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Millennials of the '80s and '90s can be nostalgic for many of the children's movies they grew up with. Disney ruled classic children's films back then as well, but there is another name that some fans might not realize actually created their favorite kid's movie. Originally working with Walt Disney, Don Bluth was an animator for films like Sleeping Beauty, The Fox and the Hound, Robin Hood, and The Rescuers. In 1983, he started his own company, which began animating video games and moved into film. Now an '80s icon, Dragon's Lair was Bluth's first video game.

Thirty years later, Bluth is set to direct a live-action film version of Dragon's Lair with Ryan Reynolds attached as the main character, and Netflix is in talks for its release. The game's popularity has come back thanks to the help of '80s nostalgia and shows like Stranger Things featuring it,...

Christopher Plummer’s final performance is coming to digital release! According to Variety, the Oscar-winning actor will be playing Rizzo in the upcoming animated epic, Heroes of the Golden Mask. The trailer and description can be viewed below.

Charlie, a wise-cracking, homeless, American orphan is magically transported to the ancient Chinese kingdom of Sanxingdui, where a colorful team of superheroes need his help to defend the city from a brutal conqueror. Charlie joins the heroes, and secretly schemes to steal the priceless golden masks that grant them their powers.

Heroes of the Golden Mask is directed by Sean O’Reilly, who will also be voicing the role of Thurman. Joining O’Reilly and Plummer are Ron Perlman (Hellboy) as Kunyi, Patton Oswalt (Ratatouille) as Aesop, Natasha Liu Bordizzo (Wish Dragon) as Li, Byron Mann (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.) as Jiahao, Keifer O’Reilly(The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers) as Charlie, and Osric Chau...

Don Bluth is one of those directors whose films I find inseparable from my memories of childhood. Just as Disney Animation was hitting a low point in the 1980s, Bluth was churning out animated classics like "The Secret of Nimh," "An American Tail," and "The Land Before Time." These are daring movies full of darkness and whimsy, marrying gorgeous hand-drawn imagery with stories about animal abuse, the plight of Russian-Jewish immigrants traveling to 19th-century America, and the beginning of the end of the age of dinosaurs. His next film after those three, 1989's "All Dogs Go to Heaven," is a parable about no less a topic than the meaning of existence.

Bluth's output mellowed as he struggled to compete with Disney's animation renaissance, yet he held onto his underlying weirdness for as long as he could. He started off the '90s directing strange animated musicals like "Rock-a-Doodle" (a movie...

There's nothing like a Don Bluth animated film. From the wide-eyed whimsy of his characters to his confusing, dreamlike sequences, the work of this animation icon has delighted (and terrified) audiences since the release of "The Secret of Nimh." Some 40 years later, Bluth's filmography has grown to contain some of the most fascinating hand-drawn animated projects Hollywood has ever seen. From nostalgic classics like "An American Tail" and "The Land Before Time" to truly odd flops like "A Troll in Central Park" and "Rock-a-Doodle," the list goes on and on. That begs the question, which films rank as the best examples of Bluth's talents?

From the not-so-great to the ones that continue to make us smile, we'll dive deep into Don Bluth's theatrically released feature films. Sure, there are projects he worked on outside of that specific medium (including direct-to-video projects and video games) To correctly examine this filmmaker, it's...

Don Bluth made waves in the 1980s and 1990s as an animation alternative to what was being made by Walt Disney Animation Studios. With titles like The Secret of Nimh, The Land Before Time, An American Tail, All Dogs Go to Heaven, Rock-a-Doodle, and Anastasia, Don Bluth Productions carved out a nice niche for themselves […]

The post Animation Legend Don Bluth, Creator of ‘The Land Before Time’ and More, Has Formed a New Animation Studio appeared first on /Film.

Fans of “All Dogs Go to Heaven” might not recall a scene in which one of the gone-too-soon pooches descends into the fiery belly of hell and narrowly escapes taking up permanent residence among the other condemned souls. And that’s apparently for good reason, as the full sequence in question was cut. It’s made its way online, as all such things eventually do, and is now available to retroactively ruin your childhood on YouTube. Watch the entire uncut scene below if you dare.

