Favorite Don Bluth Film

[Disney's Divinity]

Discussion in the "kung fu panda" thread gave me the desire what most people consider their favorite of Don Bluth films. While a couple are horrible, most have their moments.

I think my personal favorite is The Land Before Time. I think this one made me cry more than TLK and, of course, much more than Bambi as far as the parent-death films go. It also has some of the greatest animation--I couldn’t possibly see the Disney of today achieving this, what with their corner-cutting and inattention to detail. An American Tail and Thumbelina are tied for my next favorite, the latter particularly shining in its finale (though “Let Me Be Your Wings” does border on being too sugary).

I also really enjoyed Titan A.E. as a child, although I never understood why they re-used Dimitre’s design. As for Anastasia, which so many people seem to find Don Bluth’s best, it is really a good film if you exorcise Rasputin from the story. He’s simply out-of-place and the climax is considerably weak.

So, how does everyone else feel about Don Bluth?

[supertalies]

That was a really hard decision! I did vote for Anastasia, though, because I really liked the songs! (and Dimitri and Anya, they re're such a lovely couple!)
Thumbelina comes second. (the story was cute)

I haven't seen all Don Bluth's movies, but from the one I've seen I liked Anastasia the most.

[BelleGirl]

I voted for The secret of Nihm because I was so impressed the first time I saw it. Land before Time would be the second.

I haven't seen all Don Bluth films, but of those I've seen mostly didn't do it for me: not Anastasia nor American Tale. I think both movies have story problems.
I also thought that Anastasia was wrong in the way it tried to mold a tragic family-history into a fluffy fairy tale. Come to think of it American tail was better in that respect - it had a message it took seriously. Still could not hold my attention enough to watch it all through.

[blackcauldron85]

As for Anastasia, which so many people seem to find Don Bluth’s best, it is really a good film if you exorcise Rasputin from the story. He’s simply out-of-place and the climax is considerably weak.

I agree. I voted for "Anastasia". I haven't seen the "An American Tail", "The Land Before Time", and "All Dogs Go to Heaven" since I was little, so I don't remember too much about them. TLBT definitely made me cry when I was little, though...come to think of it, so did ADGTH...

Overall, I like the music in "Anastasia", and I like Anastasia & Dimitri, so I voted for that movie!

[Flanger-Hanger]

I voted Anastasia, but Titan A.E. and The Secret Of NIMH are also really great movies. As for The Land Before Time, give me the extended intended version with all it's "child-traumatizing" scenes and then I might think more highly of that film.

[Balto123]

I voted All Dogs Go to Heaven, the first Bluth film I ever saw and the one that left the biggest impression on me. The heart, the music, the characters, everything about this film is perfect.

[starlioness]

hmm.. I don't know which one's my favorite.. but I wouldn't touch Troll with a 20-foot pole (rhyme!).

I recently started re-watching American Tail,Land Before Time, and All Dogs.. just made me realize how beautiful those films were..

especially American Tail and it's sequel (Don bluth wasn't involved in that one.. ) but at least they brought back James Horner's great music..and Jimmy Stewart rocks..

I kinda forgot how scary some parts of Tail were.. from the monstorous sea.. to the "secwet" weapon.. wow..amazing..

though it's a wonder why Bluth's films of the 80's and all these characters that looked like they were bathed in multi-colored soda pop ..

eh, more later..

[buffalobill]

I voted for the Secret of NIMH although it was tough not voting for Anastasia (a very close call).

[Disney's Divinity]

My ranking:

1. The Land Before Time
2. Thumbelina
3. Titan A.E.
4. An American Tail
5. The Secret of NIMH
6. All Dogs Go to Heaven
7. Anastasia
8. A Troll in Central Park
9. Rock-a-Doodle
10. Bartok the Magnificent
11. The Pebble and the Penguin

The Land Before Time is actually one of my favorite animated films, period, and my opinions on it mostly haven’t changed since I got older. Of all the child-loses-parent films out there, this one always impacted me the most, much more than Bambi, Dumbo, or even TLK (although Mufasa’s death scene is an insta-cry for me). Love nearly all the characters, the animation is amazing, and the plot is interesting (to me). The funny thing is I read that originally, the animal character wouldn’t talk and a lot of violence was cut and/or edited out of the film. It’s too bad this film isn’t Disney, considering I’d like to see some of that cut footage, just for an idea. That said, the film is pretty violent just the way it is. The scenes with the T-Rex are pretty terrifying still. And I love Diana Ross’s song that carries the film out to the credits.

