As with I suspect a lot of people my age, I saw this as a kid when my parents rented it from the video store. Even back then, the movie was never a big favorite of mine- it certainly didn't have the replay factor of something like Aladdin- but something about the whale and underwater motif stuck with me, even if memories of specific scenes were fuzzy. Many years later, I got curious about seeing it again after rediscovering the title in my internet travels. Bottom line: I can see why I didn't really take to it as a kid: It's just a downer.
I didn't put the pieces together as a kid for some reason, but upon re-watching, it's obvious the movie's set in a near-apocalyptic future: Pollution is rampant, sea creatures are endangered, New York City is a sunken lost city akin to Atlantis, etc. Now, apocalyptic/post-apocalyptic settings can work if done right- see Kipo for a recent example, but here it's just depressing. To make matters worse, the main character, Samson, a young whale, loses two people close to him: His mom (shades of Bambi), and another whale that helps him out. And when he finally accomplishes his goal of finding the elusive Moby Dick, he's disappointed to find that he's senile and immobile. What a fun movie! (By the way, that scene of Samson's mom being killed? It's followed immediately by a scene of him and his girlfriend Sally falling in love. Very awkward pacing.)
Other problems; The characters are flat, it has a dark and murky color palette (appropriate for the polluted setting, but not very appealing to look at), the animation is rough and unrefined, the English dub is only serviceable, its "comic relief" seagull character is just irritating (and sounds like Gonzo from Muppet Babies), its action set pieces aren't very inspired (during a chase, Sally gets covered in a sheet at one point and looks like a ghost- we haven't seen that before!), and it has an abrupt ending. Most of all, it just left me bored, even though it has a fairly short running time.
Seems rather pointless to review this since the VHS is long since out of print and there's doubtful going to be a re-release on digital or DVD anytime soon, but what else is the internet for than to critique old stuff?
I didn't put the pieces together as a kid for some reason, but upon re-watching, it's obvious the movie's set in a near-apocalyptic future: Pollution is rampant, sea creatures are endangered, New York City is a sunken lost city akin to Atlantis, etc. Now, apocalyptic/post-apocalyptic settings can work if done right- see Kipo for a recent example, but here it's just depressing. To make matters worse, the main character, Samson, a young whale, loses two people close to him: His mom (shades of Bambi), and another whale that helps him out. And when he finally accomplishes his goal of finding the elusive Moby Dick, he's disappointed to find that he's senile and immobile. What a fun movie! (By the way, that scene of Samson's mom being killed? It's followed immediately by a scene of him and his girlfriend Sally falling in love. Very awkward pacing.)
Other problems; The characters are flat, it has a dark and murky color palette (appropriate for the polluted setting, but not very appealing to look at), the animation is rough and unrefined, the English dub is only serviceable, its "comic relief" seagull character is just irritating (and sounds like Gonzo from Muppet Babies), its action set pieces aren't very inspired (during a chase, Sally gets covered in a sheet at one point and looks like a ghost- we haven't seen that before!), and it has an abrupt ending. Most of all, it just left me bored, even though it has a fairly short running time.
Seems rather pointless to review this since the VHS is long since out of print and there's doubtful going to be a re-release on digital or DVD anytime soon, but what else is the internet for than to critique old stuff?