Introductions

Greetings and welcome to Bluthanized, the blog that dissects the films of animator/director Don Bluth. If you were raised in the late 80's/early 90's, then no introductions need be made...but if you are one of those whippersnappers who came of age when all animated movies feature trendy references, celebrity voices and CGI, perhaps said introductions are in order. 

Don Bluth was, once a upon a time, an animator for Disney. He worked on The Rescuers, Pete's Dragon and The Fox and the Hound. But since the Disney animation unit was practically in the toilet at the time, he (among others) jumped ship and formed his own animation studio. His first production was The Secret of NIMH, based on the children's book "Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH". Despite it doing okay with critics and earning some dough at the box office, the movie had a huge cult following thanks to the VCR. Later, Don Bluth teamed up with Steven Spielberg to make An American Tail and The Land Before Time, which did pretty damn well and are considered his magnum opi.

But then, due to creative differences, Spielberg and Bluth split. Around the same time, Disney managed to reclaim the throne as the king of animation with The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast. From then on, Don Bluth's movies like Rock-a-Doodle and A Troll in Central Park, simply could not compete in quality or criticism.

In 1996, Don Bluth hooked up with Fox Animation Studios and made Anastasia, which made bank compared to his recent efforts. Much of its success was thanks to its similarity to other Disney movies featuring witty, intelligent princesses and strong musical numbers. Don Bluth's last feature was the sci-fi epic Titan A.E. which did well critically but bombed at the box office (Disney's Treasure Planet would meet the same fate in 2002). Since then, Don Bluth has retired and slipped out of the public eye.

Great. So...who the hell are we?: We are Andrew (Diversion 2.0) and Jordyn (Popped Density) two seniors at Carroll College in beautiful Helena, Montana. Andrew is a CIS major, and Jordyn is a theatre major. Both of us enjoy movies, animated movies, sometimes crappy movies and are, essentially, self-proclaimed experts at watching movies.

What the hell are we doing?: Thanks to the Nostalgia Critic/Nostalgia Chick, Andrew and Jordyn decided to rip them off wholesale by doing a cross over blog. We will be watching the ten theatrically released animated features produced by Don Bluth and reviewing them. This means we won't be touching Banjo the Woodpile Cat, Bartok the Magnificent, or any of the 13 Land Before Time sequels with a ten foot pole

Where will this monumental event take place?: Right here, on Bluthanized...tell all your friends.

When will you do it?: Well, we're starting soon and will continue until we're done. Some of the movies we own, others we have to order on Netflix, so keep checking back.

Why, oh, why!?: Mainly, we wanted to do a cross over blog and review something we both have an interest in. Don Bluth only has ten movies, so it seemed doable. Neither of us are big fans of Don Bluth. Andrew has a soft spot for a few of them, but for the most part has trouble with the art style and the anti-Disney animation-philes who are up their own ass about how much "better" he is. However, for all intents and purposes, he is willing to put his quasi-biases behind himself for this experiment. And Jordyn is quite impartial, loving one, liking some, and being disgusted by the rest...but you will just have to find out which ones garner these opinions.

Here is a chart showing you what each of us has seen in the past. 

As you can see, at least one of us has seen every movie in the Don Bluth canon except for Titan A.E. Both of us are actually excited to get to that one, so it will be a light at the end of the tunnel when we are knee deep in the early 90's shit (bring your galoshes!). So sit back, relax, and eagerly await our first review of The Secret of NIMH.