The Scarecrow

I would have more fun having fifty leeches drain my life away through my face. And I'm not just saying that. Can you say "Anachronism?" Because that is basically what this is. A very long anachronism. This thing takes place in the 1800s, right? Then what in the ruddy heck is swing dance and ballet doing there??? DISCO?!?!It's just too agonizing to watch. And of course even the poor and destitute of the town are perfect company dancers. I wouldn't think this kind of drivel would even SELL any more - how the heck did they get the money to make this?

It is one of those movies that is so horrifically bad it's hilarious. I was watching it with my siblings and when the bad guy said menacingly, "GET THE FEATHER!!!!!" I burst out laughing, even when my little brother, bless him, turned to me with pain in his eyes and said, "That's not funny..."

But in its defense, at least they are making an honest effort to make clean entertainment for children. Too bad they didn't do a better job.

When it comes to Richard Rich, he is rather inconsistent. The Swan Princess was surprisingly good, while The Fox and the Hound is one of Disney's most touching and underrated films. The Black Cauldron was okay thanks to John Hurt and the music but suffered from badly underdeveloped characters, while The King and I had a lot of problems but not quite as bad as it is made out to be. I'd say his weakest films are The Trumpet of the Swan, while not terrible it wasn't exactly good either and this, The Scarecrow, an example of a film that had its good points but a lot of bad ones too.

What I did like about The Scarecrow was the story. It was a very interesting concept and worked well. The film started off very nicely with a nicely done prologue in the viewpoint of Bebe. Bebe is a character you either love or hate, while I don't love her I can tolerate her. She is humorous and narrates the prologue fine, but I have never always been accustomed to her voice which dependent on who you are can grate. I have to say though, the weakest part of the story was the conclusion, I personally think there could have been a stronger finish to that. For me it came across as rather rushed and perhaps predictable, and the last few minutes have a that's it? feeling to it.

If I had to sum up the animation in one word, I'd say inconsistent. There are some beautiful backgrounds in fluidity and colour, and Polly is nicely drawn. Plus I loved the lovingly rendered dance sequence. However, the editing is rather choppy especially in the later part of the film, and I personally didn't entirely like how Max was drawn. His colours seemed washed out and his movements didn't always convince.

The music is also mixed. The incidental music is lovely, with some poignant melodies and some nostalgic like rhythms(ie. what sounded like the jitterbug at one point). Where The Scarecrow is not so successful is in the songs. In Your Arms is wonderful, and When She Looks At Me is also pretty pleasant, but the first song is overlong and very forgettable with some very uninspired lyrics, while some of the other music was so out of place they took away from any authenticity. And out of the singing really only Polly's singing voice really wowed me. Everyone else ranged from good to reasonably adequate.

The dialogue has its moments. The prologue was nicely written, and I liked Scarecrow's slang, but Grisham's came across as somewhat lame. And the pacing while brisk to start with, meanders towards the end. Then there are the characters. My two favourites are Polly, who is beautiful and has a nice personality, and the broom who is quite endearing and sweet without speaking. Bebe is tolerable, and Scarecrow/Feathertop is likable enough if occasionally too serious. Max is okay sometimes, but when it comes to comic relief and giving advice that is a different story. Speaking about comic relief, it doesn't gel really in The Scarecrow. It does try, with Max and Cheswick. But with Cheswick the running gag about his big belly becomes tiresome and unfunny after the second or third try. The worst character? Easy for me- hate to say it, but it was the villain Grisham, who is a contender for the most annoying villain in an animated film ever.

The voice acting is variable. Polly and Feathertop are reasonable, but Ray Porter trying no doubt to do something with his awful dialogue no doubt overacts dreadfully. In fact, I am sorry to say Grisham's voice is one of the main reasons why he comes across as annoying, as well as his uninspired motive.

