The Last Unicorn

After the Return of the King, Rankin Bass would move on to a different star for Middle Earth. They went with human looking characters with The Hobbits, so let’s go with something like Pegasus, Centaurs, Bo Jack, or one to aim for as an endangered species with The Last Unicorn.

A singing butterfly (voiced by Robert Klein) revealed the Last Unicorn (voiced by Mia Farrow) that all the other unicorns went missing because of King Haggard’s Red Bull. (The ox that doesn’t give you wings)

She gets kidnapped by a group of carney led by Mommy Fortuna (voiced by Angela Lansbury), a henchman named Ruhk (voiced by Gollum’s actor, Theodore), and a magician named Schmendrick (voiced by Alan Arkin). Fortuna has made a show with all the mythical creatures; they’re real weakening animals disguise as a toothless lion into a manticore, a snake as a dragon, and a boy as a rabbit. One of mythical creature is real which are a Harpy; a half bird and half woman at least with the only nipples shown in Rankin Bass.

They eventually escaped from Mommy Fortuna, but Schmendrick got captured by outlaws led by Captain Cully (He’s voiced by a guy named Keenan Wynn. Yes, he’s the son of Ed Wynn, and voiced Winter Warlock in Santa Claus Comin’ To Town.) They escaped thanks to the Unicorn by casting illusions of Robin Hood. (It’s Fitting they fell for the last episode of Festival of Family Classic.)

One of the outlaws, Molly Grue (voiced by Tammy Grimes) eventually escaped from the Robin Hood illusions to meet up with Schmendrick and the Unicorn that she’s able to see because she believes they exist for years as a middle aged woman. She helps lead them to King Haggard’s castle, as they eventually arrived there. The Balrog- I mean The Red Bull has arrived to attack the Unicorn, but Schemendrick has cast a spell to make the Unicorn into Human in order to save her from the Red Bull.

          They entered the castle of King Haggard to reveal it’s inhabited by the Red Bull, King Haggardand his master magician, Mabruk (voiced by Paul Frees), and his Prince Lir (voiced by Jeff Bridges)

“I’m the Dude!”

-Jeff Bridges in Big Labowski

How long can the Unicorn keep the charades from King Haggard than he can hide his devil horns?

The unicorn’s design in original and human version is simply beautiful. Mia Farrow does a good performance of depress and stuck up, yet cynical. Despite those brief personality traits is seen more as a unicorn than human. When she’s human, she’s mostly sad throughout the second half. That’s the downside of the film is the Unicorn became a depressed human in a castle we spent slowly can get really boring. It has the reverse Brother Bear effect, ironically in the middle of the film.

The atmosphere has a Lord of the Ring feel; in fact, Christopher Lee is the voice of King Haggard, and this is before he became Sauramon. Though he does look like an older Denathor from Return of the King. Prince Lir…he’s not young Jeff Bridges at his best, he can try to do his best, but Lir is dull love interest. Though it was Jeff is how they got Jimmy Webb for the music, whose music you hear later in Ferngully. Half the time it fits the film and the other don’t work with it as much as Phil Collin in Tarzan.

I would be barely surprised if this film is what inspires My Little Ponies two years later. Tammy Grimes would later play Catrina in the second episode or fourth if the first two episodes. Though I think The Last Unicorn may got some influence more for G4 My Little Ponies: Friendship Is Magic. That’s right; I’m a brony, and more on G4 and first two episode of G1!

There are some brief characters that can add some silliness that save or hurt the film. The butterfly can get annoying of singing pop culture music that wouldn’t exist in the Middle Ages. Mabrek just came and went away, there’s a guarding skeleton (voiced by Rene Auberjonois) that gets a chuckle, a big breasted tree (I’m not making this up. She’s voiced by Eowyn’s actress Nellie Bellflower of Return of the King) and Don Messick as a three-legged cat. Molly Grue and Schmendrick are likable enough to carry the film with or without the Unicorn.

