Family > Bass, Jules Family

Tell me, butterfly, have you seen the other unicorns?

Advantages: Extraordinarily faithful adaptation, well voiced, charming story
Disadvantages: Gratuitous songage

This is a review of the film only. The DVD is available as a region 2 from Amazon from £3.98. It is easy to forget, in the computer age that is 2009, that animated films were once all hand drawn; each cell painstakingly illustrated; backgrounds pencilled and inked, the artists’ hands shaping the final product. A Ralph Bakshi film is immediately recognisable as coming from his studio, and instantly distinguishable from an offering from the Disney ...
...the late 20th Century may seem primitive, lacking the 3D rendering of today’s computer generated products, and also lacking the consistency of style that most modern animated popular cinematic films seem to have. The Last Unicorn dates from 1982, and comes from the pen of Peter S Beagle, adapted by Mr Beagle from his novel of the same name, and the directorship of Jules Bass and Arthur Rankin Jr. It follows the story of the eponymous Last Unicorn ...

mattygroves 09.04.2009 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of The Last Unicorn (DVD) (DVD)

Hell has just frozen over...

Advantages: Giant killer snowman
Disadvantages: Cheesy dialogue

Starring Stephen Mendel, F William Parker, Rob Labelle, Eileen Seeley and Scott MacDonald as Jack Frost! Packaging - Big scary skull with pointy teeth, this has nothing to do with anything in the film! Rating - 18 (UK) Plot - Convicted serial kiler Jack Frost is on his way to be executed when the van carrying him is overturned after colliding with an 18-wheeler and he escapes - however just as he breaks free of the prison van the tanker (which ...
...melts him into the snow below his feet. Needless to say he comes back as a killer snowman who travels to a small town in the mountains intent on gaining revenge over the police officer who captured him and sent him to jail. Review - The film contains lots of laughs as the townspeople concoct various ludicrous methods to finally see off the demonic snowman - did I really just say "demonic snowman"? - they eventually manage it but not before he wreaks ...

iateamonkey 08.05.2006 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful
Review of Captain Jack (DVD)

Snow joke really

Advantages: One for the family, quite good soundtrack.
Disadvantages: A little soppy and predictable for the macho among us

...watchable. Starring Michael Keaton as Jack Frost, a small time musician, who is always too busy to do anything with his son Charlie, and too busy to to do those little household repairs for his wife. After missing his son playing hockey, because he was rehearsing, he promises to spend Christmas with them, but just as they are leaving the phone rings (doesn't it always?) A record producer has heard their demo tape and wants to hear them live, but ...
...band go, but on the way there he has a change of heart and turns back. Driving back through a raging blizzard, close to exhaustion, he crashes the car and dies. (Why do Christmas movies have to be based around tragedy?) As usually happens in these sort of movies he gets to come back and repair his relationship with his son, but the catch here is that he comes back as a snowman. There follow some quite amusing bits, before the very predictable ending, ...

cjkace 31.03.2001 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Jack Frost (Animated) (DVD)

Thumpity Thump Thump, Look at Frosty Go!

Advantages: wonderful presentation with extras of the 1969 original special
Disadvantages: rather trite and PC non Rankin Bass sequel

...another holiday hit, he recorded Frosty the Snowman the following year. This time, the song was about a snow man who comes to life thanks to a magic hat, plays with the local children, before "hurrying away". it proved to be the monster Christmas hit of 1950, and endeared itself into popular culture, being covered by many well known artists. In 1969, Rankin Bass took their animated talents and produced a TV special based upon the song. Unlike their ...
...is really magic, and brings Frosty to life when the children place it upon his head. of course, the magician then wants his hat back, and things get further complicated when the weather begins to warm a bit, threatening to melt the snow. Will the children be able to save Frosty, and will the magician learn the meaning of Christmas and giving? I am sure you can guess the answer to that already, especially seeing as there is a sequel on this disc. ...

Shroud 15.09.2008 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Frosty The Snowman/Frosty Returns (DVD)

Good fun!

Advantages: Dialogue, cracking pace, excellent animation
Disadvantages: May not be suitable for children who are old enough to understand innuendo

...for adults as well and Ice Age 3 certainly delivered on that front. I've seen Ice Age2 on TV but not the first film and never in the cinema. On top of that this was a 3D show. The story essentially follows Manny, the mammoth, his heavily pregnant wife, Ellie and Diego, the sabre toothed tiger as they venture under the ice to a land where dinosaurs are not extinct. They do this to try and rescue Sid, who feeling unloved due to the impending arrival ...
...subsequently been carried off with his 'children' by their real mother. In dinosaur world they meet Buck, the weasel with the Sylvester Stallone eyepatch and knife, the British accent (Simon Pegg voices him) and the literary connections to Captain Ahab of Moby Dick (both have been left injured by 'the great white beast', both are unnaturally obsessed and slightly unhinged by it). As a sideline, Scratt is still seeking his acorn but this time there ...

mouche202 29.12.2009 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Ice Age 3 - Dawn Of The Dinosaurs (DVD)