Rock-a-Doodle is a 1991
animated re-tellingAnimation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. It is an optical illusion of motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in a number of ways...
of Geoffry Chaucer's
Chanticleer and Edmond Rostand's comedy,
Chantecler. This film was directed by
Don BluthDonald Virgil Bluth is an American animator and independent studio owner. He is best known for his departure from the Walt Disney Company in 1979 and his subsequent directing of animated classics such as The Secret of Nimh , An American Tail ,The Land Before Time , and All Dogs Go to Heaven , as...
, produced by
Goldcrest FilmsGoldcrest Films is a British film production company founded by Jake Eberts in January 1977. It enjoyed great success in the 1980s with films such as Local Hero , The Killing Fields and Hope and Glory mostly produced by David Puttnam on modest budgets. The company also benefited from the new...
for
The Samuel Goldwyn CompanyThe Samuel Goldwyn Company was an independent film company founded by Samuel Goldwyn, Jr., the son of the famous Hollywood mogul, Samuel Goldwyn, in 1979. The company originally distributed and acquired art-house films from around the world to U.S...
, and originally released in the United Kingdom on 2 August 1991 and in the United States on 3 April 1992.
The title comes from the film's theme song, which is a pun on "
cock a doodle (doo)Cock a doodle doo is a popular English language nursery rhyme. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 3464.-Lyrics:The most common modern versions is:
Cock a doodle do!My dame has lost her shoe,My master's lost his fiddlestick,...
" and a parody of "
Rock-A-Hula Baby"Rock-A-Hula Baby" is a song performed by Elvis Presley for the 1961 movie Blue Hawaii. Written by Ben Weisman, Fred Wise, Dolores Fuller, it is a genre mix of Hawaiian folk and rock n' roll. It was Dolores' first published song, and she would eventually co-write a dozen songs for Elvis Presley...
", sung by
Elvis PresleyElvis Aaron Presley was an American singer and actor. A cultural icon, he is commonly known simply as Elvis and is also sometimes referred to as The King of Rock 'n' Roll or The King....
in his 1961 movie
Blue HawaiiBlue Hawaii is a 1961 musical film set in the state of Hawaii and starring Elvis Presley.- Plot :Chadwick Gates has just gotten out of the Army, and is happy to be back in Hawaii with his surfboard, his beach buddies, and his girlfriend. His mother wants him to go to work at the Great Southern...
.
Plot
Chanticleer (
Glen CampbellGlen Travis Campbell is a Grammy and Dove Award-winning and two time Golden Globe-nominated American country pop singer, guitarist and occasional actor...
) is a proud
roosterA rooster, also called a cock or chanticleer, is a male chicken with the female being called a hen. Immature male chickens of less than a year's age are called cockerels. The oldest term is "cock," from Old English coc. It is sometimes replaced by the term "cockerel" in the United Kingdom, and...
whose singing wakes the sun every morning, or so the other farm animals believe. His singing keeps the other animals happy, and the farm free from downpours. However, one morning, Chanticleer is attacked by a rooster sent by the "Grand Duke of Owls" (
Christopher PlummerChristopher Plummer, CC is a Canadian theater, film and television actor. In a career that spans over five decades and includes substantial roles in film, television, and theater, Plummer is perhaps best known for the role of Captain Georg von Trapp in The Sound of Music...
). Chanticleer wins but forgets to crow, and the sun rises without his singing. The other animals reject him and drive him out of the farm, causing a perpetual rainstorm and the beginning of the Grand Duke's reign of terror on the farm. The story is then revealed to be a storybook that a mother (
Dee WallaceDee Wallace-Stone is an American motion picture and television actress. She is perhaps best known for her roles in several popular films. These include the starring role as Elliot's separated mother in the Steven Spielberg film E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial , her widest seen role...
) is reading to her child Edmond (
Toby Scott GangerToby Scott Ganger is an American actor most well known for his role as Edmond in Don Bluth's film Rock-a-Doodle.Ganger also guest starred on Cheers and has appeared in three Disney Sing-Along movies. His most recent appearance was in Black Sheep with David Spade and Chris Farley...
