Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to an all new Reaction & Review. Tonight, guys, I'm gonna be covering an animated movie from 1999. That movie is "Bartok The Magnificent".
Now, this film is a bit of a special case for me because it's the final film from legendary animation director, Don Bluth, that I haven't seen yet. And before anyone might comment that there is his pitch for a "Dragon's Lair" movie, I'm not going to count it until I see it actually being theatrically released. And until that happens, this film is the last one he ever produced.
Now as for what I know about this movie, well, I do know a couple of things about it. First off, I do know that this movie was released as direct-to-video. And also, this is the only sequel film that both Don Bluth and Gary Goldman ever worked on. And it's funny to me because Bluth has stated before that he didn't like *any* sequels to his movies that were made. And to an extent, I can't necessarily blame the man for it, especially when you consider how many fucking sequels were made to "The Land Before Time" and almost never stopped. Thankfully, they finally stopped that shit because the last sequel film was released in 2016 and I think it's best just to let it die peacefully before some numbnuts over at Universal even consider bringing back this franchise again.
But setting aside that, as I just stated, this is the only sequel film that Bluth had a hand in directing, and this one features a minor character from "Anastasia". And I should mention that I have begun to really enjoy it with each viewing, especially around Christmas time, because it really is a good film. Not quite my favorite, but it's certainly climbing up there in the ranks. But yeah, this movie stars the character Bartok, the little albino bat that was a lackey to Rasputin from "Anastasia". Now I didn't mind Bartok at all, it's just I find it a little strange that you would focus your sequel film on him of all characters.
But hey, I have been surprised beforehand by Bluth's films, and this one could actually be rather decent. I don't know if it will actually be any good, but that's what I'm here to find out. I'm here to find out if the last film from Bluth will end up being a good one. And the only way I'm gonna know that answer is if I shut up and I push play, and I'm gonna do that right now. So, without further ado, it's time to kick back, relax, and check out "Bartok The Magnificent".
3 minutes later
OK, guys, I know this is early, but I need to comment on this. Now I have nothing against Hank Azaria as a voice actor, but his singing here really fucking sucks. You guys can't hear it for obvious reasons, but him attempting to sing is really kinda shit. And now I know why Bartok never actually got a song in "Anastasia" if his singing here is anything to go by. Just my own theory, really.
13 minutes later
So when this obviously not evil advisor offers gold and riches to Bartok in order to save the prince from Baba Yaga, he ends up refusing, though not necessarily by his own choosing. Yet, when two children ask him to save the Prince, he ends up saying yes thanks to child manipulation. Honestly, if it were me, I would totally do it for the treasure. But then again, I'm not a fan of children, so perhaps my priorities are a little more organized, shall we say.
6 minutes later
All right, guys, I'm gonna talk more about this in the review, but the CG in this movie looks terrible. OK sure, I know this is a direct-to-video film, but still, this CG here is just noticeably awful. Just thought I'd let you guys know beforehand.
9 minutes later
Wow, guys, I may have just found the most annoying character in a Don Bluth film to date. Piloff is fucking annoying as shit and it also doesn't help the fact that she's voiced by Jennifer Tilly, who's also equally as annoying as the character she's voicing. But then again, that goes for about 99% of every character that she's ever done voicework for, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised by this.
11 minutes later
So Bartok actually has an autograph photo of Ivan the Terrible, which is also signed by him as well. That's actually really funny, I will grant the movie that much.
8 minutes later
OK, you know what? As much as this character is completely bland and generic, Catherine O'Hara's voice cracks is making it a little bit more tolerable. It's actually very impressive.
The Review
Well, guys, that was "Bartok The Magnificent". Let me go ahead and shut the movie off here...OK. Well, I can now officially say that I have seen all of Don Bluth's films that he produced. So how does this one fare up with all of his other movies? Honestly, the film is just kinda average. It's certainly not great, but I still don't find it to be terrible either. In fact, I would still that it's better than "Thumbelina" and "A Troll In Central Park". But that's just me, personally speaking.
So now, let's dive right into this film here and talk a little bit more about it. I'm gonna start with the writing. Now, seeing as how this movie stars a minor supporting character from "Anastasia", you're probably thinking that this movie is suppose to be a sequel to it, right? Well...I actually don't know myself. Because this movie doesn't really reference anything from the first film, and it's really just more so doing it's own thing. Which I actually don't mind it too much here. But then again, I'm also somebody that let continuity issues pass when it came to the "All Dogs Go To Heaven" sequels and animated series. I'm kinda weird like that, but I also saw them when I was younger, too. So I can't really complain about it as much as others would. And I'm letting it pass with this movie because, honestly, there's not much you can follow up from "Anastasia" because it ended perfectly. Now I know the actual history is totally different from the movie, but again, I think this movie doing it's own thing without referencing what happened is actually a smart move on the writers part.
