'UNCLE WALT'S EARLY HAND-CRAFTED ANIMATION' FEARSOME F@URSOME! 006.- SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS (1937, BLU-RAY). Streaming on DISNEY+.
After the abomination that was 2025's live-action "Snow White" remake, it's nice to go back to the OG animated feature from 89 years ago to re-experience the birth of an empire. While parts of "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" (an RKO Radio Picture! 😧) feel dated and show their age (the prince's lips, the endless trek to the bedroom where Snow White's sleeping, the woodland furry creatures racing back and forth, etc.), most of its memorable set-pieces still hold up well. The Evil Queen (a proto Maleficent) talking to the mirror, Snow White running through the scary woods, the dwarfs singing their way back home, the making of the poisoned apple, the stormy night chase toward the mountain boulder.... one 'chef's kiss' animation highlight after another. Maybe because it's from another studio most people don't make the connection, but Disney's OG "Snow White" feels like it belongs amongst the wave of Universal Horror movies from that era in its European setting and moments of pure horror atmosphere. A classic for a reason. 5 GUILT-RIDDEN HUNTSMEN (out of five).
007.- PINOCCHIO (1940, BLU-RAY). Streaming on DISNEY+
I grew up with an animated European "Pinocchio" TV series that messed me up as a child, especially the final episode where Pinocchio became a real boy after going through one hell of a sad, joyless odyssey. 🥺😢This is my first watch of the 1940 Walt Disney version (literally took the plastic off a Blu-ray set I purchased decades ago), but I must have seen the movie before because some parts before the ending felt awfully familiar. Dear Lord, is Cliff Edwards' Jiminy Cricket annoying as hell or what? Since Gepetto's animals (Figaro the cat and the fish... what's its name?) can't talk, it falls on Jiminy to be the voice narrating subtext to the cheap seats. I'm used to the idea of Disney animal sidekicks, but J.C. feels shoehorned to be around Pinocchio because the protagonist and his too-kind father (Dickie Jones and Christian Rub, respectively) are too clueless and/or innocent to survive the cynical world that Cricket (a Depression Era hobo archetype if I've ever seen one) knows too well.
The final act of "Pinocchio" is pure nightmare fuel, especially the kids transforming into donkeys at that island and the fact J. Worthington Foulfellow and Gideon (Walter Catlett and Mel Blanc, respectively) get away with messing up Pinocchio's life... twice! 😡 I completely forgot about Gepetto and his pets being caught inside the whale, which feels random until you realize Bible stories like Jonah's were still popular in the public mindshare. Unlike the "Pinocchio" TV series, though, at least this kind, grandfatherly Gepetto didn't have to wait years and suffer through agony/despair to see his wooden puppet come to life, then become a flesh-and-blood human boy. Thanks a ton, Blue Fairy (Evelyn Venable), but next time, why not skip the suffering part and go straight for the human prize? 4 LOADED PISTOLS UNDER GEPETTO'S PILLOW (out of five).
Am I the only one who forgets how much "Bambi" feels like a warm-up to "The Lion King"? Think about it: no human protagonists (only 'man' as heard through his guns and seen through the forest fire his camp creates), furry woodland creatures in the forest (versus African animals in an endless savanna), and the third act transition of the young protagonists into adulthood marked by the tragic loss of a parent (Bambi's mother dying off-screen = Mufasa dying by the paws of Scar) leading up to the birth of a new generation of royalty (better known in the 90's as 'The Circle of Life'). "Bambi" packs a lot in 69 short minutes, but whether they're sidekicks (Thumper and Flower), future companions (Fauline) and/or random acts of nature (those forest fire scenes are still impressive), the heart and love for these characters is never overshadowed by the animated spectacle. 4.75 WISE OWLS JEALOUS OF YOUNG ANIMAL LOVE (out of five).
BONUS: 009.- BAMBI: INSIDE WALT'S STORY MEETINGS (2005, DVD)
Don't know if it has a different name for its Blu-ray, 4K and/or streaming versions, but the 2005 DVD of "Bambi" has a bonus feature that rises above mere feature-length commentary (which it technically is). "Bambi: Inside Walt's Story Meetings" has professional voice-over actors narrate the archived-in-memorandums conversations between Mr. Disney and his staff of animators about their ideas/wish list for the "Bambi" movie. Work-in-progress sketches and still images complement the voice-over work, which plays over the length of the movie. Loved it then, still love it today. 4.5 PATRICK STEWART INTROS/OUTROS (out of five).
A trippy fable about war’s destruction and the leaders who seek create it. Thousands of years after a nuclear holocaust, two wizards are born, brothers who will choose different paths. Avatar, the good wizard, builds civilization while Blackwolf pursues his ruthless dreams of ruling over the world. Avatar and his sidekicks, an elf and a sexy fairy, go off on a quest to destroy his power. Along the way there are encounters with magical creatures and battles. The parallels with the The Lord of the Rings do not seem accidental. One of the more interesting techniques used by Bakshi was processing actual film footage in a way to make it look like animation. Not my favorite animated film but one that I found engaging despite the confusing narrative.
010.- SLEEPING BEAUTY (1959, BLU-RAY). Streaming on DISNEY+
A more appropriate title for this animated fairytale should be 'The Three Fairies.' Featuring a shallow/cipher character in the titular Princess Aurora (Mary Costa, who barely has any lines of Bechdel Test-failing dialogue), "Sleeping Beauty" relies on its supporting characters, fairytale premise (the last one Disney would animate until 1989's "The Little Mermaid") and impressive widescreen art style (which took eight years to bring to cinemas) to carry its narrative weight. As a fan of TV's "The Golden Girls," I applied those personality types to Flora (Verna Felton), Merryweather (Barbara Luddy) and Fauna (Barbara Jo Allen) to make the fact that these three carry the movie a little more tolerable. Seriously, while Prince Phillip (Bill Shirley) has personality and holds his own sometimes, he would have died a hundred times during the final act if the Fairies hadn't been there to carry him to the finish line. The borderline-burlesque comedy routine between Kings Stefan and Hubert (Taylor Holmes and Bill Thompson, respectively) is welcomed comic relief outside the pink/blue dress antics (stop it! 😂).
