If Jeffrey Katzenberg is wise he will have taken out a court order forbidding Steven Spielberg to have anything to do with the production of animation at Dreamworks. Treacle for people under ten is his legacy. -I know this film sounded like the last trumpet to people at Disney in 1986; it thrashed "The Great Mouse Detective" at the box office and everyone oohed and aahed over it; but it's very hard to see why today. It was hard to see why even then. People gave the standard "Well, it's great for kids" line - hardly a ringing endorsement.
The story concerns a family of mice from Eastern Europe moving to America. One insufferably cute child, Fievel, gets lost on arrival and we follow the efforts of him and his family to become re-united. They pass within inches of each other so many times - I presume this is Bluth's attempt at poignancy - that we finally think, "Well, they're bound to bump into each other sooner or later," and cease to care. Sure enough, they do bump into each other sooner or later. (After Spielberg and Bluth have compiled enough footage.)
Animation is serviceable - considerably better than that in "The Great Mouse Detective", although Disney's movie wins in almost every other respect. And I don't care how many people are willing to pay good money to listen to "My Heart Will Go On," James Horner can't write songs today, and he couldn't then - nor could anyone fit his songs into the story. Great for kids? Well, if you mean that children will like it, then that may be so. But we all know what "great for kids" is code for.
The story concerns a family of mice from Eastern Europe moving to America. One insufferably cute child, Fievel, gets lost on arrival and we follow the efforts of him and his family to become re-united. They pass within inches of each other so many times - I presume this is Bluth's attempt at poignancy - that we finally think, "Well, they're bound to bump into each other sooner or later," and cease to care. Sure enough, they do bump into each other sooner or later. (After Spielberg and Bluth have compiled enough footage.)
Animation is serviceable - considerably better than that in "The Great Mouse Detective", although Disney's movie wins in almost every other respect. And I don't care how many people are willing to pay good money to listen to "My Heart Will Go On," James Horner can't write songs today, and he couldn't then - nor could anyone fit his songs into the story. Great for kids? Well, if you mean that children will like it, then that may be so. But we all know what "great for kids" is code for.