I have a lot of nostalgia for The Jetsons. The cartoon was one of my favorites as a child in the 1980s. I don't have that same nostalgia for the movie or even remember when I actually saw it for the first time. I decided to watch it to see if I wanted to buy the newly released Blu-Ray version.
The Good: The animation is wonderful. The artists took the look right from the cartoon and gave it a boost for the big screen. The story is also nice and fits in with the world of the Jetsons. Daws Butler, the original voice of Elroy, sadly passed away before the movie was made but his replacement does a decent job. Otherwise most of the original voice cast is here, but more on that later. The musical score is well done, the iconic theme is heard throughout in different variations.
Not So Good: It always seems to come down to the voice cast when cartoons are turned into feature films. As I said most of the cast from the show are in the movie. Sadly Mel Blanc (Spacely) and George O'Hanlon (George) died during production and another actor finished their parts. I didn't notice this with Mr. Spacely but there are several scenes where George's voice was much different. I certainly don't blame the studio for this. But my biggest issue is what they did to Judy Jetson's character.
The original voice actor, Janet Waldo, recorded all her dialog for Judy only to be replaced by singer Tiffany. Of course Tiffany doesn't sound anything like the Judy we know and love, and the volume of songs make the movie feel like a vehicle for the singer's career. They should have kept Janet for the voice work and let Tiffany sing the songs, either as herself animated or just for the soundtrack. I would love to see the movie with Janet Waldo's voice restored but I'm guessing that is a pipe dream.
Summary: They did a lot of good things with the Jetsons movie but the studio screwed it up by replacing one of the iconic voice cast with a popular singer for the time. Maybe I'll give it another watch and change my feelings in the future.
Hollywood has kept this trend going with other cartoon properties. They just don't trust the property enough to let it speak for itself, they have to attach big name actors to it. Ugh!
The Good: The animation is wonderful. The artists took the look right from the cartoon and gave it a boost for the big screen. The story is also nice and fits in with the world of the Jetsons. Daws Butler, the original voice of Elroy, sadly passed away before the movie was made but his replacement does a decent job. Otherwise most of the original voice cast is here, but more on that later. The musical score is well done, the iconic theme is heard throughout in different variations.
Not So Good: It always seems to come down to the voice cast when cartoons are turned into feature films. As I said most of the cast from the show are in the movie. Sadly Mel Blanc (Spacely) and George O'Hanlon (George) died during production and another actor finished their parts. I didn't notice this with Mr. Spacely but there are several scenes where George's voice was much different. I certainly don't blame the studio for this. But my biggest issue is what they did to Judy Jetson's character.
The original voice actor, Janet Waldo, recorded all her dialog for Judy only to be replaced by singer Tiffany. Of course Tiffany doesn't sound anything like the Judy we know and love, and the volume of songs make the movie feel like a vehicle for the singer's career. They should have kept Janet for the voice work and let Tiffany sing the songs, either as herself animated or just for the soundtrack. I would love to see the movie with Janet Waldo's voice restored but I'm guessing that is a pipe dream.
Summary: They did a lot of good things with the Jetsons movie but the studio screwed it up by replacing one of the iconic voice cast with a popular singer for the time. Maybe I'll give it another watch and change my feelings in the future.
Hollywood has kept this trend going with other cartoon properties. They just don't trust the property enough to let it speak for itself, they have to attach big name actors to it. Ugh!