), who is becoming increasingly concerned about the impending
floodA flood is an overflow or accumulation of an expanse of water that submerges land. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide....
on his parents' farm. As his mother leaves to help battle the storm, Edmond calls for Chanticleer to come back. He is instead confronted by the Grand Duke of Owls, who expresses anger over Edmond's lack of consideration for the needs of the owls and subsequentially transforms Edmond into a kitten. Before the Grand Duke can devour Edmond, he is distracted by the appearance of Patou (
Phil HarrisPhil Harris was an American singer, songwriter, jazz musician, actor and comedian...
), and is driven away by the shine of a
flashlightA flashlight is a portable electric spotlight that emits light from a small incandescent lightbulb or from one or more light-emitting diodes...
. The farm animals tell Edmond that they also seek Chanticleer's return, as his crowing is the only thing that can bring sunlight back to their farm. Edmond teams up with Patou, the magpie Snipes (
Eddie DeezenEddie Deezen is an American actor, comedian and voice actor, perhaps best remembered for perfecting the archetypal nerd role in such films as Grease, Midnight Madness and WarGames, as well as in a number of independent films throughout the 1980s and 1990s, including Surf II and several films by...
), and the mouse Peepers (
Sandy DuncanSandra Kay "Sandy" Duncan is an American singer and actress of stage and television. Her most notable trademarks are her pixie cut blonde hairdo and her perky demeanor...
) and they make their way to
Las VegasLas Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada, the seat of Clark County, and an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, fine dining, and entertainment. Las Vegas, which bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, is famous for the number of...
, where they hope to find Chanticleer.
Meanwhile, at the Grand Duke's lair (where he creates rainclouds through the use of a gigantic
pipe organThe pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurized air through pipes selected via a keyboard. Because each organ pipe produces a single pitch, the pipes are provided in sets called ranks, each of which has a common timbre and loudness throughout the keyboard compass...
), the Grand Duke is alerted of Edmond's journey to the city by his
pygmyA Pygmy Owl is a member of genus Glaucidium of family Strigidae of order Strigiformes. Some of the species are called "owlets"...
nephew Hunch (
Charles Nelson ReillyCharles Nelson Reilly was an American actor, comedian, director and drama teacher known for his comedic roles in movies, children's television, animated cartoons, and as a panelist on the game show Match Game....
), who the Grand Duke then sends off to stop Edmond and the other animals, who are floating on the flood. After fending off an attack from Hunch and the rest of the Grand Duke's owl henchmen, Edmond and the others finally reach the city, where they begin their search for Chanticleer. After a few hours, they finally find Chanticleer, who is now making a living as a famous
Elvis impersonatorAn Elvis impersonator is someone who impersonates or copies famed American musician Elvis Presley, either as a hobby, a career in entertainment or occasionally for fun...
, arousing the jealousy of a fellow performer, a pheasant named Goldie (
Ellen GreeneEllen Greene is an American singer and actress. Greene has had a long and varied career as a singer, particularly in cabaret, as an actor and singer in numerous stage productions, particularly musical theatre, as well as having performed in many films and television programs...
). Edmond and friends try to talk to Chanticleer, but are pushed aside by a group of singing
bodyguardA bodyguard is a type of security guard or government agent who protects a person—usually a famous, wealthy, or politically important figure—from assault, kidnapping, assassination, stalking, loss of confidential information, or other threats.Most important public figures such as heads of state or...
toadA toad can refer to a number of species of amphibians in the order Anura. A distinction is often made between frogs and toads by their appearance, prompted by the convergent adaptation among so-called "toads" to dry habitats. Many "toads" have leathery skin for better water retention, and brown...
s. Once the Grand Duke finds out where they went, he sends Hunch after them, but fearing the bright lights of the city, the Grand Duke gives him a pair of protective
gogglesGoggles or safety glasses are forms of protective eyewear that usually enclose or protect the area surrounding the eye in order to prevent particulates, water or chemicals from striking the eyes. They are used in chemistry laboratories and in woodworking. They are often used in snow sports as...
