The Secret of NIMH

The last time I reviewed a movie by this director it was Rock-A-Doodle. Hopefully this movie will be better. The movie is based on the book Mrs. Frisby and the Rats NIMH by Robert C. O'Brien. So let's start my review of The Secret of NIMH.








The movie opens with a mouse named Mrs. Brisby (Elizabeth Harman) going to another mouse named Mr. Ages (Arthur Malet) to get help for her son Timothy (Ian Fired) who is extremely sick. Mr. Ages seems to be Smarter than the average mouse (Yogi Bear joke not intended) because he seems to be good at building machines and making medicine. Mr. Ages gives her some medicine and she leaves. On the way back, she meets a clumsy crow named Jeremy (Dom DeLuise). Jeremy is so clumsy, he draws the attention of a local farmer's cat named Dragon. Fortunately, they escape from Dragon and Mrs. Brsiby makes it home. She gives Timmy the medicine but he won't get better in time because the next day the farmer is plowing the area and the chill in the air could kill Timmy. Luckily, Mrs. Brisby manges to temporarily sabotage the farmer's plow and that will keep Timmy safe for a while.



Mrs. Brisby doesn't know what to do now. So she decides to go see the great owl (John Carradine); the only problem is that owls eat mice. Jeremy flies her there and she goes into the great owl's tree. When she gets there the great owl says in order to move her house out of the way she must find The Rats of NIMH and a rat named Nicodemus (Derek Jacobi). She knows that there is a colony of rats in the rose bush so she goes down there. While there, she meets Mr. Ages who says that he can take her to Nicodemus. Mr. Ages introduces Mrs. Brisby to his friend Justin (Peter Strasuss) and his enemy Jenner (Paul Shenar). Jenner believes that Nicodemus is a fool and that they should always stay in the rose bush. Mr. Ages shows Mrs. Brisby to Nicodemus. Nicodemus is a very old rat but he is very wise and tells Mrs. Brisby that he will help move the house and he also tells her the back story of the rats of NIMH. At first they where just sewer rats but some scientists that work for the National Institute of Mental Health or NIMH captured them and ran experiments on them. The experiments caused the rats and mice to be able to read, figure out plans, and generally become more smart. The rats manage to escape, but only two mice survived: Mr. Ages and Mrs. Brisby's late husband Jonathan. Nicodemus also gives Mrs. Brisby a strange amulet. So the rats plan to move Mrs. Brisby's house. But to avoid complications, Mrs. Brisby needs to sneak a sleeping pill into Dragon's food.

***SPOILER ALERT STOP HERE IF YOU DON'T WANT THE END RUINED***

So Mrs. Brisby is successful in slipping Dragon the sleeping pill, but the farmer's son catches her and puts her in a cage as his pet. While in the cage she over hears the farmer talking to NIMH on the phone and they say that they want to bull doze the rose bush; the farmer is okay with this. Meanwhile, Jenner plans to kill Nicodemus and sabotage the house moving at the same time. The house is actually a cinder block so when the rats use a machine to lift it in the air, Jenner breaks it, dropping it on Nicodemus. Mrs. Brisby makes it to where the rats are moving the house only to find Nicodemus dead. Justin fights Jenner and Jenner is defeated. But Mrs. Brisby's house is sinking into the mud. But the magical amulet that Nicodemus gave Mrs. Brisby saves the day and moves the house to a safe place. So the rats move before NIMH comes and Timothy is starting to get better. The End.

***SPOILER OVER KEEP READING***

The Secret of NIMH is one of those movies that both kids and adults will enjoy. It's half happy talking animal movie (Bambi) and half family fantasy movie (The Princess Bride). I also like how Mrs. Brisby is just a regular person and not some fantastic hero or even an underdog hero. The animation is amazing; it comes off as very realistic and never too cartoonish. But now that I have rewatched it, Jenner seems like more of your typical power hungry villain than I remember. Besides that, this is a very fun movie for the whole family. See you next time.

 SIR SQUARE

Return to Oz

So seeing as I reviewed The Wizard of Oz recently I decided to review the sequel Return to Oz. Well it's not really a sequel since the characters look different, Dorothy is younger, it's not a musical, and made 46 years after the first one. In fact it really seems to be more of a sequel to the books. Make your own decision on weather or not it's a sequel. Lets get started with Return to Oz (1985).

The movie takes place six months after the tornado that appears the first movie. Dorothy (Fairuza Balk) won't stop talking about the land of Oz and Auntie Em (Piper Laurie) is starting to think that window hit Dorothy a bit to hard. So Auntie Em takes her to a psychologist named Dr. Worley (Nicol Williamson). He say he is just going to run some "harmless" experiments on Dorothy to remove the memories of Oz. So the head nurse Miss. Wilson (Jean Marsh) shows Dorothy to her room while she sets up the experiment. But before they can start, a little girl (Emma Ridley) saves her. They jump into the river to escape. The girl is gone and Dorothy wakes up with the chicken from her farm, Billina (Mak Wilson/Denise Bryer). Except Billina can talk now.

