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While the WaltDisneyCompany is much synonymous with childhood favored animated moment , it has n’t always been that way . Sure , they have some competitors today betweenDreamworks , Sony Animation and incredible smaller companies make extraordinary features like LAIKA and Cartoon Saloon , not to mention the monster thatPixarhas become . But once upon a time they had major competition in the works of film music director and vitaliser Don Bluth , a former Disney employee .
Bluth ’s films once out performed Disney ’s year by yr , and his feature film , which featured mealy yet move animation , dark yet more meaningful level and not bad songs , are credit by many buff as the fuel that fed the Disney Renaissance flame , crusade the ship’s company to make much good movies to compete with Bluth ’s brilliance .
Banjo The Woodpile Cat
In 1979 , Don Bluth publish an adorable 26 - minute movie , Banjo the Woodpile Cat , that was based on the honest narration of the disappearance of his own cat who finally refund to his house . It was Bluth ’s side labor while he continue to work at Disney before leaving while working on The Fox and the Hound , check the labor ’s passing .
While it was n’t his near work , it made a financial statement for his Walter Elias Disney - free invigoration and marked a time when Disney would n’t release another short for four years following 1978 ’s The Small One , directed by Bluth himself , without Bluth on display panel any longer .
The Land Before Time
Several companies , including the Walt Disney Company and Pixar , have attempted to create beautiful films with dinosaur as the protagonist , but movies likeThe Good DinosaurandDinosaurwill never come near to the worked up impact of Don Bluth’sThe Land Before Time . WhileThe upright Dinosaurslightly outperformsThe body politic Before Timeon Rotten Tomatoes , it ’s ultimately a forgettable film while the tarradiddle of Littlefoot , his heartbreaking going , and his pursuance to line up the Great Valley with his friends . gross $ 48 million , the motion-picture show also get its Disney rival at the time , Oliver & Company , at the box office . This was also ironic since it was the first film Dom DeLuise did n’t lend his representative to , opting to star inOliver & Companyinstead .
As with several of Bluth ’s other successful motion picture , The Land Before Timewas a strike on VHS and spawned several much less successful sequels with nettlesome birdcall as well as a TV series . We recommend hop them all but see you see the first photographic film at least twice .
Titan A.E.
Remember back when Disney and Don Bluth go after not only electronic computer generated film , but account in blank ? Don Bluth’sTitan A.E.came out two age before Disney’sTreasure Planet , but both celluloid boast heroic stories , engagement in space and jumpy euphony than normal , which is why it was such a bummer that neither did all that well .
Experimenting with 3 - 500 liveliness along with hand - drawn traditional styles may not have sour out , but both movie were still gratifying . Titan A.E. , which starred Matt Damon and Drew Barrymore as its main admirer , outflank Disney in terms of , once again , the most meaningful tarradiddle . With the entire survival of the human race at stake , it makeTreasure Planet’ssearch for , well , hoarded wealth seem underwhelming .
Anastasia
It was the counter hit that should have launch Don Bluth back into a powerhouse of syndicate entertainment . 1997’sAnastasia , while quite generally based on the legend of Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia , was a brilliant piece of brio , fill with gorgeous animation , beautiful storytelling , a heavy soundtrack and even an all - star cast include Meg Ryan and John Cusack .
While Disney issue several films in the same twelvemonth , its animated release , Hercules , another loosely adapted tale , was a fun narrative but not quite as laughable or moving asAnastasia , which scored negligibly higher on Rotten Tomatoes . The Don Bluth film was so beloved it plunge not only a spin - off motion picture but toys , books , a computer game and a degree melodious as of late as 2016 .
Xanadu
Anyone who ’s seenXanaduknows what a hot flock the film was during its liberation , with mostly negative review , but the movie has developed such a strong craze following , had several successful melodious numbers and has even inspire a successful level musical . Don Bluth ’s animation in the picture may never be hail as masterful , but it was emphatically an impressive attempt at something new and groundbreaking that became darling by many fans .