to prevent the light from hurting him. The flood worsens and the farm animals lose communication with Edmond and the others as the Grand Duke and his owls wait for the batteries in the animals' flashlight to run out. Edmond and his friends disguise themselves and manage to send a note to Chanticleer, but he is distracted by Goldie, who has fallen in love with him. Edmond's attempt to reason with Goldie results in him and his friends being captured by the bodyguards and locked away in a trailer. Hunch breaks into the trailer and tries to do away with the group, but his failure inadvertently sets them all free. Out of guilt, Goldie shows Chanticleer the note that Edmond sent him and the two ride off on a prop motorcycle to save their friends.
Chanticleer and the gang manage to flee from the bodyguards in an intense car chase and steal a helicopter, which they use to make their way back to the farm, where the farm animals have run out of batteries in their flashlight and are about to be eaten by the Grand Duke and his owls. After using the helicopter's searchlight to temporarily drive off the owls, Edmond and the others try to get Chanticleer to crow, but he's out of practice and soon gives up. The Grand Duke taunts Chanticleer in his stupor and strangles Edmond when he chants for Chanticleer. Awed by Edmond's courage, Patou and the other animals chant the rooster's name in unison, driving an angry Grand Duke to transforming himself into a
tornadoA tornado is a violent, dangerous, rotating column of air which is in contact with both the surface of the earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud...
. Finally regaining his confidence, Chanticleer crows loud enough for the sun to rise, shrinking the Duke down to a harmless miniature version of himself that Hunch attacks with a
flyswatterA flyswatter is a hand-held device for swatting flies and other insects. A flyswatter usually consists of a small rectangular sheet of lightweight, flexible, vented material, usually rubber or plastic, attached to a lightweight wire or plastic handle about long...
. The floods begin to subside and Edmond once again becomes a human. Edmond awakes in the real world, where it is assumed by Edmond's mother that his adventures were just a dream. Nevertheless, Edmond still believes in Chanticleer, causing the real world and Chanticleer's world to merge into one.
Cast
- Glen Campbell
Glen Travis Campbell is a Grammy and Dove Award-winning and two time Golden Globe-nominated American country pop singer, guitarist and occasional actor...
as Chanticleer, a rooster who lives on a fairy tale farm with many other animals, who are fond of and love him. When the sun rises without his crowing, his friends, believing he was lying to them about how his crowing brought up the sun (a fact he himself thought was true), leave him, leading to the adventures of Edmond and the others. He serves as the main protagonist of the film.
- Toby Scott Ganger
Toby Scott Ganger is an American actor most well known for his role as Edmond in Don Bluth's film Rock-a-Doodle.Ganger also guest starred on Cheers and has appeared in three Disney Sing-Along movies. His most recent appearance was in Black Sheep with David Spade and Chris Farley...
as Edmond, the son of a farmer. He is transformed into a kittenA kitten is a juvenile domesticated cat that is not yet fully-grown.The young of big cats are called cubs rather than kittens. Either term may be used for the young of smaller wild felids such as ocelots, caracals, and lynx, but "kitten" is usually more common for these species...
by the Grand Duke and is the one who organises the farm animals to bring Chanticleer back to the farm after the flood started.
- Phil Harris
Phil Harris was an American singer, songwriter, jazz musician, actor and comedian...
as Patou, a dog and a good friend to both Chanticleer and Edmond. He despises the Grand Duke and is dedicated to Edmond's cause to bring Chanticleer back home. He's brave and reasonable, but is somewhat temperamental. His endeavour to find Chanticleer is hampered by the fact that he does not know how to tie his shoes (which he wears because of bunionA bunion is a structural deformity of the bones and the joint between the foot and big toe, and may be painful.A bunion is an enlargement of bone or tissue around the joint at the base of the big toe .The big toe may turn in toward the second toe , and the tissues surrounding the joint may be...
s).