The main reason to watch "Sleeping Beauty," then or now, is Maleficent (Eleanor Audley). There's a reason she's one of the few Disney villains whose stand-alone, live-action movies were giant hits in the 2010's. With all due respect to Angelina Jolie, though, the '59 animated version blows every other version out of the water. As either a human or a giant dragon beast (one of the coolest transformations in a Disney movie, one that not even "Enchanted" could surpass), Maleficent is pure spectacle and fills the charisma vacuum left by Aurora's vanilla look/personality. 4.5 ANNOYING CROWS TURNED INTO STONE GARGOYLES (out of five).
I have picked up a bunch of Disney DVDs from the local Salvation Army store over the past couple of years. One of my intentions this year is to start watching them and other animated features that I have missed over the decades. Besides the Disney animated films I saw when I was a young kid (1980s), I have not ventured into the classic Disney catalogue.
Animated movies on DVD hold up better on HD and 4K TV's than live action movies. You can tell its 480p, but something about 2D drawings holds up better than you'd expect during the upscaling process. Give those classic Disney titles a look, they're terrific. 🤓
BONUS: 30 DAYS OF PINK PANTHER & FRIENDS, DAY 2! 011.- A SHOT IN THE DARK (1964, KINO LORBER 4K UHD). Also streaming on PRIME, TUBI, PLUTO, FAWESOME, YOUTUBE.
ANIMATED INTRO OPENING: 3 DODO BIRDS (out of five). Released just three months after the U.S. debut of "The Pink Panther" in the States, the opening animation had to be rushed and it shows. The pencil stylings and artwork look TV-level, which is decent but not up to the standards of every other animated intro in the series. What the visuals lack the music compensates for with another banger theme song by Henry Mancini, which would become the music for "The Inspector" animated movie/TV cartoons. 😎
MOVIE RATING: 3.75 POOL CUE CAROUSELS (out of five).
Beavis and Butt-Head Do America (1996) dir. Mike Judge
I remember when this came out and so much of the conversation around it was 'How are the going to make a full length movie from Beavis and Butt-Head' and now doing a bunch of 5 minute YouTube videos can get you a movie deal. The thing I like about this is it feels like a fleshed out movie and not just an extended tv episode like so many tv show movies do.
This remains one of the most surprisingly watches in my Junesploitation history. I did not expect to like it much. As you stated, it truly feels like a movie.
He-Man and She-Ra: The Secret of the Sword (1985) Used to watch this show all the time as a kid. The only thing I really remember were the transformations, and now I know why! Also, remake research.
Well those who know The Last Drive Inn or perhaps Roger Corman are familiar with the the checklist: Blood, Beasts, B00bies? I suppose this film meets those criteria, buuuut just barely. A classic of the videostore genre of "that VHS cover is weird...gotta check it out". The movie melds live action and animation, buuuut just barely. Four women are hired to clean an old house possessed by a necronomicon released animated demon. They sometimes wear clothing, buuuuut just barely (see what i did there!). Cameos by David Caradine, Artie Johnson, and Dick Miller. Movie tries to be silly but is overall pretty dumb. (There is a nice in joke of Miller watching himself on tv in the excellent movie A Bucket of Blood and says "why didnt that guy ever win an oscar??"). Skip It.
Evil Toons is disappointing as a cartoon. The demon is hardly in the film. The rest of the it, though, is completely in line with a typical Fred Olen Ray production.
Was kind of dreading this lol- this whole sorta post-Zap humor isn’t really my bag, but it seemed like a good excuse to knock out an “important” movie. The big surprise- pretty good! I didn’t like all the stuff I didn’t think I’d like - basically the humor and the whole “equal offender” sort of cynical non-politics, but it was so formally interesting I found a lot to enjoy in spite of all that. I especially liked the use of “found” audio that Bakshi recorded walking around NYC.
Hungarian director György Kovásznai’s Bubble Bath (also known as HabfürdÅ‘) is a wildly idiosyncratic, deeply personal and totally irresistible animated musical that feels like it shouldn’t exist, yet I’m so incredibly glad it does.
To describe Bubble Bath’s visual style is to sound like a lunatic. Kovásznai mashes up 1920s Art Deco elegance, 1960s psychedelia and late 1970s decadence. The animation is incredibly restless and endlessly creative. Characters morph, dissolve and vibrate with nervous energy. The backgrounds shift with the characters’ psychological states. It’s a musical where the songs don’t just advance the plot; they deconstruct the characters’ psyches in real-time.
The main inspiration for the film struck György Kovásznai when he realized most animated movies focused on bringing fantasy worlds to life with realistic animation. Reflecting on the popularity of 1970s science fiction, fantasy, disaster and adventure films, he decided that these genres actually worked better in live-action. He argued that because children are exposed to animation from a young age, they inherently know cartoons aren’t real, making any attempt at realism pointless.
Instead of making a Disney-style fantasy film, as most animation of the tiome did, he wondered if the medium was mature enough to tell real-world stories. Kovásznai wanted to create complex, authentic human characters grappling with deep personal and societal issues.
Sadly, this went down as the biggest flop in Hungarian animation history. Theatrical screenings were chaotic; angry adults and crying children routinely stormed out of theaters, prompting some cinemas to quietly swap the film for a different movie just to keep audiences in their seats.
Kovásznai was reportedly devastated by the overwhelming backlash from critics, audiences and the box office alike. However, the reception wasn’t entirely hostile. A few contemporary reviews praised the project. For instance, critic and art historian István Kristóf Nagy claimed he couldn’t find a single fault in the film, confidently predicting it would find a massive audience.
Tragically, this was Kovásznai’s only feature film. A painter, philosopher and animator who refused to conform to Western or Soviet commercial standards, he passed away from leukemia in 1983 at the age of 49, leaving behind a legacy of short films and this lone, sparkling anomaly.
Thankfully, the National Film Institute in Hungary has beautifully restored the film, and the cinematic saints over at Deaf Crocodile have given it its first-ever official U.S. release.
