[TV SHOW REVIEW] The Bremen Town Musicians (1993)

 

OR

Title: The Bremen Town Musicians

Starring: Bob Hoskins

Genre: Comedy / Fantasy / Germany / Animals / Fairy Tale

Company: Rabbit Ears Productions

Directed by: John McCally

Year: 1993

MPAA Rating / TV Rating: N/A

Buy on:  Amazon

The story starts off with a donkey who has become so old that he can't do anymore work on the farm.  Because of this, the farmer decided to kill the donkey and when the donkey finds this out, he decided to run away from the farm and go out to the town of Bremen to start a musical band. Along the way, the donkey meets up with a dog, a cat and a rooster, who are all also running away from home and they all decided to form a band together.  But along the way, the four friends ended up coming to a den of robbers and they decided to try to sing to them in order to not be killed by them.

So, I've been familiar with the fairy tale "The Bremen Town Musicians" for years now and I was surprised that Rabbit Ears Productions actually made their own version of this classic fairy tale.  I really enjoyed the late Bob Hoskins' narration for this story.  To be honest, when I was younger, I only knew Bob Hoskins through "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" and there, he was able to pull off a fantastic American accent.  It was only when I watched "The Bremen Town Musicians" that I realized that Bob Hoskins is actually British.  Anyway, Bob Hoskins did a fantastic job at sounding so energetic with the characters, especially with the cocky rooster.  Another thing that I liked about this story was the music by Eugene Friesen. The music was very well done and I loved how kooky yet catchy the music sounds.  I also really enjoyed the story as it's rare to read a story about a bunch of animals trying to form a band together.

My only issue with this story was the artwork.  While I enjoyed David Johnson's artwork in other Rabbit Ears stories like "Thumbelina" and "The Boy Who Drew Cats," I felt that the artwork here was a bit too out of place with this story.  The artwork looked a bit too weird, what with the characters having cartoonish mismatched eyes on realistic bodies and that always made me feel a bit disturbed when watching this story.

Overall, even though the artwork clashes heavily with the story, this was such an enjoyable story to watch and anyone who is a huge fan of the Brothers Grimm classic fairy tale "The Bremen Town Musicians" will definitely enjoy this one!

• The Fool and the Flying Ship
• Crashbox
• Brer Rabbit and the Wonderful Tar Baby

😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀

Patreon // PayPal // Crowmade // Buy Me a Coffee // Ko-Fi

😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀

Twitter // Instagram// YouTube // Letterboxd // Smashbomb // Threads // Bluesky

[TV SHOW REVIEW] Brer Rabbit and the Wonderful Tar Baby (1990)

 

OR

Title: Brer Rabbit and the Wonderful Tar Baby

Starring: Danny Glover

Genre: Comedy / Fantasy / African American / Folktale

Company: Rabbit Ears Productions

Directed by: Tim Raglin

Year: 1990

MPAA Rating / TV Rating: N/A

Buy on:  Amazon

Brer Rabbit was known as the sassiest critter around the woods and because of this, Brer Rabbit always got one over Brer Fox.  Brer Fox got so sick of this, that he decided to create a Tar Baby that he will use to trap Brer Rabbit and eat him.  Now, Brer Rabbit has to find a way to get out of the Tar Baby trap to escape Brer Fox's hungry clutches!

So, I was actually familiar with the "Brer Rabbit" tales as a little kid and one of the Brer Rabbit stories that I used to watch a lot as a kid, besides "Brer Rabbit and Boss Lion," was "Brer Rabbit and the Wonderful Tar Baby." I was actually surprised that Rabbit Ears Productions had actually made their own version of the famous Tar Baby story and I actually had a pretty fun time with this version!  The story was pretty hilarious and intense as I really enjoyed the crazy antics that Brer Rabbit gets into throughout this story and the scenes with Brer Fox were pretty intense, especially with him trying to eat Brer Rabbit. Danny Glover's energetic and relaxing narration was definitely the highlight of this story for me as Danny Glover made the story come to life in the most intriguing way possible and I especially loved how Danny Glover provided the voices for both Brer Rabbit and Brer Fox as he made Brer Fox sound so deep and threatening throughout the story, while with Brer Rabbit, he made him sound high pitched and energetic throughout the story, that strongly contrasts with Brer Fox's more menacing portrayal.  I also loved Taj Mahal's music as the music sounded so relaxing and fits so well with the somewhat calm nature of this story.