I’m kinda glad I did watch the first and third act of the film. The middle can be skipped. I’m not entirely recommending this to kids under 12 with some brief nudity of harpy nipples and Unicorn’s human cheeks. You’ll get some magic here, but much like Schmendrick’s, minimum is all you’re getting. Take it for what it’s worth.  

Mouse on the Mayflower

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! Let’s review their only Thanksgiving special with The Mouse on the Mayflower.

A church mouse tells the story of his many great grandfathers, Willum as a mouse POV of the Travel on the Mayflower Voyage. They travel from Plymouth Harbor to America.

The crew of pilgrims is including Miles Standish, an old lady named Miss Charity Blake (voiced by June Foray in her Granny voice.), Captain William Bradford (voiced by Paul Frees) and the focus couples of Pricilla Mullins and John Alden.

Eventually, they made it to America, and they’ll meet the natives in human and mice to live in for years.  

There are some trouble makers on the Mayflower, but they’re not worth the footnote. No connection to the deleted scene that only exists in the VHS of Disney’s Ben and Me. This is the only Thanksgiving special Rankin Bass ever did, at least fully.

“Ugh, eggs! I couldn’t eat another bite. I’m stuff for the guild.”

-Father voiced by Paul Frees at a Thanksgiving Dinner in Here Comes Peter Cottontail.

Why it was the only Thanksgiving Special may be obvious, aside from part of the reasons the Pilgrim left to begin with. Unlike Christmas Special, there aren’t many angles to Thanksgiving. There are the Mayflowers, the parade that’s usually for action scenes that would lead to Christmas (as seen in Spiderman Movie, Jackie Chan Adventure, and some horror film), a turkey as long Free Birds is erase from history than their plot, a family dinner, or half to all the above. There has been many Thanksgiving special that that fits the example with Mighty Morphin Power Rangers as Storybook Rangers part 2, The Simpsons or South Park (thrice or quadice), Bobby’s World, Hey Arnold, That 70’s Show, Charlie Brown, Casper, Popeye, Looney Tunes, Animaniacs, and Land of Oz.

“His friend is a talking pie!”

-Ron Howard in Simpsons.

 There’s a rare exception with Planes, Trains, and Automobiles and maybe Berestain Bears.

The narrator and singer is Tennessee Ernie Ford, the singer of Sixteen Ton. So what do you get? You get a dignified narrator and half strong music that help the film, but only half of it. The other half is mostly padding usually the romantic part. Though I swear they used the same choir in Daydreamer.

The animation this time isn’t Mushi Studio, but it’s done by Toei. Yes, the company that made most of the anime, Kamen Rider, and Super Sentai to be as Power Rangers. It looks good and different that stands out from the other specials. Toei has done other Rankin Bass projects such as The Wacky World of Mother Goose, Smokey the Bear show, and King Kong animated series. However, because of creative difference and other complicated detail, this was the last project Rankin Bass did with Toei. The designs of the humans are distinct, more than 3 of the characters that stand out; Pricilla, Willum, and Miles Stanton. It’s funny how Miles went from a stern commander to crazy on hunting turkeys and otherwise of meat and fish.

“Be gone pest, and give me the bird!”

-Miles Stanton voiced by Maurice LaMarche.

“We love to really, but the Fox censors won’t allow us.”

-Yakko Warner voiced by Rob Paulsen.

Yes, I’m aware that CR, a former Channel Awesome member did a review of Top 9 Thanksgiving Cornucopia Review recently including this film. If you haven’t, check it out.

This is nice Thanksgiving special. It can drag in places, the visual quality hasn’t been remaster yet, and the native Americans may rub some people the wrong. It’s an interesting Thanksgiving film to dig up, as long you don’t see what happens after the first Thanksgiving. Enjoy your feast, avoid shopping at Black Friday for your safety, and have a Happy Thanksgiving Day! Stay tune for The Last Unicorn.  

Rankin Bass' Return of the King.

