DVDizzy Forum

I like them all a lot. You forgot An American Tale II, which was also released theatrically (which I like better than the 1st).

Anastasia is my favorite, but The Secret of Nimh is not far behind.

After that I like all the films.

I love the Don Bluth movies. I have the following films:

1. "An American Tail"
2. "An American Tail 2: Fievel Goes West"
3. "An American Tail: Treasure of Manhattan Island"
4. "Anastasia"
5. "Titan AE"
6. "Rock-A-Doodle"
7. "All Dogs Go to Heaven"
8. "All Dogs Go to Heaven 2"
9. "An All Dogs Christmas Carol"
10. "The Secret of NIMH"
11. "The Secret of NIMH 2"
12. "A Troll in Central Park"

And finally, there was a animated sequence used in the movie "Xanadu" using ELO's "Don't Walk Away" It was Don Bluth's first and only animated sequence for the film before he went on to do his first completely animated feature "The Secret of NIMH" in 1982. That scene was animated by Don Bluth. Don Bluth has been an animator since he left Disney in 1978 after "The Small One" was released as a 30-minute short. "The Secret of NIMH" was the first post-Disney animated feature.

musicradio77 wrote:Don Bluth has been an animator since he left Disney in 1978 after "The Small One" was released as a 30-minute short.

Actually, he's been an animator longer than that. Believe it or not, he worked on animation while at Disney!

The Land Before Time is one of my favourite Don Bluth movies, and its score is perhaps the best one James Horner has ever composed. Animation is fantastic, and the movie has many wonderful scenes. It's a shame that it's so short, because it really is a fantastic film and needed more time to tell the story.

The Secret of NIMH (a wonderful film with the late Jerry Goldsmith's superb score), An American Tail, All Dogs Go to Heaven, Anastasia and to a some extent even Titan A.E. are all right and entertaining. Although Rock-A-Doodle, A Troll in Central Park, Thumbelina and The Pebble and the Penguin are okayish, I never really connected with them as much as I did with the ones I mentioned earlier. The only sequels I've seen out of those are An American Tail 2 and All Dogs Go to Heaven 2, and neither of them were as good as the original although they were somewhat entertaining.

I've enjoyed watching Don Bluth's animated movies, and it's nice to see that many of them were very good and quite dark too. The music is fantastic in many of Bluth's movies, and there are beautiful and haunting songs that you'll remember ("Flying Dreams", "If We Hold on Together" and "Once Upon a December" to name a few). All in all I recommend that people watch Don Bluth's movies at least once: some of them have that animation magic in them, and the scores they have are quite good too.

Luke wrote:

musicradio77 wrote:Don Bluth has been an animator since he left Disney in 1978 after "The Small One" was released as a 30-minute short.

Actually, he's been an animator longer than that. Believe it or not, he worked on animation while at Disney!

Yeah and I read on IMDb that he animated on Sleeping Beauty. I wonder if he ever met Walt himself?

Secret of NIMH without a doubt because in that era, it showed that you didn't have to do the cute-n-cuddly Disney style to make a decent animated film with a bit of something for everyone. Don definitely puts darker undertones in his films that what the Mouse would ever do. Can't see Mickey supporting the scene from hell (quite literally) in All Dogs.

Behind NIMH the stuff from the 80s was his best work--American Tail, LBT, and All Dogs. 90s was trouble. Rock A Doodle seemed pretty queer as did Pebble. Anastasia is the lone bright star, though it followed Pocahotas on inaccuracy....

Neither Anastasia nor Pocohontas claimed to be telling the true story, but rather based on it in a fairytale form. And Anastasia's story had most its roots in a live action movie made by Fox decades before. Story is very similar, and Bluth totally admits to plucking from that. More then anything, its an animated remake of that

Yeah, you can see Bluth's influence on a lot of movies. Pete's Dragon, Rescuer's, Fox and the Hound, Black Cauldron, etc.

I found this mini-bio courtesy of IMDb in which Don Bluth has been a great animator for Disney on and off. Here is the story.

Producer/director Don Bluth is one of the most prestigious animators in the industry, admired by peers all over the world for his creative talent, as well as his versatility in bringing memorable characters to life. While working on his films, Bluth wears many hats. He designs all the characters, serves as key storyboard artist, and when the mood strikes him, he has also been known to write some clever songs to accompany his lively and amusing characters. As if these duties don't keep him busy enough, he also writes and/or collaborates on most of the scripts for his projects.

