Le lutin magique

A Great Family Movie. When I was a kid, I Always watched this movie. Stanley is a troll, but he is different from the others. He is Kind. He and his two new friends Rosie and Gus must defeat the Evil Troll Gnorga. The movie is Very well drawn, and the story is just very entertaining, and does spread a good message about having a Greener World. I would recommend this to all young ages, as it is a great tale and is a Must see, but may not be that appealing to older audiences. The characters are Great. Gnorga is Evil, and a great Enemy, and Stanley is a perfect Mood Uplifter, and Gnorga's Husband King Llort is really a kind Troll, but acts evil around her and is treated badly by her. Although some parts of the movie can be a bit scary for younger audiences, the movie is perfect for all.

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 movie is pretty much the movie people talk about when they say "it's just a stupid kid's movie!". It's not as bad as films like Delgo, or Quest for Camelot, but it's extremely bland and cheesy. The plot is rather mediocre and thin, and seems very unfocused at some points. Some points in the movie involving Stanley, the titular Troll in Central Park (played by Dom Deluise, frequent Don Bluth collaborator) feels like it's just Dom Deluise rambling in character. The songs in this movie are bland and forgettable at best, and horrible and unimaginative at worst. The worst song in the film is Queen of Mean, sung by the film's main antagonist Gnorga (voiced by the late Cloris Leachman, best known as Frau Blucher in the classic Mel Brooks film Young Frankenstein). The song is the worst kind of villain song, the one made with no imagination. It's your standard "look at me, I'm very evil!" villain song that only works if we know a bit about the antagonist and see them onscreen for a bit BEFORE they sing it, we're introduced to the character WITH that song! The movie also stops dead in it's tracks just to pad the runtime with scenes like anthropomorphic flowers doing a soft-shoe routine and Stanley running through New York city and nearly getting eaten by someone at Tavern On The Green. For a little kid, this seems like a decent movie to sit down and watch, but its a NIGHTMARE to get through for older kids and adults.

A Troll in Central Park is not a terrible film. It's just extremely sweet and innocent and this world isn't ready for it. Anyone over six years of age will be embarrassed to watch this - even alone - but that's more of a societal problem. But there are definitely reasons to see this. The animation is amazing, particularly with the children. It's realistic but somehow completely believable in an animated world. And their movements are so fluid and realistic. You can tell every action was acted out and studied meticulously. I really wish this was done more often. The environments also look amazing, especially when the human world comes into play. As for the cute or humorous sidekicks, that's another story entirely. It's probably just a personal bias, but I hate the way Don Bluth designs his more cartoon-y characters. Their personalities aren't any better, ranging from "cute" to marshmallow-peep-flavored-vomit "cute".

Anyone who loved The Secret of NIMH will be shocked to see this film. I mean, how can the same guy who made a progressive, dark and outstanding film be responsible for this? The story is very fairy-tale esquire, like a children's storybook come to life. The villains are more humorous than threatening, the characters spontaneously break into song and dance and everything is whitewashed with cuteness. This is the result of Don Bluth finally giving in to the pressures of Disney, trying to replicate their formula, losing his identity in the process and ultimately falling flat. Luckily, Anastasia would be a healthy step up. But for fans of Bluth's one-hit wonder, it's kind of depressing.

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.