If I’m going talk about Return of the King, then I must briefly talk about Ralph Bakshi’s Lord of the Ring. Gandalf the Gray wanted Bilbo’s Ring he got from Gollum to be analyzed by Elrond. Bilbo has gone mad with the ring’s power, as he passes it to his gran nephew, Frodo Baggins. Frodo, Gandalf, and the annoying comic relief Sam“Wise” has journey to the Hidden Valley, where it’s decided for the ring to be destroyed at Mount Doom. Joining the adventure is Aragorn the King, Legolas the Archer Elf, Gimly the Dwarf, Merry and Pippen. They have to deal with Sauruman (or Auruman in Bakshi’s case) and his army of orcs. Gollum return to lead Frodo and Sam to Mount Doom, while the rest of our heroes fight the army of Orcs at Helm’s Deep. Gandalf deals with the Balrog, defeats it, and came back to life as Gandalf the White.

There, that’s as much vague detail I can bring up and save me from their recap. Anyway, here’s The Return of the King!

Bilbo celebrates his 129 birthday with our current cast and actual survivors of “The Hobbit”. Bilbo noticed Frodo last his ring finger as he destroyed the one ring of power. Frodo explains to Bilbo what happens. Most of the recap of The Hobbit and Lord of the Ring was sung by a minstrel Glen Yarbrough. (Yes, the singer. This is a boiling point I’ll pour out in critical point.)

Samwise Gamgee (this time voiced by Roddy McDowell) is rescuing Frodo from the orcs, formerly known as goblins to Bilbo (one of them voiced by Paul Frees). He carries the Ring of Power on the necklace, Bilbo’s sword of The Sting, and the protective cloth.

At the White Tower of Minas Tirith, the war with the Orcs with the king led by Thanador Gandalf and Pippen serve and debate with Denethor with his corrupted choice with the Pelennor; a black orb that can show the future. As soon as the Witch King came, it ended with the dawn. King Theoden gathered their army with Eowyn in disguise and Mary (voiced by Casey Kasem) to meet up with Gandalf. 

Bilbo saves Frodo from the Orcs, and continues with their quest while the Black Riders roam the sky. As soon they get close to Mount Doom, they deal with Gollum from The Hobbit. (Why he’s green instead black might be because some people were offended. It’s making him more frog than usual. Maybe the years go by; he got the green from the Pair of Mounts Nick.)

The battle was finished with Eowyn and Merry defeating The Witch King, as King Aragorn made completely cleared out the remaining army Orcs and assuming trolls from his Black Ships. Is it obvious that Frodo and Sam Wise destroyed the Ring of Power?

If Red Baron is the worst in pacing, Swiss Family Robinson is the worst in interest in character, Tom Sawyer is the worst in setting, and Sleeping Beauty is the worst in lazy design, then Return of the King could be the worst Rankin Bass film in narrative terms. It was common for most Rankin Bass films to have a narrator character to tell the story, and sometimes they don’t. Return of the King has narrator as Gandalf or the other characters to tell their part of the long story, which I wouldn’t mind if it was in a journal just like the Hobbit, but this is a flashback to an epic event the characters went through. It immediately kills any suspense for our main characters that’s in the story. It’s made worst for Frodo since the fate of their land relies on him casting out the ring to the volcano. These kinds of storytelling rarely work in a War or Action story. I keep expecting Daffy Duck asking a question whenever “suspense” happens.

“Did they kill you?! You got killed you, didn't they?!"

-Daffy Duck asking Granny from The Looney Tune show, voiced by the Jeff Bergen

This is part of the reason why the Peter Jackson version worked since it’s a continuation of the films, not a nostalgia story. Unlike The Hobbit, the music can actually harm the film than help it. The songs range from repeating what’s being said to “Where there’s a whip, there’s a way”. Legolas and Gimly are nowhere in this continuation of Lord of the Ring, as Elrond and Aragorn is just there.

There are some good moments in Rankin Bass’ version of Return of the King to prevent it from being an awful animated film.