Dorothy realizes she's in Oz. She finds where the house from the first movie landed. Except Munchkin Town is gone and The Yellow Brick Road is all destroyed. She follows The Yellow Brick Road and finds The Emerald City. Except the city is in ruins and the people are all turned to stone. The streets are being patrolled my creatures called Wheelers, which are like humans but with wheels instead of hands and feet. Dorothy hides in a room and inside she finds a robot named Tik Tok (Micheal Sundin/Tim Rose/Sean Barret). She winds him up and he says he is the royal army of Oz.  He tells her that after she left, the Gnome King (also Nicol Williamson) invaded, kidnapped the Scarecrow (who was the king after Dorothy left), stole the emeralds, and left a witch named Mombi (also Jean March) in charge of the Emerald City. So they go into the Emerald Castle and meet the witch Mombi who apparently wasn't satisfied with her face, so she stole the faces of other people and wore them all on different occasions. Mombi likes Dorothy's face and decides to lock her in a tower for a few years so she can steal her face. Tik Tok tries to save her but he breaks down and freezes. In the tower she meets a creature named Jack Pumpkinhead (Stewart Larange/Brian Henson) who says he was built by one of the prisoners to scare Mombi. It worked and that just made her angry. So Mombi brought him to life with The Powder of Life. Jack says The Powder of Life is with Mombi's original head. Dorothy decides to make an escape device out of stuff in the room and bring it to life.

***SPOILER ALERT STOP HERE IF YOU DON'T WANT THE END RUINED***

Dorothy steals the powder of life and creates a talking flying couch named Gump (Lyle Conway/Steve Norrington). But Mombi catches up to her and chases after her. She flies away and crashes on the Nome King's mountain. They enter and find the Gnome King. When the Gnome Kings sees Dorothy he feels sorry for her and tells her that she and her friends can have the Scarecrow if she wins at a game. Each of her friends have to go into a room with several objects in it and choose one. If they guess correctly that object will turn into the Scarecrow. They only have three tries and if they run out of tries they will turn into one of the objects. First Gump goes in and he fails, then Jack Pumpkinhead goes in and he fails. All that's left is Tik Tok and Dorothy. Tik Tok goes in and he freezes up. So Dorothy goes in to wind him up. But he says he only faked it so that if he chooses the wrong item Dorothy can see what item he turned into so that she can get an idea of what The Scarecrow could be. She manages to find the Scarecrow (Justin Case), get the rest of her friends, defeats the Gnome King, and makes it to the emerald city. When she gets back to the castle it turns out that the girl who saved her at the beginning is Ozma the rightful queen of Oz, who was freed when she defeated the Gnome King. Dorothy is sent home and she lives happily ever after. The End.

***SPOILERS OVER KEEP READING***

Return to Oz is a good follow up to the original. The story does seem to focus more on the adventure part than the fantasy part, but I think I kind of like that.The effects are very good and hold up really well and I see why it was nominated for an Oscar. All the side characters are very memorable and have a lot of good back story. But like in the original, the logic doesn't make sense sometimes and the character designs for the Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Cowardly lion don't look as good as the other puppets (but mainly the Scarecrow). I think that Return to Oz is a good Follow up to the original and definitely worth seeing.

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D.A.R.Y.L

I have never heard of this movie before. I just found it when I was just randomly looking around the video store. Well lets find out if this is a forgotten classic or if there is a reason I never heard of this film.

The movie starts with a helicopter chasing a car. Inside the car is a man named Dr. Mulligan (Richard Hammatt) and a kid named Daryl (Barret Oliver). Dr. Mulligan lets Daryl out of the car and Daryl runs into the woods. The helicopter chases the car over a cliff. An elderly couple find Daryl and takes him to a small town where he is given to a foster family. His new parents names are Joyce (Mary Beth Hurt) and Andy (Micheal McKean). Daryl meets a new friend in town named Turtle (Danny Corkill). By the way, yes, Turtle is the only name we are ever given for this character. But I like turtles so I wont complain. Anyway, Turtle takes Daryl to his house and Daryl gets the highest score on a racing video game rather quickly. Later Daryl plays baseball with Turtle and Andy. Daryl knocks the ball across the street on his first try. Andy and Turtle realize that they can use Daryl as their secret weapon when playing baseball next week. When it's time to play baseball Daryl does extremely well.

 Now to be honest the entire baseball scene feels like the climax to a sports movie. I mean it even ends with them winning, and the scene ends with a freeze frame and a fade to black. Daryl seems happy with his new life but then someone says they found Daryl's real parents. A man named Jeffery (Josef Sommer) and a woman named Ellen (Kathryn Walker) show up and take Daryl away. They get on a plane and fly off to a government  base. At the base it is revealed that Daryl is a robot and that his name is an acronym for Data Anylzing Robot Youth Lifeform. But the Government tells Jeffery that his project is out of funding and Daryl must be terminated.

