Reviews

There's a reason this is considered not only one of the best Christmas films of all time, but also one of the best films of all time, period: Its themes, of how each of our lives touches so many others, have resonated with audiences for over 70 years now, and it seems they'll only continue to resonate for generations to come.

Much of the film chronicles the life of George Bailey (fabulously played by Jimmy Stewart) and all the ways he helped people/had a positive impact of their lives from very early on - often without even realizing it:

• He saved his younger brother Harry from falling through the ice when they were young boys.
• He prevented the drug store owner, Mr. Gower, from accidentally giving another kid poisoned capsules.
• He kept the Bailey Building and Loan aloft even after the death of his father.
• He married Mary Hatch (Donna Reed) and she didn't become an "old maid" as the film suggests she might have otherwise.

and numerous others. All while staying in the quaint little town of Bedford Falls, without being able to go out exploring as he had wanted to since he was a young boy.

Then, on Christmas Eve, shortly after the end of the Second World War, some money belonging to the Bailey family accidentally ends up in the clutches of the cold banker, Mr. Potter, and George is left at the end of his rope. He nearly drowns himself, but is stopped by Clarance the Angel (in human form), who has been sent to help him. Clarence even shows George just how terrible life in Bedford Falls (or rather Pottersville) would be if he'd never existed. Realizing his would be mistake, George begs to exist again. And he does.

Giddily restored, George runs straight home to Mary and their four children, greeted by all the friends and family he's had over his wonderful life. And Clarence even earns his wings as a result of helping George.

As it takes place around Christmas, it is often considered a "Christmas film", but its themes are again largely year-round and as such the film can still be watched and enjoyed almost any time of year.

A wonderful film, indeed! And a wonderful 8 of 10 stars for this classic!

And that's saying a LOT, since, while I usually have a pretty open attitude towards most (though not all) films I watch, animated or otherwise, I often find at least a FEW things that I, myself, probably would've done differently.

This has been at the #1 spot as my favorite animated Disney movie of all time since at LEAST very early 2009. Now, nearly a full decade later, it STILL holds up quite well, and I can still remember those good happy times of falling in love with the film and its characters (heck! Even Madame Medusa, herself, while obviously a mean, nasty woman for the most parts, provides quite a few laughs with her hilarious over the top eccentricity and hamminess! THOUGH I WOULD NEVER TRULY BE "IN LOVE" W HER; Especially not if she were real!)

As I finally write this long overdue review of this absolute masterpiece, it is early March 2017, just over 3 months before the film is due to celebrate its 40TH(!!!) Anniversary on June 22. However, due to the current execs of Walt's company giving the impression of biases in favor of SOME films being milked out the wazoo, while others (this one included) are contrastingly shunned in their infamous "Vault" more or less. A real shame that John Lasseter and his posse from Pixar seem to be giving this impression and the impression of wanting zillions more MONEY than they need (I mean "Frozen" ALONE made you guys multi-gazillionaires, so why not try to refute the notion of you potentially being cheapskates and not have these black-and-white biases? Just saying...)

Either way, whether or not THEY care about this and several other Disney greats (in MY eyes at least) of the time, nothing will change the fact that I still do... Again, a REALLY perfect film if you ask me, 10/10, Happy (Early) 40th Anniversary, Rescuers!!! May you continue to "never fail to do what's right" for many decades yet to come!

Seriously, this is the most over-hated Disney film of all-time. Even more than "Home on the Range", which was neither straight-to- DVD nor a sequel, yet still gets a ton of hate, regardless, but that's another story.

Speaking of which, most direct-to-DVD films from Disney get virtually nothing but hate from fans, either because they want to act "hip" or "cool" or because they expect too dang much, and this one is certainly no exception. While admittedly, the animation isn't as high-quality as a theatrical release, or even some DTDVD releases (i.e. "The Lion King 2", which was another example of a pretty darn good Disney sequel, which thankfully isn't nearly as hated as this or some others), but I actually found, upon watching it last night, it actually holds a certain charm in the 90's Saturday Morning Cartoon-style animation.

As for the characters, all of them are back, baring the gracious exception of the dastardly minister Frollo, and I gotta say, I find it fascinating and satisfying in the best possible way how the absence of just one character could alter the mood of Paris and Notre Dame itself completely. The great French city and even the cathedral herself were a fairly dark, misty and almost even foreboding place for most of the first film, prior to his well-earned damnation in the finale, but since then, Paris has lightened up considerably and become a place anyone with a heart or soul (two things neither Frollo nor the "hip" haters of this film ever seemed to have) would want to live. And all of the returning characters even have their all-star voice talents from the previous film (save it for Laverne the Gargoyle, and that can obviously be forgiven due to her original voice actress's death in 1995), and they even added some new all-star voice talents to the mix, including Michael McKean as the charismatic villain, Sarousch, and Jennifer Love Hewitt as the beautiful Madellaine.

Speaking of Madellaine, she's even more beautiful than Esmeralda, and that's saying a lot! It's almost certainly just as well Quasimodo didn't marry Esmeralda in the first film; Madellaine's a much better match for him, and I'd rather have her or Esmeralda, myself, any day! Quasi's a lucky guy! Ultimately even luckier than Phoebus!

As for Sarousch, the new villain, he's admittedly not the scurvy zealot Frollo was, and again that's just as well! And for what it's worth, Sarousch did have some genuine moments of menace, for all those "hipsters" who complain he was a complete sissy.

All in all, a REALLY, charming, sentimental film, which, again does NOT deserve all the hate it gets. Save that hate for "Hoodwinked 2", will ya? It's a sequel that actually WAS released in theaters, but felt childishly, heartlessly, and unfunnily written, and couldn't' even get back TWO LIVING voice talents from the original, Anne Hathaway OR Jim Belushi, and the former got specifically replaced with a certain "cheerleader"/screeching ant-let, but that's another story completely...

