Surprise! We decided
to do a Halloween special. Today, we have one of my favorite
Halloween movies of all time, The Halloween Tree.
This is a made-for-T.V. movie based on a novel by Ray Bradbury, who
also narrates this film. This will be our first review that isn’t
produced by Disney; The Halloween Tree is
produced by Hanna-Barbera, owned by Turner, and is often shown on
Cartoon Network, also owned by Turner.
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| Boxart Sourced via IMDB |
Summary:
This
movie follows four kids on a strange Halloween night. They all get
dressed in costume and meet up to go trick-or-treating, but when they
go to find their friend, Pip, they instead find a note on his door
informing them he went to the hospital due to an issue with his
appendix. They leave together, but soon after see a ghostly Pip,
running through a field. They follow him to the house of a Mr.
Moundshroud, who has the eponymous Halloween Tree, which holds the
souls of those who are dead in the form of pumpkins. They witness Pip
steal his soul-pumpkin and flee into the night. The kids and
Moundshroud chase after him, through the past. On this journey, the
go through different ancient traditions of Halloween and learn about
the history of Halloween. At the end, they find that Pip is dead and
Moundshroud is trying to take him to the afterlife. The four kids
give one year of the end of their life to keep Pip alive. When they
return home, they find that Pip is alive and recovering from his
surgery.
From
an artistic standpoint, this movie has beautiful painted backgrounds,
resembling a Norman Rockwell-esque view of 50’s suburbia. The
animation, however, isn’t nearly as good. The first thing you’ll
notice is that the objects in this movie completely stand out from
the backgrounds. It’s a bit jarring and is a constant reminder that
you are seeing these objects drawn of static backgrounds, instead of
a fully living world. The
actual art for the characters is, in simple terms, kinda bad. They’re
very simplistic and while the idea of their design is decent, the
actual execution isn’t that great. This is combined with some
not-so-great animation and everything feels like if Recess
was turned into a 90’s edutainment PC game, ala Freddi
Fish
or Where
in Time is Carmen Sandiego? I
don’t expect much from a made-for-T.V. animated film, but I know
that I’ve seen better than this, even for T.V., from Hanna-Barbera.
I
know
that all sounds harsh, but I don’t like this movie because
of
it’s animation. I love it because
of
everything else. For example, this is a great Halloween film. Not
only does it have a Halloween aesthetic down pat, but it brings you
through an adventure discovering the history of our modern day
Halloween and learning what other cultures, like Ancient Egyptians,
Celts and Mexicans do for their Halloween-type holidays. It is a bit
of edutainment, but I feel that it’s a subject that is interesting
and, even as an adult, I find it immensely entertaining. To phrase it
shortly, this movie sneaks some education into it’s entertainment,
instead of trying to make something inherently educational
entertaining.
All
of this stuff I enjoyed I’ve known from previous viewings of this
movie. Something new I noticed this time is how compelling this movie
and it’s story can be. Admittedly, the story is a bit simple and
the central message of the movie is basically given to the viewer,
but there was something about it that was just effective for me.
Every time the kids find Pip, each of them have a moment with him and
call back to a time where he helped them out in their lives, trying
to express how important he is to them. Admittedly, I’ve never had
a friend take the blame because I
started
a fire in my house with fireworks hidden under my bed, but the
sentiment still hit me.
The
central theme for this movie is first hinted at with Moundshroud
berating the children and asking them what the meaning of Halloween
is. At the end of this film, it is resolved with one
of the kids, Tom, answering that challenge by stating that we have to
face death head on in order to master our feelings over it. I felt
this was an important message and does explain the fun of not just
Halloween, but horror movies, roller-coasters and anything that could
be described as thrilling. Not to get too preachy, but many people
are scared of their own mortality and, because of that, they don’t
plan well for anything that could happen after they pass on.
