FernGully - Christa und Zaks Abenteuer im Regenwald

20th Century Fox's animated fantasy film might have been lost in the early/mid-1990s, but its message remains timeless and its substance underrated. Beautiful animation, fitting voice actors and well-thought musical numbers all weave a wonderful story about an Australian rainforest inhabited by fairies, one of which befriends lumberjack Ward who is unwittingly playing a part in destroying FernGully. Mathis is perfectly sweet as the curious fairy who tries to guide her new human friend into understanding the damage his kind is inflicting on the natural world, and what a great importance it is to preserve nature; Williams is hilarious as Batty Koda, though his role now seems sort of like an underwhelming version of Genie from ALADDIN; and Curry is chilling even as a cartoon character! ***½ (out of four)

I hate getting a film you loved as a child and watching it as an adult only to find it's completely lost it's magic over time. Having pushed all my videos to the back of a dark cupboard, I hadn't actually watched the film in years until I bought it last week on DVD.

Ferngully has it's problems, some of the songs were written with the days music heavily in the forefront so they haven't really stood the test of time. The overall message of taking care of the environment will seem heavy handed to an adult, although I remember feeling inspired by it as a child.

That aside I cannot vault the voice acting, Tim Curry, Robin Williams, Christian Slater, Samantha Mathis, they all deliver great performances. The animation is terrific and looks very much like Disney movies of the time. The stories hero's are compelling to watch, you really do care about what happens to them as it progresses to the climax, all this is woven together with touching little moments in the animation and a clever and funny set of supporting characters.

Will children today enjoy it? I'd say let them watch it, everyone has their own tastes and preferences and it's no different with children. They'll either like it or they won't.

I'm not sure if an adult who missed it as a child will enjoy it, again I think it depends on the person, but if this was a part of your childhood, it might be worth seeing it again I think it still definitely has a place in my heart.

Ferngully is an example of how to do an educational movie without being boring. It is the story of an Australian rainforest endangered by human development. Zak, one of the worker of a team that is destroying the forest to build a road is shrunk by a fairy (Chrysta) and introduced to the magical world that he was destroying.

The animation is good, with rich colors and gorgeous visuals of the forest. The characters are well designed and funny, the bat Batty being the most hilarious. The music is nice, too, with modern rhythms that mix well with the fast pace of the movie. The best song is the one performed by the bad guy, Hexxus, a literaly slimy demon, that perfectly represents the greed of modern society.

This is a little gem in the Disney-dominated world of animation. Don't miss it.

FernGully is a non-Disney cartoon fairy tale about the importance of protecting forests. It is about a human male shrunk to fairy-size; he learns about fairies, their forest habitat, and soon finds a logging crew he was working with is now threatening their home.

I remember watching FernGully as a kid, I really liked Batty (voiced by Robin Williams) and his song. Rewatching this now, Batty wasn't as hilarious as I remembered but he is one of the better characters of the movie. An insane bat with a radio wired into his head by human scientists, he is quite colourful. The other pretty good character is the villain Hexxus (Tim Curry), who also has a catchy song. He's a poisonous being who apparently thrives on destruction. A shape shifter, he too is well imagined.

Beyond this the fairy characters Crysta and Pips (Christian Slater) and the human Zak are kind of flat. One thing that surprised me is how skimpy Crysta's clothes are (they reveal her hips and midriff)- but I'm not going to pass judgement on whether that's appropriate. Besides flat characters, at times watching this I longed for something more adult. The story was clearly aimed at children. At times this story isn't fully developed- why exactly did Magi disappear? Moreover, the animation is lacking compared to Disney films. Still, 18 years after it came out, families will likely continue to find FernGully enjoyable and its environmental message remains important.

I remember watching this and the sequel as a kid and I have to say, this brings back good memories. Krista is a fairy that learns how to protect the woods. While doing so, she comes across a man who's part of a company cutting down trees. After saving him, she takes him to her home where two worlds collide.

As they try to figure out what's draining their woods, they deal with other characters such as Batty(Robin Williams) a bat that escaped a lab yet still had a machine on its head. The two begin to grow closer while also learning about each other's worlds.

The animation's so vivid. Even today it looks amazing. The characters are decent. Some of them seem a little recycled but to be fair, they still have their own identity. The message is simple yet powerful (and a little heavy handed). It's all about environmentalism. This's a movie I'd recommend you show your kids. It's cool, cute, funny, and has a decent message that couldn't be any more relevant today.