Saw this on another forum and I thought it would be interesting enough to bring it here.

Basically, post about all the things you were certain of when you were a kid. Your wrong/strange interpretations on things.  

- When I was a kid I thought my SEGA Genesis would be able to play NES games if I pushed them hard enough.

So, I finally watched this classic known as ´The Secret of NIMHª and I’m gonna talk about the experience.

You see, this wasn’t just a long-hauled deal to me, but it was also my FIRST movie by Don Bluth (whose work I had been wanting to check out for quite some time now -and yes, the weather is really nice under this rock-). Now, I know what you are thinking... how could I have possibly missed the work of such amazing director for so long? I don’t know how to answer that, but I will say that I’m actually glad I did it, because this utter ignorance and lack of luck in order to catch up with his movies has given me one of the greatest gifts I have ever received: been able to watch this flick within the same mind-frame of those who walked to the theater in 1982, without knowing what to expect, being totally unaware of the director and his tricks -this was Bluth’s first movie- and overall having a great room for surprises was glorious. I’m not even familiar with the book in which this flick is based on, and that only added up to my already HUGE ignorance on the subject. The result was something unique and a blessing at the same time, given my love for cartoons and the size of my collection, I never thought I was going to be surprised in this level again... and I loved every second of it.

The first thing that earned this movie a special place in my hearth was its protagonists, Mrs Brisby, and I’m gonna tell you why.



One thing that has always bothered me about cartoons in general is that, at the time of creating female characters, most cartoon makers simply go thru the motions, delivering unrealistic characters in the process... you know, the kind that uses a broadsword to cut her steak or resembles Sophia Hapgood in every other way (which is not bad if presented with class, but that often isn’t the case). Some designers go even further on this and they end up with a character that is NOTHING but action. Again, this is not bad if presented in something like Kim Possible, but they do it anyway with most characters, with far less effective results. Mrs Brisby on the other hand, it’s exactly what you would expect from a character like her (which actually makes her a likeable protagonist). She is only a sweet widow who looks after those she cares for and would do everything to help them, going as far as to risk her neck -repeatedly- in order to give them a hand... but that’s not what makes her such a great character in my opinion. The thing that REALLY makes her stand out amongst most other characters I have met so far in my ´cartoonishª life is that she spends most of the film being verbally abused (not insulted but definitely feeling unwelcome wherever she goes) and doing nothing to reply to this, not even raising her tone, because she doesn’t want to ruin this up... all because she loves her family so much that she would tolerate wave after wave of rude idiots (but if this works, it is in large part due to the great talent of Elizabeth Hartman, her voice actress, who really gave her the exact tone. I can’t honestly think of a better person to do the job). Also, most of the film has her being scared to death, which is actually pretty nice to see, because I’m SO TIRED of those characters that seem incapable of feel fear and the like. All of this makes her a really interesting and deeper character that you would initially think, and the results are something that I can only qualify as ´awesomeª.

At first, I felt sorry for her and her quest to get medicine for her kid, but as the movie was progressing, I actually started to root for her. She is not the kind of character that you would like to see suffering and there are many instances in which being able to see her overcome her fears or walk away victorious from a dangerous situation are the highlights of the movie, and by the time she gets to the owl’s nest, the whole thing has become a really exciting adventure.



And speaking about the owl’s nest, the animation in this flick is really good, borderline incredible, but sometimes, it goes way over the top. This was the part in which I seriously considered to stop watching because the camera seemed a little too attached to a gigantic spider that was crawling in the dark there. The thing was bigger than Mrs Brisby herself (imagine that!) and was approached by several camera angles. That’s exactly the kind of thing that an ARACHNOPHOBIC such as I, would love to see, right? That was an extremely unpleasant part and I think that I’m gonna skip it the next time I sit thru this. But aside for that, the rest of the animation is really good and it is clear that a lot of love and care was put into every background and every cel; resulting in a very attractive movie (in fact, some of the backgrounds are so well done that the separation between them and the characters is -almost- seamless). The movie is really appealing to look at, and no one should be disappointed with what it has to offer in that department (plus, some of the quicker scenes feature an extremely slick animation that has yet to be matched).

