THE ANIMATED MOVIE GUIDE

Jerry Beck

Contributing Writers Martin Goodman Andrew Leal W. R. Miller Fred Patten

An A Cappella Book Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Beck, Jerry. The animated movie guide / Jerry Beck.— 1st ed. p. cm. “An A Cappella book.” Includes index. ISBN 1-55652-591-5 1. Animated films—Catalogs. I. Title. NC1765.B367 2005 016.79143’75—dc22 2005008629

Front cover design: Leslie Cabarga Interior design: Rattray Design All images courtesy of Cartoon Research Inc.

Front cover images (clockwise from top left): Photograph from the motion picture Shrek ™ & © 2001 DreamWorks L.L.C. and PDI, reprinted with permission by DreamWorks Animation; Photograph from the motion picture Ghost in the Shell 2 ™ & © 2004 DreamWorks L.L.C. and PDI, reprinted with permission by DreamWorks Animation; Mutant Aliens © Bill Plympton; Gulliver’s Travels.

Back cover images (left to right): Johnny the Giant Killer, Gulliver’s Travels, The Snow Queen

© 2005 by Jerry Beck All rights reserved First edition Published by A Cappella Books An Imprint of Chicago Review Press, Incorporated 814 North Franklin Street Chicago, Illinois 60610 ISBN 1-55652-591-5 Printed in the United States of America 5 4 3 2 1 Contents

Acknowledgments vii

Introduction ix

About the Author and Contributors’ Biographies xiii

Chronological List of Animated Features xv

Alphabetical Entries 1

Appendix 1: Limited Release Animated Features 325

Appendix 2: Top 60 Animated Features Never Theatrically Released in the United States 327

Appendix 3: Top 20 Live-Action Films Featuring Great Animation 333

Index 335 A a ro n ’s Magic V i l l age (9/19/97) Avalanche Re l e a s- ing. 83 mins. Director: Albert Hanan Kaminski. Pro- ducers: Dora Benousilio, Peter Volke. Voices: Fyvush Finkel (Narrator), Tommy Michaels (Aaron), Tova h Feldshuh (Aynt Sarah, Zlatch the Goat, Ma t c h m a k e r ) , Ronn Carroll (Uncle Shlemiel), Harry Goz (Gronam Ox), Ivy Austin (The Lantuch).

Consumer Tips: ✰✰ MPAA Rating: G. Jewish folk- tale based on a story by Isaac Bashevis Singer.

Story: Orphan boy Aaron is sent to live with his aunt and uncle in the tiny village of Chelm, a town blessed with an overdose of foolishness. When a jealous sor- cerer, using a Book of Marvels he stole from Chelm, conjures a destructive Golem to destroy the town, it’s The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad up to Aaron to use his wits to save his family and (10/5/49) Di s n e y - R KO. 68 mins. Di rectors: Jack Kin- friends. ney, Clyde Geronimi, James Algar. Production super- visor: Ben Sharpsteen. Voices: Bing Crosby (Ichabod), Comments: Aaron’s Magic Village is an adaptation of Basil Rathbone (Narrator), Eric Blore (Mr. Toad), Pat four fables from Isaac Bashevis Si n g e r’s Stories for Chil- O ’ Malley (Cyril), Claud Allister (Water Rat), John Pl o- dren and was put into production under the title The y a rdt (Prosecutor), Collin Campbell (Mole), Campbell Real Schlemiel. The resulting film is sincere and has its Grant (Angus MacBadger), Ollie Wallace (Winky). good moments but is not a great work. Or i g i n a l l y, Aaron’s Magic Village was produced in France as a tel- Consumer T i p s : ✰✰✰ Based on The Legend of Sl e e py evision project. Ho l l ow by Washington Irving and The Wind in the To enhance the production, director Kaminski Willows by Kenneth Grahame. b rought in some notable talents, including actors Tova h Feldshuh, Ha r ry Goz, and Fyvush Finkel, we l l - k n ow n Story: Two classic stories told in vintage Disney style. composer Michel Legrand (The Um b rellas of Cherbourg, Basil Rathbone narrates the whimsical adve n t u res of Summer of ’42), and lyricist Sheldon Ha rnick (Fiddler Mr. Toad, an eccentric character with a motor mania, on the Roof ). U.S. animation veteran Buzz Potamkin who is put on trial for stealing a car. Bing Cro s by (Be renstain Be a r s, Ha n n a - Barbera) provided special ani- relates the tale of Ichabod Crane, a New En g l a n d mation sequences that enliven the rather pedestrian school teacher, and his encounter with a legendary script and directorial pace. Sadly, the Golem sequence Headless Horseman. poorly combines computer graphics with traditional hand-drawn cartooning, distracting our attention fro m Comments: The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad the story’s continuity. was Di s n e y’s final package movie of the 1940s. It com- The film was coproduced by Columbia Tr i St a r bines two we l l - k n own stories under the theme of “Tw o Home Video, and given a billboard release in the Fabulous Characters,” which was the original working United States by Avalanche Releasing (a division of title of the feature. Both stories reinforce the Disney Cinepix Film Pro p e rties, which later became Lion’s studio’s leadership at the time, in the skills of anima- Gate Films). (JB) tion, storytelling, and character animation. The Wind in the Willows segment contains some of the funniest Additional Cre d i t s : S c reen play: Albert Hanan Kaminski, bits of cartoon acting and exaggeration—as To a d’s Jacqueline Galia Be n o u s i l i o. Music: Michel Legrand. Ly r i c s : motor mania has him going insane with the idea of a Sheldon Harnick. wild ride on a road to “n ow h e re in part i c u l a r.” T h e