So in conclusion, I wouldn't say it is awful, but it isn't exactly good either. It has a great story and decent protagonists but with better music and a better villain it could have been better. 5/10 Bethany Cox

I actually like this film ,despite it's terrible half-assed looking animation and some of the music is so out of place it seems wrong, I loved Richard Rich's previous stuff as well Including The Swan Princess and his remake of The King and I. I can actually sit and watch this film over and over and not get bored. Some of the songs are horrible whilst the others grow on you and you find them forever stuck in your head, My favourites being "In Your arms" and "When she looks at me". I just hope there'll eventually be a DVD release because although I own it on VHS...it's starting to get worn out and I'll need to replace!

Seriously folks,if you have kids don't neglect this movie...it has a nice story and unlike everything else that seems to be made at the moment, is done in traditional 2D animation, I suppose that's what made me like it so much...

To those who don't know, I sort of have a liking for Richard Rich. The Fox and the Hound was an underrated film back at 1981. The story, while dark in the second of the film, is still intact and very original with tear-jerking moments, likable characters, an excellent voice cast, and one of the greatest climaxes ever to put in Disney history. The Black Cauldron was underrated as well, but suffered from it's bare resemblance to the first two books and it's lack of character development and The Swan Princess was also underrated as well as my childhood favorite, but suffered from it's mediocre story and the one of the main characters named Derek was bland and shallow. Then, his career went downhill with box office bombs including The King and I remake and The Trumpet of the Swan. With this... well, let's say I remembered watching this on the Cartoon Network Movie Marathon when I was a 10 year old and I have to say I kind of enjoyed, but as a young adult, however, this film seems to have some flaws.

I haven't seen the play it was based on, but I actually found the story in this film to be pretty decent. Despite it's weak ending, it has a nice concept about a scarecrow who comes to life due to a magical feather and has motivational lessons including listen to your heart and do the right thing. It was a tale of hope, faith, and sacrifice and it has some very touching moments.

The characters aren't that bad. The Scarecrow/Feathertop (a love child of Aladdin and Peter Pan), although bland, is tolerable and manages to save Polly from the evil Grisham (we'll get to him in a moment). Polly is also tolerable as a damsel in distress. In fact, her singing voice really amazed me. Bebe, on the other hand, is my least favorite character, but wasn't as bad as I thought she would be. She only appeared in the beginning of the film, but then disappears. That doesn't mean I can't tolerate her. The sidekicks like Max and the broomstick are OK, but nothing special. The weakest character is Cheswick whose running gag about his belly becomes tiresome and unfunny, but the worst character in the movie this far is Grisham who is an example of being the most annoying non-Disney villain in the history of animation cinema.

The dialogue has some humorous and touching moments where Scarecrow/Feathertop sacrifices his life to save Polly from danger on the destruction of a bridge. The prologue told by Bebe was great and Scarecrow's slang is good, but Grisham's was plainly pathetic. Polly's dialogue was also good as well while the sidekicks' are OK.

The animation is pretty much a mixed bag. It has some beautiful backgrounds, and fluidity character animations. I found the dance sequences to be nicely choreographed, but it's editing seemed too choppy at times especially the ending and the way Max was drawn seemed too poorly due to his washed out colors.

The music is mediocre. "When She Looks At Me", "Come On, Everybody", and "In Your Arms" were good, but the first song in the beginning was overlong and had uninspiring lyrics and the rest of the music seemed out of place.

The strongest aspect is the voice acting. Scarecrow and Polly were tolerable and Corey Feldman's voice for Max really suited him well, but Ray Porter gives out some of his terrible dialogue and no doubt overreacts so painfully which is the reason why Grisham was the most annoying character to begin with.

In short, The Scarecrow isn't a great film, but in terms of animated features, this is good for kids young and old. With a decent story, decent protagonists and excellent voice acting, it's certainly not that bad, but would've been better with a better villain and better music.

This film could have been a success. The scarecrow looking too human made the conclusion slightly ridiculous. He should have been more nightmarish. Also, two annoying sidekicks, bad animation, an annoying villain and (except one) awful songs made this a failure, at least to me. You'd be better off sticking with the new wave of Disney adaptions then this rubbish.