Hugo the Hippo

Bill Feigenbaum's "Hugó, a víziló" ("Hugo the Hippo" in English) is one of those movies that leads the viewer to think "Oh my god, someone actually put this on the silver screen." This Hungarian-American co-production purports to be about a hippopotamus and how the children befriend him after the sultan's assistant has the other hippopotamuses killed. In reality it comes across as the sort of movie bound to give children nightmares. Particularly confusing is the fact that even though it takes place in Africa, the children all have American accents. Moreover, Paul Lynde does the voice of the sultan's assistant and basically turns the character into a rehash of Uncle Arthur on "Bewitched". Oh, and Marie Osmond sings some of the songs.

Now that you have had a chance to let all this sink in, I should note that much of the movie is a bunch of politically incorrect stuff trying to be psychedelic. Burl Ives narrates and the sultan (voiced by Robert Morley) looks very much like Ives's gregarious genie in "The Brass Bottle". This was truly a movie that "Mystery Science Theater 3000" should have riffed. It's worth seeing if you want to have to have your mind blown.

Yes, I did call this a candidate for the greatest film ever made. Its a masterpiece of hippo films. A truly magical experience for everyone who takes part in it. Its about this hippo. This hippo named Hugo. He's the prince of the hippo's. He saves the day. Their are songs along the way and some great animation. It's gold, I tell you, GOLD!!!

Now the television schedules (in England, at least) are crammed with home improvement, bargain-hunting, house-hunting and cookery shows in the afternoons, the chances of any of the terrestrial broadcasters digging out a complete obscurity like this to occupy a couple of hours of screen time on a slow afternoon are slender, to say the least. But back in the eighties, the BBC did just that, and guess what, I watched it. And it's a testament to the overwhelming weirdness of this Hungarian-American co-production that I can still remember large chunks of it, over twenty years later. To begin with, the eponymous hero appears briefly during the opening titles, only to vanish again for at least half an hour. (Imagine AN American TAIL re-edited so Feivel is nowhere to be seen, and you'll appreciate how confusing this is.) There's a supremely bizarre bit of animation where one of the characters gets his elaborately waxed moustache tweaked and stretched, complete with a boingy sound effect that causes him to go boss-eyed. Probably hilarious if you're stoned, but to a child, quite disturbing. Speaking of which, the infamous 'hippo cull' scene is represented in an abstract manner - clouds in vague hippo shapes are struck by lightning - but it's still pretty unpleasant. In fact, this film is pretty cold and uninvolving throughout, a sad state of affairs hardly helped by the strange-looking production design, all muddy colours, wobbly lines, bloated forms and that uniquely European bleakness reminiscent of Jan Svankmajer, only not as compelling. Then, to cap it all, we get songs by the Osmonds! This isn't so much an awful film as a deeply misguided one, not so much phantasmagorical as a rather bad trip.

My buddy found a VHS from 1980-something with this movie on it, and I was shocked and amazed that anything this good could come outta the 70's. Couple things I noticed: The Animation rocks the casbah - the colours all meld very nicely, the segues are all prefect (you can't even tell they're there until the next scene starts), and the motion of the characters is a lost art; the story provokes every emotion you can have - sadness, envy, happiness, disappointment, fear... the list goes on; the songs are so good, one of my friends sampled a couple of them and uses them, to this day, in his house sets...

I definitely agree with Peter's comments - IT'S GOLD I TELL YOU! GOLD!

I first saw this film when I was about 4 (a whole 24 years ago!), and have been enchanted by it ever since. A wonderful tale of morality - about how money corrupts and the importance of not forgetting those who help you. But the message diffuses into you, as you become lost in the fantastic animation (think Disney Fantasia levels of imagination) and songs that Lloyd Webber and Rice would be proud to call their own (I remember all of the words to all of the songs even now, and I haven't seen the film for at least 20 years!). I don't have any other sentimental attachment to any other programmes of my youth, but this fantastic film touched me in a way that no other has. If you do get a chance to see it, you really must. An enchanting, engaging film, with beautiful animation, charming songs and a lovely story which takes you through an emotional sine wave as you follow the adventures of Hugo and his friends (and those who are certainly not his friends). Once viewed, never forgotten. You will be singing the songs all week, at least. Fantastic for young children and adults alike. I can't recommend it enough.