Animation &Commentary &Frame Grabs 13 May 2009 07:17 am
Random Bluth
- All the anti-Don Bluth vitriol that came out in the comments on my relatively harmless piece on the recently released DVD of Banjo the Woodpile Cat has stuck in my craw. (here and here)
Don Bluth is a veteran animator who busted his butt to make a number of animated features. Some of these were really good; some were not so bad, and others were downright clunkers. Regardless of the quality, they all took a hell of a lot of effort and 
struggle to get to the screen, and for that alone,
I have a lot of respect for Bluth and those who were part of his close-knit animation family.
A personality did come through all of those features. You may or may not like that personality, but there is an imprint there that can’t be denied. I give the man and his team a lot of credit.
Yet from the comments that have been generated, one would think he had done a piece of trash like Hoodwinked or Barnyard.
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The major difference is that Bluth desperately tried to make a good film and change the world of animation with his product, the other two producers were just producing product. Make it funny and get as much booty as possible. I guess the latter two were successful. One got a good deal with Miramax (and is now directing a live-action feature). The other, a live-action director, got a deal with Nickelodeon and made a slew of other Barnyard attractions.
Don Bluth? I’m not sure what he’s up to now, but I do wish he’d get back to business and try another animated feature. Perhaps this time he’ll work with a first rate scriptwriter.
I’ve decided to post some screengrabs of a random scene from the PT of Bluth’s All Dogs Go To Heaven. I didn’t like this film when I first saw it in a theater, but I’ve warmed to it over the years. The folksy charm of Burt Reynolds still bothers me, as does that googly-eyed child typical of many Bluth films. (The children in Troll in Central Park is the crème de la crème of this character type.)
Anyway, here’s a scene. It’s chosen completely at random. I don’t know who animated it (please leave a comment if you know), but it took a lot of work, and I’d like to honor it.
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on 13 May 2009 at 7:34 am 1.Kellie Strøm said …
I found that film strange in a good way when it came out. Friends were baffled that I’d enjoyed it!
on 13 May 2009 at 8:21 am 2.Teodor Ajduk said …
All Dogs Go To Heaven is one of the best.
why everbody forget world of feature animation before Don Bluth’s movies? /and after/
Also interesting is Bluth’s raspunzel for Scissor Sisters: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2v4r5_scissor-sisters-mary_music
on 13 May 2009 at 9:04 am 3.Michael said …
Thanks, Teodor, for sharing the Scissor Sister’s video. I hadn’t seen it before. (Though I had to go to a different link to see it: here. Animation comes in around 1:50.)
on 13 May 2009 at 9:22 am 4.Teodor Ajduk said …
in my country i cant see that link.
in xanadu is same song also with bluth’ animation.
on 13 May 2009 at 10:43 am 5.Sally said …
Don Bluth can be found here. He is running some tutorials and activities with a lot of kids out there in the forum, which I think it’s really nice of him.
http://www.donbluthanimation.com/
I think it’s a pretty recent thing that he is trying to reach out to the younger generation to teach them the good stuff. I do agree, Don Bluth’s works shows a lot of effort and deep down he really wants to make a great movie. I also agree he needs a good script writer, a pretty darn good one. I loved his character designs and animations but the story is quite a turn off. I can’t stand a lot of the songs either.
Still, I have my great respect to him for The Land Before Time, it has always been one of my top most favorite childhood animated film ever. I did know they made sequels to The Land Before Time but it just wasn’t the same as the original..
on 13 May 2009 at 2:25 pm 6.Ian Lumsden said …
“Rock-A-Doodle” (1991) is one example of Don Bluth’s work that has had nearly a quarter of a million hits for the first of 17 segments on YouTube. It is well crafted with a rousing early song – the lead character is a rooster afterall. A worthy film it seems an attempt to replicate the magic of Disney without, sadly for me, the magic. The numbers of hits for the final episode drops to lower than 90,000 and therefore still pretty respectable really. There is nothing in the movie to get caustic about. Bluth’s film was one of the last feature movies to be made at Dublin’s Sullivan Bluth Studios. Lack of success actually brought the studio to the edge of bankrupcy though it did struggle on for a year or two after and has been, and still is, influential in the Irish animation industry.
on 13 May 2009 at 3:45 pm 7.Someone said …
I’ll bite.
