User reviews

Genre: Penguins, animation.

Main characters: Hubie, Marina, Rocko and Drake the penguins. I feel for most of these characters and I like them very much indeed. I also like Drake, the baddie – but I do not feel for him.

Actors: Martin Short (Hubie), Shani Wallis (Narrator), Annie Golden (Marina), James Belushi (Rocko) and Tim Curry (Drake).

What happens: All of the Adelie penguins on a big iceberg are ready to mate, finding their pebbles to give to the penguin they love so they can mate. There is one rather clumsy and dreamy penguin called Hubie, who is in love with one particular penguin – but someone else loves her as well…

Message: It's not the gifts that you give your love that matter, but the giver.

My thoughts: I like this film rather a lot. I like the actors, the animation, the characters, the songs and the adventure of the story. The jokes are also amusing and I wouldn't be surprised if at least one person who didn't like this film liked at least one joke from it. The actors are well-picked and many people may like this film JUST because of them – as there are many famous ones (including James Belushi and Tim Curry). The animation is good, I especially like the backgrounds – sometimes it seems like you are going across the sea with the penguins! The characters are very lovable and have distinct personalities, not subtle though, which is one slight problem with this film. I especially like the characters of Hubie and Rocko, some may think otherwise. I also really like the songs, there is an amusing one, there are two romance ones and there is one "bad guy song" that we all have to have in a children's film! Well, we don't have to, but "Don't Make Me Laugh" is fun anyway, good singing from Tim Curry. The adventure of the film is very engaging and it keeps you focused on the film.

One thing I am not so keen about this film is that it's pretty average. Average acting – and the plot is quite average. Otherwise – I think this is a very good animated family film!

Recommended to: Families who would like to sit down to a cartoon film (maybe over some Haribo or a box of Popcorn), children who like penguins and cartoon and grown-ups who like penguins and cartoon films. Enjoy! :-)

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.

to all of you out their who have to pick apart every little itty bitty thing that isn't logical about this movie cut it out i mean 4 GODS SAKES ITS A KIDS MOVIE and for what it is its quite good !!! of course penguins don't wear hats but it builds up their characters i remember watchin this movie when i was 7 years old and I loved it its a simple story the little girls will love the romance and the little boys and probably the parents will love rocko its a cute film !! and for those people trying to act all high and mighty get a life Don Bluth always does a good job at making good wholesome family entertainment! so if you ever need something to entertain ur kids for 1 and 1/2 hours put the pebble and the penguin on !!! :D

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.

By the mid 1990s, the career of animator-director Don Bluth had seemed to drop to its all-time low. Before, Bluth had made a series of popular animated films, many which remain beloved today such as "The Land Before Time" (1988), "The Secret of NIMH" (1982), and "An American Tail" (1986). But beginning with "Thumbelina" in 1994, his films seemed to decrease more and more in quality and popularity and one of the many unfortunate entries is 1995's box office bomb "The Pebble and the Penguin", a film that didn't attract audience members beyond parents and children under the age of seven. Frankly, the latter are the only audience members I can comprehend taking enjoyment out of this rather bland animated feature.

The story is absurd. The film stars a poorly-drawn, stammering, and chubby penguin named Hubie (voiced by Martin Short) who falls in love with a female penguin with a surprisingly healthy flower on her head (voice by Annie Golden). SORT OF like in real life, penguins present their bride-to-bes with a pebble as a substitute for a ring. But when Hubie is swept away by the current, he teams up with a lone rockhopper (James Belushi) with a dream of flying and they race against time to return to Antarctica before it's too late. The reasons why they could be too late is one of many underdeveloped elements of this weak story that would still be weak even if they were there.

