Posts Tagged Cartoons

Wait– isn’t a march the SAME THING as a rally?

THE ADVENTURES OF THE AMERICAN RABBIT – (1986)

Director: Nobutaka Nishizawa, Fred Wolf
Starring: Barry Gordon, Laurie O’Brien, Kenneth Mars
Screenplay by: Stewart Moskowitz, Norm Lenzer

Although The Rescuers and The Rescuers Down Under were the movies I was looking forward to watch for entertainment, The Adventures of the American Rabbit was the movie I was looking forward to watch for analysis. Psuedo-Marxist putdowns and pro-American ideals located in a children’s cartoon movie? Why, this is the “Bert the Turtle” of the 80s!

I couldn’t find too much out there in researching this movie, except for a scathing-yet-endearing review of the DVD. Obscure in every since of the word, American Rabbit came and went, apparently, without so much as leaving a scratch in the national landscape, filmic or otherwise. I was curious to re-explore this film, in order to see exactly how heavy the anti-Communist sentiment was within. What better way to celebrate the 4th!

NOSTALGIC LENS: This movie used to be shown on Cartoon Network (before it became CN and when it used to show cartoons). I remember watching it and being somewhat confused by the content and pacing. It seemed better suited as TV mini-series—the action would start, then stop, then start again. I liked the animation, at least, and even if I didn’t understand the action too much, I still was entertained by it.

DOES IT HOLD UP: This movie is pretty fucking terrible. Like a friend of mine said: “It’s sad. Sad, as in lame.” Truer words.

This movie has everything pretty much going against it, even from the beginning, when it was released in 1986. A Cold War polemic released essentially at the tail end of the Cold War is not going to net you much respect. Then it was dropped from theaters, released on cable TV, thrown on a DVD, and never spoken about again, and for good reason. I can’t even begin to explain all the ways this movie goes wrong; but I’ll definitely try.

First off, we see Rob, our main character, as a baby, being glorified by all the other bunnies in the village. The proud parents are relishing the attention when a total stranger comes up and heaps vague praises on the child. Then he disappears. Moronically concerned, the parents never think much on it. The old creep then returns while Rob’s father watches his son play some disturbing combination of basketball and soccer and, oh, let’s say, Quittich. More obscure praise before he disappears. He returns once more time to heap praise to ANOTHER total stranger before walking away. I’m not going to say that this is pedophile behavior, but this is pretty much pedophile behavior.

Oh, but it pays off! When at a picnic, a boulder magically begins to tumble down, threatening to snuff out Rob’s parents. But Rob, sprinting to the rescue, suddenly changes into THE American Rabbit and saves them! And lo, the creepy old guy returns again, this time in wizard robes (no wizard hat), to explain that Rob is the hero of the legends (that apparently, his dad knew all about).

Watch this revelation scene—it’s hysterical:

Man, when the mother starts crying out of nowhere, I lose it.

But, geez, check out Rob there: the bunny is adorned in the aesthetic of the American flag while sporting roller skates on his feet. Roller skates? Really? I mean, the guy can fly for Christ sake! It’s like the Asian animators (either Japanese or Korean) tried to emulate the American hero with Americanized concepts, but failed. He might as well be playing baseball with a golf club. (Although, this would explain the basketball/soccer mistake.)

Then, the complex and complicated events of a teenager hitting puberty, learning responsibility, and being a superhero, is presented and resolved via a FADE CUT. We don’t have time for such nonsense! America needs saving!

And this is when things go from bad to worse.

Rob manages to procure a job as a pianist at a bar called the Pandamonium, which is, you guest it, run by a panda named Teddy, and the sexiest rabbit on film after Jessica—a pink bunny named Bunnie. He and his crew manage to stand up to a bunch of mob-like jackals demanding “insurance” money; their refusal unleashes a full-scale beatdown of their club on Rob’s opening night with band sensations The White Brothers.