My only issue with this story is the artwork.  Now, don't get me wrong.  I'm a huge fan of Henrik Drescher's artwork and I especially loved his artwork in the other Rabbit Ears story called "The Fool and the Flying Ship."  However, due to the more calming nature of this story, the chaotic artwork clashes heavily with the mood of this story and they often distracted me from the story, as well as creep me out a bit.

Overall, even though the artwork clashes heavily with the calming nature of the story, Danny Glover's narration and Taj Mahal's music all come together to create a truly unique and soothing tale!

• The Fool and the Flying Ship
• Crashbox
• Too Many Cooks

😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀

Patreon // PayPal // Crowmade // Buy Me a Coffee // Ko-Fi

😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀

Twitter // Instagram// YouTube // Letterboxd // Smashbomb // Threads // Bluesky

[MOVIE REVIEW] The Pied Piper (Krysar) (1986)

 

OR

Title: The Pied Piper (a.k.a Krysar)

Starring:  Oldrich Kaiser, Jiri Labus, Michal Pavlicek, Vilem Cok

Genre:  Horror / Fantasy / Romance

Company:   Kratky Film Praha

Directed by: Jiri Barta

Year: 1986

MPAA Rating / TV Rating: TV MA

Buy on:  Amazon

The film starts off with the people of Hamelin doing their daily tasks when suddenly, a large group of rats come and invaded the village, causing mayhem for the townspeople.  The leaders of the town tried to find a way to get rid of the rats when they suddenly meet up with a mysterious man, who stated that he will help get rid of the rats if the town leaders pay him money.  The town leaders agree to this and the Pied Piper ended up getting rid of the rats by using his flute to send the rats to their deaths.  After that, the Pied Piper falls in love with a young woman who is very innocent.  But then, things start to go wrong when the town leaders refused to pay the Pied Piper and so, the Pied Piper decided to take his revenge against the town of Hamelin.

So, for years, I have been watching and reading lots of darker and edgier takes on various fairy tales; but I had never seen a darker and edgier take on "The Pied Piper" before, until I saw this movie.  This movie was such a dark yet entertaining experience for me as I just loved how dark this particular story got as the film goes on.  There were so many dark moments in this film, like how the Pied Piper deals with the rats or how depraved the townspeople really are and those dark moments really made this film stand out to me.  I also loved the bizarre and disturbing designs of the characters and the town of Hamelin itself as everything looks so disjointed and the animation style reminded me so much of "The Nightmare Before Christmas."  Another thing that I loved about this film was that it showed us just how corrupted the townspeople were.  In the original fairy tale, the town leaders did refuse to pay the Pied Piper, but the story seemed to be lighthearted, at least until the end.  Here, the town leaders are corrupted themselves and we get to see just how disturbing and depraved they really are, and it helped upped the bleakness of this film.  I also loved the design of the Pied Piper himself as he is not portrayed as a jolly guy like he usually is in other interpretations of the fairy tale.  Instead, he is portrayed as a creepy and silent man whose only goal is to take down the rats to get his money.  However, I do like the fact that the film tried to give the Pied Piper a softer side as he falls in love with the innocent woman.