It becomes very clear very early on why this animated children's musical does not and will not work for anybody older than say six or seven years of age. It just does not have any of the qualities that are required for a good animated feature. Number one, the film looks bad on account of a very poor drawing style. The animation in this film is very cartoony (even as far as animated films go); it's dark, gloomy, there is no vibrancy in the colors, and on top of that, the design of the film and the elements in it are universally droll and laughable. Take for instance, the penguins who star in the film. With only a few background exceptions, every single penguin looks absolutely nothing at all like a bird. Hubie, for example, looks absurdly ridiculous with wide cheeks, a stubby beak, big eyes, and that preposterous hat that he wears wherever he goes. Combined with his hand-like "flippers" he looks like Chris Farley in a penguin suit. Result: he's an ugly, poorly-drawn cartoon character. But the most absurd-looking and absurdly-designed character is the evil penguin, Drake, who frankly looks nothing at all like a penguin. He's a muscle-man wearing a penguin mask. He's got a chest broader than that of Arnold Schwarzenegger, and teeth larger than the teeth of the leopard seals and killer whales that serve as the film's predators. Basically, he's a two-dimensional, recycled villain. He lives in a cave shaped like a skull, he wears a cape, laughs a lot, and gets mad when people laugh with him. Result: who cares? And what's also bad, and maybe worse, is that this is an animated musical and there's not a single noteworthy or memorable song to found anywhere within its running time. The opening hymn was harmless—not memorable, but harmless. But after that, the songs became duller and duller and there was one in particular that had me grimacing all the way through. It's the moment that viewers press the fast-forward button for whenever it comes up.

I felt "The Pebble and the Penguin" was lame all around save for the very few moments when Hubie and the rockhopper penguin Rocko are placed in peril at the jaws of leopard seals and killer whales, who were thankfully, given no dialogue and treated as animals instead of cartoon characters. But in a way, for this reason, I cannot wholeheartedly recommend this movie to children. This is the reason. The film displays killer whales are the natural predator of the penguins. My concern is that children familiar with "Free Willy" (1993) may be offended or downhearted by seeing their favorite denizen of the sea portrayed as a bloodthirsty carnivore. The leopard seal was a better antagonist and was more funny seeing as how his jaws opened wider than a rattlesnake's and how he appeared to smile while growling. But the point really is, these moments with the predators—and there are only a few—are the only interesting moments. And they're not enormously interesting, mind you.

Bottom line, I cannot recommend this to anybody below the age of seven. My advice: if you have children around that page, rent it for them. They might enjoy it.

Yeah I was a kid when this movie was out...at that time I thought it was good. Obviously now I'm older, but I decided to re-watch this movie due to complete boredom. This movie is obviously a kid's movie, and of course the adult interest is 0.1%. Was the plot good? Not really. it's about a penguin named Hubie who wants to marry another penguin named Marina, and it's explained before the movie about the pebble thing. Hubie finally makes contact with Marina, and Marina actually likes Hubie. Later Hubie wants a pebble to marry Marina, so he wishes for the best pebble, and he got what he wanted. This could've ended here, but then Drake, the stupid antagonist, decided he should separate Marina and Hubie to make the most pointless journey ever. But that's all I could tell you for the story. The animation is okay, the only problem is that overdid it with the gender thing. The singing has got to go, this literally made my ears bleed. But what can I say? this is a kid's movie! This is a good movie for kid's, not the whole family... especially not at this time period where pop culture evolved.

Hubie -- like Stanely the troll from Bluth's A Troll in Central Park -- lacks the spark of personality to be the main character that carries an entire movie. We're supposed to like him because he's nice, but that's about all he is.

His character design is unappealing. The top of his head is a sort of dome that is narrower than the pudgy bottom half of his head.

And penguins should not have teeth. I know that Iago the parrot in Aladdin had teeth, but maybe that worked because it made him look more like his voice actor, Gilbert Gottfried. Hubie, with his weenie little voice (provided by Martin Short), looks funny with that big set of chompers in his beak.

Tim Curry, who is usually delightful at being evil, does some sort of dippy surfer dude accent as the villain (might have been a good voice for a comic relief accomplice, not the supposedly menacing main villain).

The entire plot revolves around the hero and villain's love for female penguin Marina, who is just as dull as both of her suitors.

