O Cristal e o Pinguim

Looking back at Bluth's previous entries from the 90s, I was beginning to think about what I think about this one. Well, just say that when I was a little kid, I seemed to enjoy it, but as a young adult, I'm gonna call this movie decent. So, some of you are wondering why a 80%? Here's the reason why.

Here are some letdowns.

Letdown #1: The story was just... weird for a movie about penguins despite it's credit for a romance between two main characters. There were some things that were unexplained like "Why do penguins have clothing and hands to begin with?" and "Where did the three non-penguin birds came from?".

and Letdown #2: The songs made by Barry Manilow (despite it's decent music score from Mark Watters) weren't that bad. "Now and Forever" (pop song included), "Sometimes I Wonder" and reprise, which was hear-rendering, and "Don't Make Me Laugh" were enjoyable, but "Good Ship Misery" was badly sung, although "Looks Like I Got Me A Friend" has a decent melody.

That's it for the letdowns. Now for the highlights. The animation is very good, the character designs aren't that bad, and the voice acting is entertaining with the likes of Martin Short, Annie Golden, James Belushi, and Tim Curry. The characters are likable too. Hubie is great and his romance with the beautiful Marina was so sweet and cute altogether. Rocko never fails to amuse me with his comedic moments and his comic-relief voice and the villain named Drake is great and I think that he totally frightened me the first time I saw him as a kid.

So, is this movie weird? Well, kind of, but once you compare it to A Troll In Central Park, it's not a bad movie. It's just a decent and very cute penguin movie and it's worth watching for kids who like decent entertainment.

8/10

Let's face it, a lot of the reviews that 'The Pebble and the Penguin' has gotten here at IMDB are right that this movie's pretty bad, but trust me, there's worse ones than this. 'Rock-A-Doodle' without question is the worst of Don Bluth's movies (though I haven't seen it in years, I remember it being hideous), and although I haven't seen 'Thumbelina' all the way through, I know that it's worse than 'Pebble and the Penguin' too (the few minutes I saw of 'Thumbelina' were just too painful).

Anyhow, 'The Pebble and the Penguin' is a bit of a mess. As you may know, a shy penguin named Hubie is hell-bent on getting this strange green pebble to his lovebird, Marina. This could have been pretty good, but you can tell that they really rushed it. Then there's Drake, the most annoying villain... ever. In order to have a really good villain, he/she has to be somewhat likeable as well as sinister. But Drake's not likeable by a longshot. Tim Curry did voice him beautifully, though, so I've got to give that fact some credit.

The only great character is Rocko. Now HE has some personality going on. Hubie and Marina are okay, but Rocko's the one who steals the show.

One of the most glaring things about this movie is the animation. But I wouldn't entirely blame Don Bluth for this. I think he left this movie before it was finished, and who could blame him? There's a lot of odd coloring here, and the animation can vary from good to unbearable. And somehow the penguins in this movie just didn't look 'penguiny'. They just looked... wrong. Chilly Willy is more accurate to looking like a real penguin than any penguins here.

Don't expect much for great songs either. The only nice one is "Now and Forever" at the very beginning. The rest will give you a chance to go to the bathroom.

And I'm fed up with writers thinking the only way to defeat the antagonist is to beat the tar out of him. What kind of message is that?

I think if they spent some more time on this movie it wouldn't have been too bad. In fact, it could have been good. Still, it's better than some other late movies of Don Bluth's.

Symbol of the creative -and financial- problems of Don Bluth's team between "All Dogs Go To Heaven" until "Anastasia", this animated movie benefits impeccable score and songs and good animation, for a very weak plot.

Now I'm a huge Don Bluth fan, so it's no wonder I love all of his films to death, with the exception of Rock-A-Doodle-Doo, which had potential but dived like a nailed duck than sang like a rooster.

Back on topic, I felt that "Penguin" is a vastly underrated film. The basic story is that Hubie, our shy, lovestruck hero, must make his way back to his love Marina after being left for dead by the jealous Drake, whose also got his eye on Marina. Accompanied by the strong and hyper-active Rocko, Hubie braves the waters to make the 3000 mile journey and give her his unique "engagement pebble" before his love is banished forever.

The adventure itself is everything I want in this type of movie: Action. Hubie and Rocko's flights from the numerous seals and whales who see our fair duo as an appetizer are always enough to hold my attention, because it was fast. And the faster and livelier the animation, the better for me.

But of course, the slower moments made me like this movie also. In these scenes, we see the birds' true personality emerge. Hubie is this shy and timid thing in the beginning...Quite lame actually (Who calls anyone a "big bully" anymore?) And in the end, he's brave and not afraid to speak his mind. In fact, he learns to fight and defend himself, taught by the tough-guy Rocko, who begins showing compassion and friendship for Hubie as the movie goes on. He also shares his dream with the penguin: To be the first penguin to fly, a cute little personality quirk to this diamond in the rough.

It has your typical Bluth animation: Fluid, bright, lively, and Disney-like, and that's the main thing I've come to love from animation produced during the bygone era. Just plain beautiful in all aspects.

The songs are pretty charming... once they wear on you. After all, this is a movie intended more so for 7,8,9,10 year olds, so these songs aren't "Lion King" material. But I've come to find something I like about each. For instance, Hubie's jokes in "Looks Like I Got Me a Friend" are lame... but I've come to love that about the cute lil' penguin!! All songs are acceptable, excluding "Misery." Waaaay too childish. But the score was absolutely breathtaking.

To me, this movie only had one setback: Drake, the aforementioned villain. He's not the most likable villain at all and only held my attention with one or two threats, and a few lines from his song "Don't Make Me Laugh." He's more annoying than anything else, and made me all the more happier Hubie kicked his white-and-black behind.

In conclusion, "Penguin" has been adored by me since the first time I laid eyes on these quirky birds. Given this is a children's movie really makes me appreciate it even more. The music, main characters, action scenes and character development of Rocko and Hubie were perfect. The villain and a few songs were the only drawback to a wonderful movie. Don Bluth is one of the best, independent animators of the 80s-90s and he has kept his rep very well.

I had heard a lot of bad things about Don Bluth's movies from the 90's and sure Thumbelina, Rock-a-Doodle and Troll in Central Park are bad, but I found Pebble and the Penguin okay. Not at all near his masterpieces from the 80's which I simply love, but okay.

Tim Curry is the highlight of the movie, because it's Tim Curry, c'mon. He is the ultimate voice of a bad-guy and an amazing singer too! His song, "Don't Make Me Laugh", was bad-ass even though it sort of came out of nowhere.

I like the other characters as well. Martin Short did a good job as the introverted and shy Hubie and Annie Golden voiced Marina very well and sincerely and gave us a beautiful song. My least favourite was actually Rocko, he was meant to be this grumpy penguin, but I found that he was a constant asshole being passive-aggressive towards Hubie. But he is not totally one-dimensional, because he changes as the movie progresses and teaches Hubie some lessons too.

The animation had a lot to it. It changed a lot throughout the movie, but mostly it fit the scenes. The music was pretty good too and I don't get why many people say that there are too many songs. They were catchy and well sung. A certain improvement after Thumbelina and Troll.

Tim Curry's character's design was a little stupid, because a penguin on steroids is a little far-fetched to be honest. That was what he looked like, but he was entertaining and that is enough.

In general, an underrated film that will amuse the kids and maybe adults' eyes will get caught by certain aspects of it.