I know Thumbelina is one of those films that really divide people, and I can see all the flaws, but the good moments are extremely good (to me). I also think Jodi Benson’s performances here (Soon, Let Me Be Your Wings) actually trump her performance in “Part of Your World” and reprise, although TLM songs are much better. The final scene in which Thumbelina sings at the Vale of the Fairies, and Cornelius and her are reunited is one of my favorite fairy tale endings. The wedding is gorgeous as well; I’ve noticed we rarely see the wedding itself (walking down the aisle/etc.) in Disney films. I also like Thumbelina’s mother andher reprise of “Soon,” and the fairies, too. Everything else is pretty awful, I’ll admit (the beetles, the toads, the Mole, and the Field-mouse), but I get a kick out of Charo and Carol Channing anyway.

I actually haven’t seen Titan A.E. in a long time (will have to find it), but it was one of my favorites as a child for some reason. I think I liked the idea of a backup copy of the Earth stored away somewhere. Nearly everything else I can think of about the film is actually pretty bad, but I love the scene where the Earth is destroyed at the beginning and then re-created at the end.

Personally, I think An American Tail/The Secret of NIMH are Bluth’s strongest films, along with TLBT. All Dogs Go to Heaven is also a decent film to me, though I always remember hating how cutesy the little girl character is (I think this is one of the main issues with a lot of Bluth films--an overdose in cutesiness).

Anastasia and A Troll in Central Park are both severely flawed to me, but I enjoy parts about both of them. Bartok and TP&TP are flat-out awful though. There’s no redeeming those two for me.

[Dr Frankenollie]

I have seen very few Don Bluth films in full, and the only ones I can really remember are Anastasia and Bartok the Magnificent, both of which I could do without remembering. Christopher Lloyd is somewhat enjoyable in the former, yet both mostly seem to be really lacklustre Disney Renaissance feature knock-offs.

[Chernabog_Rocks]

Oh Don Bluth. So many films, so much nostalgia. I'm going to share my thoughts off the top of my head, since I haven't really sat and watched any of these films recently and can't fully put my definite thoughts into place. So a few things are subject to change.

I haven't seen Bartok the Magnificent, despite owning it on the Anastasia disc. I have not seen Thumbelina in forever, but I -do- remember that Thumbelina was quite stupid for not asking the bird to fly her home. I also have not seen Titan A.E, An American Tale, or Rock-A-Doodle in forever. Leaving those off of my list, my tentative ranking of them would look something like this:

1. The Land Before Time
2. The Secret of NIMH
3. All Dogs Go to Heaven
4. Anastasia
5. The Pebble and the Penguin
6. A Troll in Central Park


A Troll in Central Park is one of those films where I just want to brutally pulverize the main character. I used to have this on VHS, but seem to have lost it at some point in all of the times I've had to move. Not so sure it's a loss. I remember cheering the villain on though.

Pebble and the Penguin is odd. I don't overly care for the main character, he has that Too Nice behavior. I have always loved the scene with the leopard seal, and the orcas however. Those two scenes are some of my favorite overall from Bluth's works.

Anastasia, is much like Pocahontas for me. The lack of historical accuracy doesn't ruin the film for me. I really enjoy the songs from this film, though Rasputin's song is hit and miss. Listening to it without the scene playing, it sounds pretty good (imo), but when you see the actual scene then it devolves into failure. My friend and I still sing along to a few of the songs when we watch it, or while we're wandering around town.

All Dogs Go To Heaven was one of those films that I've only seen a few times, and mostly when I was younger. I've only seen it once in the last ten years, and it was just a couple years ago after I bought it on dvd. It felt like a slight mindfuck to me. I don't really remember a lot of the film, and what I do remember just makes me go "wtf." Despite this, I still enjoyed it. The film was darker than most that I've seen, for animation, and I remember being entertained the whole way through without wanting to kill the heroes myself, unlike Troll in Central Park.