Worst of all is the pacing. We keep cutting back to the villain to watch him threaten Marina some more - this time in dialogue, this time in song...

Barry Manilow may be a great songwriter, but in animated films like this and Thumbelina, his songs feel limp and listless - especially the ballads. The only song I liked was the 1930's-ish "Good Ship Misery" song.

I read that the distributor made some cuts in this film against the filmmaker's wishes, and that could have caused some of the problems - though I suspect the real problem is that they didn't cut the rest of it ;).

Hubie (Martin Short) a good hearted but clumsy Adélie penguin with a stutter has a crush on Marina (Annie Golden), a kind soft spoken Penguin. While Hubie does find a perfect pebble to propose with, the cruel alpha male, Drake (Tim Curry), also has his eyes on Marina throws Hubie off a cliff and Hubie becomes lost at sea. When Hubie is captured by humans he teams up with a brash abrasive Northern rockhopper penguin named Rocko (Jim Belushi) who dreams of flying in an effort to return home before Marina is forced to marry Drake.

The final film of Don Bluth Irish based studios that had been the creator's home from 1985 until 1995. The final film in a three picture financing deal with Hong Kong based Media Assets, the movie had a tumultuous development cycle with Warner Bros. Delaying production to focus on Thumbelina and distribution changing hands to MGM who demanded late in production changes to the film. Director's Don Bluth and Gary Goldman jumped ship from the floundering studio in favor of a lucrative deal with 20th Century Fox to set up an Animation Studio, disowning the film which has no credited director, though MGM claimed this was totally Bluth and Goldman's film. With a troubled production history it's no wonder why the movie feels like a disjointed mess, albeit one with fleeting moments of beauty.

The impetus of The Pebble and the Penguin was spurred very much by the success of Disney's Beauty and the Beast, in Bluth's words something for children and "the date movie crowd", that really doesn't come through all that well. While the movie is technically a love story, Hubie and Marina are basically a done deal within the first 10 minutes. Not only are they together, but there's really no defining character to Marina other than she isn't a superficial airhead like her friends are. We know she's nice....and that's it. Marina spends the rest of the movie doing two things: Rejecting Drake and pining for Hubie. Drake is clearly modeled after Gaston with his bodybuilder physique and the ability to make women swoon and faint by entering a room and he's perfectly serviceable as a villain, only elevated by the fact that Tim Curry voices the character and brings energy to what's essentially a very underwritten role. Rocko was probably my favorite character, if only because I found Jim Belushi's abrasive way in which he portrays the character to be a nice break from the alternating bounciness and blandness of the other characters, but even Rocko seems inconsistently written with him changing moods or motivations on a dime for no other reason than the plot needs him to. There's a major revelation wherein Rocko finds out he was lied to by Hubie and his anger lasts all of maybe 30 seconds at most and then it continues the same way with no further mention. And then there's Hubie, on the surface he seems like a decent enough underdog lead, but Martin Short's portrayal of him I found more grating than anything else. Martin Short has a recurring problem in films be it Clifford, Pure Luck and this one in that his delivery just doesn't translate all that well to the movies he's in despite him being a proven funny comedian. Hubie comes off throughout the movie as whiny, obsessive, or emotionally needy and I just didn't find him all that charming.

The animation is at least nice, in parts anyway. The characters are expressive and there's energy to the animation, but there's also some sloppiness that's rather noticeable no doubt due to the production troubles. There are many sequences with odd color coding, static characters in either the foreground or background that give blank stares into space, and even cases of recycling of animation. The movie feels like a hatchet job with a lack of flow and connective tissue between scenes as we jump and skip between sections like a needle hitting record skips. It has the feeling of something where parts were removed while others were being inserted. There's a framework for a serviceable story in place, but the parts used to build it are so haphazardly assembled it lacks emotional impact.

