Um Duende no Parque

I don't think that Troll in Central Park is as bad as people make it out to be, as a matter of fact it's very sweet, but anyone who loved Secret of Nimh and Land Before Time like I did, will be disappointed. The animation on the most part was quite flat, with the exception of some nice animation in the musical numbers and the effects, and there were some lifeless backgrounds in the scarier bits. The incidental music is lovely, but I didn't care that much for the songs. They're not excrement, but they are certainly not Oscar-worthy. This was disappointing, as Cynthia Weil and Barry Mann have done some lovely songs for American Tail and Muppet Treasure Island, but the songs they did here didn't feel the same. The script wasn't bad, but there were times where it could have been more imaginative. The characters were likable but not particularly memorable. Stanley is very sweet, with his wiggling ears, and the late Dom DeLuise voiced him earnestly, and there is some very nice singing. Gnorga is rather frightening, but Cloris Leachman was brilliant in an almost unrecognisable voice over. Phillip Glasser was good, but he and DeLuise lacked the chemistry they had in American Tail. Rosie was really sweet and Charles Nelson Reilly and the singing and dancing flowers provided the humour,(even if it reminded me strongly of the Silly Symphony Flowers and Trees) that was much needed, in a rather lacklustre plot. All in all, one of the weaker Don Bluth films is redeemed by a very good voice cast, and some nice music. 6/10 Bethany Cox

I got this because my kiddos and I have enjoyed other, better known Don Bluth films, without realizing the negativity surrounding this one. I will say that we could only get the film in DVD, and the picture quality was way below what we've come to expect, even on older films which have not been remastered. The troll is a little bit over the top, it's true, but his general plight of feeling different and being persecuted, in part because of a fear he would influence other trolls, is clearly topical in the early 2020s. The alternation between troll land, a real Central Park, an eerily devastated Central Park ("tornado"), a whacky imaginative world, and New York City, makes the film hard to follow. But the movie does feature one of the best animated cityscapes (complete with Twin Towers) of New York I've ever seen, even if it's "stone" structure is praised by the evil troll queen (an Ursula look-alike, by the way). And, given the troll Stanley's "green thumb" and leprechuan-like appearance, the movie is a good choice before St. Patrick's day (we watched it in early March). Finally, the sequence at the end where the entire city is wrapped in plant growth as Stanley celebrates is priceless and, once again, timely.

My grandmother bought me this movie many many years ago (I still have it on VHS) and I loved this movie then. The cute plot line and message that you can do anything and be yourself makes it a cute movie for young kids. Compared to some of the movies available out there now, I would definitely show this to my children. There is singing, dancing flowers, and a cute troll to boot!

No, it is not the most sophisticated film, but still a cute one! My only caution is that Gnorga, the Queen, may frighten some children, especially when she is fighting to with Stanley to take the children. Overall, this movie still has a special place in my heart from when I was young.

This has to be one of the most pointless and boring animated feature films of all time. Don Bluth had directed some stinkers in the past, but this was by far the worst. By the end of the movie, it feels like nothing happened. The animation is a step down from Bluth's previous films, and the character designs and animation are just terribly loose. The only real positives about this are the voice over acting, and the lively musical score, despite only having bad songs.

Stanley the troll (Dom Deluise) is unlike the other trolls. He's more interested in planting flowers and making the world pretty, where the other trolls only want to cause misery. The trolls have black thumbs that turn things to stone, but Stanley has a green thumb for bringing plants to life. When Queen of the trolls, Gnorga (Cloris Leachman), finds out about Stanley being a good troll, she shoots him up in the air, and he lands in Central Park. Meanwhile, a little boy Gus wants his dad to take him to the park, but his dad is busy, so he and his infant sister Rosie go off on their own. They meet Stanley, and go on a stupid adventure with him, while Gnorga is hot on their tail, and for some reason wants them all out of the picture.

Babies will probably have a good time watching this, though some parts may be too scary. Older kids will despise this, unless it has a nostalgia factor to them, which it does to me, and I still hate it. Everything is overly corny, and cheesy and sappy. The plot....heck, what plot. It's pretty much just, little boy and girl go to park, meet troll, he teaches them about imagination, bad troll comes in, chaos ensues. The songs in the movie are really bad, which is weird because the musical score is quite pretty. The voice over acting is actually pretty good, with Cloris Leachman in an almost unrecognizable voice over role, Charles Nelson Reilly doing the same likable voice he'd done in so many other cartoons and Dom Deluise with his normal, over the top voice. Other than the music and voices though, this is an utterly ridiculous movie.

I dislike the beginning, and I downright despise the ending of this sappy kiddie junk that should have had less put into the direction, and more into the writing.

My rating: * out of ****. 75 mins. G.

Loved this when i was a child and remember watching it many times with my mom! what child do you know at an innocent 7 yrs of age follows the plot and what is happening the way an adult does?? mine are 10 & 11 and still don't understand what, why and how somethin happened in an animated movie made for children. so what if they don't understand some of the details, as long as they get the main idea. I still want to see this movie any given day just because it makes me feel like a kid again..