Considering that this is, ostensibly, a film for kids, I feel that
this is a good way to convey that message at a younger age. It’s
also good to realize that aspect in these “scary” or “thrilling”
activities. In the end, it’s just good to be reminded that you’re
still alive.
Overall,
while this is a flawed film, I think it’s an excellent movie to
watch for Halloween, especially for kids or people who might not be
able to handle horror movies. Either way, it’s a good bit of
lighter fare for a traditionally spooky holiday. A fun watch for the
whole family. As for the holiday special, we’ll try to do more
stuff life this. More one-offs or seasonal reviews. Anyway, keep
tuned for next Monday, as we continue our Disney series.
-CJ
Happy Halloween
everyone! Today as a bonus, we took a look into The Halloween
Tree, made in 1993 for T.V. by Turner Network / Hanna-Barbera. I
vaguely remember watching this as an after school special back in the
90’s, but it doesn’t seem like it hit the mark with anyone. I
think the last time I remember this being on air, would’ve been
about 1997 or 1998, and after that it seemed to fade into obscurity.
I was pretty stoked to watch this again, and to see why this movie
ended up flopping the way it did.
As always lets look
at the animation. First and foremost, is that the backgrounds really
set the place and time for our movie. They feel Norman Rockwell-esq,
with a mix of pain and what looks to be chalk pastel. The sketchy
detailing, colors and amount of detail really lend a hand in this
movie. There’s a strong sense of shading and light sources, over
the backgrounds, and even into the foregrounds, as well as lots of
contrasting colors. I would happily sit through this without the
overlaying animation just to look at the backgrounds. That being
said, lets look at the main animation.
After looking at the
opening backgrounds the it seems like the animation should be mid to
high tier quality, but unfortunately that’s not the case. Our cast
of characters are pretty bland overall. They’re incredibly
simplified, and other than their costumes there’s not much that
defines them. With the exception of the fat kid, everyone else looks
like transfigures with overly large heads and vacant expressions.
There’s also lack of smooth movement, and repeated clips of
animation. This is fairly standard for made for T.V. animation, so I
can’t really harp about it that much, but I do wish that some more
time and budgeting had been put into the characters.
The main thing that
bothers me are the overly simplified characters. Other than their
costumes and small details, there’s not much defining them. They
have copy and pasted faces and expressions, and I really wish we
could’ve gotten more here. Take for example a show like something
like Scooby Doo, where everything is fairly simplified and recycled.
Even with the simplification, we get different facial, and body
builds, that lend character to the specified cast. Here it feels more
like an afterthought. The only two characters that do feel original,
are Pip, and Mr. Moundshroud, and even then, there still feels like
there could’ve been more here, especially since there’s only six
main characters.
The two main things
that could’ve been done to help this movie would be shape and
weight to our characters, and extra detailing in the eyes. Lack of
detailing in the eyes and the faces means we have more dramatized
expressions, that could’ve been curbed. Simple highlights in the
eyes could’ve helped immensely here, along with some more defining
features. All I’m asking for is some extra lines in the face, or
more detailed eyes, and eyebrows. There’s so much that can be said
with a simple glance, but it just feels lacking overall. With weight
and form, it would’ve helped us to stick a label and connect a bit
more with the kids on screen. I’m not saying make one super buff,
and one super nerdy, but some simple defining characteristics would
be nice.
That being said, the
music, narration and story are really all top notch. The music fits
the story, and eras listed, and there’s no overly hokey or goofy
Halloween music anywhere. The story defiantly feels like something
Ray Bradbury wrote. I really can’t find anything to complain about
here. Everything is well done, and other than the half rate
animation, this film feels like it should have higher marks.
While I’ve done
nothing but harp about this film, I do want to say it’s worth
watching. The animation in this movie isn’t bad, but it’s not
good either. The story is really what saves this film. It’s
engaging, and there’s plenty to learn, so the movie itself is
actually very good. There are some strong themes with life and death
that are played out. I really did enjoy this movie overall, and I’d
be happy to watch it again.
-AJ
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