The Pebble and the Penguin is the kind of movie that was made for "too many cooks". It has the feeling of something that was hampered by executive mandate and was put together with the mentality of "just finish it already". Maybe if Warner Bros. Had allowed it to be finished first instead of prioritizing Thumbelina maybe it would've been a better product, but as is: It's a mess of a movie that doesn't know how to assemble all the elements it has into a cohesive whole.

I don't know why the rating is so low. This is a beautiful movie, that only has a couple of flaws. It is not as good as An American tail and Land Before time, but way better than Rock A Doodle Doo and Troll in Central Park . I really don't understand the criticism that it is unimaginative, with Rocko flying. Hello? Elephants can't fly, and look what Disney did with Dumbo! The songs and musical score are lovely, especially Now and Forever and Sometimes I wonder. The only song I didn't like was Good Ship Misery, because it was badly sung. The animation generally was good too, the highlight being the killer whales scene. True there were a lot of colour changes and some animation errors(Good Ship Misery), especially in Drake's song. And unlike some people I thought Marina and Hubie's romance is very sweet. The worst character animation was that of Drake. Nobody would draw a penguin like that. The voice overs were what made the movie, and they WEREN'T racist. Shani Wallis is lovely as the narrator, accompanying the beautifully-animated Antarctica-landscape beginning, certainly an improvement on the narration in Rock a Doodle Doo. Martin Short portrays Hubie's nervousness with such conviction, and James Belushi steals the show with a hilarious characterisation of Rocko. Annie Golden made me cry with her beautiful singing voice, her rendition of Sometimes I Wonder is heart-rending and Marina is such a cute and beautiful penguin, and Tim Curry voiced Drake beautifully, even if he got a tad annoying. In fact, Don't Make Me Laugh is special to me because that is the best I have ever heard Tim Curry sing since Blue Money.And by the way, Curry is the most experienced singer on the soundtrack, so I was shocked by the comment that compared the singing to howling monkeys. Barry Manilow and Sheena Easten's duet at the end was sublime too. All in all a beautiful and imaginative movie, if a little on the short side. 8/10 Bethany Cox

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.

i rented this when it came out on video cassette in 1995. After rewatching it again,my idea about it hasn't changed much.

i was an adult then and i'm still an adult now!lol

The illogical elements mentioned by other reviewers didn't bother me. This isn't a documentary,it's a fantasy story where animals can talk!

While i didn't care for much of the songs,i liked the one at the end of the picture where it's sang by barry manilow and another person.

Some people seem to make an excuse for it's primitive animation by saying that CGI wasn't used often in animated features but let's not forget that THE LION KING was released about a year earlier and that packed possibly more excellence than any animated feature that came before it!!

But i think it's pretty fair to say that THE PEBBLE AND THE PINGOIN was made on the cheap while THE LION KING wasn't....

The high points for me in 1995 as well as today is the suspense generated by the few dangerous(mostly) underwater chase scenes.

i also liked the opening scene which takes place on a music notes page and a little bit of the love story. But most of the time,the story dragged on and was boring.

Worth a look if you like animation but if you're an adult and not a risk taker,go get another Walt Disney production instead of this!

In the mid 90s, Don Bluth and Gary Goldman left their own studio behind following it being taken over by MGM. After the disastrous results of Thumbelina and A Troll in Central Park, all fate would be settled with The Pebble & the Penguin, a bland musical adventure largely rooted in older Broadway theater. Despite getting a negative reception from the general public, no one was more embarrassed about this film than Bluth and Goldman, to the point where they had their names removed as directors. Watching the final product though, I don't think it's the worst offender to not want to be associated with.

Based on the mating rituals of the Antarctic Adélie penguins, the film follows a timid, stuttering penguin named Hubie who tries impressing a beautiful penguin named Marina with a special green pebble while keeping it away from an evil penguin named Drake who wants Marina for himself. With that premise intact, the story is the typical underdog overcomes all odds to get the girl of their dreams, complete with a one dimensional bully in Drake and a cynical sidekick by name of Rocko. Now the influence of Rodgers and Hammerstein fits the welcome return of Barry Manilow and Bruce Sussman helming the musical numbers, but even with a strong cast of Martin Short, Annie Golden, Jim Belushi and Tim Curry, the songs ultimately harm the film by being stronger on atmosphere than story and character development. Many of the songs either have no point of their own beyond their basic character purpose or feel more like musical accompaniment over content. Considering even Bluth knew Pebble had story problems, it doesn't seem like these songs did the film any favors.