1 2 T h e A d v e n t u r e s o f I c h a b o d a n d M r. To a d

Sl e e py Ho l l ow segment is rich with atmosphere and Consumer Tips: ✰✰✰ MPAA Rating: G. Based on nuance. Ichabod’s encounter with the Headless Horse- Tom Sawyer Abroad by Mark Twain and several of his man (animated by Frank Thomas and John Sibley) is short stories. ranked among the finest Disney animation sequences in the studio’s history. S t o r y : Ma rk Twain takes off for his final adve n t u re, in The studio was gearing up to tackle a full-length a riverboat propelled by a balloon, to intercept Ha l l e y’s narrative again with its subsequent production of Cin- Comet and reunite with his late wife. Tom Sa w ye r, d e re l l a (1950). These two half-hour-length tales cer- Becky Thatcher, and Huckleberry Finn stow away and tainly proved the studio was up for the task. The two are soon enchanted by Twain’s most beloved stories. stories we re later released separately as theatrical short s , as The Legend of Sl e e py Ho l l owa n d The Madcap Ad ve n- C o m m e n t s : The Ad ve n t u res of Ma rk Tw a i n was an tures of Mr. Toad. (JB) ambitious feature-length film by Will Vinton, using his trademark stop-motion Claymation process. T h e Additional Cre d i t s : Di recting animators: Frank T h o m a s , film was three and a half years in the making and was Ol i ver Johnson, Wolfgang Reitherman, Milt Kahl, John Louns- self-financed using profits from his studio’s commerc i a l berry, Ward Kimball. Background artists: Ray Huffine, Merle work. C ox, Art Riley, Brice Mack. Layout artists: Charles Ph i l i p p i , Vinton staked a claim in the industry when his first Tom Codderick, Thor Putnam, Hugh Hennessy, Lance Nolley, film, Closed Mondays (1974, codirected by Bob Gar- Al Zinnen. Effects animators: George Rowley, Jack Boyd. Ani- diner), won an Oscar for Best Animated Short. That mators: Fred Mo o re, John Si b l e y, Ma rc Davis, Hal Ambro, Ha r- was followed by several subsequent Oscar nominations vey Toombs, Hal King, Hugh Fr a s e r, Don Lusk. St o r y: Erd m a n (Rip Van Winkle, 1978, The Creation, 1981, The Great Pe n n e r, Winston Hi b l e r, Joe Rinaldi, Ted Sears, Homer Br i g h t - C o g n i t o, 1982) and several award-winning commerc i a l s man, Ha r ry Re e ves. Music/lyrics: Don Raye, Gene De Pa u l , (The California Raisins). Frank Churchill, Charles Wolcott, Larry Morey, Ray Gilbert. Vi n t o n’s wife, Susan Shadburne, re s e a rched Ma rk Twain extensively for the scre e n p l a y, using Tw a i n’s ow n w o rds from his autobiography for the character dialogue. Vinton and Shadburne adapted Tom Sa w yer Ab road as a d e p a rt u re point for the feature-length screenplay and incorporated into the narrative several Twain short sto- ries (“The Di a ry of Adam and Eve,” “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County,” “The My s t e r i o u s St r a n g e r”). A few of these we re created (and later released) as stand-alone shorts. These sequences we re undoubtedly produced first, in case funding for the fea- t u re-length project failed to materialize. The film’s highlight is James Whitmore’s vocal per- formance as Mark Twain (Whitmore was best known for his signature roles as Ha r ry Truman and Wi l l Rogers). He was filmed while performing his lines, as The A d ve n t u res of Mark Twain ( 1 / 1 7 / 8 6 ) reference footage for the animators to study. The final At l a n t i c Releasing. 90 mins. Pro d u c e r / d i rector: Wi l l character design of Mark Twain in the film is a cross Vinton. Voices: James Whitmore (Mark Twain), Chris between the actual facial features of Mark Twain and Ritchie (Tom Sa w yer ), Ga ry Krug (Huck Fi n n ) , those of the actor Whitmore. (JB) Michele Mariana (Becky), John Morrison (Ad a m ) , C a rol Edelman (Eve), Dallas Mc Kennon (Jim Sm i l e y ) , Additional Cre d i t s : S c reenplay: Susan Shadburne. Exe c u t i ve Herb Smith (The Stranger), Marley Stone (Aunt Po l l y ) , p roducer: Hugh Ti r rell. Music: Billy Scream. Principal charac- Wilbur Vincent (The Mysterious Stranger). ter animation: Ba r ry Bruce, William L. Fiesterman, Tom Ga s e k , T h e A d v e n t u r e s o f P r i n c e A c h m e d 3