While the band playing on the sinking Titanic was a noble and brave gesture of peace upon chaos, the White Brothers continuous play during the club’s attack is sad, horrifying, and nonsensical. And, as if to add fuel to this fire, they fucking play sad music at the end! Imagine, if you totally blew a job interview, and as you left the building, some douchebag played “Sad Trombone” in your face.

If I had to sum up the general failure of the movie with one idea, it’s this: no one has any visceral reaction to the terrible things that occur, like the scene above. When the American Rabbit saves the town from a collapsing bridge during a protest, no one cares. When Teddy, Bunnie, Rob, and the White Brothers go on tour to the Grand Canyon, and they can’t find the club named “The Trap Door” (REALLY???), they just decide to raft down the river to find it. Are you kidding me? Are they smoking saliva or something? Is this what animals actually believe?

Any credible attempt to be clever is destroyed. The jackals, lead by a buzzard-carrying-fatsuit named Vultor, try to lure Rob’s gorilla friend Ping to fight the American Rabbit. How? Smart use of manipulation? Blackmail? Oh, no. Throw him in a jar of filling water and force him by threat of death. And, considering Ping is a goddamn pussy, he would drown, not because he’s being noble, but because he’s being a goddamn pussy.

The only redeeming moment is when the American Rabbit attacks the fatsuit, only to reveal that the Buzzard himself was actually Vultor. That’s a twist M. Night Shyalaman would be proud of. However, it comes out the expense of some absolutely ridiculous plot moments, including, but not limited to:

1) Kidnapping a chocolate-producing moose because, uh, “whoever controls the chocolate controls the world.”
2) Approaching a random music business run by penguins to “rent out the Statue of Liberty.”
3) Attaching bombs to said statue to get the American Rabbit to back down… AND SUDDENLY, having possession of a doomsday device.

Every so often, the movie tries to be preachy, but even a 2-year-old with Down Syndrome can see through the crap. There’s a scene where Rob tries not to generalize all the jackals as being bad, but since there are no good ones, what’s the point? Especially when coupled with Vultor’s Iron Will speech, it becomes perfectly clear that this movie is just a load of hot, racist (speciest?!) air, the Crash of animated movies, as it were. All jackals aren’t bad; just the ones you meet, know, and come in contact with.

IN A NUTSHELL: This movie needs to be watched, while drunk, with friends if possible. Any attempt to try to understand this abomination will be immediately met with a wall coming to blows against your forehead. When Bunnie makes a CLEAR sexual reference to the American Rabbit, and it goes over his head—well, that scene in itself is the epitome of the entire 86 minutes.

July 13th: The Great Mouse Detective
July 20th: Dick Tracy

Oh no you didgeri-didn't!

THE RESCUERS DOWN UNDER – (1990)

Director: Hendel Butoy, Mike Gabriel
Starring: Bob Newhart, Eva Gabor, George C. Scott, John Candy
Screenplay by: Jim Cox, Karey Kirkpatrick, Byron Simpson, Joe Ranft

The mice so nice that they’re doing it twice: Bernard and Miss Bianca return to the big screen after thirteen years out the rescuing game, this time down under in that wacky country/continent Australia. The Rescuers Down Under was Disney’s second movie in what is usually known as the Disney Renaissance era, beginning with The Little Mermaid and ending with Tarzan. It was also the only one to flop, only making 27 million in the box office. (I can’t seem to find a definitive budget on this film, but it seems to be 20 million according to Wikipedia, if you subtract the box office gross from the total revenue.)

Why? Well, at the time, Americans were obsessed with Macaulay Culkin and children seemed to delight in fighting off criminal scumbags; i.e., it was released along side Home Alone (future Childhood Revisited feature). Disney utilized a new digital animation process, called CAPS, and sent animators and researchers down to Australia to accurately portray the landscape. But it didn’t seem to matter all that much. While the 80s and 70s much enjoyed the success of little animal critters saving the day, the 90s and 00s preferred the appeal of “sexually” appealing princess alongside goofy sidekicks and handsome heroes. Which would certainly explain the success of Disney’s ‘Princess’ line; little preteen girls and their obsessions with shallow, mindless royal figures meeting prince charming and living happily ever after with absolutely no sense of self-preservation. Am I bitter? Damn right I am, because this movie was great!