I like Roddy McDowell as Samwise. He at least he lives up to the name “Wise” than the Bakshi version being a wimp. Anytime other than Lassie Comes Home, Black Hole, Cricket on the Hearth, and maybe Bugs Life would Roddy speak, I would follow him, and Sam Wise has gotten at his bravest, and we actually see much of what he wants with the ring and wonder what happens after the journey. Maybe about too much with Sam given time it takes up in the first act. I could say he’s almost on par with Sean Aston.

It’s interesting that Casey Kasem would make his return appearance after Peter Cottontail. Thanks to him and the twin’s design, I can tell who’s who. I did like Eowyn’s moment when she reveal herself and gotten a little more character than what she got in Bakshi’s Lord of the Ring; which she has nothing said and done. However, because how little they appeared, it doesn’t matter.

In fact, most of the acting, atmosphere, and tone are seriously good. While the story wasn’t following the meaning of epic, and the songs aren’t better, the background music sounds epic as it fit better in a fantasy war. It’s not as epic as Peter Jackson’s version, but I would go with this version of their epic music than the phoned in epic I hear in most Zack Snyder film, TV action shows, and Neo-Saban Era Power Rangers epic whimsically music that kept destroying the emotional tone for the series that will never be on par with Ron Wasserman.

The ending is kind of touching with the realization of fantasy characters fading away with the years slipped away and we depart with characters we have been with since The Hobbit. I’m not going to touch on Frodo and Sam friendship, as it was said to depth/ death with the Lord of the Ring Trilogy.

I don’t see this Return of the King a complete waste of time. For my bladder sakes, this is decent shorter version. It’s hard to tell if it’s on par with The Hobbit. It’s too epic in music and has more than three characters to be invested to ever be worse than Hobbit, but story flowing wise, songs and continuation is what prevents Return of the King to be better than The Hobbit. Basically, they’re almost equals.

Up next is Thanksgiving, as we’ll celebrate with The Mouse On the Mayflower.

The Hobbit

Rankin Bass had some decent to weak film in terms of none-holiday project. Many of them aren’t as big as Rudolph or Frosty or Santa Claus Coming To Town. The 70’s had a major limit for animated TV shows and specials. Then in the late 70’s, many auteur films were made to break the dumb mold that whiny society and/ or executives have made, with films such as George Lucas on Star Wars, Richard Donner on Superman, and for TV is Rankin Bass on The Hobbit.

Gandolf the Gray recruited a Hobbit named Bilbo Baggins as the Dwarf’s burglar to steal their own treasure they made. The a dreaded dragon named Smaug ruled the Dwarf kingdom with all of the Dwarfs' treasures. Bilbo would go on a grand adventure with Gandolf, King Thoin Oakenshield and his 12 Dwarfs through the land of Middle Earth.

Along the way, they stumble upon trolls, goblins, spiders, elves, orcs, human, and other creatures that would bite them back in hindsight.

Unless you watched the Peter Jackson remake already, I’m not going to spoil this.

This is a new style for Rankin Bass in terms of non-holiday specials after relying so much on Fairy Tales, cutesy cartoons, and made for another TV show. This is the only Rankin Bass film to win a Peabody Award. The designs are detailed to fit the characters closest in the book of the same name, something that was started with Festival of Family Classic with 20.000 League Under The Sea. Unlike 20,000 League Under The Sea, instead of Mushi Studio, the production was done by Topcraft, who would do the later non-Holiday special with Stingiest Man In Town as the exception, and would later be the production for Miyozaki’s second film, Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, and eventually become Studio Ghibli. The music created a new laid back magical atmosphere to match the tone The Hobbit became and set bar for later fantasy animated films, before Lord of the Ring changed the bar for live-action fantasy. Half of music was sung by Thurl Ravencraft, and the other is Glenn Yarbrough and sometimes  the actors themselves.

Bilbo is a likable wide-eyed character, and Gandalf is mysterious wizard that appears whenever he wants. Smaug is an intimidating dragon with an awesome deep menacing voice and is a unique cat dragon design (?). This leaves me a debate whether the remake of Smaug played by Benedict Cumberbatch is better or not. I'm very split on either one.