One of the issues that I had with this film was that the first half of the film was pretty slow.  Even though the first half of the film was introducing us to the townspeople, it wouldn't be until the halfway point of the film where the Pied Piper shows up and it was a bit of a slog to go through the first half of the film.  I also found the characters of the innocent woman and the fisherman to be a bit bland in comparison to the rest of the townspeople as they don't really have much in personalities other than being more innocent than the townspeople.  I actually wished that they had developed the fisherman and the innocent woman a bit more in this film.

Overall, "The Pied Piper (Krysar)" is one of the best and darkest adaptations of the "Pied Piper" story!  Even though the beginning was very slow and the characters of the fisherman and the innocent woman weren't that well developed, the dark atmosphere and the unique animation really made this film a treat to watch and I would highly recommend this film to anyone who wants to see a darker and edgier take on the Pied Piper story.

• The Nightmare Before Christmas
• Corpse Bride
• MirrorMask

😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀

Patreon // PayPal // Crowmade // Buy Me a Coffee // Ko-Fi

😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀

Twitter // Instagram// YouTube // Letterboxd // Smashbomb // Threads // Bluesky

[SHORTS REVIEW] Slow Bob in the Lower Dimensions (1991)

 

OR

Title: Slow Bob in the Lower Dimensions

Country: United States

Genre: Surrealism / Horror / Science Fiction / Adventure

Company: MTV Networks

Directed by: Henry Selick

Year: 1991

MPAA Rating / TV Rating: N/A

Buy on:  N/A

WATCH IT ON YOUTUBE!

The story starts off with two Siamese twin sisters getting out of their bed and sneaking up to the attic, where their brother Robert Potemkin stays in.  Just as the sisters were planning on pranking their brother, a group of sentient lizards ended up transporting Robert to another dimension where he has to save a town full of photographed people from an army of sentient scissors.

Now, I know what you are thinking:  what kind of plot line is this?  Lizards having the power to transport people to other dimensions?  People made out of photographs being tortured by an army of living scissors?  Yep, I thought that I've seen weirder from Henry Selick like "James and the Giant Peach" and "Monkeybone."  But "Slow Bob in the Lower Dimensions" is probably the weirdest thing that I have ever seen from Henry Selick!  It's amazing that this short was Henry Selick's directorial debut and it was meant to become a TV series for MTV.  But around that time, Henry Selick got the opportunity to direct "The Nightmare Before Christmas" and this short ended up not being picked up for a TV series.  I would have to say that there was a good side and bad side to this.  The bad side is that this short was never picked up for a TV series, which is a shame because I would have loved to see more adventures with Slow Bob and the other dimensions and see more from these characters.  On the other hand, we did get "THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS," which remains to be one of my all-time favorite movies!  What I loved about this short was the animation itself!  Henry Selick's talent in stop motion animation really shines here and I especially loved the way that the short had a great balance between live action and stop motion animation.  I especially loved the scene where Slow Bob goes to the dimension with the photograph people and the animation for the photograph people and the living scissors were bizarre yet so lively to look at.  It was also impressive seeing Slow Bob transform from a live action actor to a cut out version of himself once he enters the other dimension as it adds some creativity to the short.  I also loved how creepy this short was as the first half of the short takes place during the nighttime, which is a fantastic setting for anything creepy and the appearances of the scissors in the other dimension was probably the creepiest thing in the short!

The only problem that I have with this short is that the plot can be very confusing and I wished that they expanded more on the characters.  I found myself confused at how the world works in this short as I wondered about how Slow Bob was able to get lizards who can teleport him to another dimension and whether or not he had powers himself.  That's the main reason why I wanted to see this short get its own series; so that way they could expand more on the characters and the world that they live in.

Overall, "Slow Bob in the Lower Dimensions" is a truly bizarre yet intriguing short that was pretty interesting to watch!  Even though this short never got the chance to become a TV series, I was still interested in the bizarre world of this short and maybe someday, they might revisit this short and turn it into a TV series someday!

😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀

Patreon // PayPal // Teespring

😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀

Twitter // Instagram// YouTube // Letterboxd // Smashbomb