Walt Disney Productions wouldn't release another animated feature until the dreaded "Black Cauldron" in 1985, by which point the last of Walt Disney's Nine Old Men (Frank Thomas, Ollie Johnston and Wolfgang Reitherman) had departed from the studio (after having worked there since before 1937's "Snow White"), Michael Eisner had taken over the Magic Kingdom, changed the company's name to Walt Disney PICTURES and pushed NEARLY ALL (if not ALL) film credits to the end of their animated features from the aforementioned "Black Cauldron" onwards (all animated Disney productions from before the dawn of Eisner's reign in 1984 ONLY had opening credits and simply ended with "THE END") and brought Disney dangerously close to Rock Bottom.

While the film isn't my favorite Disney flick, it's certainly a very sweet charming finale to the good old days at Disney. Especially the bonds between Tod and the Widow Tweed, and, of course, Tod and Copper, themselves ("The Best of Friends" and "Goodbye May Seem Forever" are two of the most poignant songs in the Disney canon, ESPECIALLY the latter, when the Widow Tweed has to reintroduce Tod to the forest). Even the "villains" (if you can even call them that) are actually likable and sympathetic (extremely unusual by Disney standards). Amos Slade the hunter is not your stereotypical "evil hunter" (that character archetype was not established until Percival McLeech in "The Rescuers 2" in 1990). He only hunts for a living and is, incidentally voiced by (and is even drawn to RESEMBLE) Jack Albertson, best known as Grandpa Joe in the original version of "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" (this was also one of Albertson's last roles and the last film he starred in to be released prior to his death just a few months later in 1981). Copper's fellow hunting dog, Chief, seems like a bit of a curmudgeon, but is shown to have a heart of gold, when taking to the young Copper (though he does become somewhat jealous when Amos pays more attention to Copper than to him). Did I mention that Chief's voiced by Pat Buttram, who Disney fans will also know as the Sheriff of Nottingham in "Robin Hood" (1973) and Luke, the whiskey-drinking muskrat in "The Rescuers" (1977), and I'll admit, this definitely seems like one of his more serious, sympathetic voice roles for Disney (The Sheriff of Nottingham may have been laughably evil, but he was still a tax-collecting jerk, and, of course, a comedic idiot). It's hard for me to say whether or not Chief should have been killed after the train accidentally ran him over halfway through the film. On one hand, it would be believable that he'd die, as the train was shown to violently strike him off the bridge and send him sprawling onto the rocky waters below (mostly on screen, and much more detailed than Trusty merely being accidentally knocked over by the dogcatcher's wagon skidding to a sudden halt in "Lady and the Tramp" (1955)), and it would've fully justified Copper and Amos temporarily being upset with Tod for some time after the incident. However, Chief seemed somewhat admirable underneath his curmudgeon-like mannerisms (though not quite on par with the aforementioned Trusty in terms of likableness) and so it may be good that he survived (Incidentally, Trusty and Chief would've BOTH ended up dying in their respective films had "executive meddling" as TV Tropes calls it, not decided to spare them, which makes one wonder why they DID kill off some perfectly likable characters in later Disney films such as "The Lion King II: Simba's Pride", "Tarzan" and even "The Princess and the Frog").

Anyways, "The Fox and the Hound" is again, a beautiful goodbye to classic Disney, as (I forgot to mention earlier) even when Disney did recover from the critical disaster of "The Black Cauldron" (with the likes of "The Great Mouse Detective", "Oliver & Company", and, of course, "The Little Mermaid"), Disney animation was never truly the same again. The words "The End" conclude the entire film in a way almost no previous Disney film had done before (except possibly "Bambi" and "The Rescuers"): An audio flashback of young Tod and Copper saying however they'll always be friends forever ("Yeah, forever.") with a soft sweet finale medley blending the aforementioned "Best of Friends" and "Goodbye May Seem Forever" together. Two chimes faintly ding as the following words appear on screen for the final time:

The End - Walt Disney Productions. :.)

Sure, the animals were kinda cool, but, if you ask me, the REAL STAR (she'd certainly be pleased to hear me say that) was Darla Dimple. A beautiful little blonde girl, who, for some reason, was the VILLAIN. That may or may not have been for the better, because at least she certainly was far from completely saccharine (i.e. Anne-Marie in "All Dogs Go to Heaven" or Dot in "A Bug's Life") as she may have been if she were a good guy... Still, I couldn't help but feel sorry for her, maybe because she's just a kid, or maybe because she resembles (in terms of her appearance ONLY, and NOT personality) the sweet girl, short in stature, curly blonde hair, at my school, Zoezonna Brennan. Unlike Darla, who was cool and all, Zoe's just a nice girl (FAR from sickeningly sweet, though) and makes me feel love and compassion towards her.

Anyways, a VERY interesting and satisfying film! 9/10 stars! You ARE the STAR, Darla Dimple! (AND YOU, ZOE, EVEN MORESO!!!!) :)

I seem to be one of the few people saying this, but: "All Dogs Go to Heaven 2" is actually a MAJOR step up from Bluth's 1989 original!

Charlie Barkin and Itchy Itchiford are reunited in Heaven, after the latter chokes to death on a chicken bone. Charlie is bored of life in Heaven, but soon the heavenly hounds find out that Gabriel's horn has been stolen and is now in the heart of San Francisco. Charlie and Itchy must rival their old enemy Carface (who stole the horn in the first place), thwart Carface's new boss, Red the Cat Demon, and help a little boy, named David, find his way home.

This is a great sequel! Great music, great characters, and a story MUCH easier to follow than its predecessor...8/10 stars! Highly recommended!!! :)