Now what about the actual story itself here? How does the plot fare? Well, honestly, there really isn't much of a story here. The most you get out of it is that the young prince Ivan was kidnapped by a witch known as Baba Yaga. And Ivan's advisor, who's totally not fucking evil, sends Bartok out on a quest to search for the missing prince, and he, along with his bear friend Zozi, goes to the witches tower to confront her and get the prince back. Which ultimately turns out to be pointless because he's not at her home. Instead, she sends Bartok out on fetch quest to search for three items and bring them back to her so that she can reveal the location of the missing prince. And that's basically the whole plot in a nutshell for you, because nothing much else really happens here, at least not until the last 20 minutes or so. Before that, it's just a "Legend of Zelda" fetch quest and nothing much else beyond that.
Now there is one catch to all this, which is gonna result in a slight logic issue. See, before the fetch quest begins, Baba Yaga specifically tells Bartok that only he can get the items that she needs, and he can't have any help. Otherwise, both he and Zozi die. Yet, when Bartok returns with Piloff, the skull stops them and says that he won't pass until Bartok answers his riddle. I don't exactly remember what the riddle was, but basically, what happens here is that, instead of Bartok answering the riddle, Zozi actually does it instead and Bartok passes to be allowed through to the witches home. Which basically means that Zozi actually helped his friend, so doesn't that mean that they both die on the spot? Now it's very well possible that Baba Yaga only meant that he can retrieve the items she specifically requested by himself without any help, but I still think a technically like that shouldn't have gotten him a pass. But that's probably just me putting too much logic into a children's film.
Now as for the characters, I may as well just start off by talking about the star of the film, Bartok. Now, as I said earlier, I liked Bartok in "Anastasia", but I didn't think much else of him then, other than just being a lackey to Rasputin. In this movie, he actually has his own travel wagon and he performs as an entertainer. Which is kinda interesting, because at the end of "Anastasia", a female bat runs into him and apparently he found his mate. But yet, nothing like that is here. Again, I know I said that it's fine that this movie is doing it's own thing, but I still think a little continuity hiccup like that could raise an eyebrow, especially if you did watch "Anastasia" all the way through. But anyway, leaving that aside, Bartok is actually still very likable, and I'm glad they didn't really change very much about his personality. It's still very much intact and that's always cool to see.
As for the other characters, you have Zozi, the brown bear who accompanies Bartok on his journey. Which is a little bit odd to me because, as I said earlier, when Bartok was suppose to go on his fetch quest, he's not allowed help from anyone. And yet, Zozi still accompanies him on his entire fetch quest. I'm guessing he's only there as moral support, but really doesn't do very much here until near the very end where he saves the prince and a guard from drowning. Aside from that, and him also being an entertainer along with Bartok, he really doesn't have much else going for him. Lindlum, the advisor, I thought was going to play a bigger role here, but she really doesn't have much of a screen presence for a good majority of the film. It's not until after Bartok returns to find out that the prince was locked up in the tower, and also, as I just stated, she basically wants the thrown for herself. Basically, she's a discount version of Jaffar from "Aladdin", only she doesn't have to marry anyone to get the throne. And also, she's nowhere near as interesting as Jaffar was, though I will grant her two things that saves her from being completely boring. One, her voice actress is fantastic here. And two, her villain song is actually pretty catchy, too. I just wish her actual character was more interesting, but oh well, a couple of redeeming things about her is better than nothing.
Overall, guys, the writing here is certainly not on the level of Bluth's other works like "The Secret of NIMH" or even "Anastasia". However, I can't really say that it's awful either. Sure, it's more less just a by the numbers direct-to-video sequel from the late 90's. However, I will say that, if given a choice, I would rather watch this film over the mountain of crap Disney shat out when it came to it's direct-to-video sequels. Though that's just me speaking on a personal level. Now with that said, let's talk about the acting. And I will say that what helps this film stand out is definitely it's cast. Every actor here turns in a great showing. Hank Azaria, once again, reprises his role as Bartok, and it's still pretty much the same kind of enthusiasm he gave to the character back in "Anastasia". Zozi the bear is voiced by Kelsey Grammar, which is funny, because he also provided the voice of Vladimir from "Anastasia". I thought that was sort of an interesting choice there. Catherine O'Hara as Lindlum is probably one of the only things that makes her character redeemable because of how over-the-top she plays her, especially after you learn about what happened to the prince. And also, the late Tim Curry also has a minor role as the skeleton who tells riddles. And yeah, I really can't say anything more positive about the voice acting here other than that it's fantastic.