As far as art direction is concerned, the conceptually grim Antarctic setting is elevated through dynamic staging and bold color palettes thanks to the strong creative team at Bluth's studio. Given the established melodramatic musical tone, the dangers of nature come about in exaggerated yet powerful sequences as Hubie and Rocko endlessly try to reach their destinations. That being said, the quality is hindered by how rushed the production was once MGM seized control of the studio, causing other studios to help finish inking and coloring with varying results. Despite some grandiose set pieces, one can tell when a whole group of characters are held for too long or when the glitches come flying out of left field. One can't truly blame the filmmakers given the severe financial problems behind the scenes, but it does explain why most of the people working at Bluth's own studio jumped ship around the time of the film's release. Regardless of whether or not the film would have been better were Bluth and Goldman able to polish it more, what we got hardly hatched out of its own egg.

So while Pebble & the Penguin is harmless enough in its ambitious attempt at recreating an authentic Broadway musical, the lackluster story, generic characters, meaningless songs and low production values keep it from reaching any potential it could have had. Outside of introducing this film to younger audiences by means of introducing them to Broadway musicals, this film is hardly worth recommending for any reason at all. With how little impact it made on its own directors careers, or even Barry Manilow's for that matter, perhaps this was not the stone the people behind the project were looking for after all.

I'm an animator myself and an all around buff of the medium so when I saw this movie in a $5 bin I figured it was worth a shot to add to my collection. While I never regret having a new addition to my animation library this film was definitely disappointing.

The premise has enough potential. A penguin named Hubie finds the perfect pebble to give to the girl he loves as the penguin equivalent to an engagement ring but before he can give it to her, he's cast out by an evil rival and lost at sea. He then befriends another penguin who helps him find his way home. That set up isn't great but it's enough to set up what could be a fun adventure. Unfortunately the duo's exploits never really amount to much and it all gets pretty repetitive. Most of the situations they find themselves in are really uninspired and lacking in creativity...and the bonding the two of them under go is cheesy and forced.

Animation is good but not up to Don Bluth's usual standards. This is the guy that gave us The Secret of Nimh, Land Before Time and An American Tale, all of which had an attention to detail that often surpassed Disney, the granddaddy of feature animation. This one doesn't amount to much beyond high end TV fair.

The music is alright but pretty forgettable and the voice actors are all wasted talent...Martin Short is particularly wasted here as the lead character who in spite of being spoken of as a bumbler is practically a straight man through the whole film.

In short the movie will probably appeal to very small kids but a good family film should appeal to all ages and unfortunately it doesn't got what it takes.

Sorry I had problems and I just couldn't have time to write a review for "The Pebble And The Penguin" until now.

Like I was saying in my review of "A Troll In Central Park", Don Bluth achieved being the first true competition Disney had in decades, forcing them to regroup and releasing "The Little Mermaid" which put Disney again on the road. But now Disney was back with all their might, and Don Bluth struggled facing them. Every single of his films would be compared to their Disney counterparts ("Aladdin" to "Rock-a-Doodle", "The Lion King" to "A Troll In Central Park"...) This dangerous habit of comparing his output also severely damaged his integrity when trying to make his films: executives forced him out of his distinctive, trademark style to one the public would be more easily to stomach, with fictional devices and conventions common in Disney films that would be more sure to make money. But when it was the time to release the film on the big screen, distribuitors wouldn't have faith on it, the only animated films that could prove that were capable of make money are Disney's, so why bothering distributing a Don Bluth film when you could as well distribute a proper Disney's?