Don Bluth films always felt to me like he’s trying to be the next Walt Disney, not an individual voice. He seemed to be more pushed by the chip on his shoulder then trying to tell a individual story. Yes he tried to push the envelope but in doing so he couldn’t see the forest for the all the trees. He seemed so concerned about pushing the personality of the characters that they ended up over animated. He over designed his characters using so many wrinkles, tassels and warts that you could no longer see the character. And what’s with his man faced dogs? His effects are so over the top that you can’t tell what the hell is going on in the film anymore. He seemed more concerned with getting a disco ball effect into every shot then telling a compelling story.
If your looking for an individual voice you should look at Sylvain Chomet, Chris Sanders, or Hayao Miyazaki. Totoro has very little animation compared to All Dogs Go To Heaven, very few effects and the draftsmanships isn’t as good. But one shot of Totoro has much more personality and is much more engaging then the whole of Don Bluth’s career.
I have a lot of friends who worked for Don Bluth and have nothing but good things to say about the guy. I understand that he was a great person to learn from. I think Don Bluth had good intentions but pour execution. There’s a lesson to be learned from him but I’m afraid that it’s more of a cautionary tail then one of example. You can push your animation, try to do something new but don’t get so overwhelmed with detail and tricks that you loose sight of what your actually trying to do. Are you trying to prove how good a draftsman you can be or tell as story?
on 13 May 2009 at 5:31 pm 8.Teodor Ajduk said …
Do not misunderstand me.
this is issue about bluth and i put something about him.
Bluth is good for 80′s.
i always say remember movies before secret of nimh: No characters, no atmosphere in scene.that dark areas on his picture are shadows.
Of course, here are Sylvain Chomet, Chris Sanders, or Hayao Miyazaki.I love these people
again,this is issue about bluth and i put something about him.
sorry,if someone insulted
on 13 May 2009 at 8:06 pm 9.Mark Sonntag said …
Bluth’s work can be pretty hit and miss, but there is no denying the effort put into his films and even his clunkers are a great deal better than much of the fluff being offered to audiences today.
I’d rather see a failed attempt at personality than the barrage of toilet humor most lesser modern animated films need to resort to.
on 14 May 2009 at 12:57 am 10.JC said …
There’s no doubt Bluth BELIEVED he was trying to do something special…but he focused on the bells and whistles instead of what audiences cared about: Characters and Story. From the outside, this is a fair statement.
From the inside, he and his buddies were cult like and very manipulative. He left several crews high and dry–owing lots of money to a lot of artists and vendors and hightailing it out of town.
His work, on the SHALLOWEST of surfaces, is slick, but hardly fine, and hardly memorable.
THAT SAID, I have no doubt he BELIEVED he was trying to do something different. So did Jim Jones.
on 14 May 2009 at 7:48 am 11.Stephen Macquignon said …
I’m sure Don Bluth would have taken the time to find out if male cows had utters
on 14 May 2009 at 1:47 pm 12.lrv said …
Bluth’s films are some of the most memorable for me. All Dogs Go To Heaven, An American Tale, The Secret of NIMH, The Land Before Time–those stand out for me more than any other animated films of my childhood. His films seemed to have both a gritty realness and an ethereal feel to them that resonated with me as a kid and which you rarely see in popular animation.
on 14 May 2009 at 3:02 pm 13.Someone said …
Teodor Ajduk, no insult has been taken. I agree that he brought atmosphere and depth to films which is one of the first things to get cut in a budget.
on 14 May 2009 at 9:52 pm 14.Thad said …
I agree with JC entirely. What he wrote could have been my own words. The man will never make another movie, and the world is better without them.
There’s another director of traditionally animated films that deserves way more praise than Don Bluth for keeping it alive. Someone who has embraced low budgets and used them to be even more creative and personal than Bluth ever could be with his precious ‘lavish’ animation and shady dealing that eventually got him in the end. This underrated director runs this site.
on 15 May 2009 at 1:14 am 15.Cameron said …
Thad, that’s kinda hyperbolic, don’t you think?
