La terra dei sogni

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

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.

Altogether one of the finest (and funniest) animated films ever to come out of Hollywood, Twice Upon A Time is a lovingly crafted valentine to dreamers of all kinds! Extremely witty writing makes it as enjoyable for grown-ups as it is for children. Especially effective is Marshall Efron's performance as the evil villain of the picture, Synonamess Botch! My only negative comment about the video is that they have edited his dialogue in order to change and/or eliminate many of his funniest (and rudest) comments. While this was certainly necessary so that children could watch it, I wish they could have released (or will release) an un-edited version. Luckily I taped the original when it aired on cable many years ago, so I still have it to watch, and it never fails to induce serious amounts of laughter when I do. Still, I cannot recommend the edited version highly enough!

This film deserves so much more recognition than it has gotten!

OK - as far as the 2 versions of this movie. There were 2 people involved in the making - John Korty and Bill Couterie (George was just the producer - he really didn't have any kind of say so in the film - just helped with money) - the 'Adult' version was made possible by Bill Couterie. John Korty didn't like or approve this version (as it was done behind his back). Thanks to Ladd films going under, they didn't advertise this movie and threw all their advertising cash for "The Right Stuff", hoping it would pull them through;... and it didn't. SO, this movie never really had a chance. When "Twice" made it to cable (HBO) - they showed the reels with Bill's version and John threatened to sue if it was shown anymore (did you notice how the 'adult' version wasn't on for very long?). Showtime got the 'clean' version. The version on the videotape and laser-disc is the version approved by John (who holds more power than Bill). It's a pity, really, as the 'adult' version is actually better and DOES make more sense. But it's VERY doubtful that it will ever be released in that version onto DVD (or any other format short of bootleg). Sorry to disappoint everyone. I know all this info as I used to be the president of the Twice Upon A Time Fan Club (still have numerous items from the movie - used to own a letter-boxed version of the 'adult' version, but it was stolen - only have a partial HBO copy of it now). 8 stars to the 'adult' version - 5 to the 'clean' version. Any other questions, just ask.

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_.