Secret of NIMH is much like All Dogs Go to Heaven for me. It's darker, it's entertaining, and I really enjoyed it, but I only remember parts of the film so it winds up being a "wtf" memory for me. The vicious cat, the rats, and electricity, the crazy owl... it just meshes together for me into a weird, incomplete puzzle.

and finally, Land Before Time. This is the film I've seen recently out of all of Bluth's work. I simply love it, and it's one of my favorite non-Disney animated films, and quite likely in the Top 10. I really enjoy the characters, and hate to see how badly they've devolved in all of those god awful sequels. The T-Rex scenes are probably among my favorites. When the T-Rex wakes up and stares at Cera(?) it reminds me of Monstro in Pinocchio.

Annnd... that's the best I can do at the moment. I really need to re-watch these and give much better blurbs.

[PixarFan2006]

I have seen very few Don Bluth films in full

I am pretty much the same way. I have only seen 4 films all the way through (The Land Before Time, An American Tail, All Dogs Go to Heaven, and Rock-a-Doodle).

[Elladorine]

I've always loved The Secret of NIMH. They used to show it on the USA network repeatedly when I was a kid. I remember that particular channel on our cable had picture issues, and having a lot of red on-screen caused static so that bit with the stone was painful to watch (not a Bluth film of course, but the same thing would happen when they showed The Last Unicorn because of the red bull scenes).

Well ok, I was getting a little off topic there. Anyway, I also read the original book several times when I was young, and I eventually read the book series that was continued by the author's daughter. There weren't many stories that captured my imagination more as a kid, and I was disappointed that the film changed the story so much and killed off characters that lived on through the books for more adventures (Nicodemus continues to lead Thorn Valley, Jenner is not the stereotypical power-hungry bad guy and actually becomes fearful of humans and technology).

On a side note, the sequel sort of tried to follow the second book, but it was absolutely atrocious. Probably one of the worst animated films I've ever made myself sit through, despite (or perhaps because of) my inner child wanting to see some assemblance of their lives at Thorn Valley.


I'm still a fan of All Dogs Go to Heaven, I think partially because it's so dark and kid-friendly adult. I don't think I even realized what a bad guy Charlie really is until I watched this more recently; of course he does redeem himself in the end (and I suppose the point of any decent story is watching the characters change) but it seems like a pretty big gamble for an animated film from 1989. The cutesy-ness of Anne Marie never bothered me, but perhaps the tragic, heartbreaking story behind Judith Barsi twists the character for me beyond what the screen intended (she also did Ducky's voice in The Land Before Time).


I haven't seen The Land Before Time in forever! I played my VHS quite a bit, even though I had a lot of problems watching death scenes back in junior high. For some odd reason I never did upgrade to DVD, but that was around the time the sequels were kind of ruining it for me, as the after-school program I led watched them quite frequently; one of the other teachers liked having the kids watch them because of their good morals, but I'd tune them out completely.


Anastasia has its flaws, but it has some wonderful touches and I enjoy it overall. I love the look and feel of it, and if I completely disregard the real story it's based on, I can enjoy it as a fairy tale and especially love how they handle the Once Upon a December sequence. I've yet to see Bartok; back when I bought it, it wasn't a bonus feature and had to be purchased separately. I remember some friend saying it might be worth the $5.


I haven't watched An American Tail in years, even though it's sitting right over there on my shelf. I should dig that and the sequel out (some say it's actually a better film than the original). I was 10 during the whole Fieval craze and remember seeing a large plushie of the character hiding in one of the closets for Christmas. I'd seen them at Sears and couldn't imagine anyone spending $25 whole dollars on me . . . but to my extreme disappointment, I never did get the plushie; my brother had bought it for his girlfriend, not me. Oh, the things I remember. But I digress . . . I really need to revisit the films.


Titan AE: I barely remember the film and it was one of the few DVD's I ever sold, so I guess that's saying something? But to be fair I probably wasn't in the mood to watch much of anything when I bought it. I wonder if it's still on Netflix . . .


I remember being all excited when reading about the upcoming Thumbelina in Comics Scene magazine (yes, we couldn't rely on the internet back then for our entertainment news, we had to read geeky magazines. ) And then I eventually watched it. I don't remember it very well. Should rewatch that one too.