I’m certainly no Rob Cohen fan, but when The Mummy 3 came out it didn’t really make the world worse. It’s just one more piece of crap to ignore.
Now, I’m not much of a Lars Von Trier fan either, but he makes the films he wants to make, and I respect that. He is an artist, no matter what I think of his work.
I would not recommend either director stop making movies. There’s always generic Hollywood crap and arthouse films that aren’t my cup of tea. How does a hack director impact the industry? He doesn’t. There’s another hack to take his place. As for Trier, I can safely ignore Dogme 95 without wishing death upon the style.
I have issues with Bluth, but I respect his early work for its atmosphere and attention to detail (though it can be excessive). I find it silly to hope he doesn’t make another movie, considering his genuine passion for the artform. Worst case scenario, he makes another Rock-A-Doodle. So what? He might also make something good. I don’t know about you, but I’d go to see a decent Bluth movie (if you even believe those exist, as I do). He’s certainly a better director than Richard Rich.
I agree with “Someone” that he’s no Hayao Miyazaki, but then…I don’t think anybody else is. We can’t all be the greatest living filmmaker (that’s another opinion of mine).
on 15 May 2009 at 1:36 am 16.Thad said …
All I will give him is that he actually made films. It’s too bad they range from lame to sheer torture. Given how old Bluth is, it’s amazing that the stuff feels like he has never seen a live-action film from classic Hollywood.
on 15 May 2009 at 1:37 pm 17.johncb said …
Hey guys, do you know what your saying and how ignorant most of you are about don bluth. comment #7
for anyone to say that he was in for the bells and whisles- you must be deeply disturbed because Don has an amazing amount of skill and really cares about his drawings and puts emotion into them.
- Don had a huge impact on Disney’s Robin hood- but you probably already knew that.
when Don bluth had started his company with an amazing movie secret of nimh.
Next time you go on about what one man has archived and is still archieving , ask your self- what have you done?
animators arent the type of people that are in it for the money they are artists experts in their craft, they arent born drawing like professionals they actually practice everyday for atleast 4-7 hours.
thats all I have to say- sorry if that was a bit mean but some comments on here were just rude!
on 15 May 2009 at 1:56 pm 18.Michael said …
Johncb, I agree with you about the rudeness and the uninformed view many of the commentors have. Bluth did many decent films that compared well with Disney.
I remembering Land Before Time opening the same day as Oliver & Co. Though I didn’t like either film, I had to say the LBT was miles above Oliver, technically speaking. There was more heart in it.
on 16 May 2009 at 12:41 am 19.Thad said …
“what have you done?”: the biggest straw man ever. Apply that enough times and the world is made up of only good films. Nobody can judge anything, especially the laypersons they’re aimed at. I’ll have to remember that the next time I watch a movie I absolutely hate… “It took SKILL to make it! It took TIME!” Give me a break.
Just because Disney made films that are closer to a purer form of crap than Bluth did doesn’t mean any of them are good.
There are no good Don Bluth films. I’ve watched them all. I’m honestly amazed he has so many ardent fans. Sorry if that’s rude and uninformed.
on 16 May 2009 at 12:56 am 20.mike matei said …
If you like An American Tale with the singing child mouse I would also like to recommend My Little Pony. You will like that too.
on 16 May 2009 at 3:29 pm 21.SkipJn said …
Secret of nimh is NOT a great, or even good movie. It’s a demo reel.
And as far as being uninformed, JC is very much correct. How do I know? I worked there. It was a very bizarre studio caught up in details, but no idea of how to actually tell a story or create a believable character.
When all the work goes into the detail instead of entertaining and engagint an audience, you have failure.
(P.S., anyone who likes rockadoodle as anything other than a fascinating train wreck of a movie must have been on as much acid as those who made the film were. Freud would have had a FIELD day watching that movie.)
on 20 May 2009 at 1:32 am 22.Tina Price said …
If you’d like to hear about Don Bluth’s pioneering spirit and see his incredible talent and time proven skills as a brilliant animator trained by the nine old men, visit him at CTN-X in Burbank CA on Nov 20-22, 2009 and ask him yourself.
Sorry for the plug but he’s worth it. Thanks Michael for all you do and for letting me mention this.
http://www.ctnanimationexpo.com