Bluth was born into a family of seven children in El Paso, Texas. He grew up on a farm in Payson, Utah, in a highly creative environment. After watching Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), he found his calling. From the age of six on, Don was always drawing. It soon became his dream to work for Walt Disney Studios and to bring his drawings to life as he had seen accomplished in films. In 1954, Don's father moved the family to Santa Monica, California. Upon graduation from high school, Don took a portfolio of his drawings to the Disney Studio in Burbank. He landed a position in the animation department as an "in-betweener". This job required him to create the drawings in between the animator's key drawings to complete a movement. Bluth worked with Disney from 1955 through 1956 on the classic motion picture Sleeping Beauty (1959). He left after one year. Don spent the next two and a half years as a Mormon missionary in Argentina. Upon his return he made the decision to continue his formal education, he enrolled at Brigham Young University, studying English Literature. During this time he continued to work summers for Disney.

After completing his education, he and his brother, Toby, started a live theater in Santa Monica, where they produced and directed popular musical comedies. Although this venture proved to be exciting, after three years, Bluth decided to commit to a career in animation. His first job upon re-entering the animation field was as a layout artist for Filmation Studios, a television production company. In this capacity he was required to draw and design the backgrounds, and create the character poses for the animators. Bluth was extremely adept at this and was soon promoted to the head of the department, where he continued for three years.

In 1971, Bluth returned to Walt Disney Productions as an Animator, beginning what would be considered a skyrocket ride to the top of the animation field. He started as an animator on the feature film Robin Hood (1973). Don was promoted within two years to directing animator on Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too! (1974) and The Rescuers (1977). Don was director of animation on Pete's Dragon (1977) and the following year, Producer/Director on The Small One (1978). Inspired by many of Disney's classics and filled with the desire to restore that quality to animated films, Bluth began a short project in his garage with two fellow Disney animators, Gary Goldman and John Pomeroy. This short project, known as Banjo the Woodpile Cat (1982) (TV), began production in March 1975. For the next four-and-a-half years, the trio worked nights and weekends in all areas of production to accomplish the finished project. During this time, they still kept their "day" jobs at Disney.

In early 1979, Bluth, Goldman and Pomeroy were approached by film industry businessmen who offered to fund them on a feature film. "Banjo the Woodpile Cat" served as an excellent portfolio and showed that they could create the "classical" look. In September 1979, the trio resigned from Walt Disney Productions to start their own independent production company. For their first feature film, they selected Robert C. O'Brien's award-winning novel "Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of N.I.M.H.". In July 1982, they released their first non-Disney animated feature with the altered title, The Secret of NIMH (1982). With the introduction of new laser disc technology in 1983, Bluth and partners created the first interactive laser disc game, Dragon's Lair (1983) (VG). Two additional laser disc games followed, Space Ace (1984) (VG) and Dragon's Lair II: Timewarp (1991) (VG). In December 1984, they began work on the acclaimed family feature about a young mouse's struggle to survive in a new land entitled An American Tail (1986), a collaboration with Steven Spielberg.

In November of 1986, they moved their studio and its employees to Dublin, Ireland at the invitation of the Irish government, where their studio grew to be the largest in Europe. Their third feature film, The Land Before Time (1988), was their first production created entirely in Ireland. Released by universal Pictures during the Thanksgiving, 1988 holiday, it achieved a record-breaking opening weekend gross for an animated film. Their subsequent efforts include All Dogs Go to Heaven (1989), Rock-A-Doodle (1991), Thumbelina (1994), and A Troll in Central Park (1994).

Producer/Director Don Bluth returned from Ireland to head up the Fox Animation Studio located in Phoenix, Arizona where he shared the creative leadership with his partner Producer/Director Gary Goldman through June of 2000. During those years the duo produced and directed the hit animated musical Anastasia (1997), which received two Oscar nominations; the direct-to-video musical, Bartok the Magnificent (1999) (V); and the animated space opera Titan A.E. (2000), now on video and DVD.

In early 1999, Bluth agreed to form a new company with Rick Dyer, Gary Goldman, John Pomeroy, and David Foster of Digital Leisure. The new company, Dragon's Lair LLC, is in the final stages of development of a new 3D version of the original game, Dragon's Lair. This time the player would have total control of Dirk the Daring. It will be distributed on multiple platforms, including Playstation 2, Game Cube, Xbox, PC and MAC, in the Fall of 2002.