NOSTALGIC LENS: Majestic. Of all the Disney animated films I’ve seen, this was the only one that I remember where the animation actually impressed me. Sure, I couldn’t actually put it into words at the time, but at some aesthetic level I knew that a lot of work was put into this movie. It’s obvious, even to an 8-year old, that drawing multiple angles and dynamics of a giant bird must have been hard as shit; too bad very few people actually take in the substance of the animated form.

DOES IT HOLD UP: By god, does it ever! But there are some awkward moments here and there, though.

I hope at some point this gets released on Blu-ray, because then one could really get to see the incredible animation at work. This movie is beautiful in ways I can’t even say. It’s so amazing, in fact, that I couldn’t help but think the animators were actually showing off. I’m not exactly joking here.

The early opening scene is clearly designed to be a jaw-dropping opus of animated glory, as Cody, our young protagonist, rescues the golden eagle Marahute and then goes on a four-minute thrill ride with her through the sky, across a river, through mountains and valleys, and just pretty much have all the fun a boy and his bird can have. (Sorry, Team Ico; Disney was doing this shit way before you thought it was cool.) But, as incredible as the sequence is, you really can’t help but think how unnecessary it is at the same time.

Part of the problem, I think, is we’re introduced way too early to this. In fact, a lot of stuff is awkwardly introduced way too fast. For example, Cody is immediately shown as some animal-savior, which is not exactly a mentality that kids can relate to. Also, while Penny’s ability to talk with animals was a perfect reflection of a lonely, friendless, orphan girl, Cody’s ability seems random, thrown in just to push the plot along. (They tried to emphasize his loneliness by mentioning his dead father, but considering he seems to be fine living at home with his mom, well-fed and well-taken care of, it’s really just a moot point).

And… uh, that boy can climb the shit out some wall-cliffs. What the hell?

Anyway, evil poacher Percival C. McLeach ends up capturing him to try and get him to divulge the location of Marahute. His capture gets relayed via computer-savvy mice to the Rescue Aid Society, where they’re like, “Oh, whatever, let’s just send Bernard and Miss Bianca after them, cause we got other stuff to do.” Oh, apparently going from janitor to USA representative requires the rescue of at least one (1) child. And Bernard has to interrupt his wedding proposal on Miss Bianca to fly all the way down under to save him.

It’s nice to hear John Candy’s voice again as Orville’s seagull brother Wilbur, who does a damn good job. All the really fun sequences involve him in some way or another. I’m very happy that I managed to find this clip, which shows a majority of the best scenes in the movie, and really awesome, detailed, close-up expressions of the talking mice, bird, and the kangaroo rat Aussie, Jake.

Man. That is beautiful. You really have to take it all in.

As far as villains go, McLeach (really? Mc-LEACH?) is probably the most underrated badass in villain history. Excellently voiced by George C. Scott, McLeach really displays a psychopathic disregard for everyone around him combined with a inflated view of himself. Subtle great moments include him singing a ditty as he prepares to toss Cody into a crocodile-filled river; talking to the radio about how smart he is; and my favorite, his bizarre need for proteins from eggs. The latter is particularly great since it comes from absolutely nowhere.

There’s an interesting subplot that includes Jake trying to muscle in on Miss Bianca, creating some jealous friction between Jake and Bernard. (Too bad this doesn’t go anywhere. We see scenes where Bernard shows his smarts, quick thinking, and balls, but the jealousy stuff is wrapped up too nicely. But hey, it’s Disney.) There’s also another nice but pointless set of scene where a trapped Cody befriend some other captive animals, and they have goofy asides to each other, and Frank the frilled-lizard acts straight-up retarded in an insane escape attempt/conflict between him and Joanna, Mcleach’s evil pet goanna lizard. It fails miserably, doesn’t incite much laughter, and worse of all, they’re completely forgotten about by the end of the film. Were they rescued too? The world may never know.