Read MoreDon Bluth Goes Kickstarter for “Dragon’s Lair: The Movie”

The film was directed by the underrated Don Bluth, who provided a darker alternative to Disney fare throughout the 1980s and ’90s: “The Secret of Nimh,” “An American Tail,” “The Land Before Time,” “Rock-a-Doodle,” “Anastasia.” This chthonic sequence, although found in low quality, finds canine hero Charlie B. Barkin (voiced by Burt Reynolds) sucked...

Feature Mark Harrison 5 Mar 2014 - 06:39

For every animated movie that gets made, there are dozens more that never make it. Mark looks at some failed Disney projects...

In the age of the internet, Hollywood studios are much quicker to announce the projects they have in development than they used to be. Now that the demand is there, there's a huge turnover of movie-related news every day, and if you follow it in any significant way, there are probably a whole bunch of projects that you've heard about, maybe even gotten excited about, that never came to fruition.

Still, it's not only via the easier availability of such information that we know about projects that never came to be. At a studio like Disney, projects will get as far as being fully developed in animatic form before falling apart, and the artefacts left behind from such abridged projects have made for some fascinating reading.

Fifteen years ago today, DreamWorks released The Prince of Egypt — an epic Exodus adaptation with an incredible cast, including (but not limited to) Val Kilmer, Sandra Bullock, Michelle Pfeiffer, Ralph Fiennes, Helen Mirren, Steve Martin, Martin Short, Jeff Goldblum, Danny Glover, and Patrick Stewart. (Seriously, how great would it be to have a dinner party with that group?)

But the people who are perhaps most responsible for The Prince of Egypt’s legacy don’t even appear in the film: They’re Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey, the voices behind a little diva duet to end all diva duets called “When You Believe.

Each week within this column we strive to pair the latest in theatrical releases to worthwhile titles currently available on Netflix Instant Watch. This week we offer alternatives to The Five-Year Engagement, The Raven and The Pirates! Band of Misfits.

Jason Segel co-stars with Emily Blunt in a comedy he penned with Nicholas Stoller that follows the bumpy journey of one couple from the proposal to the wedding day. Chris Pratt & Alison Brie co-star.

Longing for some R-rated rom-coms:

Then She Found Me (2007) Helen Hunt stars as a woman whose husband (Matthew Broderick) walks out when she decides to adopt. Then she discovers the identity of her biological mother (Bette Midler) and meets the man of her dreams (Colin Firth, major upgrade.) But things get tricky when she discovers she’s pregnant with her husband’s baby.

Frankie and Johnny (1991) Scarface co-stars Al Pacino and Michelle Pfeiffer re-team for this...

March 1st is a red letter day for us here at Jfd. It's the first (of hopefully many) Junk Food Dinner nights at Project Parlor (742 Myrtle Ave.) in Bed-Stuy. Your charming hosts for this event are Mark Freado, Jr. and Kevin Merryman. Drink specials, trivia, drinking games, bickering, peanuts, couches, VHS prints- what's not to like? We're gonna kick things off at 9pm. Join us won't you?

StarCrash (Aka: The Adventures of StellaStar) [Italy, 1978]

A couple of smugglers pick up a mysterious castaway - the only survivor of a mission to destroy a super-weapon designed by the evil Count Zartram.

Released one year after Episode IV: A New Hope, Luigi Cozzi (Hercules/Demons 6) proves imitation is the sincerest form of flattery with arguably the best of the Star Wars knock-offs. Former child evangelist Marjoe Gortner heads up a cast that includes Caroline Munro (Slaughter High/Maniac), Joe Spinnel (Forbidden Zone...

UK cinematographer with credits including Thriller and Superman

The film directors Michael Winner and John Landis have every reason to be grateful to the British cinematographer Robert Paynter, who has died aged 82. Paynter helped visualise 10 of Winner's films and five by Landis, one of which is considered the most popular music video in history. Directed by Landis, the 14-minute video for Michael Jackson's Thriller (1983) vividly merged a pop song, innovative dancing and horror movie. Shot on 35mm stock, it featured Jackson metamorphosing into a werewolf and a zombie. Both Paynter, who created the eerie mood, and Rick Baker, credited with the stunning makeup effects, had previously teamed up effectively for Landis on An American Werewolf in London (1981).

Paynter was born in south London and educated at Mercer's school, Holborn, before being evacuated to Horsham, West Sussex, during the second world war. While still in his teens, he became a camera...