A Troll in Central Park (1994)

Fantastic!

Excellent, a Must See

Crappy film

Absolutely amazing

And that name is Stanley the Troll! That mentally handicapped offspring of Dopey the Dwarf and the Lucky Charms Leprechaun. The Unclean, the Unsafe, the Unhealthy. Grower of flowers, destroyer of the realms of men, caretaker of your children under the bridge.Suffice to say, not a fan.So yeah... wow. Is this a bad film, or what. I mean, what happened Don Bluth? Secret of NIMH is still one my all-time favourite animated movies. Whereas this is one of the worst movies I've seen. Period. It's ugly. Nothing in it is beautiful. The plot makes absolutely no sense. Or, actually no. It makes sense in that I can sort of follow what's going on. In that regard there are worse out there. But it certainly doesn't help in this case because the story is worse than you would tell your young nephew when he comes tucking your sleeve, demanding you tell him a story and you pull something straight from where the sun don't shine. Way worse.The characters are ugly. Stanley being the worse. Something about him just sets of the Stranger Danger alarm in my head. Especially the way he smiles at the kids in this film. Goosebumps, and not the good kind. The songs are pure garbage as well, singing mixed morals and bad life lessons. Well okay... the voice actor of Stanley doesn't sing off-key. That's something, right?And the final nail in the coffin. It's simply ugly visually. At least with all the other Don Bluth movies you get great visuals. The man and his team are phenomenal animators. But this looks like the table scrapings from the studio dog.I'm sorry Mr. Bluth, but my soul died a little bit with this film. I know the 90s were not kind to you, but... No. Just no.

This movie suffers the most attacks among Don Bluth's films, and it's not hard to see why. A Troll in Central Park is childish, short, and, well, flowery. But at the same time, there's a charm to it, a sense sincerity, even inspiration, that pays off in the end. Tots movies are often filled mindlessly with clichés and treacle, but Bluth, a passionate animator, was never one to resign himself to that.The settings are a kingdom of trolls, where bad=good and vice versa, and New York city. The main character is Stanley, apparently the only good troll, who can magically grow things with his literally green thumb. He's caught growing flowers and taken to the Oscar the Grouch gone extreme villain, queen Gnorga, who sends him to a place where nothing grows; New York City. But he lands in central park, where he meets the cute toddler named Rosie and her older brother Gus, who's sorta wild. Thus the (short) plot is set in motion, with Stanley entertaining his two new friends and Gnorga deciding to just finish him off.There are a couple scenes, such as the trip on Stanley's boat that's made of "a dream", that can be a little intriguing. And the songs are surprisingly memorable. Gnorga's "Queen of Mean" has a nice beat to it, and manages to ride out her "terrible is wonderful" gag for just over two minutes with some amusing images. And Stanley's twice sung "Absolutely Green" is warm and bright. While a basic description would probably make one think "syrupy clichés", the song as a whole actually seems inspired. And when coupled with the animation of the scenes, there's little question of its sincerity. (The idea made me think "John Lennon's 'Imagine' for young kids".) But that doesn't mean it's not flawed. Sometimes it's too cutesy, mainly with Rosie, and at times it overextends the ho-hum comedy, as with Gnorga's comic relief sidekick, King Lort. It isn't breathtakingly exciting, despite some engaging moments, and there's not much beyond the environmental stance that reaches out to older viewers. I wouldn't call any of the characters deep either, except maybe Gus and Stanley. And while the climax (stepping up the intensity a bit to become a little creepy) and ending were good, the very last bit went too far with New York City itself. (I prefer to think of it as a vision, rather than what actually happens.)Overall it's a decent, worthwhile kids movie. So if you need a film to watch with kindergarteners, give it a chance. It may charm you more than you care to admit. But if I'm wrong, I'm still glad there's a movie for those seven and under that treats its audience like children, not morons.

Don Bluth has had his share of ups and downs in his long career. But this piece of dreck marks the only time he has truly hit rock bottom.I hesitate to use the word "movie" to describe this bomb because this is not really a film. It is a lame idea loosely tied together with bad songs and some of the most saccharine padding and filler you will ever see in you're life.The title character is played by Dom DeLuise (a good actor) and he does what he can with the role but this character is hopeless. He's one dimensional, annoying and just plain bland. The film's worst performance is a tie between Cloris Leachman and Charles Nelson Reilly who play the monarchs of the Kingdom of Trolls. Not only do they seem to grunt their lines, but they talk over each other! I mean, come on! Why make a movie where you can barely understand or hear what the characters are saying? The rest of the cast is pretty disposable. I personally think Jonathan Pryce should have played King Llort but that's just me.But it's not all bad. Some of the songs are OK, DeLuise does what he can and the animation is typical Bluth: lush and beautiful.But in the cold light of day, this dreck is simply an insult to the art of animation.

A Troll in Central Park is not a terrible film. It's just extremely sweet and innocent and this world isn't ready for it. Anyone over six years of age will be embarrassed to watch this - even alone - but that's more of a societal problem. But there are definitely reasons to see this. The animation is amazing, particularly with the children. It's realistic but somehow completely believable in an animated world. And their movements are so fluid and realistic. You can tell every action was acted out and studied meticulously. I really wish this was done more often. The environments also look amazing, especially when the human world comes into play. As for the cute or humorous sidekicks, that's another story entirely. It's probably just a personal bias, but I hate the way Don Bluth designs his more cartoon-y characters. Their personalities aren't any better, ranging from "cute" to marshmallow-peep-flavored-vomit "cute".Anyone who loved The Secret of NIMH will be shocked to see this film. I mean, how can the same guy who made a progressive, dark and outstanding film be responsible for this? The story is very fairy-tale esquire, like a children's storybook come to life. The villains are more humorous than threatening, the characters spontaneously break into song and dance and everything is whitewashed with cuteness. This is the result of Don Bluth finally giving in to the pressures of Disney, trying to replicate their formula, losing his identity in the process and ultimately falling flat. Luckily, Anastasia would be a healthy step up. But for fans of Bluth's one-hit wonder, it's kind of depressing.