So, in this lose-lose scenario, having been caught between fire from the executives that wanted a Disney-style film that would be more likely to make money, and the fire from the distribuitors that wouldn't trust any animated film not made by Disney, was where "The Pebble And The Penguin" was made. And how bad it affected it? Certainly, Don Bluth abandoned in the middle of the production and demanded that he wouldn't be credited in this film. An Hungarian studio had to finish it, and so you see why the legendary high-style quality of the animation of Don Bluth, one of the things he never compromised no matter if his films were bad, here hits his lowest quality and seems at times as unpolished and mediocre.

But luckily, Don Bluth had a couple of tricks in his sleeve to redeem the animation, like the opening sequence in 3D musical sheets, the scene of the shooting star, and Drake's musical number. Which brings the next topic, the score was certainly better than "Troll" but nowhere near his best. "Don't make me laugh" (Drake's number) and "Forever and ever" (the opening sequence) are great but others songs aren't particularly memorable. Maybe is the quality of the voice acting that makes what they are, which brings the next topic. I didn't liked Hubie's performance, nor that of many support characters, but Rocko, Marina and specially Drake were fine (see? I'm starting to note that Drake was the best thing of the film)

And the story/plot... well it's OK I've seen plenty of films like this in Cartoon Network, it's perfectly acceptable to have a film like this, with this mood and atmosphere, if I could catch a film like this in a Saturday afternoon on TV I wouldn't see what's different with many other films like "A Nine Dog Christmas" or "Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer" so why the film failed and was another flop of Don Bluth? Disney. Like I said, all animation had to be only and just only from Disney. This cruel and sadistic practice of the industry (and to some extent, the public too) would come later to bite back Disney and destroy their traditional animation divisions with the arrival of the CGI, but that's another story...

5/10, it's a perfectly OK, average film, absolutely better than "Troll" and "Rock-a-doodle" but nowhere on par of Don Bluth's best.

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.

Would it surprise you that my ears and eyes almost bled from watching and listening to this awful movie? My eyes almost bled from watching the awful animation and insipid, plotless, empty story. My ears almost bled from listening to the songs that sounded like they were sung by a chorus of howler monkeys. Then my brain almost melted because of this film's complete lack of intelligence. It's formulaic every step of the way. Talking animals are one thing, but a penguin who can fly just to keep with the "dreams can come true" schtick? Show some more faith in the children's intelligence please. Next to Rock-A-Doodle, this is one of Bluth's worst.

Whoa. I mean, whoa. I mean, whoa whoa.

I saw this movie, waaay back when I was eight, in 1996. Back then, CGI films were a rarity; and good ones even more so. Also, back then we listened to things called CD players. But I digress. I used to like this movie a lot, way back then, and up till viewing it again, I've held reaally fond memories of it. Hey, it's Don Bluth! Anyone who hates "All Dogs Go to Heaven" is clearly a robot. But, again, I digress.

Then, I saw it again. This really isn't one of his best, I can say now, eleven years later. I've seen a lot more films, and I've garnered a little bit more knowledge. Now, sure, the voice acting is good, I'll give 'em that. Story's...okay. I mean, we see it all the time. A LOT. But, it works. The musical numbers are what irk me. This would've been more at home in the eighties, with these kind of musical numbers. In '96, most kids movies had epic numbers, like the Lion King (which came out a year or so previous, but whatever)or stuff like that. You get showtunes here, vaudeville style.

The animation kind of hurts, too. At times choppy, and at others completely changing style and format with the change of a shot, it's really hard not to notice.

I still like "All Dogs Go to Heaven, but this could've been waaay better.

4/10

I saw this animation as I collect penguins and there were some cute pictures with a _little_ factual information in the story, but the dialog and songs did not live up to the high standard of classic Disney films. The little plot seemed too simplistic and obviously going to end happily-ever-after. There was none of the suspense caused by a good score and life-or-death situations with last minute saves which characterize good fairytales.

Overall: 5/10 - passes the time, just