Little Nemo
Too out of it to do a real review.
1989's Little Nemo is an unnoticed event in animation history. It was the first time an anime movie saw wide release in the US. There was a troubled 10+ year production history and the movie bombed. However, there is an amazing amount of talent associated with the film. Ray Bradbury wrote a treatment of the story, Chris Columbus (director of Home Alone, Harry Potter) co-wrote the screenplay, legendary Disney animators Frank & Ollie (blanking on their last names now. They animated all of the classic disney movies - Bambi, Dumbo, etc and were at disney from the 30s to the 80s.), and Nancy Cartwright (voice of Bart Simpson) were all involved in the movie.
It's pretty darn good too. There are still some story problems. The girl character is one dimensional. There is no plot for the first 30 minutes - just a string of events. And when our young hero struggles to say the right magic spell I kept expecting a "the words don't matter because the power is inside of you moment" to happen. . .but instead his furry sidekick finds the magic words. But the story mostly works. Quick synopsis - our young hero, Nemo, travels on his flying bed to slumberland where he meets fantastic creatures, a beautiful princess, a tricky con man, and an evil nightmare king. I don't think I'll spoil much by saying the evil nightmare king is bested. Oh yea and our hero has a plucky flying squirrel sidekick that kinda talks.
Animation is pretty darn good. Some of the flying scenes are really top notch. Characters are all pretty well animated too. Some personality is lacking at times though. In many ways The Great Mouse Detective, while not as lavishly animated, has much more personality. And that movie also had Vincent Price as the villain. Voice acting is not Little Nemo's speciality. Many of the characters sound the same, and none really stand out.
There are a fair number of moments in the movie that make me think the creators knew what they were doing. Nemo doesn't want to play with the princess at first, cause, well she's a girl! Thats how boys really do think.
Unfortunately the songs are just horrible. Forgettable, time wasting, and unfunny. Almost like someone said "Hey, every kid's animated movie needs a song! Quick put one in!". Imagine if Kiki's Delivery Service had a song. Yea, thats what this is like.
Overall, it is an excellent blend of Japanese and Western styles. And at 100 minutes it never commits the sin of a giant self important running time. (Avatar, Titanic, Green Mile, I'm looking at you.) It was re-released on DVD in 2004 and that makes me think it was rushed to market because it has the word "Nemo" in the title. (Finding Nemo came out in theaters in 2003, and probably was released to DVD the same time.) There are no good extras.
8/10
(And wow I did write a whole review after all!)
1989's Little Nemo is an unnoticed event in animation history. It was the first time an anime movie saw wide release in the US. There was a troubled 10+ year production history and the movie bombed. However, there is an amazing amount of talent associated with the film. Ray Bradbury wrote a treatment of the story, Chris Columbus (director of Home Alone, Harry Potter) co-wrote the screenplay, legendary Disney animators Frank & Ollie (blanking on their last names now. They animated all of the classic disney movies - Bambi, Dumbo, etc and were at disney from the 30s to the 80s.), and Nancy Cartwright (voice of Bart Simpson) were all involved in the movie.
It's pretty darn good too. There are still some story problems. The girl character is one dimensional. There is no plot for the first 30 minutes - just a string of events. And when our young hero struggles to say the right magic spell I kept expecting a "the words don't matter because the power is inside of you moment" to happen. . .but instead his furry sidekick finds the magic words. But the story mostly works. Quick synopsis - our young hero, Nemo, travels on his flying bed to slumberland where he meets fantastic creatures, a beautiful princess, a tricky con man, and an evil nightmare king. I don't think I'll spoil much by saying the evil nightmare king is bested. Oh yea and our hero has a plucky flying squirrel sidekick that kinda talks.
Animation is pretty darn good. Some of the flying scenes are really top notch. Characters are all pretty well animated too. Some personality is lacking at times though. In many ways The Great Mouse Detective, while not as lavishly animated, has much more personality. And that movie also had Vincent Price as the villain. Voice acting is not Little Nemo's speciality. Many of the characters sound the same, and none really stand out.
There are a fair number of moments in the movie that make me think the creators knew what they were doing. Nemo doesn't want to play with the princess at first, cause, well she's a girl! Thats how boys really do think.
Unfortunately the songs are just horrible. Forgettable, time wasting, and unfunny. Almost like someone said "Hey, every kid's animated movie needs a song! Quick put one in!". Imagine if Kiki's Delivery Service had a song. Yea, thats what this is like.
Overall, it is an excellent blend of Japanese and Western styles. And at 100 minutes it never commits the sin of a giant self important running time. (Avatar, Titanic, Green Mile, I'm looking at you.) It was re-released on DVD in 2004 and that makes me think it was rushed to market because it has the word "Nemo" in the title. (Finding Nemo came out in theaters in 2003, and probably was released to DVD the same time.) There are no good extras.
Click to view8/10
(And wow I did write a whole review after all!)