           ***SPOILERS ALERT STOP HERE IF YOU DON'T WANT THE END RUINED***

So Ellen and Jeffery have to terminate him.  But they only fake it and Daryl escapes in a car with Jeffery. Unfortunately they get chased after by the police. The police set up a barricade. But they manage to get past it. However, Jeffery gets shot and dies at the second checkpoint. So Daryl is on his own now. Daryl comes across a military air force base and decides to break in to steal a plane and fly home to Joyce, Andy, and Turtle. He steals a plane and flies off. He makes a call to turtle and he tells him to meet him at the lake. But the government fires a missile at Daryl who is forced to eject. He lands in the lake and almost drowns. But he survives; the government just assumes he's dead and Daryl is reunited with his family. The End.

***SPOILERS OVER KEEP READING***

D.A.R.Y.L is pretty good. The idea of a robot child seems pretty original and the kid playing him does a good job. I also like how we get time to know Daryl and come up with our own ideas of who he is before we find out he is a robot. The only problem I have is that it doesn't try anything new and it is a lot like other 1980's kids movies. I also feel like it doesn't explain enough things. Like who exactly was Dr. Mulligan. We never really find out too much about him. Other than that I think it was worth seeing. See you next time.

GREEN = MONEY YOU'LL GAIN, RED = MONEY YOU'LL LOSE, BLUE = PRODUCTS YOU'LL HAVE TO RECALL, YELLOW = ANGRY MOBS THAT WILL TRY TO KILL YOU....DO YOU EXEPT THIS DEAL?

Top Ten Cartoons That Would be Good Movies

Guess what time it is........time for a top ten list. I am listing cartoons that would make good movies. When I say movies I don't mean animated movies spun off from the show (Felix the Cat: the Movie), I mean live action movies. Also no counting cartoons that have already been made into movies, like The Flintstones, for example. So here we go with the top ten cartoons that would be good movies.

10 Duck Tales

Duck Tales was about Donald Ducks nephews, Huey, Dewy, and Louie living with their uncle Scrooge McDuck. They went on crazy Indiana Jones style adventures. It would be fun to watch and I think if the right people worked on it, this could be a good movie. Because who doesn't love a good adventure......WITH DUCKS.

9 Felix the Cat

Felix the Cat was about a cat named Felix with a magical purse that can make anything come out of it and transform into anything. Kind of like a weirder version of Mary Poppins' magic bag. Felix was always being chased around by a mad scientist who wants his bag. It would make an entertaining movie if it was slightly less crazy. Because I think I would explode if it was like some of weirder episodes of the show.

8 Space Ghost

Space Ghost was about a galaxy traveling super hero, his two sidekicks, and his pet monkey. They traveled around the universe searching for evil. It was an awesome show and it would make an awesome movie. Good old fashion space battles, whats not to love?

7 Wacky Races

Wacky races was about a cross country race over tricky strange terrain in even stranger cars driven by even stranger people. It would be a throwback to old madcap road trip movies, and hey, who doesn't want to see another one of those? Of course recreating the cars would be expensive so I doubt this one will be made.

6 Gargoyles

Gargoyles was about a group of gargoyles from ancient Scotland who fight evil in modern day New York with the help of a police officer. That already sounds like an awesome idea. However the reason this wasn't higher on the list is because it would be really hard to get right and would require a lot of talent.





5 Danny Phantom

Danny Phantom was about a teenage boy who got turned into a half man half ghost after a freak accident. Super hero movies are normally pretty great nowadays but it is still possible to mess up with it. But I am pretty sure you can't mess this up....right?





4 Jonny Quest

Jonny Quest was an action adventure show about a boy named Jonny Quest who travels around the world and has amazing adventures. It would be a good action adventure family movie. It would be kind of like Batman  meets Star Trek...in a less weird way.





3 Tiny Toon Adventures

Tiny Toon Adventures is about younger counterparts of the classic Looney Toons characters learning how to be a good cartoon and having amazing adventures. People have made Looney Toons live action movies so making this...kind of spin off is a possibility. Just as long as they don't play basket ball the whole movie (Space Jam), or just flat out rip off Who Framed Roger Rabbit (Looney Toons: Back in Action).






2 Pinky and the Brain

Pinky and the Brain was about two mice trying to take over the world but they can never seem to get it right. It would be one of those movies where the main character is evil but still likable. But a cartoon with this good of a premise has to be made into a movie at some point.







1 ReBoot

ReBoot was basically what happens inside a computer. Defence programs fight viruses in epic battles to save the world, or rather the computer. I really love family sci-fi movies like Flight of the Navigator and The Rocketeer, and this would make a good one in addition to those. Especially with its unique premise. That is why I think ReBoot is the number one cartoon that would be a good movie.






I hope you enjoyed my Top Ten Cartoons That Would be Good Movies. I hope you like the choices I made with this list. See you next time.

BALANCING ON THE EDGE OF A CLIF OVER SHARK INFESTED WATERS WHILE A CAR IS ABOUT TO RUN YOU DOWN AND THE WORLD WILL BLOW UP