Ma rk Gustafson, Craig Ba rtlett, Bruce Mc Kean. Set design: steals the show with his flowe ry actions, colorful feath- Joan Gratz, Don Me rkt. Claypaint: Joan Gratz. Animators: ers, and large top hat. Don Me rkt, Will Vinton, Matt Wu e rk e r. Title layouts: Ma r i- The movie’s plot is played out as if a dream. The lyn Zo r n a d o. c ro s s - e yed king has a sumptuous castle in the sky 1,999 floors above his darkened kingdom. The ruler is in love The A d ve n t u res of Mr. Wo n d e r b i rd ( 2 / 1 / 5 7 ) with a shepherdess in one of the paintings in his gallery, Fine Arts Films. 63 mins. Di rector: Paul Gr i m a u l t . and after midnight (just like in several of the old Mer- Producer: Andre Sa r rut. Voices (English dub): Pe t e r rie Melodies cartoons) the paintings come to life. The Us t i n ov ( M r. Wo n d e r b i rd), Claire Bloom (The Sh e p- s h e p h e r dess and her love r, the chimney-sweep (in h e rdess), Denholm Elliott (The Chimney Sweep), Ma x another painting alongside), spend most of the film on Adrian (The King), Alex Clunes (The Blind Ma n ) , the run from the king (a portrait of whom comes to life Cecil Trouncer (The Statue), Philip Stainton (Chief of and disposes of the real king) and the royal policemen Police), Ha rc o u rt Williams (The Old Begger), Jo a n (who at one point sprouts bat wings to pursue the Heal (The Killer), Frank Muir (Commentator). pair). It gets even stranger as the lovers find refuge among 1 Consumer T i p s : ✰ ✰ ⁄2 Based on Hans Christian the poor, handicapped people of the town, who dwell Andersen’s Shepherdess and the Chimney-Sweep. in the kingdom’s lower depths and have never seen the sun, nor birds. Wonderbird leads a revolt that involves Story: In the kingdom of Upandownia, a cross-eyed dancing lions and the king’s giant ro b o t — e ve n t u a l l y tyrant king loves a charming shepherdess who is alre a d y freeing the townspeople and uniting the shepherdess in love with a poor chimney sweep. Aided by a wily and the chimney-sweep. m o c k i n g b i rd, the lovers escape to the lower city, where In 1967 Paul Grimault bought back the film’s orig- the bird instigates a re volt and destroys the royal palace inal negative, stripped it of all the footage not his ow n , with the help of the king’s secret weapon—a giant and began work on completing the film as he originally robot. envisioned it. He completed the newly revised version in 1979 and began an international release in 1980. It Comments: A bizarre, but delightful, early animated was re v i ewe d in the April 16, 1980 issue of Va r i e t y feature from France. The film was dubbed in England under the title The King and the Mockingbird with an and the English language version re c e i ved a limited 87-minute running time. This latter version never had U.S. theatrical release in 1957. a U.S. theatrical release. (JB) Producer Andre Sa r rut and dire c t o r / c owriter Pa u l Grimault we re well known in France for their animated Additional Cre d i t s : S c reenplay: Jacques Pre ve rt, Paul Gi m a u l t . commercials and short films made through their com- Music/lyrics: Joseph Losma. Exe c u t i ve producer: Anatole de pany Les Gemeaux, founded in 1936. In 1946 they Grunwald. Editor: Gi l b e r t Natot. Sound editor: Ann Chegwid- e m b a rked upon a feature-length film production based den. Di recting animator: Henri Lacam. Animators: Pi e r re on Hans Christian Andersen’s story Sh e p h e rdess and the Watrin, Jacques Vausseur. English dub director: Pierre Rouve. C h i m n e y - Swe e p. Years of effort, trial, and error took Coloring supervisor: Etienne Larouche. This film is also know n their toll on the filmmakers—and under pre s s u re fro m simply as Wonderbird or Mr. Wonderbird—as well as The Curi- their distributor they were forced to release the film in ous Mr. Wonderbird, The King and the Bird, The King and Mr. 1953. Bi rd, The King and the Mo c k i n g b i rd—and under its French title, The filmmakers we re unhappy with the film. La Bergere et Le Ramoneur. They felt it was incomplete and disowned it, but the critics and public saw it and hailed it as a gre a t The A d ve n t u res of Prince A c h m e d ( 9 / 3 / 2 6 ) s u r realist work—and the first true Eu ropean animated UFA. 65 mins. Director: Lotte Reiniger. feature. The film as released is charming, but disjointed. Consumer T i p s : ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ Based on stories fro m However, the animation is lush and Mr. Wonderbird The Arabian Ni g h t s . Mild violence and adult 4 T h e A d v e n t u r e s o f P r i n c e A c h m e d

