Board index › Topical Discussion › Television, Film, and Video

Don Bluth movies

Page 1 of 1 [ 7 posts ] 

Previous topic | Next topic

Psychlone
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 30 Jan 2005
Age: 42
Gender: Male
Posts: 713
Location: Michigan

21 Jul 2008, 8:43 am

Yeah, he did a spectacular job with the things he did. :D They made sequels to the Secret of NIMH and to the Land Before Time, but unfortunately the sequels weren't directed by him, and they were all crap in comparison to the originals. :x



DevilInPgh
Pileated woodpecker
Pileated woodpecker

User avatar

Joined: 23 Aug 2005
Age: 41
Gender: Male
Posts: 186
Location: Washington, DC

21 Jul 2008, 8:33 pm

An American Tail. Maybe it's the history buff in me, or maybe it's watching how my family came from Czarist Russia to the US--with mice! Maybe it's because it didn't attempt to mince the details of what life was like for the immigrants both before and after they arrived in America, the illusions they held about America, and the grim reality of the "Goldene Medinah". Again, with the aid of mice! Seriously, it was my first introduction to the immigrant experience.

"There are noooo cats in America
And the streets are paved with cheese..."



kxmode
Supporting Member
Supporting Member

User avatar

Joined: 14 Oct 2007
Gender: Male
Posts: 2,613
Location: In your neighborhood, knocking on your door. :)

23 Jul 2008, 9:23 pm

I'll admit I have a soft spot for this American Tale song; partly because I was very young when I saw AT.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRjb8sMjYu8[/youtube]


_________________
A Proud Witness of Jehovah God (JW.org)
Revelation 21:4 "And [God] will wipe out every tear from their eyes,
and death will be no more, neither will mourning nor outcry nor pain be anymore.
The former things have passed away."


Thomas1138
Velociraptor
Velociraptor

User avatar

Joined: 5 Apr 2008
Age: 45
Gender: Male
Posts: 470

25 Jul 2008, 8:30 am

I'm not a big fan of Bluth myself. I felt for a long time that the guy desparately needed to update his style. You could tell with one look that every one of his movies from NIHM to Titan A.E. were his work. He's a competant director, but not a breakthrough director.

I think Bluth's place in animation history is that he proved that the feature animation medium was a lucrative market once VHS players became common in the 80s. While Disney was thinking of closing there animation division, An American Tail and The Land Before Time (also props to Spielberg here) were huge hits on the home market. And so we got the animation boom of the 90s.



Psychlone
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 30 Jan 2005
Age: 42
Gender: Male
Posts: 713
Location: Michigan

25 Jul 2008, 11:30 am

Thomas1138 wrote:
I'm not a big fan of Bluth myself. I felt for a long time that the guy desparately needed to update his style. You could tell with one look that every one of his movies from NIHM to Titan A.E. were his work. He's a competant director, but not a breakthrough director.

I think Bluth's place in animation history is that he proved that the feature animation medium was a lucrative market once VHS players became common in the 80s. While Disney was thinking of closing there animation division, An American Tail and The Land Before Time (also props to Spielberg here) were huge hits on the home market. And so we got the animation boom of the 90s.


Bluth definitely stands out, and you can pretty much guess by the style of his movies that he directed them without needing to look into the credits, but isn't that just because he is so much better at directing animated films than most other directors out there?

What he did with the Land before Time was amazing and spectacular, and there were quite a few sequels to the land before time, but all of them suck in comparsion.. and the reason why is probably because they weren't directed by Bluth like the first one was.



Thomas1138
Velociraptor
Velociraptor

User avatar

Joined: 5 Apr 2008
Age: 45
Gender: Male
Posts: 470

25 Jul 2008, 4:42 pm

I don't think that comparing features and direct-to-video afterthoughts is going to yield much.

I also don't think that a static style from the 70s is the mark of a quality director. He's sort of the M. Night of the animation world, except he was never big enough (and his audience of children not sophisticated enough) for people to notice.



JimmyNeurtonRules
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 7 Jun 2006
Age: 33
Gender: Male
Posts: 582
Location: Retroville

25 Jul 2008, 5:10 pm

Yeah I've seen them. And did you know Don Bluth also did some animation for the video game Dragon's Lair?