Elrond, the half-elven is voiced by Cyril Richardson, who voiced the Sandman from Daydreamer and Emperor Klockenlocken from Emperor’s New Clothing does lend his voice one last time before he died weeks after it was broadcast on TV. It’s interesting how this character started from this version, before Hugo Weaving changed the character with a little more depth as seen in Lord of the Ring.

Hans Confried does great as the Dwarf King. Everyone have a gripe with the dwarfs, and I may have one as well. The dwarfs are mostly useless and forgettable. It was intentional to be influence of Snow White’s Dwarfs, but they are different with the names after their strongest character trait and designs. Most of the dwarfs that aren’t the king are too similar to each other, and only recognized some of their voice actors such as Don Messick, Paul Frees, or John Stephenson, who also voiced Bard the King of the Lake People, and you may later hear as Windcharger in G1 Transformers. There’s the inclusion of Gollum, as he could be considered pointless, but it’s where Bilbo got the One Ring of Power which help Bilbo through his adventure and unintentionally set up for the sequels. It’s very strange that they would design the elves so weird to be a contrast to the elves you would see in Christmas Special, yet they look more like Gollum from the Bakshi and Jackson version than this version’s Gollum, and he looks like frog.

If you’re going to watch the Trilogy of Hobbit remakes by Peter Jackson, you might have more detail, extra characters, too much sidetracks in order to give more “arcs” for the dwarfs and connect characters to the Lord of the Ring films, but for 9 hours around in total. Only watch it if you have the time, and best not watch it in theater when it's rereleased.

What’s interesting thing about the film is it’s technically a remake of the first Hobbit in 1966, brought to you terribly by William Snyder and Gene Deitch; the men that would first doom Tom and Jerry after Hanna Barbera ended their original run. 

If you want to see the shortest version of the story of Hobbit, Rankin Bass’ version is good for you than this 7 minute short. Not the Gene Deitch version though. Their version of the Hobbit is as unique as Knight vs Dragon story can ever go without being Reluctant Dragon. In fact, it was so bad, their contract with J.R.R Tolken’s estate ended quicker than others. This is what happened when you don't follow the simple point and end up making a dreary Arabian Night feel.

Overall, this is a good telling of the Hobbit. This very special film would set the ways Rankin Bass would do their later films to evolve, for better (Last Unicorn) and worst (Rudolph and Frosty in Christmas In July). If you want a funny version, then watch Waxanator’s last Youtube Poop as a Trilogy.

Now we’ll continue after the Hobbits with Lord of the Ring. At least we would if Ralph Bakshi did that film already, including the Two Towers. Instead we’ll be moving onto the sequel of the story that may recap the previous two in their style with The Return of The King.

Rankin Bass' Robin Hood

Let’s finish the series with their last episode in series order with Robin Hood.

The Sheriff of Nottingham is haunting down the rebel Robin Hood. A poor lumberman named Jarvis Green gets arrested by the Sheriff for having the tree land on him and his army, and accused him for working for the rebel. His son, Willow Green (voice by Billie Mae Richard) and his dog, Cecil is finding Robin Hood to save his father.

Robin Hood reveals to Willow why he and his Merry Men are rebellions, because the kingdom is corrupt, as he only robs from the rich…

“And give it to the Criminally Insane! No, No, No. He robs from the rich and gives it to the poor.”

-Stimpy from Ren & Stimpy.

 Robin Hood surrenders himself to the sheriff to save Jarvis, but the Sheriff keeps Jarvis and Willow until Robin Hood died.

Will they escape from execution from the Sheriff of Nottingham?

Believe it or not, this was release around the same time as the Disney in the same month and year of November 1973. However, the Disney version was released first in November 8, while the Rankin Bass was released in November 23. So technically, some people had seen two different Robin Hood at the same time. The difference is the Disney version would have longer air time in theater than TV, unless it was rerun. This make some people question if this show is what caused the Movie to bomb or not. I doubt the Rankin Bass version is the cause of the Disney Movie to bomb, unless they count a week airing off of the box office.

