time is that you can instantly break anyone born in the 90s with the score from That Scene.
The secret of nimb was, and still is unlike any animated film I’ve ever seen. It is (in my opinion) the one of the best animated movies ever made.
Same with An American Tail.
Also Rock-a-Doodle explains the reason for the sun only coming up for a short time in the first few moments of the film. Patoo asks the viewer "What if one morning where you live instead of coming up the sun took a look around and decided to go back to sleep? It happened once to us!" or something along those lines.
Don Bluth has a very weird and unique movie catalog.
A Troll in Central Park is when everything is too good and perfect to the point where you become enraged by cute aggression. A Truman Show nightmare that actually becomes a psychological horror.
I do like Disney, but all my favorite animated films are Don Bluth. Even my favorite princess movie, Anastasia, is Don Bluth. I absolutely love his animation style and never get enough of his characters' expressions.
I always thought that little foot's mom was probably the most heart wrenching death of any animated film I've ever seen put on screen. I mean consider this she fought sharp tooth/ t-rex not just once but twice survived for several hours probably all day just long enough so she can see her boy to convey the information that he needs to get to the Great Valley. It's not to play down Mufasa's death but I always thought that Simba's father's dying was nothing compared to littlefoot's mom I mean hes the king of the Sahara and gets ran over by some rush hour wildabeasts and you know the some of those wildabeast was like oh look there's the king here's one for my cousin. 🤣🤣🤣
Honestly "An American Tail" is so overlooked and it makes me sad.
Which I find it really strange. An American Tail is Don Bluth's best work in my opinion and it's honestly my favorite movie of all time. An American Tail is so underrated.
@@retrofan4963 Too bad it's often cast aside in favor of "Fievel Goes West".
Given the more realistic tone that's taken to immigration during the Ellis Island era that is present in the film. Which in turn dose not paint life in the United States as Rainbows and Sunshine it's not terribly suprising. Since it came out in the 80s it simply was not payed much mind to. I imagine if this film came out in today's climate some people would absolutely lose thier shit over it which in turn probably would catapult it into the spotlight.
@@rainmabon8232 Maybe the film should get a re-release. And maybe Universal should also give it a PROPER Blu Ray release.
@@rainmabon8232 I doubt that should be the case these days or else An American Tail would've been "considered" controversy" since the DVD and Blu-Ray releases, which did not happen. I mean it would be *SAD* if there are people these days who would see An American Tail as a problem and treat it bad as if it's a controversial topic. Considering it's just a cute and heartwarming story about a little mouse who wants to reunite with his family. There's strong social commentary in the film, but god forbid we can't tell the truth what happen in history back in the 19th century which did happen and its appropriate for people to learn about anyway. And that's actually refreshing. I feel lot of films these days are too safe, including animated films. We need more films like An American Tail. I feel An American Tail gets overlooked because "Don Bluth fans" are busy just talking about Secret of NIMH, Land Before Time, All Dogs, heck even Rock a Doodle, Thumbelina, and Titan AE is more talked about than An American Tail in the comment section of this video. Despite An American Tail is just as amazing as Secret of NIMH and Land Before Time, they ignore it for no reason. That's why I'm glad UA-camrs like No Stop and Nostalgia Critic gives An American Tail a large appreciation and recognition because dang does it feel An American Tail suffered through obscurity lot of times.
The singing out of tune in American Tail I think is beautiful in how raw it is, but I understand how it doesn’t work for some people. I also don’t find much confusing about All Dogs To Heaven. Totally agree on Anastasia. I can easily separate the history from the fiction, it’s just incredible regardless. The Bartok spin-off is excellent as well.
Land Before Time was definitely part of my childhood, I remember watching the first movie and some of the sequels
Gotta say, I love the art styles of these movies. A wide variety of body types, smooth and bouncy movements, detailed textures... It really fits the themes of the movies themselves.
I remember in 8th grade for history we watched An American Tail. At that point we were learning about Immigration and watched the movie and wrote and essay about it which was a big grade.
I’d kill to have done something like that in school. I’d ace that shizz!
@JamalJackson152 What's your thoughts on An American Tail?
Don Bluth films have a very "cozy" vibe to them. I could easily just lay in bed and watch them till I fall asleep
I’ve had bartok on dvd for the longest time and I never see many people talk about it when talking about don bluth so it was so refreshing and cool to see it mentioned here
Once Upon December is just a great song there's a reason why it's popular as a song that doesn't feel annoying or it can't get annoying like Frozen Let It Go
I remember my big brother buying a Don Bluth double-pack DVD which had Anastasia and Titan A.E.
I watched these movies almost all the time when I was young to the point where the discs got too scratched up and worn out. They still hold up to this day not only for their plots, but also for their soundtracks.
I had a double-pack with Anastasia and Thumbelina, I guess for the princess theme. I would have happily swapped out Thumbelina for Titan xD
Secret of NIMH - his magnum opus.
All Dogs Go to Heaven - kinda wonky in the story department but such terrifying, powerhouse emotional and nightmare scenes that are some of the absolute scariest animated scenes that don’t involve Chernabog… sorta. And completely a tearjerker given the subject material and what happened to dear Judith.
Land Before Time - another emotional powerhouse and not just when the mother dies, either.
American Tail - beautiful, stunning, desperate powerhouse.
Rock a Doodle - really bonkers and like something from a bargain bin, but still has decent animation. I feel some kinship with it since it’s the last movie from Phil Harris.
