(1985)
Dir - Ted Berman/Richard Rich
Overall: MEH
Disney's twenty-fifth animated feature and most expensive to date, The Black Cauldron was also their first to be recorded in Dolby Stereo, use APT, (the animation photo transfer process), receive a PG rating, and feature computer generated images. Production was delayed for a number of years as it went through various character design phases, with the ending ultimately getting changed to be less frightening for its targeted, younger audience. The resulting film is lushly animated as well as any from the era with a strong voice cast including John Hurt as the main baddie and highly recognizable, opening narration from John Huston, yet the story is not as engaging as the high-end production deserves. Part of the reason may be because it is a melding of the first two novels in Lloyd Alexander's The Chronicles of Prydain series and has a difficult time juggling as well as omitting a multitude of characters and side arcs. What is left here is simple enough to follow, (good guys want to destroy the evil cauldron of the title so Hurt's The Horned King cannot get his hands on it), but the non-villainous characters are mostly cutesy stereotypes and the actually villainous ones disappointingly one-note and boring. A pleasure to look at surely, but that is about it.
(1985)
Dir - Will Vinton
Overall: GOOD
The only theatrically released, full-length directorial effort from claymation animator Will Vinton, The Adventures of Mark Twain is one of the most unique in its field. Written by Vinton's significant other and frequent collaborator Susan Shadburne, it somehow turns a single, famous Haley's comet quote from Mr. Twain into a bizarre, almost anthology-style, hot air balloon-ship trek through several of the author's works. The details are ingenious as Huck Finn, Tom Sawyer, and Becky Thatcher join two different versions of Twain, (one light, one dark), as the story offers up musings on the afterlife and the fable of creation itself. For horror buffs, the most memorable scene is a thoroughly surreal interpretation of The Chronicles of Young Satan where the gang encounter the fallen angel who takes on the appearance of a morphing theater mask on a stick for a face, with a half-armored, half-earth bound body that proceeds to animate and then murder a small city of clay figures. There are a handful of other freaky bits as well, plus the entire production is consistently inventive. Most of all though and typical of Vinton's work, it is visually spectacular and coupled with its singular subject matter and overall presentation, this is easily a fantasy/children's film to be championed.
(1988)
Dir - Greg Ford/Friz Freleng/Chuck Jones/Terry Lennon/Robert McKimson
Overall: GREAT
Warner Bros. full-length compilation film Daffy Duck's Quackbusters is significant for its horror slant as far as material goes, as well as for being the final theatrical production that the legendary Mel Blanc still provided the voices for. Two new shorts "The Night of the Living Duck", (featuring crooning from none other than Mel Torme standing in for Blanc), and "The Duxorcist" join other renowned ones from the Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies, 40s, 50s, and 60s heyday. They are all linked by a consistent narrative of Daffy Duck inheriting millions of dollars from J.P. Cubish, (1948's "Daffy Dilly"), and starting his own paranormal investigation business. With all of the recycled footage from different animators and under different directors in tow, one might think that the thematic through-line would come off like a slap-dash effort. Instead though, it all melds seamlessly with everything here, making it far more successful as a plot-driven narrative as opposed to merely a loose anthology collection. The fact that the Warner Bros' cartoon output was exceptional anyway already makes this a fool-proof endeavor, but the writing is still hilarious with the new stuff thrown in and Blanc was of course firing on all cylinders even this late in the game.
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