Rock a Doodle

The rooster on the farm, Chanticleer, has to sing every morning for the sun to rise. One morning, he is stopped from singing and the other animals discover that he's a phony - the sun rises anyway. He becomes an outcast and runs away to the city. However, the animals discover that this was a mistake, because the sun stops coming up and rain, which causes a flood, begins instead.

Somewhere along the way, cartoons and Disney became almost synonymous. And yet, Don Bluth has forged ahead, with "American Tail" and "Land Before Time", among many others. This one, though forgotten by some, is beloved by others. Personally, I think it is just as good as any Disney film of the era, and you have to love the voice casting of Glen Campbell.

If it hasn't already been done, someone ought to release a retrospective blu-ray set of Bluth's golden years.

Rock A Doodle is a fun loving story about the sun not coming up. Chanticlear, the Rooster (a knock of Elvis) is in charge of crowing for the sun to come up, however one day he was disturbed and didn't crow. Since the Sun came up without him all his farm friends called him a fake. Having no where else to go he went to the city to find work, leaving the farm to the owls. Meanwhile in the real world, a flood is brewing and a little boy named Edmand tries to call Chanticlear, but got the Duke Owl. He turns the young boy into a cat and joins up with a dog, bird and mouse to go find Chanticlear and beat the darkness and find the sun. This is a great tale, especially for little kids. It teaches them about friendship and to never give up hope.

In all honesty, I never saw this as a child. Perhaps that accounts somewhat for why I don't enjoy it very much now. Unlike many other children's films which have plots that people of all ages could appreciate, this was contrived and full of holes that you could "drive a John Deere tractor through", as Chanticleer would say. The songs were lackluster and all sounded the pretty much same, and the kid that played Edmond brings a whole new level to bad child actors. I did have a few good laughs though, mostly due to the good ol' Patou, so I can't rate it too low. Overall, if you didn't see this as a kid, you more than likely wont like it now.

6/10

Rock-A-Doodle is a movie that some say is the start of Don Bluth's streak of bad films until Anastasia was released, but to me, it sounds like an underrated gem. Telling the story of a boy named Edmond, a boy turned into a kitten by the Duke of Owls, he has to help the other farm animals bring back Chanticleer, whom they laughed out, as their farm is in danger of flooding.

Now, the movie is seen as a box office bomb, and one of the reasons why is executive meddling. Originally, there was not going to be any live-action segments, but MGM saw Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, a successful film that combined live-action and animation, and decided they want a piece of the money pie it was making. Also, a lot of scenes were cut or edited for being "too scary for kids", either because of notes for test audiences or done to avoid a PG rating (the test audiences notes being mostly because Don decided to take their advice after All Dogs Go To Heaven was negatively received for its dark content). The result was a different movie that strayed far from what Don originally planned, and to me, that could be one of the reasons that caused it to bomb.

But despite those changes, the movie is still good. It still has some dark scenes that is a trademark of any Don Bluth film, the characters are memorable, and the music is good, as the country music songs are actual country music instead of the stuff we have today that masquerades as country music. This is a film work checking out.

This movie is awesome! People can be so mean. "There was a plot-hole," "This movie was cheesy," "The animation sucked." How can you NOT love a Rooster posing as Elvis? I loved this movie when I was a little girl and I recently rediscovered it hiding in my garage. Now I'm 18 and I decided to watch it w/ my sister who's 6. She adored the movie and I'm proud to say I still do too. Even my 12 year old brother likes it. As far as plot holes. There aren't any, it's a KIDS' movie! I love the songs and find so many of the characters so lovable. I don't see anything wrong with the animation, I love the way Chanticleer and the Duke are drawn. And the pathetic, vocabulary confused, Hutch is so funny. The ending is a little weird, but so what? So back off haters! Rock-A-Doodle is a great, fun movie.