Stellaluna

I own both the book and the audio-book and was once at Blockbuster with my parents when I found a copy of a Stellaluna movie. I was, of course, intrigued. I rented the movie and found myself hooked. Sure, it's not identical to the book but the book is about 30 pages long and needed to be extended for movie format. There are three new characters: Askari, a Tarzan-esque spider, and Horatio and Kazuku, two fashion-conscious birds. But none of these characters play a huge role and the focus is mostly on Stellaluna and her bird family: mother and siblings Pip, Flitter, and Flap. Flitter has the yellow chest, Pip has the blue chest, and Flap has the purple chest. The animation is spectacular, making one want to reach out and pet Stellaluna and the birds. But the best thing about the film has got to be the music. One song "Best In You" is nice but not especially memorable. The other song "Upside Down" is simply adorable and the background music during the intro and credits is just beautiful. All in all, may be disappointing for die-hard fans of the book (although I loved both) but a must for anyone who's ever felt different.

Even speaking as someone who does not remember the book that well, this movie was not an enjoyable experience.

There is very little focus on the lovable Stellaluna adapting to life as a bird, and more focus on her antagonistic adopted siblings. Flap in particular is especially unlikable, while Pip is at least tolerable. Three completely unnecessary characters were added as well: Askari the spider is difficult to like thanks to his inflated sense of self, and a voice that reminds me of Snips from "My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic", but not in a good way. Horatio and Kazuku, a pair of fashion obsessed birds don't take up as much screen time as Askari, but were equally pointless.

The only really good things I can say about this were Stellaluna herself, plus her song "My Whole World's Turned Upside Down." which can be found on Youtube.

Stick with the book.

Stellaluna is a 2003 adaptation of the 1993 book with the same name, roughly ten years apart. It focuses on the titular Stellaluna, a fruit bat that accidentally gets seperated from her mother and ends up adopted by birds.

The moral is pretty sound, that adopted families are just as loving as biological ones, but I find the bird family a tad too strict, a sentiment I also share with the book version. Here the bird siblings are even rude and initially hostile to Stellaluna, which is an interesting addition.

By far the biggest deviation is creating an actual villain for the story, upping the stakes. I'm not sure how I feel about that, especially since this is a rather short film regardless.

A tepid reccomendation.

Don't get angry at me. But I kind of like Stellaluna. While most of you chose Disney, I chose Warner Bros. and MGM. I found a Stellaluna cassette tape at my local library. It was something I wasn't expecting to find. I rented it, and fell madly in love with it. After all, it's a cartoon, and Chiara Zanni and Beast Wars Scott McNeil are in this. If you think this is something, I think you should read the book.

I've had my share of watching movies over and over, and then forgetting about them. But this one. It takes the cake! I've watched this movie and read the book countless times as a kid, and now that I've reread and watched it, it's still a heartwarming masterpiece. But I just don't get how people find this horrible? Obviously, the movie isn't going to be perfectly accurate to the book. But at least it has some of the details included? Besides, some of the few songs in here are quite catchy, at least to me. But at the end, it's everyone's opinion, so I won't judge. Attack me all you want, I don't care.