There has been other version with Robin Hood in animation, though realizing they usually go for one of the chapters of the book. Looney Tunes uses about 3 of the angles of Robin Hood; Bugs Bunny deals with the Sheriff of Nottingham, Daffy as Robin Hood to prove Fryer Porky Tuck Pig and some squirrels that was inspired by a tiny book. Of course there’s the Ren & Stimpy version as Robin Hoek, Popeye, and UPA’s Fox and Crow have Fox as Robin Hood (the first fox Robin Hood before we got the Disney version?), though Fox isn’t a good archer, and he’s saved by his Merry Men, because he missed their tea, and I mean they’re “Merry”.

“Faygeles?”

  -Mel Brooks in Robin Hood: Men In Tights.

This is in the angle for Rankin Bass’ Robin Hood, it’s Robin Hood saving the poor from the Sheriff, and we focus on the son of the poor. It’s not a bad idea of an angle. It’s strange they never show the Prince, but if they included him, he’ll mostly be lazy. Robin Hood is interesting, and isn’t boring unlike Clark Kent’s Robin Hood daddies of Costner and Crowe.

“Because unlike all the other Robin Hoods, I speak with an English Accent.”

                   -Robin Hood, played by Cary Elwes in Robin Hood: Men In Tights

For the last episode of Festival of Family Classic, it’s a decent adaptation to end with. That’s pretty much to sum the entire series. It ranges from decent to dull. At their best is Jack O’ Lantern or Robinson Crusoe. At their worst are Sleeping Beauty, Swiss Family Robinson, Tom Sawyer, and Snow White. The series shows Rankin Bass has try the stories they’re interested with the limitation of what the animation can do in their own angle and what was allow on TV at the time. Though when adapting certain stories that has better versions, it’ll be difficult for a big shoe to fill. Having two parts to the story can help with something such as Around the World in 80 Days, but sometimes it doesn’t show much such as 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea. What the series did follow was the stories identity, from the characters to the designs to the time and setting. It would have been too easy to give the characters the name while everyone is dressed the same in black tux to do their business in a dark room in modern day.

If you’re interested to see a storybook series with different stories, this is one of them to check out.

Thus this ends my review for The Festival of Family Classic for a while, until A Christmas Tree arrives as part of the Christmas review. Yankee Doodle & Song of Hiawatha yet had an English version to review. Stay tune for A Mouse of Mayflower, Hobbit, and most of the rest of the non-holiday special before I get to the Christmas Specials.     

Rankin Bass' Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

Now we read on a story, whose hair is the wrong color from hair black as ebony to blonde as the sun. It’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

The evil queen wants her step-daughter, Snow White to be killed. She sends her guard with a jester for witness to execute Snow White, but she easily escaped into the forest.

Snow White safely went to the nearest cottage with the help of Why the Owl and a Yellow Brick Toad. (No, I’m not making this up, and it’s not an All That sketch.)

The 7 Dwarfs came back to their cottage to spot Snow White; they are Clumsy, wimpy, bossy….

“There’s Tipsy, and Queasy. There’s Surly, and Remorseful!

-Bart and Lisa Simpsons at Duff Garden.

The evil queen found out through her magic mirror that Snow White is alive. She tries to kill her with a strap while disguising herself as an old lady, but she saved. So the evil queen disguise as a carney tries to kill her with an apple through bobbing for apples, and “succeed”.

Obviously, Snow White got saved by the prince from Cinderella- I mean Prince Daring from Sleeping Beauty- I mean Prince Maximillion or King Maximillion. (Seriously, is this the only design for prince to reuse three times?) She isn’t awakening by kiss, but by one word she thought last only said by a king.

Snow White was one of those stories I’ve grown to hate, starting with the obvious Disney version. Something I could live without, yet it’s the very first animated feature length film, so it’s impossible to remove it.