- Eddie Deezen
Eddie Deezen is an American actor, comedian and voice actor, perhaps best remembered for perfecting the archetypal nerd role in such films as Grease, Midnight Madness and WarGames, as well as in a number of independent films throughout the 1980s and 1990s, including Surf II and several films by...
as Snipes, a magpieMagpies are passerine birds of the crow family, Corvidae. The names 'jay' and 'magpie' are to an extent interchangeable, although this does not accurately reflect the evolutionary relationship between these birds...
. He, Edmond, Patou, and Peepers travel to the city in a toy box floating on the floodwaters, with Snipes more interested in exploring the city and its sights than actually helping his friends. Being claustraphobicClaustrophobia is the fear of having no escape, and being closed in. It is typically classified as an anxiety disorder and often results in panic attack...
, this poses a problem when he pokes holes in the box trying to escape and reach open air. He hates garbage and dirt, but loves the food served in the city when they go inside a restaurant where Chanticleer sings, particularly lasagne.
- Sandy Duncan
Sandra Kay "Sandy" Duncan is an American singer and actress of stage and television. Her most notable trademarks are her pixie cut blonde hairdo and her perky demeanor...
as Peepers, a mouse. Because of this she is initially terrified of Edmond, but he tries to convince everyone that he used to be a boy. It is not until the very end of the movie that she believes him, and comments "He was a little boy.... oh, he was a handsome little boy..." She has a lispA lisp is a speech impediment, historically also known as sigmatism. Stereotypically, people with a lisp are unable to pronounce sibilants , and replace them with interdentals , though there are actually several kinds of lisps...
and very round glasses, and is constantly arguing with Snipe's chauvinistic views.
- Christopher Plummer
Christopher Plummer, CC is a Canadian theater, film and television actor. In a career that spans over five decades and includes substantial roles in film, television, and theater, Plummer is perhaps best known for the role of Captain Georg von Trapp in The Sound of Music...
as the Grand DukeThe title grand duke is used in Western Europe and particularly in Germanic countries for provincial sovereigns. Grand duke is of a protocolary rank below a king but higher than a sovereign duke. Grand duke is also the usual and established translation of grand prince in languages which do not...
of Owls, a magical owlThe Owls are the order Strigiformes, comprising 200 birds of prey, species. Most are solitary, and nocturnal, with some exceptions . Owls hunt mostly small mammals, insects, and other birds, though a few species specialize in hunting fish. They are found in all regions of the Earth except...
who despises Chanticleer. He overhears Edmond's call for Chanticleer in the real world and transforms him into a kitten, planning to eat him. The Duke hates his nephew and threatens several times to kill him if he fails. The Duke is a malevolent and omnipotent creature of the night with a penchant for eating smaller animals as meals and commanding other villainous owls to do his bidding. He hates sunlight, like all owls, and recoils when light is shined on him. He serves as the main antagonist of the film.
- Charles Nelson Reilly
Charles Nelson Reilly was an American actor, comedian, director and drama teacher known for his comedic roles in movies, children's television, animated cartoons, and as a panelist on the game show Match Game....
as Hunch, the Grand Duke's pygmyPygmy is a term used for various ethnic groups worldwide whose average height is unusually low; anthropologists define pygmy as any group whose adult males grow to less than 150 cm in average height. A member of a slightly taller group is termed pygmoid. The best known pygmies are the Aka,...
nephew and lead henchman. Hunch enjoys rhyming words with "aggravation" and humming "The Ride of the Valkyries". He is dimwitted, but extremely aggressive. He carries a Swiss Army KnifeA Swiss Army knife , is a brand of multi-function pocket knife or multi-tool.It originated in Ibach Schwyz, Switzerland in 1897. The term "Swiss Army knife" is a registered trademark owned by Wenger S.A...
in a lidless soda can strapped to his back, and uses its various bladed objects, tools, and household objects (like a flyswatterA flyswatter is a hand-held device for swatting flies and other insects. A flyswatter usually consists of a small rectangular sheet of lightweight, flexible, vented material, usually rubber or plastic, attached to a lightweight wire or plastic handle about long...
) as weapons. A small running gagA running gag is a literary device which often takes the form of an amusing joke or a comical reference and appears repeatedly throughout a work of literature or other form of storytelling....
in the movie was that whenever the Duke would breathe on him, his magic would transform Hunch into a random different creature.
