The Princess and the Goblin

I've always enjoyed this movie. I first saw it when I was little and it was one of my favorite animated movies as a kid. I had it on VCR and just watched it on and on. I'm Icelandic so I saw the movie in Icelandic growing up. Some years ago I tried to watch it in English but I didn't enjoy it. But, that's just me. It's just become a habit seeing it so often in Icelandic. Now that I've watched it again in Icelandic, I still enjoy it but I have noticed that the animation isn't really that perfect. It could be much better but it doesn't really bother me.I really like the storyline, it's very good. In my opinion this is a very enjoyable movie for kids.

I remember constantly watching this movie as a kid. I even remember where I got it from. Avon, since my Grandma sells it and still does. Out of all the animated movies I don't know why I loved this one so much as a kid. Re-watching it now I still don't. What do I think of it now?

Well, it's OK. I've definitely re-watched worse old animated films. This one actually even had some pretty decent songs. The story was simple but good overall. There are some things I noticed about it now that I know I would have never caught as a kid. But then that's why for the most part that I do re-watch things that I watched as a kid. That and to see how they hold up now. One things for sure, I can see why kids would like it. It will always have a lasting impression on my mind also, no matter how faint. :)

Okay, this movie isn't Disney. The character development is flawed to say the least but this is a good movie overall, considering what they had to work with. The only thing I really disliked about this movie was some of the writing. Irene would sometimes be shown to be pretty tough... then she'd turn into a complete idiot. Same with Curdie, but even more because he was supposed to be tough. And then he seems to forget to be consistent. This is evident when he's captured in the middle of the movie by the goblins and tries to sing to save himself. But then he seems to forget to keep singing, thus helping them capture him.

And the music. The song they got was absolutely wonderful. It captures the story really well. Unfortunately, not only is it the only song in the movie, but it's repeated over and over again.

That's the bad, but the good is still there. It is entertaining and sweet. I wouldn't recommend it for the older crowd but for kids, it's a pretty good movie and not one they'll be embarrassed about liking when they get older. The plot is good and the voice acting is great.

Maybe I'm just used to sound effects and music making scenes seem more dramatic, but this cartoon felt unfinished. There is very little music in any scenes to help set the mood. The sound effects are also missing a lot, like one scene a boy stomps the ground and it makes no sound. This is not a musical (hence there being no music), but one song appears about 5 times, like one of the writers were smart enough to think up one song and wanted to brag by playing it over and over again. The animation is also lacking quite a bit. Some cool tricks, like putting layers between the characters and foreground are used, but the actual animation is pretty bad. It almost looks like a good looking anime cartoon, or a bad looking Disney knock-off. These are the little things, that made this movie a step down in it's rating.

Princess Irene escapes one day from her nanny, gets lost in the forest, and meets many of the horrible pets of the goblins who live in the area. A young miner boy, Curdie, finds her and scares off the animals by singing the only song in the movie. When Irene goes back to the castle, she meets her dead grandmother who tells her some odd secrets about the castle and the goblins. Curdie follows the goblins to their area of work, and chaos ensues.

The best scenes in the movie are the ones featuring the goblins, and there are way too few of those. This movie is around 80 minutes, and the goblins have maybe, 10 to 15 minutes of screen time, but it seems longer because they're such interesting characters. Scenes with Irene in the castle can get quite boring, and what's strange is Irene's nanny Looti is actually a much more interesting character than Irene. Scenes with Curdie can be annoying, because he tends to think out loud, which just adds up to bad writing and inexpressive animation.

Overall, this a fun movie, and it's somewhat cute and funny, but it's nothing special.

My rating: ** 1/2 out of ****. 80 mins. G.

As a non-Disney movie made in 1991 with 1/3 the budget of Alladin, it is a masterpiece. If you want to hate this movie you will find reasons to do so, but it is a really fun, sweet, and surprisingly conceptual for a child's film. I am uncertain whether today's 5 year-olds would enjoy such a dated presentation but it's worth a shot.

The animation is dated now and it was kind of dated back then. It came out in 1992 but I would believe anyone who said it came out in 1982. It's not bad animation, just not on par with Alladin but better than Jungle Book. I actually like the kind of watercolor backgrounds, it adds a dream-like quality.

The story is sweet, it is a kid's movie, and there are couple funny parts. The voice acting is for the most part quite good.

It was one of my favorite movies as a kid probably between 4 and 10 years old. The concepts and story are quirky. The characters are lovable to a fault, even some of the goblins.