situations. This is a silent film, in black and white In 1923, at the age of 23, Reiniger began work on (though the recent DVD release re s t o res the original The Adventures of Prince Achmed, more than a decade color tints). The release date listed above is the b e f o re Di s n e y’s Sn ow White and the Se ven Dwarf s original German release date. (1937). Prince Achmed tells its story eloquently, with great style and visual flair. Grey tones and color tints are used effectively to heighten drama. The animation of the lead characters has personality, and special effects (to heighten the magical elements of the story) are wonderfully conceived. Reiniger cut her figures from card b o a rd or thin lead, and each limb was cut separately and joined with wire hinges. Walter Ruttman and Be r thold Ba rtosch we re experimental animators who created the vo l c a n o e s , w a ves, clouds, and magic fight between the sorc e rer and the witch, becoming the world’s first effects animators. Musician Wolfgang Zeller wrote a score for the film concurrently with its production. The original music has been restored to the DVD release. The Adventures of Prince Achmed was completed in S t o r y : Prince Achmed is tricked by a sinister magician 1926, but no film distributor in Germany would take into riding a magical horse that will fly him to his it on. Composer Zeller obtained permission to use a doom. Instead, Achmed learns how to control the concert hall to stage a premiere showing. The reviews horse and takes off on a series of adventures in foreign were ecstatic; the New York Times ran a huge story on lands. He fights a Fi r e Mountain Witch, explore s the film pre v i ew in July 1926. A theater in Paris picked China, and woos a princess—and ultimately defeats up the film and played it for almost a year. It slowly the magician. began receiving bookings throughout the world. Its first known U.S. showing was Fe b r u a r y 21, Comments: The Adventures of Prince Achmed is a very 1931, at Town Hall in New Yo r k. The film’s U.S. unique film. It is the first animated feature film ever rights we re originally picked up by the Un i versity Fi l m made. It is a silhouette film (stop motion black paper Foundation of Ha rva rd, who gave the film a platform cutouts animated frame by frame against a white back- release through schools, museums, and specialized art d rop), and it was animated and directed by a woman— theaters. (J B ) r a re for any film in 1926. It is an elaborate fantasy, with serious action-adventure sequences and mild sex- Additional Credits: Technical director: Carl Koch. Anima- u a l i t y, and it contains some experimental, semiabstract tors: Walter Ruttman, Be rthold Ba rtosch, Walter Tu rck, Alexan- sequences. The film also pioneers an early form of the der Kardan. Titles: Edmund Delco. Original music: Wolfgang multi-plane camera, separating foregrounds and back- Zeller. grounds into layers to give a 3-D effect. The finished film is a true work of art. Its creator, The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle Lotte Reiniger (1899–1981), became interested in the- (6/30/00) Un i v ersal. 88 mins. Di rector: Des Mc A n u f f. ater and in cutting silhouettes from an early age, build- Producers: Jane Rosenthal, Ro b e r t De Ni ro. Vo i c e s : ing a shadow puppet theater in 1915. She subsequently June Foray (Rocky J. Squirrel, Cartoon Natasha, Nar- became excited by the fantasy films of George Méliès r a t o r’s Mother), Keith Scott (Bullwinkle J. Moose, Na r- and enrolled at the Reinhardt Theater School, where r a t o r, Cartoon Fearless Leader, Cartoon Boris, she ended up getting small parts in movies. In 1918, Po t t s y l vanian TV Announcer), Susan Berman (We a s e l ) . Reiniger joined a group of artists who had just started Live action: Rene Russo, Jason Alexander, Piper Per- a studio for experimental films. abo, Ro b e r t De Ni ro, Janeane Ga rofalo, John Go o d-