- Sorrell Booke
Sorrell Booke was an American actor who performed on stage, screen, and television. He is best-known for his role as the heavyset, corrupt politician "Boss" Jefferson Davis Hogg in the television show The Dukes of Hazzard.-Life and early acting career:Booke was born in Buffalo, New York, a cousin...
as Pinky, an obese fox who favors golf. He is discovered to be a crony of the Grand Duke when he captures Edmond and the other farm animals. He is also Chanticleer's manager in the city. His job is to ensure that Chanticleer never feels the compulsion to return home by convincing him that his friends hate him, making it easy to profit off of Chanticleer's superb singing skills. Chanticleer and Goldie, who have fallen in love with each other, escape with Edmond's friends, ruining Pinky's industry.
- Ellen Greene
Ellen Greene is an American singer and actress. Greene has had a long and varied career as a singer, particularly in cabaret, as an actor and singer in numerous stage productions, particularly musical theatre, as well as having performed in many films and television programs...
as Goldie, a pheasantPheasants is subfamily of Phasianidae in the order Galliformes.Pheasants are characterised by strong sexual dimorphism, males being highly ornate with bright colours and adornments such as wattles and long tails. Males are usually larger than females and have longer tails. Males play no part in...
, and a singer also in Pinky's employment. She initially dislikes Chanticleer for stealing her spotlight, but falls in love with him upon becoming more acquainted with him. She is seen at the end of the film to have moved into the farm and be in a relationship with Chanticleer.
- Will Ryan
Will Ryan is an American veteran voice actor and producer–writer–composer, well-known for singing about the American West. In the late seventies he teamed up with Phil Baron as Willio and Phillio. They had regular gigs on television, radio and comedy clubs and universities throughout the US...
as Stuey is a chronically nervous pig. While Edmond, Snipes, Patou, and Peepers go to the city to return Chanticleer to the farm, he stays behind to keep the owls at bay. He is almost eaten by the Grand Duke, but is saved when the group returns with Chanticleer, shining a helicopter light on the Grand Duke.
Production
Plans for an animated version of the
Chanticleer tale dated as far back as the early years of the
Walt Disney StudiosWalt Disney Pictures refers to several different entities associated with The Walt Disney Company:Walt Disney Pictures, the film banner, was established as a designation in 1983, prior to which Disney films since 1954 were released under the name of the parent company, then named Walt Disney...
, where several of its artists were interested in combining elements of the story with those about an anthropomorphic
foxFox is a common name for many species of carnivorous mammals belonging to the Canidae family. Foxes are small to medium-sized canids , characterized by possessing a long narrow snout, and a bushy tail ....
named
ReynardThe Reynard cycle is a literary cycle of allegorical French, Dutch, English, and German fables largely concerned with Reynard, an anthropomorphic red fox and trickster figure.-Etymology of name:Theories about the origin of the name Reynard are:...
. Though character designs by
Marc DavisMarc Fraser Davis was a prominent American artist and animator for Walt Disney Studios. He was one of Disney's Nine Old Men, the famed core animators of Disney animated films....
survive,
Walt DisneyWalter Elias "Walt" Disney was an American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur, entertainer, international icon and philanthropist. Disney is famous for his influence in the field of entertainment during the twentieth century. As the co-founder Walter Elias...
personally rejected the pitch, and the film was never put into production or animation tests. In the late 1980s, as a response to the success of
Who Framed Roger RabbitWho Framed Roger Rabbit is a 1988 fantasy comedy film directed by Robert Zemeckis, produced by Steven Spielberg and based on Gary K. Wolf's novel Who Censored Roger Rabbit?. It was released by Walt Disney Pictures, under the Touchstone banner and co-produced by Amblin Entertainment...
, the proposal was revised by a former Disney animator,
Don BluthDonald Virgil Bluth is an American animator and independent studio owner. He is best known for his departure from the Walt Disney Company in 1979 and his subsequent directing of animated classics such as The Secret of Nimh , An American Tail ,The Land Before Time , and All Dogs Go to Heaven , as...
