Let me begin by saying that "the Secret of NIMH" is my favorite movie of all time. I've often wondered why Don Bluth has never made any movie that has been anywhere near as good as this one (granted "NIMH" is about as perfect as any animated movie can get, so it's sort of a tough act to follow). Then I had the Golden Moment: Bluth is a Hayao Miyazaki trapped in the body of a Michael Eisner. On the one hand, he wants to elevate animation to an art form capable of heart rending beauty. On the other, he feels like he has to make films that are marketable, and that will be hits. In short, he's been clipping his own wings.
With that in mind, watching "Rock-a-Doodle" made me physically ill. It is the one movie that has completely screwed up my "is it worse that 'Theodore Rex'?" rating system, because it is so depressing to watch. Why did Bluth greenlight this story (if you can call it that)? You can be a parody of the old Elvis musicals, you can be an adventure with some animals lost in a strange city, you can be a fantasy with an evil wizard who wants an eternal night, you can be a dumb little kids' movie with some stupid kid dancing with cartoon animals. You can be any *ONE* of these movies but you cannot be all four at once!
With that in mind, watching "Rock-a-Doodle" made me physically ill. It is the one movie that has completely screwed up my "is it worse that 'Theodore Rex'?" rating system, because it is so depressing to watch. Why did Bluth greenlight this story (if you can call it that)? You can be a parody of the old Elvis musicals, you can be an adventure with some animals lost in a strange city, you can be a fantasy with an evil wizard who wants an eternal night, you can be a dumb little kids' movie with some stupid kid dancing with cartoon animals. You can be any *ONE* of these movies but you cannot be all four at once!