There's a lot of Bakshi talk today, so I thought some of you would be interested about Folding Ideas video on Bakshi and his Lord of the Rings. About half the video is about Bakshi's career and how he came up. I personally love his LOTR, but I know it's not liked by everyone
What was it about the early 80s and these crazy adult animated rock'n'roll sci-fi/fantasy movies? Must've been something in the water (probably coke?). Unlike Heavy Metal, Rock & Rule bolsters its over-the-top visuals and banging tunes with a cohesive (-ish) story. Mok is an all-time great villain with his scary Mick Jagger face and songs of evil intent performed by Lou Reed and Iggy Pop. We've also got Debbie Harry, Cheap Trick and an Earth, Wind & Fire jam in a groovy club sequence. Futuristic New York is called Nuke York. A demon gets defeated by the power of duet belting. Fun.
He-Man and the Masters of the Universe was a smash hit toy line and tv series, so the time was nigh to sell more toys…uh, I mean create more worlds of adventure. Enter She-Ra, He-Man’s long lost twin sister and a mystical hero in her own right, to team up with her brother and save their world(s) from the forces of evil.
While this was a (successful!) theatrically-released feature, it’s still very clearly just a handful of tv episodes stapled together to movie length. That being said, it’s still plenty entertaining and colorful, and it makes me want to buy a few hundred action figures and playsets so they certainly knew what they were doing. By the power of Grayskull, hand me my wallet!
I watched both the He-Man and She-Ra shows as a kid. Of course, I had many of the toys. I still have a Skeletor figure in the original packaging, thought the cardboard part rotted over the years it spent in my basement.
I am amazed that a new He-Man film is coming out in 2026. Is it supposed to be nostalgia for middle-aged folk like me or something to appeal to kids who have no awareness of a 40-year-old cartoon?
That’s what I was expecting. My son (12) knows Skeletor from memes but has no idea who He-Man is. He liked the trailer, but wants to see the Amazing Digital Circus this weekend instead.
I hadn't seen this since it was in theatres and I was interested in seeing if it was appropriate to show my son. It's not out of the question at some point, but, right now, there are just so many references in it that he simply wouldn't understand. The thing that struck me this time is how absolutely incredible Bob Hoskins' performance is in this.
A handful of adult models are hired to clean a haunted mansion over a weekend, with David Carradine, Dick Miller, and Laugh In’s Art Johnson in supporting parts. Seems kinda wrong that if you blink you miss the animated bad guy in a movie called Evil Toons.
The final girl had l Shannon Elizabeth vibes.
Almost worth it to see Dick Miller’s character watching Bucket of Blood on late night TV and bemoaning why the lead actor never won an Oscar. Almost.
The cool thing about movies is you can watch one for the first time when you're a little kid and be freaked out by it. Then you can watch it for a second time in your forties and STILL BE FREAKED OUT BY IT.
Blew my mind as a kid. I’m sure I didn’t even try to follow the narrative and just enjoyed the animation. The visuals, although sometimes impressive, don’t blow my mind as much as they once did and the story is as muddy as it is in any Bakshi flick. Drab music and narration kinda take this over the edge into barely watchable territory.
Frankly, this was the toughest category of the year for me: not my favorite genre, not many films I want to watch, and not many films I would consider exploitation, including this one. But I looked for horror and something unusual, and I discovered a rewarding experience.
I get it, Zillagord. There seems to be at least one day in each Junesploitation that I am not enthusiastic about. (Not the biggest fan of slashers.) I try my best to find something worthwhile for those days.
One animated film that I would recommend is Belladonna of Sadness. The story and the use of watercolors set it apart from most animated films I have watched.
G.I. JOE: THE MOVIE (1987) I was never into this franchise as a kid, so I’m going into this mostly as a newbie. Things started off promising, with a gigantic battle at the Statue of Liberty followed by amusing in-fighting among the Cobra leadership. But then we meet the Joes, and there are dozens of them. They all have similar personalities, seemingly random nicknames, and elaborate vehicles for each. The toy commercial of it all is exhausting. On the other hand, the animation is solid, taking the look of the TV cartoon and jazzing it up. If I’d grown up with this and collected the toys, I’m sure it’d be epic for me. But in today’s eyes, I find it more of a curio. And should I take a drink every time they say “Yo Joe”?
30 days of fan films, day 2: THE GREEN GOBLIN’S LAST STAND (1992. No seriously, 1992) Retelling the classic “Death of Gwen Stacy” storyline from Amazing Spider-Man 121-122. Allegedly, writer/director/star Dan Poole hoped this would demonstrate to Hollywood that a comics-accurate Spidey movie could be made. A lot of so-called comedy YouTubers are dumping on this one, but I say it’s crazy impressive what Poole pulled off with this. The stunts are especially eye-popping. As Spidey, Poole actually swings from building to building, and he clings onto the roof of a speeding car – and I’m not seeing any nets or safety harnesses!
Robotech: The Movie a.k.a. Robotech: The Untold Story (1986, dir. Noboru Ishiguro & Carl Macek)
In the distant future of 2027, a united Earth is embroiled in intergalactic war over an alien spacecraft that crashlanded here three decades earlier. The aliens want their craft back, but Earth scientist are reverse-engineering it to come up with advanced defensive technology. Then there's a movie shoot, a motorcycle that links to the alien computer, a virtual pop star, alien clones, space combat, robot fights, and a lot of confusing plot twists and bizarre character choices.
From what I gather from a cursory Wikipedia skim, this is a Cannon-commissioned recut of an American-Japanese anime series, which itself was cobbled together from three different but visually similar Japanese series and dubbed in English (only in the 80's!). So unsurprisingly, it's not the most coherent narrative I've ever encountered. But there are a couple of fun action set pieces and I liked the visual style.
Batman: Mask of the Phantasm (1993, dir. Eric Radomski and Bruce Timm)
Been on a Batman comics kick lately, so decided to revisit this for the first time since I bought the VHS when it came out. It's not my favorite Batman movie, but I get why it is for some. It's great. And man, Kevin Conroy (RIP) and Mark Hamill are so, so good together.
This was a first time watch for me. I was surprised at how sweet and sad the story was. It was a more mature take on the cost of being The Batman than many of the live action films.
