La principessa e il folletto

It's great for a low budget animation. But any time I watched it, I got serious nightmares for a few days. And I wasn't even that young, I was like 11-12... I found it really scary, I felt more horror than any horror movie since then. But since I didn't find any review of that sorts, maybe I'm the only one who felt this way, although my brother felt similar that time.

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.

I love books,and I love animation, so considering how much I love the book by George MacDonald I wanted to give this movie a try. And you know what, I like this movie a lot. While the book is definitely better, this is quite a charming film. It is too short however, somehow I would've expected it to be 10 minutes longer, and the grandmother wasn't as well explained as she is in the book. Speaking of the grandmother though, I loved not only how beautiful and wise she was but also how Claire Bloom voiced her. I know how a lot of people have complained about the animation being crude and lazy, and I would like to say that I actually liked it. There are some lovely colourful backgrounds and I loved how King Papa, Irene and Grandmother were animated. Also, the goblins who do steal the show with their hatred of poetry and jealousy of humans, are MEANT to be ugly. I liked the music too, the score was beautiful and the song had a really upbeat and medieval feel to it and was sung surprisingly well. The story is easy to follow and is suitably simple, and the voice acting is excellent. Especially Rik Mayall as Froglip, who is quite sexy for a goblin, and Joss Ackland in a wonderfully dignified vocal performance as King Papa. Princess Irene is really cute too, and Sally Ann Marsh voiced her with real innocence and vulnerability and Peter Murray is appealing as Curdie. Also the little kitten Turnip is adorable. In conclusion, this is a good, charming movie. 8/10 Bethany Cox

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.