Don has returned to independent filmmaking with partner, Gary Goldman, establishing their new company Don Bluth Films, Inc. Based in Phoenix, Arizona they have begun preproduction work on "Dragon's Lair" the movie. Their web site www.donbluth.com will enable them to communicate directly with their audience. There are plans to expand the web site to include animation education and the sale of animation artwork. Don Bluth has been an active member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences since 1976.

As much as I loved Don Bluth, I have all the films except "Bartok the Magnificent", "Anastasia" (I saw it in theaters), and "Titan A.E." (I saw it on HBO not too long ago).

So, here's my top 5 favorites:

1) An American Tail
2) The Land Before Time (Meh, I didn't like all sequels of it. It just kept going and going)
3) The Secret of NIMH
4) Anastasia
5) All Dogs Go To Heaven

The rest of the films that arent in my list are quite tedious due to the ratings nor I didn't bother to watch it (The Pebble and the Penguin, for example). "Titan A.E" is ok, but I haven't seen all the parts of it, not one bit. (:( )

my favorites are

an american tail
the secret of nimhthe land before time
all dogs go to heaven

OMG!

I loved Secret of Nihm.

I have that movie on tape.

So far, I haven't see part 2.

Don Bluth is pedestrian, average. His early films showed promise, but his output experienced a steady decline into complete mediocrity. His main weaknesses are in storytelling and characterization. Gaudy, showy animation does not a good animated film make.

If this is his than it's my favorite Don Bluth picture: The Secret of Nimh. Visually, it's an absolutely spell-binding film.

Disney's Divinity wrote:And I'm pretty sure that I cried more at the death of Little Foot's mother than I did in any other movie when I was a kid (and still do)

When I would watch the film as a kid, I'd have to go in my room and hide, I cried so much at that scene. Ugh, so heartbreaking.

Disney'S Divinity wrote:I liked Thumbelina, but I hated all the animal characters. They could've animated them better and made them less annoying

I'm actually glad to read that. As I mentioned in the Thumbelina thread, before I found this one, even just in the trailer and in one song that I watched on YouTube, the animal designs just rubbed me the wrong way. They seem to be such a different style than Thumbelina and the prince.

Timon/Pumbaa fan wrote:All of his films bored me. He tries so hard to copy Disney's golden era and yet none of his films ever comes close when it comes to quailty. I even like Dreamworks better!

That's interesting. I haven't seen anything but Anastasia since I was a kid (The Secret of Nimh, An American Tail (I think I remember more about the sequel than I do the original...), The Land Before Time, and All Dogs Go to Heaven were ones that I grew up with, and then I saw Anastasia at the theater when it came out and have seen it a couple times since then. Anyhoo, I don't recall being bored with his films. Even though I remember very little about most of them. It's interesting, because even though he totally shook up Disney's animation department during my favorite Disney time period, I don't dislike him, like I do DreamWorks. His movies have heart, though. Really, I mean, LittleFoot's mom, and the end of All Dogs Go to Heaven- those tore me apart as a kid! I remember nothing about Nimh, though, so I don't remember if I was bored with that one.

Is An American Tail significantly better than Fievel Goes West? I saw the sequel more recently than I've seen the original (it was on Cartoon Network, I think it was, or some channel, years ago...). "Somewhere Out There" is INCREDIBLE, though- I just love that song, and it makes me BAWL. And I was watching the movie clip and the James Ingram/Linda Ronstadt video the other day, and it's interesting because was that the first animated-movie pop song video? And it's interesting, because it reminded me of B&tB, Aladdin, and Pocahontas' pop videos in a way...

Timon/Pumbaa fan wrote:All Dogs Go to Heaven has got to be one of the worst films I've ever seen. In comparison it makes some of Disney's sequels look like masterpieces!

Lots of reviews treated this movie harshly. I only remember that the ending was painful, but I don't remember anything about it (but I do remember seeing it in the theater)...but I know that I liked it as a kid.

Siren wrote:Also Atlantis and Treasure Planet were taking bits and pieces of Titan A.E. as well.

Um, Treasure Island in Space so was an idea before Titan A.E. was!!!

GhostHost wrote:With their low IMDB ratings: Rock-A-Doddle, A Troll In Central Park, and The Pebble and the Penguin are probably quite weak.

I can't remember if I saw Rock-A-Doodle in the theater. I know that I wanted to. I watched the trailer recently, and parts of it came back to me, but maybe I just saw the trailer. I honestly don't remember. But I know that Life cereal (I'm pretty sure it was Life) had a soundtrack (I think it was soundtrack and not story) cassette tape offer, and I think I had started collecting the UPCs, but for whatever reason, we never ordered it, but I wanted it so bad! And I honestly don't have any want to see the other two. Maybe I will if I start a Bluth movie marathon, but while I have an interest in his other films, Troll and Pebble just don't interest me...