Yeah I don't know man. I thought I remembered watching and disliking this but didn't remember much of any of it ... honestly probably shut it off early.
The worst part is, there's actually plenty to like here - classic film references galore, wonderful variety of animation styles, some genuine laughs and great performances. It's all sadly buried under excessive animated nudity and lame edgy jokes.
Yellow Submarine (1968) Psychedelic confection featuring the Beatles battling the Blue Meanies in Pepperland. Visually ground breaking with lots of great Beatles tunes and a pun-filled script courtesy of Eric Segal and an uncredited Roger McGough. Good for the soul.
As iconic as this movie is, it's one I never saw as a kid, so this was a first time watch. This has to be in the running for the all-time movie most targeted at dog-lovers. It even paints cats as jerks, and the only real villains are humans who don't know how to handle dogs.
Not the best story ever told by Disney, but endlessly cute and wholesome.
Lots of chicks, gross dudes, and a great voice cast with just an okay soundtrack, besides Sabbath, which rules obviously. The Mob Rules is the best Dio-era Black Sabbath for sure if we didn’t already learn that in Thanksgiving. Glad, I finally heard the death to all who oppose us clip in context as well. I never read the magazine but kind of wanted all the segments to say a little something more depth-wise, but at least everything looks cool and each one is short enough to keep me interested.
This is the first animated movie I remember seeing in a movie theater (age 4). It blew my mind as a kid, but on repeat viewing as a grown-up it didn't live up to my treasured memories. 🥺😓
A major blindspot I had no excuse for. This movie's reputation as a masterpiece is well established here in France, and even worse: I edit and contribute to a series of books about French cinema, which it appears in!
I did a first-time watch of Atlantis: The Lost Empire on Disney Plus. It was between that and Treasure Planet, both late-period Disney 2D animated movies I've never seen. I went with Atlantis because of my beloved Stargate spinoff. It's pretty good! Michael J. Fox voices the main character, which helped, and there was a decent sense of adventure and some cool stuff in the movie. Maybe not totally in the spirit of Junesploitation but I'm glad to have finally seen it.
I like both of those Disney attempts to make "boy movies", but Atlantis is the better of the two. Mike Mignola (creator of Hellboy) was a character designer for Atlantis and his style is definitely there.
'UNCLE WALT'S EARLY HAND-CRAFTED ANIMATION' FEARSOME F@URSOME!
ReplyDelete006.- SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS (1937, BLU-RAY). Streaming on DISNEY+.
After the abomination that was 2025's live-action "Snow White" remake, it's nice to go back to the OG animated feature from 89 years ago to re-experience the birth of an empire. While parts of "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" (an RKO Radio Picture! 😧) feel dated and show their age (the prince's lips, the endless trek to the bedroom where Snow White's sleeping, the woodland furry creatures racing back and forth, etc.), most of its memorable set-pieces still hold up well. The Evil Queen (a proto Maleficent) talking to the mirror, Snow White running through the scary woods, the dwarfs singing their way back home, the making of the poisoned apple, the stormy night chase toward the mountain boulder.... one 'chef's kiss' animation highlight after another. Maybe because it's from another studio most people don't make the connection, but Disney's OG "Snow White" feels like it belongs amongst the wave of Universal Horror movies from that era in its European setting and moments of pure horror atmosphere. A classic for a reason. 5 GUILT-RIDDEN HUNTSMEN (out of five).
007.- PINOCCHIO (1940, BLU-RAY). Streaming on DISNEY+
ReplyDeleteI grew up with an animated European "Pinocchio" TV series that messed me up as a child, especially the final episode where Pinocchio became a real boy after going through one hell of a sad, joyless odyssey. 🥺😢This is my first watch of the 1940 Walt Disney version (literally took the plastic off a Blu-ray set I purchased decades ago), but I must have seen the movie before because some parts before the ending felt awfully familiar. Dear Lord, is Cliff Edwards' Jiminy Cricket annoying as hell or what? Since Gepetto's animals (Figaro the cat and the fish... what's its name?) can't talk, it falls on Jiminy to be the voice narrating subtext to the cheap seats. I'm used to the idea of Disney animal sidekicks, but J.C. feels shoehorned to be around Pinocchio because the protagonist and his too-kind father (Dickie Jones and Christian Rub, respectively) are too clueless and/or innocent to survive the cynical world that Cricket (a Depression Era hobo archetype if I've ever seen one) knows too well.
The final act of "Pinocchio" is pure nightmare fuel, especially the kids transforming into donkeys at that island and the fact J. Worthington Foulfellow and Gideon (Walter Catlett and Mel Blanc, respectively) get away with messing up Pinocchio's life... twice! 😡 I completely forgot about Gepetto and his pets being caught inside the whale, which feels random until you realize Bible stories like Jonah's were still popular in the public mindshare. Unlike the "Pinocchio" TV series, though, at least this kind, grandfatherly Gepetto didn't have to wait years and suffer through agony/despair to see his wooden puppet come to life, then become a flesh-and-blood human boy. Thanks a ton, Blue Fairy (Evelyn Venable), but next time, why not skip the suffering part and go straight for the human prize? 4 LOADED PISTOLS UNDER GEPETTO'S PILLOW (out of five).
008.-BAMBI (1942, DVD). Streaming on DISNEY+.
ReplyDeleteAm I the only one who forgets how much "Bambi" feels like a warm-up to "The Lion King"? Think about it: no human protagonists (only 'man' as heard through his guns and seen through the forest fire his camp creates), furry woodland creatures in the forest (versus African animals in an endless savanna), and the third act transition of the young protagonists into adulthood marked by the tragic loss of a parent (Bambi's mother dying off-screen = Mufasa dying by the paws of Scar) leading up to the birth of a new generation of royalty (better known in the 90's as 'The Circle of Life'). "Bambi" packs a lot in 69 short minutes, but whether they're sidekicks (Thumper and Flower), future companions (Fauline) and/or random acts of nature (those forest fire scenes are still impressive), the heart and love for these characters is never overshadowed by the animated spectacle. 4.75 WISE OWLS JEALOUS OF YOUNG ANIMAL LOVE (out of five).