Also, one other thing I noticed about this movie: Bianca doesn’t do ANYTHING. She belittles Bernard a lot, much like the first movie, but at least in the first one she managed do actually do some work. Here, she’s completely worthless, leaving Jake and Bernard to do most of the difficult stuff as she’s strung along. She was a trick in the first movie, but here, she’s a trick squared.

All that aside, though, this movie was a lot of fun. While The Rescuers played perfectly into the seventies styles of cinematic aesthetics, The Rescuers Down Under worked perfectly towards nineties filmic sensibilities, with a slightly tighter screenplay and an animation style that works wonderfully for today.

IN A NUTSHELL: Like I mentioned in the previous entry, I don’t want people to think my nitpicks indicate any ill-will towards this movie. I loved this film a lot, and even early on, I started to tear up a little due to how stunning everything looked. Still, there are those slightly groan-inducing moments, but nothing mind-numbing. I truly wish that one day Disney would go back to exploring the world of the tiny animals.

June 29th: The Adventures of the American Rabbit
July 6th: The Great Mouse Detective

Don't tell me you aren't turned on, too. This is the internet, after all.

THE RESCUERS – (1977)

Director: John Lounsbery, Wolfgang Reitherman, Art Stevens
Starring: Bob Newhart, Eva Gabor, Geraldine Page
Screenplay by: Larry Clemmons, Ken Anderson, Frank Thomas, et. al

We do so love it when little critters try to do big things. Whether it’s mice saving children, rodents taking over the world, or chipmunks stopping evil scientists, there is an almost universal appeal of the underdog (undermouse?) success story, especially in animated, anthropomorphic form. I need not say that stories like these give us faith and hope for ourselves when, within our lives, we are faced with insurmountable odds. And in times like these, with a faltering economy and dangerous global landscape all around us, maybe faith in the little guy is exactly what we need.

The Rescuers was the first posthumous-Walt Disney animated film to be released, and was a huge success, even outselling Star Wars in some parts of Europe. At this time, many original Disney animators were growing old and soon to be moving on, while a young, bright-eyed Don Bluth arrived to learn a thing or two about that drawing thingamajig. Combined original and re-release returns total 48 million dollars at the box office. Surely with that much talent and critical acclaim, this movie still holds up. Right?

NOSTALGIC LENS: I remember the Rescue Aid Society song, and even began singing the song last week. I remember the ending involving a wacky fireworks display, and the flying via a seagull. Overall, I remember enjoying it, but never really loved the movie as much as my nostalgic lens would have me believe. In other words, I have no inclination to say, “Remember when animated movies used to be GOOD?” in reference to movies like this.

DOES IT HOLD UP: YES. And yet, no. Hmm, this requires some explanation.

Cinema from the late sixties and seventies is a unique breed; more geared toward strong, stylistic aesthetics and visual impact (Panned zooms! Muted colors!) over tightly coherent stories and intricate character development. Now, it may be asking a bit much to receive a strong story from an animated film and nine different writers, but compared to other Disney films, the story here seems to be more a means to an end—a beautifully animated film—over making a tight screenplay. The celluloid beat the written page.

That makes me sound harsh, but I truly mean that in the nicest way possible. As great as this movie gets (and at times this movie is GREAT), minor flaws here and there stand out so much, storywise. I feel like a coach trying to get one hundred percent talent out of potential player only giving ninety percent. You love what you’re getting, but you know you could have gotten much more.