Now, here’s something I DON’T like: really early in the movie, our brave mouse Mrs Brisby befriends a crow named Jeremy... and honestly, all I can think about him whenever I see him is Kehaar from Watership Down. They might not look alike, but they definitely act in similar ways, being all clumsy and a little annoying to their friends (friend, in this case). This is not as bad as it sounds, but darn it is distracting. And to make it worst, just because I watched the 1999 Watership Down TV Series before this, the resemblance with said bird results even stronger, seeing how, in the show, he actually has a female mouse as a friend... and their relationship is quite alike too. To me, there are no differences in between Brisby/Jeremy and Kehaar/Hannah (but of course, said TV show came out several years later, so it is an odd comparison).



Another thing that I feel could have been done better is the farm’s cat: Dragon. They keep depicting him as to be ´a great menaceª and ´a dangerous thingª and yet, he does almost nothing during the whole movie. Maybe pet peeves, but everything has to be said.

Let’s talk about the plot, shall we? I really liked what this movie had to offer, but I couldn’t help but notice that, even when the flick was mostly directed at kids, only mayor kids would be able to actually see the movie in its entirety. The plot is told in such a relaxed way that only those with a great attention span could actually comprehend it entirely on the first run. This is unfortunate because with a slightly better pacing this could have been an even greater movie, but what we have here is still pretty good.

All in all, I really liked this movie and I can assure you that it won’t be my last of Bluth’s movies. I liked it so much that I won’t hesitate again when I see his name on a cover (and I know that I won’t be disappointed either).

Aaaand I just been told that he also made TLBT xDDD

(I'm positive that I'm not breaking any rules by asking, but apologies if I missed the one that stated that I can't do that).

As you can see, I’m really nuts for forums... not because I like them that much, but mostly because I work the in front of a monitor the entire day, bashing the keyboard like a madman and I REALLY need a distraction. Problem is... that since the year started, I have left at least three of them because they were a complete mess in which EVERY topic turned into a political discussion (I have already stated that I hate the topic passionately, with my entire soul) or insults were a common thing amongst most members... simply not cool.

As for today, I’m here in the GOF and in a handful of other forums, which I visit sporadically due to low activity and the like (this happens to be the one in which I spend the most time, actually).

So, question is... is there any forum as nice as this one that you would like to recommend me? As long as it is cartoon related and the rules are as sensible as the ones in here, there shouldn’t be a problem.

Thanks in advance, my friends!

Rita N Runt find themselves in trouble.

Caption away!

Their names should be familiar to anyone who watched Animaniacs! since the first production season, but for those who have no idea of what I’m talking about, here’s a little recap:

Rita and Runt are two strays whose only goal is to find a happy home to share together. Rita is a queen cat with an unbelievable ability to sing, and Runt is a big dog with a thing for destroying cats (yes, I know, it sounds like the series formula to Ren and Stimpy, but this came out BEFORE) but the twist is that Runt it’s just too stupid to realize that Rita is a cat (and yes, this is stated) and loves every second that he spends with his friend. In an amazing twist, we actually got to see how they met, under which circumstances... and it’s quite uncomfortable for a kids show (most of their cartoons are): On a stormy night, they are thrown together in the pound, and spend most of the episode waiting to be KILLED there (yes, in the back room)... gee, that was pretty heavy the first time I saw it, and it hasn't improved over time. But it was precisely that kind of rawness what made their episodes so especial in the first place (although Rita’s songs also had a lot to do with that).

Their second episode was a brilliant parody of ´Les Miserablesª called ´Les Miseranimalsª that is globally considered to be a masterpiece and one of the best entries of the series as a whole. For that particular episode they achieved a lot of things, including the ability to cram TWELVE songs into the TEN minutes of length of the cartoon, and they also made a story out of them, because due to time demands, every single one of them had to move the story along. The parody is so brilliant, so well done, that many people consider it to be a faithful representation of the musical. And, as for the cherry on top, the animation here (made by the always great Japanese studio TMS) is just amazing, borderline incredible.

Their third entry was weak but watchable. That time around, the plot found the two strays roaming the ancient Italy, where Rita is kidnapped by a mad luthier who wanted to make a violin out of her gut, and it’s up to Runt to save her. That episode was tossed over a cheaper animation studio to save costs, and suffers from it, but again the two songs sung by Rita are the thing that saved this cartoon. And this should be a good time to mention that she was voiced by Bernadette Peters, a Broadway goddess that gave the character a lot of personality and made it really worthwhile (sometimes, her songs were the ONLY reason to watch these two). Runt was voiced by Frank Welker, who did a lot of other characters on the show and I’m positive that he doesn't need any introduction, as he is pretty much a legend of animation voice-acting. While they two did a terrific job with their characters, the expenses of having them both on the recording studio would eventually prove to be too big for the show to handle.