BONUS: 009.- BAMBI: INSIDE WALT'S STORY MEETINGS (2005, DVD)
Don't know if it has a different name for its Blu-ray, 4K and/or streaming versions, but the 2005 DVD of "Bambi" has a bonus feature that rises above mere feature-length commentary (which it technically is). "Bambi: Inside Walt's Story Meetings" has professional voice-over actors narrate the archived-in-memorandums conversations between Mr. Disney and his staff of animators about their ideas/wish list for the "Bambi" movie. Work-in-progress sketches and still images complement the voice-over work, which plays over the length of the movie. Loved it then, still love it today. 4.5 PATRICK STEWART INTROS/OUTROS (out of five).
Next, check out BAMBI: THE RECKONING!
DeleteWIZARDS (1977, dir. Ralph Bakshi)
ReplyDeleteA trippy fable about war’s destruction and the leaders who seek create it. Thousands of years after a nuclear holocaust, two wizards are born, brothers who will choose different paths. Avatar, the good wizard, builds civilization while Blackwolf pursues his ruthless dreams of ruling over the world. Avatar and his sidekicks, an elf and a sexy fairy, go off on a quest to destroy his power. Along the way there are encounters with magical creatures and battles. The parallels with the The Lord of the Rings do not seem accidental. One of the more interesting techniques used by Bakshi was processing actual film footage in a way to make it look like animation. Not my favorite animated film but one that I found engaging despite the confusing narrative.
I really wish my Fire & Ice 4k was here for this day. But it's coming only at the end of the month
Delete010.- SLEEPING BEAUTY (1959, BLU-RAY). Streaming on DISNEY+
ReplyDeleteA more appropriate title for this animated fairytale should be 'The Three Fairies.' Featuring a shallow/cipher character in the titular Princess Aurora (Mary Costa, who barely has any lines of Bechdel Test-failing dialogue), "Sleeping Beauty" relies on its supporting characters, fairytale premise (the last one Disney would animate until 1989's "The Little Mermaid") and impressive widescreen art style (which took eight years to bring to cinemas) to carry its narrative weight. As a fan of TV's "The Golden Girls," I applied those personality types to Flora (Verna Felton), Merryweather (Barbara Luddy) and Fauna (Barbara Jo Allen) to make the fact that these three carry the movie a little more tolerable. Seriously, while Prince Phillip (Bill Shirley) has personality and holds his own sometimes, he would have died a hundred times during the final act if the Fairies hadn't been there to carry him to the finish line. The borderline-burlesque comedy routine between Kings Stefan and Hubert (Taylor Holmes and Bill Thompson, respectively) is welcomed comic relief outside the pink/blue dress antics (stop it! 😂).
The main reason to watch "Sleeping Beauty," then or now, is Maleficent (Eleanor Audley). There's a reason she's one of the few Disney villains whose stand-alone, live-action movies were giant hits in the 2010's. With all due respect to Angelina Jolie, though, the '59 animated version blows every other version out of the water. As either a human or a giant dragon beast (one of the coolest transformations in a Disney movie, one that not even "Enchanted" could surpass), Maleficent is pure spectacle and fills the charisma vacuum left by Aurora's vanilla look/personality. 4.5 ANNOYING CROWS TURNED INTO STONE GARGOYLES (out of five).
I have picked up a bunch of Disney DVDs from the local Salvation Army store over the past couple of years. One of my intentions this year is to start watching them and other animated features that I have missed over the decades. Besides the Disney animated films I saw when I was a young kid (1980s), I have not ventured into the classic Disney catalogue.
DeleteAnimated movies on DVD hold up better on HD and 4K TV's than live action movies. You can tell its 480p, but something about 2D drawings holds up better than you'd expect during the upscaling process. Give those classic Disney titles a look, they're terrific. 🤓
DeleteBONUS: 30 DAYS OF PINK PANTHER & FRIENDS, DAY 2!
ReplyDelete011.- A SHOT IN THE DARK (1964, KINO LORBER 4K UHD). Also streaming on PRIME, TUBI, PLUTO, FAWESOME, YOUTUBE.
Contractually obligated to appear in an English movie adaptation of Marcel Achard's French play "L'Idiote," Peter Sellers cried foul and wanted out. United Artists' solution to make Peter happy? Bring in writer/director Blake Edwards who, alongside William Peter Blatty (yep, "The Exorcist" writer/producer 😧), retooled the screenplay to include the Jacques Clouseau character from the just-released "Pink Panther" hit movie. And just like that, a franchise was born with "A Shot In The Dark," the only Sellers-starring entry in the series without any "PP" attachments. Completely ignoring the ending of its predecessor, Clouseau is back at Sûreté investigating the killing of a lover at the hands of Maria Gambrelli (Elke Sommer) in the posh state of millionaire Benjamin Ballon (George Sanders, who gets big laughs by being the straight man to Clouseau's lunatic behavior), whose alibi for the night of the murder falls apart the further Jacques bumbles into the investigation.
The missing pieces that made Sellers' take on Clouseau memorable happen here. Jacques' silly French accent takes shape. Commissioner Dreyfus (Herbert Lom), Kato (Burt Kwouk) and Francois (André Maranne) become the antagonist sidekicks that would stick around for the rest of the series. And the frequency/intensity of the improvised physical gags are on par with latter "PP" entries, though the closest to risqué comedy in "Shot" are the nudist colony scenes where clever camera angles hide the naked actors' naughty bits. A straight-laced murder mystery movie (the original plan for "A Shot In the Dark") had to die so the Inspector Clouseau movie series could take off, which wouldn't happen for years because of the antagonism between improvisational Sellers and pre-planning savvy Edwards... but that's a story for another review. 😇
ANIMATED INTRO OPENING: 3 DODO BIRDS (out of five). Released just three months after the U.S. debut of "The Pink Panther" in the States, the opening animation had to be rushed and it shows. The pencil stylings and artwork look TV-level, which is decent but not up to the standards of every other animated intro in the series. What the visuals lack the music compensates for with another banger theme song by Henry Mancini, which would become the music for "The Inspector" animated movie/TV cartoons. 😎
MOVIE RATING: 3.75 POOL CUE CAROUSELS (out of five).
MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE (2026):
ReplyDeleteI’m counting it. Review Friday.
Beavis and Butt-Head Do America (1996) dir. Mike Judge
ReplyDeleteI remember when this came out and so much of the conversation around it was 'How are the going to make a full length movie from Beavis and Butt-Head' and now doing a bunch of 5 minute YouTube videos can get you a movie deal. The thing I like about this is it feels like a fleshed out movie and not just an extended tv episode like so many tv show movies do.
Love the desert freakout scene.
DeleteThis remains one of the most surprisingly watches in my Junesploitation history. I did not expect to like it much. As you stated, it truly feels like a movie.
Deletesurprising, not "surprisingly"
DeleteHe-Man and She-Ra: The Secret of the Sword (1985)
ReplyDeleteUsed to watch this show all the time as a kid. The only thing I really remember were the transformations, and now I know why! Also, remake research.
Evil Toons (1992)
ReplyDeleteWell those who know The Last Drive Inn or perhaps Roger Corman are familiar with the the checklist: Blood, Beasts, B00bies? I suppose this film meets those criteria, buuuut just barely. A classic of the videostore genre of "that VHS cover is weird...gotta check it out". The movie melds live action and animation, buuuut just barely. Four women are hired to clean an old house possessed by a necronomicon released animated demon. They sometimes wear clothing, buuuuut just barely (see what i did there!). Cameos by David Caradine, Artie Johnson, and Dick Miller. Movie tries to be silly but is overall pretty dumb. (There is a nice in joke of Miller watching himself on tv in the excellent movie A Bucket of Blood and says "why didnt that guy ever win an oscar??"). Skip It.
Evil Toons is disappointing as a cartoon. The demon is hardly in the film. The rest of the it, though, is completely in line with a typical Fred Olen Ray production.
DeleteHeavy Traffic (1973, R. Bakshi)
ReplyDeleteWonder how much Bakshi we get today. What a bonkers movie. Wasn't expecting an animated film to be a time capsule for 70s NYC.
Fritz the Cat (1972)
ReplyDeleteWas kind of dreading this lol- this whole sorta post-Zap humor isn’t really my bag, but it seemed like a good excuse to knock out an “important” movie. The big surprise- pretty good! I didn’t like all the stuff I didn’t think I’d like - basically the humor and the whole “equal offender” sort of cynical non-politics, but it was so formally interesting I found a lot to enjoy in spite of all that. I especially liked the use of “found” audio that Bakshi recorded walking around NYC.
Bubble Bath (1979)
ReplyDeleteHungarian director György Kovásznai’s Bubble Bath (also known as HabfürdÅ‘) is a wildly idiosyncratic, deeply personal and totally irresistible animated musical that feels like it shouldn’t exist, yet I’m so incredibly glad it does.
Zsolt (voiced by Kornél Gelley, sung by Albert Antalffy) is a walking ball of neuroses. He looks like a stoned hippie alleycat or an Eastern European Frank Zappa stuffed into a rented tux. He’s supposed to be getting married, but instead, he panics and bursts into the apartment of Anikó (voiced by Vera Venzcel, sung by Kati Bontovits), the best friend of his fiancée. She’s a medical student who looks like a curvier, leggier, post-modern Betty Boop. What follows isn’t a high-stakes adventure, but a hyper-stylized, claustrophobic bottle episode of romantic indecision. They are two people deeply unsure of their attraction to each other, terrified of the choices they’ve made, and completely paralyzed by what the future holds.
To describe Bubble Bath’s visual style is to sound like a lunatic. Kovásznai mashes up 1920s Art Deco elegance, 1960s psychedelia and late 1970s decadence. The animation is incredibly restless and endlessly creative. Characters morph, dissolve and vibrate with nervous energy. The backgrounds shift with the characters’ psychological states. It’s a musical where the songs don’t just advance the plot; they deconstruct the characters’ psyches in real-time.
The main inspiration for the film struck György Kovásznai when he realized most animated movies focused on bringing fantasy worlds to life with realistic animation. Reflecting on the popularity of 1970s science fiction, fantasy, disaster and adventure films, he decided that these genres actually worked better in live-action. He argued that because children are exposed to animation from a young age, they inherently know cartoons aren’t real, making any attempt at realism pointless.
Instead of making a Disney-style fantasy film, as most animation of the tiome did, he wondered if the medium was mature enough to tell real-world stories. Kovásznai wanted to create complex, authentic human characters grappling with deep personal and societal issues.
Sadly, this went down as the biggest flop in Hungarian animation history. Theatrical screenings were chaotic; angry adults and crying children routinely stormed out of theaters, prompting some cinemas to quietly swap the film for a different movie just to keep audiences in their seats.
Kovásznai was reportedly devastated by the overwhelming backlash from critics, audiences and the box office alike. However, the reception wasn’t entirely hostile. A few contemporary reviews praised the project. For instance, critic and art historian István Kristóf Nagy claimed he couldn’t find a single fault in the film, confidently predicting it would find a massive audience.
In the wake of the disaster, technical director JenÅ‘ Koltai published a lengthy essay in Pannónia Studio’s magazine analyzing the failure. He concluded that the general public was simply unready for an animated movie that tackles realistic urban themes. After its disastrous release, the film was largely forgotten until the 2000s, which sparked a massive resurgence of interest in Kovásznai’s broader body of work. Because of this profound cultural shift, the film is now officially categorized in Hungary as a nemzedéki közérzetfilm—a “generational mood film.“
Tragically, this was Kovásznai’s only feature film. A painter, philosopher and animator who refused to conform to Western or Soviet commercial standards, he passed away from leukemia in 1983 at the age of 49, leaving behind a legacy of short films and this lone, sparkling anomaly.
Thankfully, the National Film Institute in Hungary has beautifully restored the film, and the cinematic saints over at Deaf Crocodile have given it its first-ever official U.S. release.