, who wanted to tell the rooster's story through live action and animation. Originally, the story's first and last scenes were to be shot in black and white, similar to 1939's
The Wizard of OzThe Wizard of Oz is a 1939 American musical / fantasy film directed mainly by Victor Fleming from a script by Noel Langley, Florence Ryerson, Edgar Allan Woolf, and others and based on the 1900 children's novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum...
. The film's opening, which took place at a farm, had Edmond's mother reading the tale of Chanticleer to him.
Victor FrenchVictor Edwin French was an American actor and director.-Early career:Born in Santa Barbara, California, French began his television career as a stuntman in mostly westerns and anthology shows...
from
Get SmartGet Smart is an American television comedy series that satirized the secret agent genre. Created by Mel Brooks and Buck Henry, the show starred Don Adams as Maxwell Smart, Agent 86, Barbara Feldon as Agent 99, and Edward Platt as Thaddeus, the chief of CONTROL, a secret American government...
was set to direct these scenes, but terminal lung cancer forced him out of production. Bluth, who had never done anything in this field, took over from this point. However, very little of this footage made it in the final cut.
Chanticleer's
girlfriendGirlfriend is a term that can refer to either a female partner in a non-marital romantic relationship or a female non-intimate friend that is closer than other friends....
, Goldie the Pheasant, was designed to have attributes similar to that of
Roger Rabbit's Jessica (as seen in the original trailer). Reactions from mothers during test screenings of her scenes made Sullivan Bluth, at the insistence of their investor
Goldcrest FilmsGoldcrest Films is a British film production company founded by Jake Eberts in January 1977. It enjoyed great success in the 1980s with films such as Local Hero , The Killing Fields and Hope and Glory mostly produced by David Puttnam on modest budgets. The company also benefited from the new...
, cover her chest with feathers as cel overlays, or simply paint her cleavage out. To avoid a potential PG rating, Bluth edited out the showing of the Duke's "skunk pie" (the pie is not seen in full view in the final version), the animators had to replace Chanticleer's wine glass with a transparent cup of soda in the "Kiss and Coo" sequence, and had to draw coloured effects into the Grand Duke's breath to make him less scary for young audiences. The crew, because of these changes, had to work overtime in order to finish the film by Thanksgiving 1990.
Rock-a-Doodle was originally going to be released by
MGM-PatheMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc., or MGM, is an American media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of films and television programs. MGM was founded in 1924 when the entertainment entrepreneur Marcus Loew gained control of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and Louis B...
, but studio partnership was facing financial difficulties, so Bluth rescheduled
Rock-a-Doodle for the 1991 Christmas season and found a replacement in
The Samuel Goldwyn CompanyThe Samuel Goldwyn Company was an independent film company founded by Samuel Goldwyn, Jr., the son of the famous Hollywood mogul, Samuel Goldwyn, in 1979. The company originally distributed and acquired art-house films from around the world to U.S...
, which released two other animated features (
The Care Bears MovieThe Care Bears Movie is a 1985 animated feature film. It was the first film to feature the Care Bears toy characters, and one of the first to be based directly on a toy line. The movie was produced in Canada by Nelvana Limited at the height of the first wave of the Care Bears phenomenon, and also...
and
The Chipmunk AdventureThe Chipmunk Adventure is a 1987 animated film featuring the characters from NBC's Saturday morning cartoon Alvin and the Chipmunks. Marking the first appearance of The Chipmunks in a feature film since their 1958 debut, The Chipmunk Adventure was directed by Janice Karman , and features the voices...
) in the late
1980sThe decade of the 1980s in film involved many significant films.----Contents
1 Events
2 Top Grossing Films
3 Trends
4 List of films: # A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z.-Events:...
. However, that date was further moved to April 1992, in order to avoid competition with
DisneyWalt Disney Pictures refers to several different entities associated with The Walt Disney Company:Walt Disney Pictures, the film banner, was established as a designation in 1983, prior to which Disney films since 1954 were released under the name of the parent company, then named Walt Disney...
