Rock-A-Doodle

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.

I've been told by a lot of people that this movie is the first of the mediocre entries (except Anastasia) in the early/late 90s that caused Don Bluth's career to go downhill, but as for me, I think I actually found this along with The Pebble and the Penguin to be very decent. Why?

Well, I will admit, the story was weird and predictable and has a lot of flaws that went nowhere despite it being supposedly charming. The characters were good. Edmund was okay, but nothing special, Chanticleer and the others were very decent, but the Grand Duke of Owls' henchman and the fox guy that wants some money for using Chanticleer to sing for the audiences were not that interesting. I think that the best character throughout the whole movie is the Grand Duke of Owls himself voiced by Christoper Plummer (who previously voiced Henri the pigeon in An American Tail) since he was so intimidating and very threatening which makes him one of the best non-Disney villains ever.

The songs were forgettable. The first song in the beginning was surprisingly good, but some of them were forgettable due to their uninspired lyrics.

There were several inconsistencies like the Grand Duke's breath contains magical powers and the rooster can sing while bringing the sun with his cock-a-doodling voice. It's weird, but that's not saying much.

And that's it for Rock-A-Doodle. Is it a weird movie like The Pebble and the Penguin? Yes, but unlike A Troll in Central Park, it's not a bad movie for it's worth watching for the kids. For adults, however, they will have a hard time viewing this.

6/10

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

Although I think that along with Troll with Central Park that this is one of the weaker Don Bluth movies, I personally don't think it is that bad. When you compare the animation to gems like the Secret of Nimh and American Tail, you do think it is disappointing. Some of it, and I am putting emphasis on the some, was a bit Saturday-morning standard, and some of the minor characters were drawn rather weirdly. The non-animated parts were quite jarring to be honest with you, and seemed rather flat. Though i will say the animation is nowhere near as bad as people have said it is. I liked the incidental music, not so much the songs, they just seemed rather lacklustre as I am used to hearing Barry Manilow and Cynthia Weil songs, not Elvis-style ones. Although there was some excellent singing from Glenn Campbell, the songs' lyrics were rather mediocre. Also the owl's songs, or recitatives as I prefer to call them, sounded the same every time. However the voice overs were the redeeming merits. We all know from Disney classics such as Robin Hood and the Jungle Book, that Phil Harris is very talented at singing and acting, and he was put to good use here as Patou,("you're rocking the boat") although his narration did get distracting after a while, as the story is admittedly too heavily reliant on the narration. The narration in fact was to me more of a mini-commentary, that had been over simplified. However, Chistopher Plummer was wonderful as the voice of the Duke,("if I kill my nephew, would it be murder or charity?") who wasn't only the best character, but one of the better Bluth villains, he was really evil in some scenes, like when you first meet him. His performance was worth an award, it was so good. I also liked Edmund and Goldie, Chanticlair was very likable and the Duke's nephew was hilarious in some scenes, like when he screams Annihilation. In conclusion, one of the weaker Bluth movies, does have a number of redeeming merits, and not that bad. Anyone who's seen the secret of Nimh sequel will know how awful that was. 6/10 Bethany Cox