First, the good: the animation is gorgeous. Lush, detailed backgrounds; excellent human models; smooth, tight animation and fluid movements—the great Disney animators really went all out with this one, and it shows. It’s like watching a famous painting by Da Vinci in motion. The voice work is pretty excellent, too: Bob Newhart’s stuttering and stammering as Bernard the janitor mouse and Eva Gabor’s sultry but determined line readings as Miss Bianca are complete opposites but complement each other so well. Even the side characters are excellent: Orville the seagull, Rufus the cat, Penny the orphan girl, Medusa the villain—clearly the actors and actresses really enjoyed their work.

And the music is, quite possibly, the best music from any animated film, ever. It hasn’t been pop-culturally destroyed like “A Whole New World” and it doesn’t pander itself better than it actually is like “Colors of the Wind”. Instead, it perfectly balances the lush animations and filmic moments, fitting together like the perfect puzzle. The flight sequence with Orville as “Tomorrow is Another Day” plays is hypnotically exquisite (Note this isn’t the actual clip from the movie, just an mp3 of the song played over the scene): The Song (sorry, the youtube poster disabled embedded videos).

The incredible intro scene is amazing as well, foregoing the smooth animations and concentrating on a montage of chalk-like pictures as “The Journey” plays:

Now, watch that opening scene again. Penny runs out and drops the bottle into the water. But…. Where did that bottle come from? She clearly is not holding it a few seconds earlier.

That’s where my nit-picks come from (and yes, I fully admit they are nit-picks). The movie has a number of these awkward moments. They are small, slight, and most likely wholly forgettable, but they are there. Early in the film, for example, Miss Bianca and Bernard try to take a shortcut through the zoo, but due to scary lions, end up taking the long way. Other than a tiny (har-har) character moment, the scene seems superfluous. Other “meh” moments include The Swamp Brigade, who pretty much appear from thin air and rush in to save the day, which is something that might as well have been played against “Yakety-Sax”. Evinrude, the dragonfly engine and clear precursor to Zipper in “”Rescue Rangers” has a random flight encounter with bats, which is not really tense… just there. Interesting and wonderful animation, but it seems shoehorned in to me. Again, I don’t mean this as a bad thing. Just merely to point it out.

I REALLY hate over-thinking the intricate plot details of the movie, which involves an evil pawn shop owner named Madame Medusa, who kidnaps an orphan girl from New York and sends her down to what I assume is Louisiana, to find a special jewel in a pirate cave (I mean, Florida is closer). Miss Bianca, bless her bleeding, Hungarian heart, opts to save her, and because she likes her men clumsy and superstitious, chooses Bernard to go with her. It’s interesting to see the subtle growth of Bernard, who seems to push past his bouts of paranoia and do some pretty brave things. Bianca, however, is what us black folk would call a “trick”: she would talk crazy shit in a bar and antagonize everyone, and then send her “boyfriend” to take care of it. And, sadly, women like that never change.

One more point: I do like the implied social elements of the missing children dilemma, in how some missing children from well-to-do families are plastered all over the news, while the missing poor children are essentially shrugged off. An upset Penny cries over not being adopted because she wasn’t pretty enough; Rufus tries to reassure her, but I can’t help but think that there’s an air of truth to this very sad statement the creators wanted to convey (also, the implication that Penny can understand the animals is a nice touch—a poignant reflection of her state by giving her the ability to only befriend animals). It’s only AFTER Penny returns with an expensive diamond and becomes newsworthy is she adopted. It’s suspect, and maybe not intentional; but with Bluth involved, you never know.

IN A NUTSHELL: Please don’t get the wrong idea. I LOVED watching this movie. It looked great, sounded great, and almost made me cry. The little things that I pointed will not take you out the movie at all. (If you said I pointed those things out to fill two-and-a-half pages, I probably wouldn’t argue!) But, again, with all the wonderful experiences this movie musters, you just wish, deep down inside, that they tightened the bolts on a beautifully made ship.

June 22nd: The Rescuers Down Under
June 29th: The Adventures of the American Rabbit