There's a lot of Bakshi talk today, so I thought some of you would be interested about Folding Ideas video on Bakshi and his Lord of the Rings. About half the video is about Bakshi's career and how he came up. I personally love his LOTR, but I know it's not liked by everyone
ReplyDeletehttps://youtu.be/Cr_rb_pitHk?si=32t1pAxYIMf8sTW_
Rock & Rule (1983)
ReplyDeleteWhat was it about the early 80s and these crazy adult animated rock'n'roll sci-fi/fantasy movies? Must've been something in the water (probably coke?). Unlike Heavy Metal, Rock & Rule bolsters its over-the-top visuals and banging tunes with a cohesive (-ish) story. Mok is an all-time great villain with his scary Mick Jagger face and songs of evil intent performed by Lou Reed and Iggy Pop. We've also got Debbie Harry, Cheap Trick and an Earth, Wind & Fire jam in a groovy club sequence. Futuristic New York is called Nuke York. A demon gets defeated by the power of duet belting. Fun.
This was my original pick for the day! Will remember this for future Junesploitations!
DeleteI probably would have gone with this if Wizards was not on my DVR at the moment. I was intrigued by the parts Rock & Rule that I have seen already.
DeleteHe-Man and She-Ra: The Secret of the Sword
ReplyDeleteHe-Man and the Masters of the Universe was a smash hit toy line and tv series, so the time was nigh to sell more toys…uh, I mean create more worlds of adventure. Enter She-Ra, He-Man’s long lost twin sister and a mystical hero in her own right, to team up with her brother and save their world(s) from the forces of evil.
While this was a (successful!) theatrically-released feature, it’s still very clearly just a handful of tv episodes stapled together to movie length. That being said, it’s still plenty entertaining and colorful, and it makes me want to buy a few hundred action figures and playsets so they certainly knew what they were doing. By the power of Grayskull, hand me my wallet!
I watched both the He-Man and She-Ra shows as a kid. Of course, I had many of the toys. I still have a Skeletor figure in the original packaging, thought the cardboard part rotted over the years it spent in my basement.
DeleteI am amazed that a new He-Man film is coming out in 2026. Is it supposed to be nostalgia for middle-aged folk like me or something to appeal to kids who have no awareness of a 40-year-old cartoon?
It’s VERY much middle-age nostalgia bait.
DeleteThat’s what I was expecting. My son (12) knows Skeletor from memes but has no idea who He-Man is. He liked the trailer, but wants to see the Amazing Digital Circus this weekend instead.
DeleteWho Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)
ReplyDeleteI hadn't seen this since it was in theatres and I was interested in seeing if it was appropriate to show my son. It's not out of the question at some point, but, right now, there are just so many references in it that he simply wouldn't understand. The thing that struck me this time is how absolutely incredible Bob Hoskins' performance is in this.
I can see why Hoskins was cast in "Super Mario Bros." on the strength of his performance and screen presence in "Roger Rabbit." 😎🥸
DeleteEVIL TOONS (1992) dir. Fred Olen Rey
ReplyDeleteA handful of adult models are hired to clean a haunted mansion over a weekend, with David Carradine, Dick Miller, and Laugh In’s Art Johnson in supporting parts. Seems kinda wrong that if you blink you miss the animated bad guy in a movie called Evil Toons.
The final girl had l Shannon Elizabeth vibes.
Almost worth it to see Dick Miller’s character watching Bucket of Blood on late night TV and bemoaning why the lead actor never won an Oscar. Almost.
The Brave Little Toaster (1987, dir. Jerry Rees)
ReplyDeleteThe cool thing about movies is you can watch one for the first time when you're a little kid and be freaked out by it. Then you can watch it for a second time in your forties and STILL BE FREAKED OUT BY IT.
Wizards (1977)
ReplyDeleteBlew my mind as a kid. I’m sure I didn’t even try to follow the narrative and just enjoyed the animation. The visuals, although sometimes impressive, don’t blow my mind as much as they once did and the story is as muddy as it is in any Bakshi flick. Drab music and narration kinda take this over the edge into barely watchable territory.
THE WOLF HOUSE / LA CASA LOBO (2018, Cristobal León & JoaquÃn Cociña, Chile)
ReplyDeleteEerie and incredibly imaginative, a painstaking labor of love, a true work of art. Multi-medium animation incorporating drawings, paint, stop motion with clay, papier-mâché, puppets, in the form of a single-shot movie (save for the opening, which is photographed). Avant-garde enough to feel slightly impenetrable, but mindful viewing and a little research definitely helped me interpret its meaning. Worth watching just to let the pure art of it unfold before your eyes.
Frankly, this was the toughest category of the year for me: not my favorite genre, not many films I want to watch, and not many films I would consider exploitation, including this one. But I looked for horror and something unusual, and I discovered a rewarding experience.
I get it, Zillagord. There seems to be at least one day in each Junesploitation that I am not enthusiastic about. (Not the biggest fan of slashers.) I try my best to find something worthwhile for those days.
DeleteOne animated film that I would recommend is Belladonna of Sadness. The story and the use of watercolors set it apart from most animated films I have watched.
Thanks, ACL!!
DeleteMake sure you're alone in the room for Belladonna, though. It gets pretty NSFW.
DeleteHeavy Metal (1981)
ReplyDeleteJohn Candy putting his life on the line to save a busty vixen is perhaps the most I've ever related to a character before. Also, this movie is insane.
G.I. JOE: THE MOVIE (1987)
ReplyDeleteI was never into this franchise as a kid, so I’m going into this mostly as a newbie. Things started off promising, with a gigantic battle at the Statue of Liberty followed by amusing in-fighting among the Cobra leadership. But then we meet the Joes, and there are dozens of them. They all have similar personalities, seemingly random nicknames, and elaborate vehicles for each. The toy commercial of it all is exhausting. On the other hand, the animation is solid, taking the look of the TV cartoon and jazzing it up. If I’d grown up with this and collected the toys, I’m sure it’d be epic for me. But in today’s eyes, I find it more of a curio. And should I take a drink every time they say “Yo Joe”?