's
Beauty and the BeastBeauty and the Beast is a American animated feature produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation which premiered at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood on November 13, 1991...
and
UniversalUniversal Studios , a subsidiary of NBC Universal, is one of the six major American movie studios. Its main motion picture production/distribution arm is called Universal Pictures. Its production studios are located at 100 Universal City Plaza Drive in Universal City, California...
/
AmblinAmblin Entertainment is an American film and television production company founded by director, Steven Spielberg, film producers Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall in 1981. Amblin is only a production company, and has never distributed its own movies, nor has it fully financed its productions,...
's sequel to
Don BluthDonald Virgil Bluth is an American animator and independent studio owner. He is best known for his departure from the Walt Disney Company in 1979 and his subsequent directing of animated classics such as The Secret of Nimh , An American Tail ,The Land Before Time , and All Dogs Go to Heaven , as...
's film,
An American TailAn American Tail is a 1986 animated film produced by Steven Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment, and directed by Don Bluth, originally released in movie theatres on November 21, 1986...
,
Fievel Goes WestAn American Tail: Fievel Goes West is an animated film produced by Steven Spielberg's Amblimation animation studio and Universal Animation Studios, and released by Universal Pictures. It is the 1991 sequel to the 1986 film An American Tail, the second film released in the American Tail series, and...
, which Don did not associate with. Ironically, SGC was sold to MGM in 1998, and MGM owns the film today.
Rock-a-Doodle was the first feature-length family
live-action/animated filmA live-action/animated film is a motion picture that features a combination of real actors or elements: live-action and animated elements, typically interacting....
since 1988's
Who Framed Roger RabbitWho Framed Roger Rabbit is a 1988 fantasy comedy film directed by Robert Zemeckis, produced by Steven Spielberg and based on Gary K. Wolf's novel Who Censored Roger Rabbit?. It was released by Walt Disney Pictures, under the Touchstone banner and co-produced by Amblin Entertainment...
, but unlike the live-action characters from that film sharing the screen with Roger Rabbit, Edmond is the only live-action character to share the screen with the animated characters; this was at the beginning, where The Grand Duke would have to answer Edmond before being turned into an animated cat, and at the end, where Chanticleer is singing a reprise of "Sun Do Shine" like he does at the beginning. Don Bluth chose this direction because he was influenced by
Roger Rabbit.
Animation Production took place at
Sullivan Bluth StudiosSullivan Bluth Studios was an animation studio established in 1985 by animator Don Bluth. Bluth and several colleagues, all of whom were former Disney animators, left Disney in 1979 to form Don Bluth Productions, later known as the Bluth Group...
in Dublin, Ireland, and was the last Don Bluth film to feature the end credit "A Don Bluth Film" logo.
Aspect ratio
The live-action and animation sequences were filmed in two separate aspect ratios. The animation was shot on an open-matte fullscreen negative, meaning the top and bottom of the image was cropped in order to fit the theater screen. However the live-action scenes, including all animated elements, were shot in hard-matted widescreen. When the film is viewed in fullscreen, all the animated sequences (except for parts of the finale) can be seen in full, but the live-action segments lose information on the sides.
Soundtrack
The original songs written and produced by T.J. Kuenster
- .-"Sun do Shine" by Glen Campbell
Glen Travis Campbell is a Grammy and Dove Award-winning and two time Golden Globe-nominated American country pop singer, guitarist and occasional actor...
- .-"We hate the Sun" by Christopher Plummer
Christopher Plummer, CC is a Canadian theater, film and television actor. In a career that spans over five decades and includes substantial roles in film, television, and theater, Plummer is perhaps best known for the role of Captain Georg von Trapp in The Sound of Music...
- .-"Come back to you" by Glen Campbell
- .-"Boungers" Theme Song by The Don Bluth Players
- .-"Tweedle te Dee" by Christopher Plummer
- .-"Treasure hunting fever" by Glen Campbell
- .-"Sink or Swim
Sink or Swim is a video game that was released in 1993 for the PC under the DOS environment. Developed by Zeppelin Games Limited, it was an action/puzzle game very similar in style to Lemmings. Versions also made their way onto the Amiga and the SNES. The Sega Mega Drive version is known as S.S....
