A Troll in Central Park (1994)

How sad is this?

An Exercise In Nonsense

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

In this movie, a troll called Stanley is sent to Central Park for being too nice, and spends the day with a baby called Rosie, and her big brother Gus. I'm not kidding. That is the film in a nutshell.This film is heartbreaking to watch, because it's Don Bluth at his lowest point. Bluth abandons any sense of respect for the children in the audience, AND himself, in favor of easy pandering. It's a film where barely anything happens, fret or tension is kept to a minimum, and no bold risks are made behind the scenes. Everything about the film is insufferable, from Stanley the troll, who's only emotion is overbearing happiness, to the whiny, self-entitled children we're supposed to relate to. It's a movie that suffocates the audience with sugar-coated whimsy, and refuses to provide anything enriching, or clever. What sours the film even more, is its terrible message of, "If you dream, ANYTHING is possible." Which is a LOUSY way of inspiring kids, because achieving goals also takes hard work, strong will and intense effort. Three things that this film clearly didn't put into practice during production. Children deserve SO much better than this, and what's worse is that Don Bluth can DO better than this. It's a hollow and shallow film, that left me feeling empty and unfulfilled. Don Bluth himself looks back at the film in regret, once stating in an interview: "As it is never a good thing that a child is born prematurely, so it is when producing a film. Development of a script is like the development of a child in the womb; it takes time, it must be done right. Building the movie, A Troll in Central Park taught us this lesson, but indeed the hard way. I tell you all this in the hope, that YOU might benefit from our foolish mistakes. Scrutinizing your own work is so important, but let's face it: You're all afraid of not measuring up, so we stubbornly cling to our own opinions, shutting out all others. Stanley could have been a richer character with more levels to his personality. Maybe, he could have had a dark side; a troll side that he struggled with."I do respect Don for owning up to the film's downfall, because it really is insulting, implying that quality control and intelligence CAN be ignored if children are watching. Which is just pure BS.Children don't deserve to be treated like gullible idiots, whether in school, at home, OR at the cinema.

Wow! Don Bluth, what have you done? Anyway, here yea, here yea! All rise! The Animation Court is now in session! Many critics, vs. "Troll in Central Park" for ruining the career of the famous director! The right, and honorable judge David T. Hileman presiding! Though it was not the final nail in the coffin for Mr. Bluth's animation studio - that came with "The Pebble and the Penguin" - "A Troll in Central Park" certainly was the handwriting on the wall, with it's terrible reviews and a horrible box office take. It couldn't even make 0.32% of it's $23,500,000 budget, only grossing $71,368! It was known as the biggest animated box office bomb, until, suddenly, 14 years later, "Delgo" came along. Gary Goldman, Bluth's partner, blamed the distributors at Warner Bros. Family Entertainment for it, for lacking any confidence in the film, releasing it without any sign of promotion, and only giving it a limited release. I don't think ANYONE would have any confidence in the film, when it looks so sappy it makes "The Secret of NIMH 2" look like the original! I mean... Gus, he's a spoiled brat! A spoiled, rotten, rude, impudent piglet! I don't recommend this film. Don't let the good music by Mr. Robert Folk fool you.

"A Troll in Central Park" looks great thanks to Don Bluth's animation style, but there's nothing else going on in the movie that's worth noting. It doesn't have any interesting characters or sequences, the story is bland and the songs are not memorable. It offers little entertainment value for anyone but the absolute youngest viewers, who will outgrow it very quickly due to its overly sappy and sugary plot and tone. Although many people will probably defend it because they liked it when they were younger, a re-watch will make you realize that all it does it churn out a lazy story. Ask yourself if you really remember this movie as fondly as beloved animated films like "Snow White", "The Little Mermaid" or even Don Bluth's own "The Land Before Time" and I think you'll find that you can't recall very much about this movie at all. I suppose the movie is harmless, but there's not much that's memorable or stimulating for children here, and nothing at all for adults. When there are other, genuinely good movies you could be showing them, I can't recommend that you check out "A Troll in Central Park". (On VHS, July 28, 2012)

I am currently scouring numerous kids' movies I've seen and determining whether they're good or bad for children, much less YOU.This one... it's going to take a little more thinking before I decide. I borrowed this movie from a library because I am a Don Bluth fan and I have been hearing about the negative reception and obscurity it's got. Like many children of the 1990's, I grew up with awesome animated movies for children, such as The Lion King, The Land Before Time, Aladdin etc.So we have a friendly troll named Stanley who lives in a land where trolls are mean and scary (think The BFG), and it is ruled by none other than a no-nonsense evil queen who believes bad is good and good is bad (Geesh, that sounds hard to say).So the message in this movie is "If you believe in yourself and dream well enough, things will magically happen." which I really am struggling to look at without upsetting fans of this movie. At first, it sounds real, but if you think critically at it, you'll realize "No, that doesn't make sense!" As the Nostalgia Critic explained, "dreams don't happen by just dreaming, you make it happen!", which is actually true. Although that's probably the context Don Bluth was aiming for, it just sounds different than what was probably intended. I agree that only certain "dreams" can come true if you work hard to make it happen, but that strongly depends on what it is, like you can't just dream to become Sailor Moon, work hard for it and TA-DAH, wish granted.But I give this a 7 rating because I don't find it as bad as many make it out to be, I realize many people on the internet saw it as kids and liked it since then. In fact, the animation is good, the voice acting is not bad, I did mention in one of my other reviews that one of my favourite actors is/was Dom DeLuise, and of course Cloris Leachman as the evil queen Gnorga, whose name I recognize from Castle in the Sky.But the story seems a little rushed, some moments are drawn out and the story was just a little bit too simple for me, but it's aimed at kids so I'm not irked over that. However, I feel these faults and all the negative reception must have been blamed one thing: Warner Bros.Considering the studio was totally pessimistic about marketing this movie, even deliberately limiting the movie's release and advertising, I'm sure they were plotting to make this film as bad as humanly possible, even rushing Don Bluth to finish the movie for fall of 1994.If that's true, then I feel sorry for anyone who likes Don Bluth and are annoyed by this film. It's not Toy Story, but I still like it. So, if you want to show it to your kids, then I think it would be a good idea to talk with them afterwards and explain to them the true meaning of "believing in dreams".