30 days of fan films, day 2: THE GREEN GOBLIN’S LAST STAND (1992. No seriously, 1992)
Retelling the classic “Death of Gwen Stacy” storyline from Amazing Spider-Man 121-122. Allegedly, writer/director/star Dan Poole hoped this would demonstrate to Hollywood that a comics-accurate Spidey movie could be made. A lot of so-called comedy YouTubers are dumping on this one, but I say it’s crazy impressive what Poole pulled off with this. The stunts are especially eye-popping. As Spidey, Poole actually swings from building to building, and he clings onto the roof of a speeding car – and I’m not seeing any nets or safety harnesses!
No, if you take a sip everytime the G.I. Joe heroes shout 'Yo, Joe,' you'll be dead before the first commercial break. 😵🥴.
DeleteWhere is the 1992 Green Goblin short streaming? 🤔
Just search the YouTube machine for "Green Goblin's Last Stand -- Official Channel" for the whole movie and the behind-the-scenes doc.
DeleteRobotech: The Movie a.k.a. Robotech: The Untold Story (1986, dir. Noboru Ishiguro & Carl Macek)
ReplyDeleteIn the distant future of 2027, a united Earth is embroiled in intergalactic war over an alien spacecraft that crashlanded here three decades earlier. The aliens want their craft back, but Earth scientist are reverse-engineering it to come up with advanced defensive technology. Then there's a movie shoot, a motorcycle that links to the alien computer, a virtual pop star, alien clones, space combat, robot fights, and a lot of confusing plot twists and bizarre character choices.
From what I gather from a cursory Wikipedia skim, this is a Cannon-commissioned recut of an American-Japanese anime series, which itself was cobbled together from three different but visually similar Japanese series and dubbed in English (only in the 80's!). So unsurprisingly, it's not the most coherent narrative I've ever encountered. But there are a couple of fun action set pieces and I liked the visual style.
Never heard of it before. Sounds intriguing!
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ReplyDeleteBatman: Mask of the Phantasm (1993, dir. Eric Radomski and Bruce Timm)
ReplyDeleteBeen on a Batman comics kick lately, so decided to revisit this for the first time since I bought the VHS when it came out. It's not my favorite Batman movie, but I get why it is for some. It's great. And man, Kevin Conroy (RIP) and Mark Hamill are so, so good together.
This was a first time watch for me. I was surprised at how sweet and sad the story was. It was a more mature take on the cost of being The Batman than many of the live action films.
DeleteThe Haunted World of el Superbeasto (2008)
ReplyDeleteYeah I don't know man. I thought I remembered watching and disliking this but didn't remember much of any of it ... honestly probably shut it off early.
The worst part is, there's actually plenty to like here - classic film references galore, wonderful variety of animation styles, some genuine laughs and great performances. It's all sadly buried under excessive animated nudity and lame edgy jokes.
Yellow Submarine (1968)
ReplyDeletePsychedelic confection featuring the Beatles battling the Blue Meanies in Pepperland. Visually ground breaking with lots of great Beatles tunes and a pun-filled script courtesy of Eric Segal and an uncredited Roger McGough. Good for the soul.
"We all live in a yellow submarine, yellow submarine, yellow submarine..."
DeleteI am surprised that The Beatles did not do the voice acting in the film. They probably had plenty of other things going on at the time.
Lady and the Tramp (1955)
ReplyDeleteAs iconic as this movie is, it's one I never saw as a kid, so this was a first time watch. This has to be in the running for the all-time movie most targeted at dog-lovers. It even paints cats as jerks, and the only real villains are humans who don't know how to handle dogs.
Not the best story ever told by Disney, but endlessly cute and wholesome.
Heavy Metal (1981)
ReplyDeleteLots of chicks, gross dudes, and a great voice cast with just an okay soundtrack, besides Sabbath, which rules obviously. The Mob Rules is the best Dio-era Black Sabbath for sure if we didn’t already learn that in Thanksgiving. Glad, I finally heard the death to all who oppose us clip in context as well. I never read the magazine but kind of wanted all the segments to say a little something more depth-wise, but at least everything looks cool and each one is short enough to keep me interested.
The Rescuers (1977)
ReplyDeleteMice rescue an orphan girl. Pretty good. I liked the dragonfly. And the villain lady. And the alligators. And the diamond in the scary skull.
This is the first animated movie I remember seeing in a movie theater (age 4). It blew my mind as a kid, but on repeat viewing as a grown-up it didn't live up to my treasured memories. 🥺😓
DeletePerfect Blue (1997)
ReplyDeleteWas i confused about reality at times? Yes. Do I recommend this? Also yes.
La Planète Sauvage (René Laloux, 1973)
ReplyDeleteA major blindspot I had no excuse for. This movie's reputation as a masterpiece is well established here in France, and even worse: I edit and contribute to a series of books about French cinema, which it appears in!
On the planet Ygam, the Draags, a giant, blue, technologically advanced species, dominate more than they coexist with the Oms ("hommes" meaning "humans" in French), tiny, helpless creatures from a devasted planet, Terra. They've been reduced to pets for Draag children to play with (sometimes with deadly outcomes), when they're not merely considered nuisance to be exterminated. La Planète Sauvage (Fantastic Planet in English) is about their quest for survival, emancipation and dignity, in a very, very hostile landscape.
From Roland Topor's gorgeous and impossibly inspired designs (Dali and Jérôme Bosch come to mind) to the mesmerizing animation and Alain Goraguer's music, this truly is a jewel of a film, at times nightmarish and really affecting in its depiction of violence (including, basically, genocidal scenes). Very powerful.
I did a first-time watch of Atlantis: The Lost Empire on Disney Plus. It was between that and Treasure Planet, both late-period Disney 2D animated movies I've never seen. I went with Atlantis because of my beloved Stargate spinoff. It's pretty good! Michael J. Fox voices the main character, which helped, and there was a decent sense of adventure and some cool stuff in the movie. Maybe not totally in the spirit of Junesploitation but I'm glad to have finally seen it.
ReplyDeleteI like both of those Disney attempts to make "boy movies", but Atlantis is the better of the two. Mike Mignola (creator of Hellboy) was a character designer for Atlantis and his style is definitely there.
Delete