User reviews

Rock-A-Doodle is a movie that some say is the start of Don Bluth's streak of bad films until Anastasia was released, but to me, it sounds like an underrated gem. Telling the story of a boy named Edmond, a boy turned into a kitten by the Duke of Owls, he has to help the other farm animals bring back Chanticleer, whom they laughed out, as their farm is in danger of flooding.

Now, the movie is seen as a box office bomb, and one of the reasons why is executive meddling. Originally, there was not going to be any live-action segments, but MGM saw Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, a successful film that combined live-action and animation, and decided they want a piece of the money pie it was making. Also, a lot of scenes were cut or edited for being "too scary for kids", either because of notes for test audiences or done to avoid a PG rating (the test audiences notes being mostly because Don decided to take their advice after All Dogs Go To Heaven was negatively received for its dark content). The result was a different movie that strayed far from what Don originally planned, and to me, that could be one of the reasons that caused it to bomb.

But despite those changes, the movie is still good. It still has some dark scenes that is a trademark of any Don Bluth film, the characters are memorable, and the music is good, as the country music songs are actual country music instead of the stuff we have today that masquerades as country music. This is a film work checking out.

if children's movies were meant to be judged the same way that adult movies are then we would have nothing that children could grasp with there imagination. this film had more or my friends, and cousins glued to the TV than any other children's movie i have seen and i have seen a lot of them. this film has imagination, it has color, it has a good story, it tells the tail of the King himself Elvis Arron Presley in a way. this film was one of my favorites that i ever saw as a child and no one will convince me that it wasn't a good film considering that this film helped me pass time on both good and bad days. it is at least deserving of some credit for the fun filled story contained in it. lighten up people children's films are not designed around being able to entertain people our age as would movies that we would normally comment on. at least i don't treat children's films that way. a good film for children of all ages.

Rock A Doodle is a fun loving story about the sun not coming up. Chanticlear, the Rooster (a knock of Elvis) is in charge of crowing for the sun to come up, however one day he was disturbed and didn't crow. Since the Sun came up without him all his farm friends called him a fake. Having no where else to go he went to the city to find work, leaving the farm to the owls. Meanwhile in the real world, a flood is brewing and a little boy named Edmand tries to call Chanticlear, but got the Duke Owl. He turns the young boy into a cat and joins up with a dog, bird and mouse to go find Chanticlear and beat the darkness and find the sun. This is a great tale, especially for little kids. It teaches them about friendship and to never give up hope.

First off, I have to say that I really like the idea of Rock-a-Doodle. The basic story of the rooster having to save his farm from eternal darkness and rain by crowing the sun up could have made for such a great movie. But I feel that, as it was, it wasn't nearly as good a movie as it could have been.

A huge part of my problem with this movie was the main character, Edmund. This kid/cat is so darn annoying. His speech impediment got very old very fast, and it just felt like he was trying way too hard to sound cute. Also, as another reviewer pointed out earlier, he belabored to death the fact that he was "too little" to do pretty much anything, which became irritating.

It was also bothersome that this movie couldn't decide whether it wanted to be a full-blown musical or not. The Chanticleer/King songs were fine, because they were part of the whole singing rooster story. But it seemed that the other random songs were pretty unnecessary. The owls' songs were bad enough, but did they really feel the need to have the bit with the bouncer toads' song?? These random musical numbers felt like they came out of some particularly bad Gilbert and Sullivan operetta. If they really wanted to make this movie a musical, they needed to have some real full-length songs instead of those short musical snippets given to the villains.

But by far, my biggest problem with this movie is that it's just not very good at storytelling. It was fine that Patou (Phil Harris in his last role!) narrated the story. However, at times, they relied too much on the narration to tell us things instead of showing us. This is especially true in the whole Goldie subplot. Patou told us that a) Goldie was a lot smarter and nicer than she seemed at first and b) that she was really falling for Chanticleer although she was only supposed to fake it. It really would have helped Goldie's character development if there had been scenes where she was gradually acting smarter and nicer. And the movie would instantly have been better, I believe, if there had been a scene showing the moment where Goldie knew that she was in love with Chanticleer for real instead of just having narration. As it was, it felt like Goldie was just tacked onto the movie so that Chanticleer could have a love interest.

There's a good movie somewhere in Rock-a-Doodle. And I won't deny that it was a special part of many people's childhoods. However, for the reasons above (as well as others I don't care to bore you with), it just didn't live up to that potential, and turned out to be just another mediocre-to-bad kids' movie.

This movie is awesome! People can be so mean. "There was a plot-hole," "This movie was cheesy," "The animation sucked." How can you NOT love a Rooster posing as Elvis? I loved this movie when I was a little girl and I recently rediscovered it hiding in my garage. Now I'm 18 and I decided to watch it w/ my sister who's 6. She adored the movie and I'm proud to say I still do too. Even my 12 year old brother likes it. As far as plot holes. There aren't any, it's a KIDS' movie! I love the songs and find so many of the characters so lovable. I don't see anything wrong with the animation, I love the way Chanticleer and the Duke are drawn. And the pathetic, vocabulary confused, Hutch is so funny. The ending is a little weird, but so what? So back off haters! Rock-A-Doodle is a great, fun movie.