I had the VHS of Rock a Doodle, but it just rubbed me the wrong way. I think Edmund's voice bothered me more than anything else, and I remember absolutely nothing about the story other than the sun goes up without Chanticleer and there's some sexy chicken character? I need to revisit it.


I've yet to see The Pebble and the Penguin and A Troll in Central Park.

[Disney's Divinity]

Well ok, I was getting a little off topic there. Anyway, I also read the original book several times when I was young, and I eventually read the book series that was continued by the author's daughter. There weren't many stories that captured my imagination more as a kid, and I was disappointed that the film changed the story so much and killed off characters that lived on through the books for more adventures (Nicodemus continues to lead Thorn Valley, Jenner is not the stereotypical power-hungry bad guy and actually becomes fearful of humans and technology).

On a side note, the sequel sort of tried to follow the second book, but it was absolutely atrocious. Probably one of the worst animated films I've ever made myself sit through, despite (or perhaps because of) my inner child wanting to see some assemblance of their lives at Thorn Valley.

I've noticed the sequels to Bluth films have been almost worse than the Disney sequels (TLBT, NIMH, and Bartok--which only borrows Bartok from Anastasia, but is still awful so I included it.)

I read the first book only a few months ago. I liked it enough that I read it in almost one sitting. I didn't read the sequels because I read they were written by the daughter, like you said. Are they any good?

I'm still a fan of All Dogs Go to Heaven, I think partially because it's so dark and kid-friendly adult. I don't think I even realized what a bad guy Charlie really is until I watched this more recently; of course he does redeem himself in the end (and I suppose the point of any decent story is watching the characters change) but it seems like a pretty big gamble for an animated film from 1989. The cutesy-ness of Anne Marie never bothered me, but perhaps the tragic, heartbreaking story behind Judith Barsi twists the character for me beyond what the screen intended (she also did Ducky's voice in The Land Before Time).

You have just tainted both films for me forever...

Honestly, despite the cutesiness featured in a lot of Bluth films, he also has more darkness than many Disney films. The dream Charlie has of going to Hell... Plus, the scene when he escapes back to the real world with "You can never come back" echoing in the background always sent chills up my back as a child. Of any animated film, ADGTH is one of the ones I really was kind of scared of. NIMH freaked me out somewhat, too, near the ending and in the tractor scene. I think I watched the sequel to ADGTH more than the original, which is bad of me. For some reason, I liked their portrayal of the Devil (of course, a cat. ) and some of the sound effects in the climax are creepy, but it's not very good overall.

I haven't seen The Land Before Time in forever! I played my VHS quite a bit, even though I had a lot of problems watching death scenes back in junior high. For some odd reason I never did upgrade to DVD, but that was around the time the sequels were kind of ruining it for me, as the after-school program I led watched them quite frequently; one of the other teachers liked having the kids watch them because of their good morals, but I'd tune them out completely.

The TV show was even worse than the sequels, if it's possible to imagine that. I believe I watched most all the sequels to TLBT as a child, just because I loved the original characters so much. Even then, I realized they weren't as good, but I still wanted more. My parents really hated it, just because there were around 12 sequels to this one film. Partly, I think I enjoyed it because it showed more of Littlefoot's grandparents.

Anastasia has its flaws, but it has some wonderful touches and I enjoy it overall. I love the look and feel of it, and if I completely disregard the real story it's based on, I can enjoy it as a fairy tale and especially love how they handle the Once Upon a December sequence. I've yet to see Bartok; back when I bought it, it wasn't a bonus feature and had to be purchased separately. I remember some friend saying it might be worth the $5.

$1-$5 dollars is reasonable. I have to admit, I enjoyed it in a this-is-awful kind of way. I love the scene/song where the Queen becomes a dragon bit by bit without realizing it.

You talked about Netflix--that may be the better way to go.

I remember being all excited when reading about the upcoming Thumbelina in Comics Scene magazine (yes, we couldn't rely on the internet back then for our entertainment news, we had to read geeky magazines. ) And then I eventually watched it. I don't remember it very well. Should rewatch that one too.