Xanaduis much more memorable than the 1980s Disney film that were released the same year , likeHerbie Goes Bananas , The Watcher in the WoodsandPopeye . While all of these movies may have been more successful initially , and even remain entertaining , they did’t modernize the same devotee follow thatXanadudid .
Thumbelina
Like its predecessor Rock - A - Doodle , Thumbelina marked a much more blithesome photograph for Don Bluth and company , with sillier numbers , more vivacious colors and less scary storytelling . There was nothing from Disney for Thumbelina to compete against in March of 1994 , but it really did n’t stand up a probability against Disney ’s epic chef-d’oeuvre The Lion King , released that summer . It also unhappily won a Razzie for the bad song of the yr for Carol Channing ’s " Marry the Mole . " The film did n’t even reap half of its original budget at the box role .
As terrible as that vocalize , like many of Bluth ’s films , it made more money from household media release and has been popular enough to be released via Blu - shaft of light as recently as 2012 . Ironically , Disney now have the film through twentieth Century Fox , which has owned it after acquiring it from Warner Bros.
Pebble And The Penguin
While Don Bluth was the original director of 1995’sThe Pebble and the Penguin , a movie ground on the mating habit of Adelie penguins in Antarctica , MGM demanded so many changes to the film that the destruction result was not only far from Bluth ’s original concept for the film , but the director exact to be uncredited when it came to the cutesy gear wreck that divert intemperately from his previous work .
Unfortunately this film did n’t actually good the Disney film free a week originally , A Goofy Movie , but we ’re include it as an ethical mention because we ’re all break to seeA Penguin Story , the original celluloid that Bluth wanted to create , and compare it withA Goofy Movie .
All Dogs Go To Heaven
You ca n’t keep a beneficial domestic dog down , or so you ’d know if you were a fan of Don Bluth ’s 1989 masterpiece , All Dogs Go to Heaven . A beautiful fib about a dog who ’s also a yardbird creative person and the young orphan girl he manipulates before befriending , it ’s full of Bluth ’s trademark multi - layered characters , moody radical ( we even get to see the devil in it ) and some decent song numbers .
Critics were torn about the somewhat disjointed film , which received only a 55 % approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes , and it mark the consequence when Disney surpass Bluth ’s films as the loss of The small Mermaid the same year was a whopping success . Bluth ’s characters and story , however , still trump Disney ’s in the heart of many fans who preferred the report of compassionateness , growth , redemption and actual consequences to the disturbing tale of a 16 - year - former child who was uncoerced to give up her voice to get married a homo she ’d only just encounter .
An American Tail
Not only didAn American Tailbecome the highest - grossing non - Disney animated feature of its time and beat its rival , The Great Mouse Detective , at the box office , but it portray meaningful , moving story of Jewish immigrants in America . Rich with symbolism , wonderful songs and those profoundly blemished but relatable and heroic depicting of Americans ( as mouse ) , it prompted tike ( who often simply called it " Fievel , " as kids are wo nt to do ) to request it during every visit to the video shop .
Yes , it did conduce to some cringe - desirable subsequence , but the original plastic film was nominated for multiple accolade , let in a Grammy for the beautiful Sung dynasty " Somewhere Out There , " which it gain ground .
The Secret Of NIMH
It ’s one of the darkest yet well made alive motion picture in history . The unbelievable tale of Mrs. Brisby , a dauntless yet terrified widowed mouse , and her pursuit to save her ghastly Logos and entire family from being destroy by the farmer ’s plough , is a puerility favourite for many a Millennial . Disney had antecedently turned down the film right toThe Secret of NIMH , and Bluth , who loved the news report , gave us the story of a stiff , layered woman on the large screen much earlier than Disney did .
With a Rotten Tomatoes score of 96 and an unbelievable opening week where it outdid movies likePoltergeist , Star Trek II : The Wrath of Khan , Rocky III , andFirefox , the movie has stand the mental testing of time , at long last take in the most money on home picture . Disney ’s hit at that time , Tron , might have made more money at the box office that July thanThe Secret of NIMH , but it was consider a dud by Disney standards whileSecret of NIMHwas seen as something special from a competitor .
NEXT:20 Animated Movies That Flopped ( And 10 That Became Massive collision )
