Lightdeossk Captivating movie !

HeadlinesExotic Boring

Calum Hutton It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

Derrick Gibbons An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

Eric Stevenson As a fan of Don Bluth since I was a kid, I think this is probably where his work started to decline. What's really weird about this film is just how, well weird it is. I mean, it's about a singing rooster that resembles Elvis that is able to bring the Sun up. The weirdest thing is that at one point the Sun comes up without him singing. He then leaves because the animals realize they don't need him to bring the Sun up. It turns out they do. So...why did the Sun come up that one time? It's very dumb. Also, the main kid character in this is really not a good actor. His voice is pretty annoying and I guess I can't blame him since he's just a kid.Now, I did like the animation in this. Come to think of it, ALL of Don Bluth's movies have had good animation. That was something that was always consistent and in a good way. There is also an interesting subplot where a chicken named Goldie falls in love with the rooster, but it sadly doesn't go anywhere. Still, I will praise the visuals and I honestly thought this was something pretty unique for Don Bluth. Wow, owls have really gone downward since their portrayal in "The Secret Of Nimh". I guess the movie itself is harmless enough and doesn't teach bad morals or anything. It's just mostly boring and uninteresting. **

FilmFreak94 Coming after such great movies like The Secret of Nimh, American Tail and The Land Before Time it's baffling how Don Bluth could make something like Rock-A-Doodle. The film has things going for it, like some of the voice cast is pretty good, and the animation is nice but the story... most of the songs... Well the story is there's a rooster named Chanticleer (voiced and sung by country singer Glen Campbell) who's job is to crow every morning to bring the sun up. One morning he gets involved in a fight with some other bird sent by his nemesis The Grand Duke (voiced by the great Christopher Plummer) and he forgets to crow. He's cast out as a charlatan by his fellow farm animals and leaves for the nearby city.It turns out this was a story that was being read to a small boy named Edmund. He lives on a farm that is currently undergoing a terrible storm. Since he just read about Chanticleer leaving he assumes that's the reason the storm is happening and calls out for him. Okay but what about the rest of the day? Was it just raining all day or something? Anyway, The Grand Duke shows up and turns Edmund into an animated cat with his magic breath (don't ask) and tries to eat him. One of Chanticleer's old friends, Patou the dog (voiced by the late Phil Harris) saves Edmund and is joined by other animals from the farm. They resolve to go to the city and bring Chanticleer back so he can crow and bring back the sun.There's already a lot of holes in the story from the first ten or so minutes. Like if Chanticleer was really responsible for raising the sun, why did it come up that one time? Or why does Edmund assume the sun just isn't coming up, I mean he's a kid but he's not stupid. When they get to the city it gets a little more confusing when all the inhabitants are animals. Did they just show up when all the humans evacuated the city? Did the humans evacuate the city, are they all dead? Anyway, it turns out Chanticleer is now making a living as an Elvis impersonator named 'The King.' He's incredibly depressed and only feels good when he's on stage singing. His manager, Pinky, is in contact with The Grand Duke and is told to keep Chanticleer from meeting his old friends by distracting him with a chorus girl named Goldie. The two fall in love and Pinky manages to capture Edmund and the gang. Goldie tells Chanticleer his friends are here and they save them and after a lengthy chase return to the farm. While this is going on, The Duke sends his nephew, Hunch to try and kill Edmund but he keeps failing miserably. This all comes to a head when Chanticleer can't crow and The Duke hurts Edmund. This causes the animals to try and boost Chanticleer's confidence until he finally crows and brings up the sun, sending the owls flying and turning the Duke into a midget for whatever reason. Edmund turns back into a boy and then it turns out the whole thing was a dream, Wizard of Oz style. Or maybe it wasn't cause Chanticleer pops out of the book, and Edmund is now on their farm and... what? I'm not ashamed to admit I watched this movie a lot as a kid, but watching it now... what's going on? The animation is nice and some of the songs are decent but there's too much going on. I didn't mention the other two animals who accompany Edmund, a magpie named Snipes (voiced by Eddie Deezen of Dexter's Lab fame) and a mouse named Peepers. None of the characters get a lot of development and most of the story is told through narration from Phil Harris. Narration is good sometimes, but not to tell the audience everything that's going on at the moment. We're not stupid we can figure this out by ourselves.The songs also range from OK to just plain unnecessary. The Duke and his cronies don't get any good songs which is a shame since Christopher Plummer is a talented singer. Some toad bouncers get a song about bouncing people, make of that what you will, and most of Chanticleer's songs are talked over. Wasn't the whole purpose of getting someone like Glen Campbell to sing for the character to use his voice to attract an audience? Why talk over most of his numbers?This film is a mess, through and through. Is there anything here offensive for kids? Not entirely, I remember liking it when I was young but there isn't really much to offer them in return. Apart from some good animation and a decent cast this film isn't really for those looking for the high quality of Don Bluth's other movies.