Anastasia - just needs a bit of fixing in the editing and story department. Rasputin is a terrific villain with a BANGER of a villain song but I see why the musical cut him, that said I love his nightmare fuel. Bluth gave in and did the Disney formula and honestly he could’ve kept doing it because he added his own good twist to it.
Thumbelina - no.
A Troll in Central Park - no.
Pebble and the Penguin - no. Not even Tim Curry could save this one, he sounds awful as a frat boy. It’s BAD when Curry can’t redeem anything.
Titan AE - haven’t seen
Bartok - haven’t seen aside from memes about the villain having thick proportions during her transformation
Titan AE is amazing, I basically agree with your work. Secret of NIMH #1, then Anastasia
@@pyropulseIXXI To me, An American Tail is #1.
Titan A.E. was great
@@TheSweetTeaGuy It's alright.
I actually enjoyed the Pebble and the Penguin I like the story being the coward to gaining confidence
My favorite part of this video was when Just Stop said “It’s Stoppin’ time!” I screamed and sobbed in joy.
Overused
the description of this video had a more clever joke than this comment
Haha so funny.
Goddamn, these jokes are just... not funny anymore
This is so unfunny. Seek attention in a more creative way.
Honestly, I thought Anastasia was purely fantasy as a kid. A more "modern" princess to rival Disney's "classic(?)" settings. It took until high school when we were learning about Rasputin's aversion of death, the queen's obsession with Rasputin with his "prophecies" and "healing magic" to keep her only son alive, and lastly the Russian revolution. I know the Czar and the leaders weren't the greatest, but I just feel awful for the kids.
god, the original land before time was so unbelievably good. it was my first introduction to the idea that people we love could be lost any moment and that we therefore need to cherish our loved ones while we still have them. i was 9 when that was introduced to me.... it's been a formative childhood experience for me. really sad, that the sequels are so bad and most of all, bland.
Land Before Time is good, but An American Tail is a lot better in my opinion.
The death of littlefoots mom still gets me to this day. The music and voiceactors rip my heart out
The Michael Malloy clip following the overused alliteration was legit genius, and the fact that it's less than a second long makes it even funnier since that strips it of all context unless you knew it beforehand
I know you mentioned the second American Tail, the western one, but I legitimately loved that one as a kid more. I watched it again recently and it holds up so well. The music and the story is super interesting! If you haven’t, I highly suggest it!
Both the original An American Tail and its sequel Fievel Goes West are really great films. If you've seen the second one, how do you not want to be interested in the original one as well?
I watched this whole thing and man, agreeing on so much.
'In the Dark of the Night' is still my favorite villain song in any animated movie, and Anastasia is still a sleeper hit that I think many animation fans gloss over, but it was super solid, and worth a second watch.
It honestly never occurred to me that anyone wouldn't love ADGTH. It was one of my favorite movies as a kid and I played it over and over again. Anastasia was also one of my favorites, it's still my favorite "princess" movie. It might have sparked my love (obsession) for the 1910s-1920s.
And the land before time movies were a staple as well. I have no idea which ones, I know I had the original and watched it a lot but I'm pretty sure I watched some of the others too. Tree Stars
ADGTH nation rise up. It being bonkers sometimes is part of the charm to me, and Let Me Be Surprised, both the song and the scene itself, is one of the earliest pieces of media I remember loving, having seen it when I was a toddler and only having vague memories but a deep desire to watch it again.
I haven't seen the movie in a long time but if I remember correctly, the Dredge wanted to destroy the Titan because the titan, when used, would absorb an ungodly amount of energy when creating the new Earth, which the Dredge didn't like at all considering that they are made of pure energy.
I could’ve sworn “We’re Back! A Dinosaur’s Story” was by Don Bluth.
I have a good old VHS of Rock-a-Doodle, the owls songs are so hilarious~. But Sun Do Shine is something that pops into my head randomly to this day and it always brings a smile to my face.
My husband had never heard of this movie. I rectified that.
We had Thumbelina on VHS so seeing you rip it into shreds hurt my nostalgic heart while simultaneously making me realise that I remember little more than the frogs (one of which was way too sexy for an animated frog) and the mouse with the weird skirt thing.
How. Dare. You. Troll in Central Park is my favorite childhood movie. Gotta think about how it is to watch these movies through a child’s eyes.
The Troll in Central Park was one of those movies that was pretty but some thing you turn on to distract your kids while you and the spouse have "private" time.
But it had the most epic thumb war ever
Technical minor correction; in American Tail's the Old World cats were more likely Cossacks (as to win their alliance the Tzars allowed them unrestricted Pogroms)
I once got into an argument with friends who claimed that all mice in animated films were portrayed as Christians. I pointed out that the mice in An American Tail were Jewish and they would not believe me. Took me like six hours to provide evidence they wouldn’t dismiss out of hand.
I love how Banjo displays almost all of the earmarks of a traditional Bluth product, but so early on. Even a precursor for BLAGM stuff.
A bit of trivia for Banjo the Woodpile Cat. The short was originally going to be a full length film, that would have better explain and transitions areas in the short, such as seeing Banjo’s family missing him and Banjo struggling with more obstacles to get his way back home, but they decided to make into a short instead. But some elements that were rejected in Banjo were put into An American Tail.
In defense of Jeremy and other comic reliefs, Don Bluth believed every story should have a hero, a villain, and a clown. Whether it works or not is all subjective.
The Secret of NIMH is still Bluth's magnum opus in my opinion. It is one of the most gorgeously animated films ever created to date, and it's the perfect movie to adjust small children to darker stories and visuals.
Same
An American Tail is Don Bluth's Magmus Opus.