Many other versions have tried their versions, and mostly are forgotten. Even the German Live-action version of Snow White was mostly shot for shot, ironically, the Disney version was a half shot for shot from an earlier version that he watched. This version of Snow White isn’t any better. Nothing has proven better, I question the inclusion of Why, and we don’t know who any of the dwarves names are aside from Clumsy. The Dwarves show their one personality, but their personality would have more than one name such as their leader could be Doc, Bossy, Jerky, Cranky, Grampy, Pappy, A Holey, Trumpy, Mandarky, Villainy, Neutrally, Papa Human Smurf, Stricty, or Surly…

“Hey, Surly looks out for one man, SURLY!”

-Surly from The Simpsons

I can’t believe I’m saying this, but this could be worse than Happily Ever After and Snow White Christmas. You read that right; it’s one of the rare animated films that are worse than a Filmation films. One of them that cost the company for being release around the time Disney’s Snow White was rereleased in theater. At least you know the name of the Dwarvelles and the Friendly Giants, they got a better owl to work off the villain, Dom DeLuise and Larry D. Mann (Yukon Cornelius’ voice actor) is a better mirror, and Malcolm McDowell is a menacing villain for semi-weak reason.

I could say this is a standard Snow White story, but Disney’s Snow White has reaches into “The Standard” that anything lowers than that is immediate bad. Any good Snow White that’s better than the Disney version is incredibly rare. I can’t say the Rankin Bass version is the worst of the Snow White, as there’s plenty others such as Happily N’ever After 2, but for me, this isn’t worth mirroring back. If you want a funny one, then go watch Animaniac’s.

How much longer do I have to review this series? I have one episode left? Woo-hoo! Oh boy, I hope this one doesn’t have a previous version that Disney did. What are the chances they would make their own version that came out at the same year as this version?

Robin Hood! 

Robin Hood?

*me screaming as I grabbed my laptop and twist it on a pole. The screen cut to Technical Difficulty.*

Rankin Bass' Tom Sawyer

Let’s go south with Tom Sawyer! 

Mark Twain tells the story of Tom Sawyer. (Oh good, the actual writer that narrate. Wait, Charles Dickens in A Christmas Tree? Oh well, at least this follows through the story with the writer than telling a different stories. You’ve been warned.)

In Mississippi, Tom Sawyer (voiced by Billie Mae Richard) convince a bunch of kids to white wash the fence He has actual friends with Becky, a dog named Shag, and Huck Finn, as they have an adventure at Doogal Cave. (Butch Hartman wishes to bury one of the worst animated films to be redubbed with the Weinsteins.)

6 minutes later, Tom found Desperado Jones discovering gold. 2 ½ minutes later, Tom and Becky got out of the cave. The town thinks they’re dead, but of course they’re not. Tom and Huck got the gold from a dead Desperado to be in the rich life. Will they enjoy this new life, and do we care?

I can’t believe there’s something as boring as Swiss Family Robinson, if not, more boring as that. We spend half the episode in a dark, dull cave with absolutely nothing happening but walking. There have been many films that spends majority of better times in a cave such as Simpsons, Avatar, and even the Fraggle Rocks. The people in this film are just as interesting as the cave. At least Swiss Family Robinson got attention-grabbing with the only girl disguise as a native, before she blends in with the family.

Any of the famous scenes of the book of Tom Sawyer is very minor from painting the fence at the beginning to the raft at the end. Yes, the story has grown more controversial in this PC world, as they can’t show every other recognizable character such as N-Jim. It’s really strange that the animated MGM version even showed that character as the villain, and they’re animals. The Simpsons is probably closer to Tom Sawyer under seven minutes than 20 minutes! It’s probably best to show the friendship of Tom and Huck, but this version mostly shows it at the last third act.

As Billie Mae Richard can be remarkable, it’s the only time she voiced the main character in this series, other than A Christmas Tree. She can hold a film on her own, but I rather follow her as a reindeer than human, and an extent of a Care Bear.

Much like the cave and river in the story, it’s best to go through this film once, and never go there again, unless you can predict every natural moment to make it a better trip. Tom Sawyer is one to it a give it a pass. 

You don’t want to listen to semi-reality, you want to hear another fairy tale, said viewers mostly under 7 that don’t read my blog as much as any over the age of 8. The next one would be grim with poison and psychos with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.