chiibiprincess Ha.......beware of the long rant of a hugely biased Bluth fan...Fine, warned ya, didn't I? ^_-First of all, I don't really see why people hate this movie so much. I don't see what's so bloody confusing about it....unless people are really that simpled-minded that they can't understand a plot as simple as "a live-action boy joins the animated world in order to bring back a hero who can save them from darkness and destruction." That's it. ........yeah, what exactly is so hard to understand about that?And.....they're criticizing the animation? LOL These same people who love American Tail and the Land Before Time are actually criticizing a film WITH THE EXACT SAME TYPE OF ANIMATION!? Seriously, use your common sense, people!! No, rather, use your EYES! It's the SAME!! Okay, fine, the live-action parts MIXED with the animation does look cheap. But it's old!! And of course it doesn't look as good as it did with Roger Rabbit! That movie was one of the most expensive movies ever made in all of film HISTORY!! Bluth didn't have that kind of budget, okay?! Besides, it lasts for all of twenty seconds, so suck it up and fast-forward if you hate looking at it so much, geeze!!Don't believe all the bad reviews you have read on here. The animation is not horrible, the characters are not annoying OR ugly, the songs are not bad, and the voice actors are CERTAINLY not untalented! Believe you me, being a fan of animated classics from the time I was barely able to talk to now, (in my 20s) adults can appreciate this movie JUST AS MUCH if not more, than a child can. I have sat through BAD voice-acting, (early dubbed anime, anyone!?) horrible songs, terrible characters, awful, FLAT animation, the whole lot....and Rock-a-Doodle shines like a gem next to these. Another reviewer on here just asked, "Why watch this when you can be in a world with Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, and Pinnochio?My answer is simply this:"Because it's DIFFERENT and I'm freaking sick of those fairy tales that everybody's seen a thousand versions of before they have even reached the age of TEN, damn it all!". The problem is, everyone's treating this as a Disney film when it's not. It's Bluth. Bluth is not Disney. He never WILL be. And I don't want him to be, either! See, this is why I adore Don Bluth so much and consider him to be the finest animator and director in America. Don Bluth's films are SO different, SO sophisticated, SO unique, SO non-cliché, and above all, SO magical. Yes, "magical" is really the best way to describe a Bluth film...and ever single one he's directed delivers the magic...so much that just from watching a couple seconds of random animation, you can immediately recognize that Bluth had something to do with it.I will say that Disney can take you on a journey through storybooks...even through history, perhaps...but you still feel like you're just watching something.....artificial? It's meant to entertain, be bright, happy, make you laugh and dance then cry..then laugh some more...and then it's over. But what Bluth does.....it's something much more valuable...much more surreal: he takes you on a journey through DREAMS. Yes, watching a Bluth film is very much like being in a dream. It's beautiful...yet bizarre...bright...yet dark...calming...yet terrifying.... Rock-A-Doodle is exceptionally GOOD at being a film that feels like a dream. Its awesome random, wonderful strangeness is right up there with "The Secret of NIMH" and my eternally top-favorite, "All Dogs Go To Heaven". And I can tell you right now: every single scene feels more memorable than an entire Disney movie. When I watched this movie just last week to relive my childhood, I found out that I appreciated it even MORE and that it was much more enjoyable to watch than the Disney movies that were created around the same time!!I can understand that some people don't like this just because it's too...WEIRD for them...which I agree. It IS weird. But see, I love weird. I love bizarre. I love strange. I love being treated as an adult and actually having to use my brain.....during a KID'S film.If you're tired of that same-old-same-old protective Disney bubble that doesn't really let you think outside the box and want something really interesting and out of the ordinary, PLEASE give this movie a look. You won't regret it. If you're a Bluth fan, THIS IS A MUST-SEE.My rating for each aspect of Rock-A-Doodle:Animation: 10 It's Don-freaking-BLUTH Characters: 8 All main ones are likable, unique, and fun. The Duke is a GREAT villain especially!Sound: 10 It's a musical of course! Not all the songs are given attention like in most musicals though. Some are very short to give you a short laugh or two and some just serve as background music while main points about the characters are being pointed out to you. This is refreshing for those who get tired of song after song in animated movies.Story: 7 There's a plot hole or two, seemingly but based on what's revealed at the end, that's entirely excusable!! (and all the critics totally ignored this!!) Voice-actors: 10! Nothing to complain about here! Ganger's (Edmond) childish voice is adorable, Duncan (Peepers) and Deezen (Snipes) are priceless, Reily's (Hunch) hysterical, Campbell as Chanticleer just plain rocks and Chris Plummer should have gotten an award as The Duke because he's outstanding.

MisterWhiplash Clearly this wasn't Don Bluth's finest day as a filmmaker- it's nowhere near the imagination present in The Secret of NIMH and An American Tail, but it's still entertaining for kids. It certainly worked when I first saw it, and I remember watching it several times (maybe cause of the songs which were like filtered but enjoyable Elvis-type tunes, or some of the designs with the characters like the evil owls). It's about a little boy who gets transformed into a cat- his storybook, which comes to life, is about a rooster on a farm who can't do his patented COCKADOODLE call- and soon he's swept up in a quest to bring Chaunticlair back from his fall into a career as an Elvis star.It's not really too amazing, and it's probably even cliché by the standards of any animation let alone Bluth's. But there's enough invention and fun and quirks to make it worthwhile as a children's film, if not as an overall family flick (adults will most likely enjoy the final performance of Phil Harris, the voice of Baloo). Some of it is even very funny, like when the dastardly inept small owl who keeps spouting exclamations like "ANNIHILATION!" tries to skewer the heroes while tied up. It's like a minor rockabilly farm comedy, and there's certainly worse out there for your kids.