Twice Upon a Time

I have grown up with this movie. I was a pre-teen when I first saw it, and I've watched it every year or so since then, and I get something different out of it each time. One of this film's strengths (and maybe one reason why it wasn't a success) is that it targets a huge cross-section of people...there is some relatively vulgar humour (I have never heard the G dialogue so I don't know how much of the humour that removed...hopefully Botch still eats the insect in his navel!), references to parts of our culture, social commentary (the Rushers of Din would LIKE to be friendly, but their just isn't any TIME), a heroic and exciting story, some disturbing nightmarish imagery, some cute stuff for the kids, lots of self-aware humour, and -- in my opinion the biggest asset -- it's damn weird. Especially the dialogue. The voice actors are phenomenal, and they occasionally mutter their lines, which adds to the strangeness of the whole project. It's great, years later, to finally decipher one of those lines!

Technically, it's amazing. The work that went into this film...I always find myself fascinated by Botch's mouth -- his rapidly moving mouth is a series of mouth photographs brilliantly matched and synced with his dialogue -- and everything just looks GOOD. And unique, in that curious tissue-paper animation style.

This is the only film I can think of that I can show to anybody, at any age. Little kids have heard worse language than what comes out of Botch's (brilliant) mouth, and so has my grandmother.

The only downside, maybe, are the dated pop songs. Bruce Hornsby (who, in my opinion, sounded bad in 1983 as well)! That said, the orchestral score is catchy, crazy, and beautiful at times, so it's not all bad.

In fact, it's all very, very good, overall.

This is the kind of picture John Lassiter would be making today, if it weren't for advances in CGI. And that's just to say that he'd be forgotten, too, if technology hadn't made things sexy and kewl since 1983. _Twice..._ has got the same wit, imagination, and sense of real excitement that you'd find in a Pixar flick, only executed under the restrictions of the medium c. 1983. Innovative animation techniques combine with a great script and excellent voicing to produce a movie that appeals on lots of levels. It should be spoken of in the same breath with _Spiritited Away_ and _Toy Story_.

I kind of liked this animated film, at least the first time. On the second viewing, this George Lucas-produced movie was too slow for me. Why I found that, I can't remember (it's been awhile) but on my first look I remember the uniqueness of this movie.

It is different from the rest simply because it gives you a combination of animation and black- and-white stills. It goes back and forth and sometimes on the same scene. The visuals aren't the only strange aspects. You also get a dash of zaniness in this comedy. You just don't know what crazy thing you are going to see next. There are so many unexplainable scenes that it's one of these films is better seen than explained!

I traded the VHS, along with others, for DVDs when they first came out. Now, I wish I could see this again......on DVD.

Man , I always forget how good this film is until someone says "Are you here to work or what"? And I start to reply "I am here to what, and where am I? ( Paraphraising the film) Love the story, my twin girls thikn it is "The Bomb"!! (a ggod thing they tell me!) It is soo sad Warner Bros does not run with this on DVD with alot of the behind the scenes stuff. Especially since they have NO other "Lucas" propertierws I am aware of in the Library at the studio in Burbank!

You never know a good thing till it's gone do ya ol' WB????

Animation I shall always have a soft-spot for, and while Twice Upon a Time is not one of the best animated movies I've seen, it is still great especially for how unique it is. The animation has a style that I have never seen before in an animated film but it is an interesting one. It is colourful and the character features especially Botch's mouth are just as impressive. The nightmarish scenes are incredibly haunting, the accidental nightmare sequence is a definite standout, in fact of any animated film I've seen recently it was this scene that really stood out as uniquely fascinating and hugely impactful. Some of the pop tunes are on the dated side, but are still very catchy. The incidental score is one of Twice Upon a Time's greatest assets, very beautiful and addicting, there are some crazy aspects as well that fit very well. The script is witty and funny, the humour is quite racy for the time but very effective still, while the story is exciting, the characters are interesting the voice acting from particularly Lorenzo Music and Marshall Efron is top-notch. All in all, unique and great animated movie, sadly also it is underrated. 9/10 Bethany Cox