I wouldn't expect much because of my ranking. I've noticed a large number of people hate the movie. I completely understand all the complaints, and most are valid, but I still love the film for some reason. I love Kenneth Mars playing Jodi Benson's father-in-law in this movie; close one.

I had the VHS of Rock a Doodle, but it just rubbed me the wrong way. I think Edmund's voice bothered me more than anything else, and I remember absolutely nothing about the story other than the sun goes up without Chanticleer and there's some sexy chicken character? I need to revisit it.

Yes, there's a sexy chick. And Chanticleer looks like Elvis. The only thing good about Rock-a-Doodle is the villain, the Grand Duke of the Owls. It's really too bad that character wasn't in one of Don Bluth's better films, since he deserves to be better-known. He's my favorite of all Bluth's villainous characters. This film is vaguely similar to The Pagemaster to me, if you've seen that. What with a little boy sorting out his issues via an animated dream conflict.

[Chernabog_Rocks]

The biggest problem with Thumbelina is that damn bird. >.< HE CAN FLY! Shut up and give the damn girl a ride home!

They should have just taken the character out of the film and, poof, problem solved. At least then she has a reason to keep wandering about and meeting the weird characters etc.

[Disney's Divinity]

and finally, Land Before Time. This is the film I've seen recently out of all of Bluth's work. I simply love it, and it's one of my favorite non-Disney animated films, and quite likely in the Top 10. I really enjoy the characters, and hate to see how badly they've devolved in all of those god awful sequels. The T-Rex scenes are probably among my favorites. When the T-Rex wakes up and stares at Cera(?) it reminds me of Monstro in Pinocchio.

Yes, the T-Rex is very well-done, and Monstro is a great comparison since they're both animals rather than villains exactly. It's interesting to me that Bluth actually had a very different film with TLBT before it was all changed. It was supposed to be a non-talking film, and was supposedly much more violent (wow... ). I've noticed that a lot of his films were edited to be less violent, including Rock-a-Doodle (which I just read had to edit out a scene of the Grand Duke eating a skunk pie; the girl chick also had her breasts edited to be less graphic. ). It's too bad we're never going to have a way of seeing what could've been.

[Elladorine]

Divinity: Definitely check out the NIMH sequels if you get the chance. I don't think I've read them since high school so I might see them a bit differently now, but I do remember enjoying them a lot and can still recall a lot of the detail that initially drew me in. I really should revisit them, actually.

Judith Barsi . . . it's hard to believe that something like that could even happen, especially to someone so young.

Some people think I'm nuts when I point out that Bluth films often have darker elements than we might expect from animated films (I guess I could make the same argument about certain Disney films, but I digress), so I'm glad I'm not the only one to see it. I need to revisit several of these movies now actually.

I have seen The Pagemaster. It's been ages though, probably not since it first came out to VHS. I remember Christopher Lloyd and Whoopi Goldberg. And oh yeah, Macauly Culkin. *puts hands on face and screams* What I remember most clearly is the trailer for it that appeared on a VHS, probably on Ferngully? Hmm, or maybe I got something switched around in my head. As for Rock-a-Doodle, some of it is coming back to me as I read about it. I can actually hear Peepers (Sandy Duncan) in my head, even though I think I'd completely forgotten about the character until now. I remember it seemed like a big deal Glen Campbell was doing Chanticleer's voice, simply he was someone my dad liked, which made me somewhat familiar with him. And GAH, I forgot Phil Harris did Patou's voice! How could I have forgotten that?! The two films do remind me of one another, especially the color palette, of all things.

I am so in the mood to watch The Land Before Time again. I almost found myself buying a 3-pack of Don Bluth movies at Walmart, but I already owned the two movies it came with and would prefer waiting on Blu-rays if possible anyway.

This hasn't really been brought up here (since it's not an actual movie) but I always found Dragon's Lair very interesting. I remember peeping up at the second screen in awe when I was a kid over being able to "control" a cartoon.

[Elladorine]

While I'm thinking of it, I got curious about the edits on Goldie. I found this page in which someone posted a cel set-up of Goldie before and after the additional layer of the feathers. I corrected the perspective and put the images side by side for a direct comparison for the heck of it.



I really hate seeing edits of this nature, but I guess it is what it is.