Their fourth installment had them roaming Egypt where they met both Cleopatra and Marc Anthony. The plot once again has Rita being just about to get roasted and Runt coming to rescue her at the very last second, but what makes this episode so popular among the fans is, once again, Rita’s song: ´All wrapped up in loveª. What they did here is an Egyptian ´sensualª dance that had Rita describing the pleasures of being a goddess. Bernadette Peters puts a lot of soul into her role, and the results are quite hypnotics. The episode was fun to watch, but the animation falls short when it should have been great (except for Rita’s song, that part is perfect) and this is shocking because the cartoon was, once again, animated by TMS. They would do more than redeem themselves for this on the next episode.

´Phranken-Runtª was the fifth episode starred by the strays, and oh boy it is a masterpiece. Not only this episode breaks the usual sadness that seems to be a trademark for all the Rita and Runt cartoons (replacing it with clever dialogue and funny jokes) but it also has two of the best songs on the series, and -more importantly- it finally changed the formula a bit; as this time the plot says that Runt is kidnapped by a mad scientist who wants to use his brain (this is ironically pointed by one of Rita’s songs) to create a large monster to tear the nearby village apart. To top it off, the animation here was golden. Too bad that this was their last good cartoon in general, and the rest would only work as form of punishment for the characters... I don’t wanna to name them all, but I wanna say that these remaining episodes (all SEVEN of them) all suffered from horrible animation and unenthusiastic writing that would make their episodes really hard to sit thru. Their very next would have them stuck in Poland during WW2, escaping from you know who (uh... guys, this is a kid’s cartoon, remember? -in fact, that was the episode that made me give up on this series-) and some of the rest would include a political parody that aged the cartoon more than it probably should, an unwatchable piece of junk named ´Kiki’s Kittenª and another one that flopped in the ´sentimentalª field, named ´Smitten with Kittensª.



All of the above would eventually result on the duo getting the boot (or being shown the door, if you please) after Season 1. They made a few cameos throughout the rest of the series, but they never headlined another cartoon again after ´Witch oneª, their final entry (episode 62). In fact, they were so neglected that their only true appearance after said final episode didn’t happen until several years later, with the release of the movie ´Wakko’s Wishª (in which they had a big portion of screen time, and Rita even got to sing a little bit).  Honestly, there were far worst characters on the show, but Bernadette Peters’ high salary and tight schedule (she could only come once a month to voice her character) ended up being the nail on the coffin for this series. Those characters were really different to the rest of cast in so many ways (most of the other characters based their comedy on explosions, slapstick and naughty jokes) but that probably was another thing that ended up killing them.

But ok, I have said enough... how do YOU feel about these two?

You know what I mean... those games that everybody seems to be crazy about, but when you finally have a chance to play them, you find out that they are simply average (or good but not that good).

I have many examples to share, but the one that easily tops my list is ´The Secret of Monkey Islandª.

I know, I know, it’s a great classic and all, but I honestly don’t know why most people seem to have such a high praising towards it. The game is funny and the story is clever (not to mention that great intro music that it’s still stuck on my head) but there are so many games that are far better than this one and neither of them seem to have gotten the same level of recognition. Maniac Mansion came out earlier and I find it more enjoyable, and Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis features a stronger story with multiple paths to choose, but it's still getting less attention than the pirates game. Not to mention... Shadow of the Comet came out a couple of years later and very few people (that I know, at least) seem to have acknowledged its existence.  

I only played Monkey Island from beginning to the end once, and that was because the first forum that I joined was full of people discussing it in every other thread, so I figured that I needed to play it to... you know... post? (yeah, they were that obsessed about it).

Another one was ´Crysis 2ª. They assured me that it was going to be good, and the only conclusion that I could draw at the time was ´I’m so glad that this have come as a giftª. The game took forever to download from my Steam library, and I didn't find it all that good to be honest.

The Legend of Zelda games are usually a missed cause to me, but I ended up loving both "A Link to the Past" and "Wind Waker".

Also, I'm not that crazy about Duke Nukem 3D.

How about you, guys?