Unfinished, the film plays like a clunkier, less-sensical Aladdin - the "Arabia" pastiche, the "beggar entangled in royal to-do" plot line, the evil vizier bent on a coup. But by 1992, they had wrested the project from his grasp, giving it instead to television animator Fred Calvert, who turned what was shaping up to be a Triplets of Belleville-esque art film into a more marketable Disney-style romp, complete with songs - and, in Miramax's 1995 reissue, a voice-over by Matthew Broderick. As legend has it, after over two decades of spotty production and limited financing, using his Roger Rabbit success, Williams was finally able to convince Warner Bros. A Troll in Central Park (1994, Don Bluth / Warner Bros.)Īnimation buffs - or, those hungry for a juicy moviemaking story - are likely well versed in the woe-begotten tale of The Thief and the Cobbler, the 28-year-long raison d'être of Who Framed Roger Rabbit animation director Richard Williams. So, cast aside your mouse ears, at least momentarily, and check 'em out: 12. Meanwhile, some names besides "Walt" start to enter the mix - from the prolific Don Bluth, who was personally responsible for a sizable chunk of this list, to Richard Williams, the obsessive genius behind one of moviemaking's greatest Sisyphean feats.
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Apparently, some stories just weren't quite meant for the Magic Kingdom. Still, it's perhaps telling that Anastasia's nemesis is a consistently rotting corpse, and The Great Mouse Detective achieved considerably less press than others surrounding it (see: The Little Mermaid). Of course, there are also plenty of princesses to be had herein (hi, Anastasia!), and Disney certainly had its darker moments (the toy factory from The Great Mouse Detectivewill never not haunt my dreams). Indeed, in revisiting these films, you start to notice a distinct and pervasive undercurrent of non-Disney-ness, a number of them creepier, zanier, even more visually complex than their song-studded House of Mouse contemporaries.
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In fact, a number of the most undeniably excellent late-20th-century animations were not Disney fare. However, as we of the Laser Disc players (slash, obsessive IMDb routine) know well, this couldn't be further from the truth.
#1990S B17 CARTOON MOVIE KIDS SERIES#
Sure, Nicholas was being kind of a jerk to his friends, but the way everyone was treating his new look as the worst possible thing ever seemed a bit overblown.Īlso, shouldn’t you have more important things to worry about? Like the fact that Nicholas talks to an imaginary cartoon character no one else can see or hear, and that the kid may be in need of some serious help? Oh well, at least the series had some kickin’ '90s power jams.In the same way that "Kleenex" has become synonymous with "facial tissue" and "Coke" often acts a stand-in word for any brand of brown soda, the phrase "Disney movie" is often used interchangeably with "animated film" - to the point where it almost seems like Walt & Co. He does this with a pair of sunglasses that somehow activate sweet sax solos and make you feel compelled to wear the most '90s vests imaginable. For example, take “ The Blunder Years” episode where Nicholas makes a new friend who wants him to change his whole image. The series’ production values were high (at least for a direct-to-VHS Christian series), but its morals were sometimes questionable. Was it God? Can McGee really be trusted? Can everyone have a cartoon friend? A strange thing is that no one ever comments on McGee's existence, and it’s never explained exactly how he came to life.
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The series revolved around Nicholas learning moral lessons with his cartoon friend, McGee. Arguably one of the more successful series, McGee and Me! is difficult to track down these days.