This was one of my favorite movies when I was a kid, but I haven't seen it in probably close to 25 years. I watched Garret Gilchrist's 4K restoration, and I was shocked by how... goopy and horrifying a lot of the animation is. And I don't just mean Greedy, the candy monster.
They were clearly proud of their animation. They give several of their key animators named, top billing during the opening credits. It's impressive, in a sense, and "interesting" insofar that it doesn't look anything like anything you've seen come out of Disney, Warner Brothers, Dreamworks, or anywhere else.
But there's a lurching, almost drunk liquidity to the way these characters move, and it gets worse the more they lean into it. There are so many scenes in this movie that are genuinely, legitimately nightmare fuel. From the candy monster trapped in the pit, the camel that dreams of his dead ancestors calling him to the afterlife, and the wacky kingdom that openly knows it is hauntingly unfunny, there's a lot of uncanny, weird stuff in this movie.
And when they say "a musical adventure", you better buckle in, because there's practically a mandate to have another song every four minutes. Most of the music is ultimately fine, it's definitely not the most frustrating musical I've ever seen, but it did start to wear on me after a bit.
It's a nice curiosity but I'd never feel comfortable showing this to modern children.
They were clearly proud of their animation. They give several of their key animators named, top billing during the opening credits. It's impressive, in a sense, and "interesting" insofar that it doesn't look anything like anything you've seen come out of Disney, Warner Brothers, Dreamworks, or anywhere else.
But there's a lurching, almost drunk liquidity to the way these characters move, and it gets worse the more they lean into it. There are so many scenes in this movie that are genuinely, legitimately nightmare fuel. From the candy monster trapped in the pit, the camel that dreams of his dead ancestors calling him to the afterlife, and the wacky kingdom that openly knows it is hauntingly unfunny, there's a lot of uncanny, weird stuff in this movie.
And when they say "a musical adventure", you better buckle in, because there's practically a mandate to have another song every four minutes. Most of the music is ultimately fine, it's definitely not the most frustrating musical I've ever seen, but it did start to wear on me after a bit.
It's a nice curiosity but I'd never feel comfortable showing this to modern children.