Siren wrote:. And Anastasia's story had most its roots in a live action movie made by Fox decades before. Story is very similar, and Bluth totally admits to plucking from that. More then anything, its an animated remake of that

Absolutely- Fox gave him the option of doing My Fair Lady or Anastasia, and he chose the latter (both being Fox films...apparently MFL was acquired by Fox after its initial release).

I haven't seen Titan A.E., but it's on my to-rent list... I don't think that it looks as good as Atlantis and Treasure Planet, but I think that I might like it. I remember reading about it back in the day, so it'd be nice to actually see.

I really like Anastasia, though, and being as how that's the only Bluth film I really remember much about, it's the only one I can discuss much about. I don't like Rasputin- I never have. He just isn't as realistic as the rest of the film (I don't remember how I feel about Bartok). I really like Anastasia and Dimitri, and the grandmother. Dimitri is cute. I like the music a lot, too, and I need to rebuy the CD, since mine has scratches. And about the film taking historical liberties- it turns out that Anastasia died along with her family, so I mean, the whole thing is a legend anyway.

Does anyone think I should move this to a different Don Bluth thread? Please offer suggestions.

I found a video of the entire gameplay of Don Bluth's Dragon's Lair II: Time Warp (which makes little sense as there's no actual lair of a dragon), and in it is the world of Alice in Wonderland. I like the character designs, in some ways perhaps more than those of Disney's version (the clothes of the characters, maybe Alice's hair). It even shows the Jabberwocky, who strangely breathes a word in smoke like Disney's Caterpillar!

It also shows the world of Egypt, Beethoven, and very strangely, Garden of Eden, apparently, with a winged man with an arrow or wand with a blue heart who is either God (no way) or...Eros, with all those other cupid cherubs. It's rather strange, like the Bible story mixed with a Greek myth.

Princess Daphne's mother, with Dirk and his children, reminds me of the latter half of Charles Perrault's Sleeping Beauty with the prince's ogress mother.

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/hsvX8YER8YQ" frameborder="0"></iframe>

This next one is a music video for the Scissor Sisters song "Mary" featuring scenes from what I would call a "sci-fi" version of the Rapunzel story animated by Don Bluth's studio, or himself, I don't know (it looks like his animation..but something's waaay off and veeery bad about it, maybe it was rushed). Wikipedia says Don Bluth planned a feature length version of Rapunzel that was shelved after the awful Pebble and the Penguin failure. In my opinion...or in fact, all the designs suck except maybe one or two nice or interesting things and some creative ideas including the whole owl thing. And I love seeing such a showcase of male anatomy, hehe.

Click here for the video.

Anyone have a copy of The Land Before Time Soundtrack? An American Tail is still a regular release, but TLBT is long gone. I never realized how much I liked that score, and now that I know it's out of print I want it more.

I want to be able to listen to it in album form, without having to watch the film, and I just can't wrap my head around paying $30.00-50.00 for a used cd (could build a James Horner collection with that!). This may be a reach, but could I work out a way to get a burned cd-r from someone?

Siren wrote:Neither Anastasia nor Pocohontas claimed to be telling the true story, but rather based on it in a fairytale form. And Anastasia's story had most its roots in a live action movie made by Fox decades before. Story is very similar, and Bluth totally admits to plucking from that. More then anything, its an animated remake of that

Historians bashed Pocohantas to death and yet they didn't say much about Anastasia even thou a lot of things were wrong. The 300 year celebration seen at the beginning of the movie was in 1913 not 1916 for example.

I have Secret of Nimh and Titan A. E. Don Bluth also did the animation for two arcade laser disc games Dragon's Lair and Space Ace. However he did not do the animation for the cartoon series based on them.

So does this mean they're not working on the animated version now?

Ryan Reynolds in Talks to Tackle Live-Action Adaptation of '80s Video Game 'Dragon's Lair' (Exclusive)
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat- ... ir-1279270

And to address my post above from many years ago...I have since rediscovered Bluth's films, and I adore them. Anastasia will always be my favorite, but Nimh, All Dogs, Fivel, Thumbelina, Rock-A-Doodle, Titan A.E.- I love them. And I have come to appreciate Rasputin and the animals in Thumbelina. (Wish we could forget some of our old posts...what was younger me doing with my life w/o Bluth movies I grew up on! I was so loyal & pro-Disney in their darker days...)