What makes a kid fall in love with an animated film? Is it the music? The characters? The colors? The animation? Storyline? When I was about six or seven years old my best-friend Marcie and I spent every moment of every day we could together. You know how, when you are a kid, you get addicted to a TV show, a song, or a movie and you watch it over and over again until your parents are going crazy out of their minds begging you to turn it off, but you won’t because you still haven’t gotten enough? Well Marcie and I had that going on with an animated film directed by Don Bluth. That movie was Rock-A-Doodle. Rock-A-Doodle has sort of fallen off the planet since its United States release in ‘92 for reasons being that it didn’t get very good reviews and wasn’t successful at the box-office. However, this is still a great family film. After all, it’s a children’s movie. It is meant to be loved by children, not by Roger Ebert. And love it, Marcie and I did.
The main character is a handsome and strapping rooster named Chanticleer who has a sultry singing voice that supposedly wakes the sun on the farm every morning and chases away the storm clouds. One day, Chanticleer is attacked by a rooster sent by an evil magical owl, the “Grand Duke of Owls,” who dislikes Chanticleer. Chanticleer wins the fight, but forgets to crow the next morning and the sun rises without him. Chanticleer feels hurt that the sun didn’t need his singing to rise and the other farm animals become disillusioned with Chanticleer and kick him off the farm. After Chanticleer leaves, the Grand Duke of Owls takes over the farm and it becomes a very unhappy place indeed. A rescue party heads down to Las Vegas in the hopes of finding Chanticleer, but is attacked on the journey by the “Grand Duke of Owls.” Fortunately they escape and make it to the city. Soon, they find Chanticleer who has become a famous singer; a fact that has made a fellow performer, the beautiful pheasant Goldie, jealous. However, the group cannot reach Chanticleer because his bodyguards won’t allow it, so they resort to sending him a message which Chanticleer never receives because Goldie has fallen in love with him and, after reading it, hides the message. The party tries to reason with Goldie and explain why Chanticleer must leave and come back with them to the farm, but they get captured by the bodyguards and locked in a trailer. By a stroke of luck the group is able to break free from the trailer, Goldie shows Chanticleer his friends’ note out of guilt, and they all head back together to the farm to help the animals that are being attacked by the “Grand Duke of Owls.” When they arrive, Chanticleer tries crowing to make the sun rise and drive the owls away, but he cannot. However, all the farm friends begin chanting his name and cheering him on and finally Chanticleer is able to crow. The owls are weakened and all is once again restored on the farm.
This movie is a great family film for several reasons. It has great music that children and adults will love singing and dancing to. It also has great messages about friendship, loyalty, and pursuing your dreams no matter what. Any family looking for a rockin’-doodle-doo time should see Rock-A-Doodle. This movie can be purchased online in VHS or DVD format from stores like Amazon.com. It is also available for instant streaming online at Netflix.com.
The main character is a handsome and strapping rooster named Chanticleer who has a sultry singing voice that supposedly wakes the sun on the farm every morning and chases away the storm clouds. One day, Chanticleer is attacked by a rooster sent by an evil magical owl, the “Grand Duke of Owls,” who dislikes Chanticleer. Chanticleer wins the fight, but forgets to crow the next morning and the sun rises without him. Chanticleer feels hurt that the sun didn’t need his singing to rise and the other farm animals become disillusioned with Chanticleer and kick him off the farm. After Chanticleer leaves, the Grand Duke of Owls takes over the farm and it becomes a very unhappy place indeed. A rescue party heads down to Las Vegas in the hopes of finding Chanticleer, but is attacked on the journey by the “Grand Duke of Owls.” Fortunately they escape and make it to the city. Soon, they find Chanticleer who has become a famous singer; a fact that has made a fellow performer, the beautiful pheasant Goldie, jealous. However, the group cannot reach Chanticleer because his bodyguards won’t allow it, so they resort to sending him a message which Chanticleer never receives because Goldie has fallen in love with him and, after reading it, hides the message. The party tries to reason with Goldie and explain why Chanticleer must leave and come back with them to the farm, but they get captured by the bodyguards and locked in a trailer. By a stroke of luck the group is able to break free from the trailer, Goldie shows Chanticleer his friends’ note out of guilt, and they all head back together to the farm to help the animals that are being attacked by the “Grand Duke of Owls.” When they arrive, Chanticleer tries crowing to make the sun rise and drive the owls away, but he cannot. However, all the farm friends begin chanting his name and cheering him on and finally Chanticleer is able to crow. The owls are weakened and all is once again restored on the farm.
This movie is a great family film for several reasons. It has great music that children and adults will love singing and dancing to. It also has great messages about friendship, loyalty, and pursuing your dreams no matter what. Any family looking for a rockin’-doodle-doo time should see Rock-A-Doodle. This movie can be purchased online in VHS or DVD format from stores like Amazon.com. It is also available for instant streaming online at Netflix.com.