" by Ellen GreeneEllen Greene is an American singer and actress. Greene has had a long and varied career as a singer, particularly in cabaret, as an actor and singer in numerous stage productions, particularly musical theatre, as well as having performed in many films and television programs...
- .-"Kiss ´N coo" by Glen Campbell & Ellen Greene
- .-"Back to the Country" by Glen Campbell
- .-"The Owls Picnic" by Christopher Plummer
- .-"Tyin´Your Shoes" by Phil Harris
Phil Harris was an American singer, songwriter, jazz musician, actor and comedian...
- .-"Sun do shine"(Reprise) by Glen Campbell
Reception
Upon its initial release,
Rock-a-Doodle was not well received by critics or audiences. The film has a
Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films. The name derives from the historical cliché of throwing tomatoes and other produce at stage performers if a performance was particularly bad.- History :...
rating of 20% "rotten", but has a "C" rating at Box Office Mojo. The film was negatively reviewed by
the Nostalgia CriticThat Guy with the Glasses is a website that showcases original entertainment for an audience including video game enthusiasts and movie buffs. It primarily stars Chicago native Douglas Walker aka "That Guy with the Glasses." The founder and administrator of the site is Michael Michaud, in addition...
, who cited that it was the beginning of the downfall of Bluth's career in animation.
Its $11.6 million take at the U.S. box office forced Don Bluth's studio into liquidation half a year after its release. Moreover, a
Hong KongHong Kong , officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, is a highly autonomous territory of the People's Republic of China, facing Guangdong to the north and the South China Sea to the east, west and south...
company, Media Assets, purchased Bluth's next three films,
ThumbelinaThumbelina is a 1994 American animated film directed by Don Bluth and Gary Goldman from a screenplay by Bluth based on Hans Christian Andersen's Thumbelina. The film was produced by Sullivan Bluth Studios and was released by Warner Bros. Pictures on March 30, 1994.-Synopsis:A lonely woman longs...
,
A Troll in Central ParkA Troll in Central Park is a 1994 animated feature-length film directed by Don Bluth and Gary Goldman, creators of films such as Thumbelina, The Land Before Time, and All Dogs Go To Heaven. It was released on October 7, 1994 by Warner Bros...
and
The Pebble and the PenguinThe Pebble and the Penguin is a 1995 animated musical film, based on the true life mating rituals of the Adelie Penguins in Antarctica, produced and directed by Don Bluth and Gary Goldman. It was originally released in movie theatres in the USA in 1995 by MGM and was released internationally by...
. None of these did any better than
Rock-a-Doodle, commercially or, with
Thumbelina being a slight exception, critically. All of them preceded 1997's
AnastasiaAnastasia is an American animated feature produced by 20th Century Fox. This film was produced and directed by Don Bluth and Gary Goldman at Fox Animation Studios, and was released on November 14, 1997 by 20th Century Fox....
, his comeback hit.
A book adaptation of the film, by Don Bluth and Chip Lovitt, was published by Troll Communications LLC (ISBN 0-816-72475-X).
Video release history
Rock-a-Doodle was first released on
VHSVideo Home System, better known by its abbreviation VHS, was a video tape recording standard developed during the 1970s. It was released to the public during the latter half of the decade. During the late part of the 1970s and the early 1980s it formed one-half of the VHS vs Betamax war, which it...
on 17 August 1992. It was first released on
DVDDVD, also known as Digital Versatile Disc or Digital Video Disc,is an optical disc storage media format, and was founded in 1995. Its main uses are video and data storage...
by
HBO VideoHBO is a premium television programming subsidiary of Time Warner, offers two 24/7 pay television services to over 38 million U.S...
on 20 July 1999. A second edition was released by MGM on 8 November 2005, but despite apparent cover changes, both appear to be identical, and both are now out-of-print.
Sources
- Beck, Jerry (2005). The Animated Movie Guide. ISBN 1-55652-591-5. Chicago Reader Press. Accessed May 26, 2007.
External links