Let's talk about the animation. Now, admittedly, this one's gonna be a bit harder to talk about because this is still a Don Bluth and Gary Goldman production. And the reason why I say all that is because the animation is still really good for the most part, however, when you watch this movie for the first time, you can totally tell that it looks like what a direct-to-video animated film would look like from the late 90's, and it also looks rather cheap at times. Now I am gonna start by saying that when it comes to the traditional hand-drawn animation from a Don Bluth film, it looks great. However, that still isn't to say that there is quite a bit of cheapness here to be found. It's especially noticeable during the opening song at the beginning of the movie. Because some characters who are watching Bartok perform don't look like they have been animated thoroughly. And what I mean by that is some characters animation looks really unfinished because it looks as though some in-between phases seems really wonky. An example would be if a character is clapping their hands in the air, and you'll notice about a second or two delay whenever a character is clapping their hands. I don't know if that was just because the animation was cutting some corners there, but it still looks really awkward and you're bound to notice more than just that when it comes to some of the cheapness of the traditional hand-drawn animation.
But that's nothing in comparison to the CG. And there is quite a bit of CG in this movie. The most noticeable thing you'll happen to see quite a bit of is Bartok's wagon. The entire wagon is rendered in CG and it just looks terrible. Now again, I understand that this is still a direct-to-video animated film, so I'm not expecting great things when it comes to implementing CG in these sort of films, but whenever I do see something like this utilized the way it is, it just looks horrible. And it's also very noticeable when you see it on the skeleton and the witches house. The latter isn't so bad, actually, though, the skeleton is definitely a mixed bag. It kinda reminds me of the pipe organ used in that "Beauty and the Beast" Christmas movie which, funnily enough, was also voiced by Tim Curry. And unlike that pipe organ, which actually looked really cool in CG, the skeleton, however, doesn't quite match it. Hell, he didn't even get a song, which I think could've benefited the movie a little bit. But that's just me, of course. Overall, guys, the animation is definitely a big downgrade when compared to other Bluth films. But for what is here that *does* work for animation looks awesome. The color palettes are great, the animation on just about every other character is just as good, and the backgrounds look amazing, too. So I'm still going to say that the animation is mostly positive. Just be aware that some of it is definitely on the cheaper side of things.
Sound-mixing here is excellent. The music here is also pretty good. In terms of musicals, this is definitely one of the weaker aspects of the movie. Though I will say that Lindlum's song is actually the only good song here that I really liked. The one that's not good, however, is the beginning song which is sung by Hank Azaria. Hank Azaria is a talented voice actor, but in terms of his actual singing, it's terrible here. And again, I'm not surprised that his character Bartok didn't get a musical number in "Anastasia". It probably would've stained what was already an amazing soundtrack. But as I said, the soundtrack is definitely not on parnwith other songs from Bluth's previous movies, but it still has at least one good song in it, which is more than what I could say about "Thumbelina", because I still despise that film to this day. So anyway, the music here is still fine for what it is, at least in terms of it's score anyways.
So with all that said, when it comes down to it, guys, can I recommend "Bartok The Magnificent"? If you liked or even loved "Anastasia", and you want to see more of it, then I think this film would provide more of that for you. If you have kids, or you are associated with kids in some way, then yes. I can totally recommend this one to children. The movie's also rather short, too. It's only a little over an hour long, so if you have that much time to spare, then by all means go ahead and check it out. The only reason why I did is because it was the only film left that I haven't seen from Don Bluth until now. That, plus this film came as part of a combo pack with "Anastasia". So that's the other reason why I held off on this movie until now. But now that I've seen it, I can say that I have officially completed the filmography of Don Bluth. Which is awesome to say because I love most of his movies, save for a few. Speaking of, I think I'm gonna go and watch "Anastasia" again right now, seeing as how I just finished with this movie and all. So yeah, I'm gonna go and do that next as soon as I get done here.
And with that, guys, we come to the close of another Reaction & Review. Until next time, ladies and gentlemen, take care, and I will see you all later. Peace.
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