I've been told by a lot of people that this movie is the first of the mediocre entries (except Anastasia) in the early/late 90s that caused Don Bluth's career to go downhill, but as for me, I think I actually found this along with The Pebble and the Penguin to be very decent. Why?

Well, I will admit, the story was weird and predictable and has a lot of flaws that went nowhere despite it being supposedly charming. The characters were good. Edmund was okay, but nothing special, Chanticleer and the others were very decent, but the Grand Duke of Owls' henchman and the fox guy that wants some money for using Chanticleer to sing for the audiences were not that interesting. I think that the best character throughout the whole movie is the Grand Duke of Owls himself voiced by Christoper Plummer (who previously voiced Henri the pigeon in An American Tail) since he was so intimidating and very threatening which makes him one of the best non-Disney villains ever.

The songs were forgettable. The first song in the beginning was surprisingly good, but some of them were forgettable due to their uninspired lyrics.

There were several inconsistencies like the Grand Duke's breath contains magical powers and the rooster can sing while bringing the sun with his cock-a-doodling voice. It's weird, but that's not saying much.

And that's it for Rock-A-Doodle. Is it a weird movie like The Pebble and the Penguin? Yes, but unlike A Troll in Central Park, it's not a bad movie for it's worth watching for the kids. For adults, however, they will have a hard time viewing this.

6/10

Sorry if people disagree with me here but I think Rock a Doodle is absolutely immense! I watched it as a small kid and recently found it only to discover how awesome it truly is. I would have to say though that the films best feature is the evil Grand Duke. He is quite possibly the best villain in cartoon history. Seriously, this film has become kinda obscure but you should definitely check it out! It has energy, warmth, great songs and once more the animation is so unique that it sticks in your head for ages. The ideas are original and the script is funny and emotional. The creators of this movie really found the right ingredients to create the perfect family cartoon. This film is an absolutely legendary piece!!!

Plot of "Rock-a-Doodle": A rooster named Chanticleer crows every morning to make the sun come up, only one day the sun rises without him and he leaves the farm in disgrace (this part is based on an obscure play by Edmund Forster). Only it turns out he really WAS responsible for the sunrise and it begins raining nonstop. This causes an evil owl to move to the farm because he wants to live in permanent darkness. A real-life boy, who lives with his real-life family amongst the cartoon animals, knows Chanticleer can bring the sun back and sets out to find him. Only the owl turns out to have magical powers and transforms the real-life boy into a cartoon cat. The cartoon cat then sets out with the other animals into the big city (which is populated by cartoon animals even though the farm has a human family) to find Chanticleer, who has turned into an Elvis parody and is being seduced by a sexy chicken. Meanwhile, back at the farm, the owl has inexplicably grown to the size of a skyscraper and is planning to eat the other animals. Or something. Also, there are evil frogs.

If you can read through all that and tie those events together to make any sort of vague sense, be my guest. This is the most nonsensical movie in the history of animation. I watched it countless times as a kid and I don't think I ever knew what was going on, and I just realized I still don't. I don't remember ever liking it, either.

However, I was strangely fascinated by the crazy little owl (nephew to the evil magic owl) played by Charles Nelson Reilly, and thought he was the funniest damn thing I had ever seen. I can't explain it, but even now the thought of a tiny owl running around with weapons made out of can-openers and shouting "ANNIHILATION" is hilarious to me. I was so fascinated that I actually did research on Charles Nelson Reilly, so for many years I was the only kid in elementary school with an extensive knowledge of Charles Nelson Reilly trivia and could tell you all his appearances on game shows and stuff. This is the sad effect this movie had on my life, and I deeply regret it.

Besides that, it is sort of notable for Glen Campbell's role as Chanticleer/The King and for containing Phil Harris's last role, but anyone over the age of 8 will probably find it extremely tedious and annoying. It has nothing on the classic Disney cartoons.

This has got to be my favorite Don Bluth film. It's completely original and still holds up to this day. While American Tail is probably his best film, this movie is so bizarre and wonderful it has to be seen. It starts live action then turns animated. In the live-action prologue, a little boy named Edmond learns that the crowing of Chanticleer the rooster did not make the sun rise, as everyone thought. But when a flood threatens his family's farm, Edmond sets off to get Chanticleer to make the sun rise and save the day. Just imagine alice in wonderland with rock songs, a kitten, lasagna, and a rooster who channels Elvis. Rock-a-doooooo!

The rooster on the farm, Chanticleer, has to sing every morning for the sun to rise. One morning, he is stopped from singing and the other animals discover that he's a phony - the sun rises anyway. He becomes an outcast and runs away to the city. However, the animals discover that this was a mistake, because the sun stops coming up and rain, which causes a flood, begins instead.

Somewhere along the way, cartoons and Disney became almost synonymous. And yet, Don Bluth has forged ahead, with "American Tail" and "Land Before Time", among many others. This one, though forgotten by some, is beloved by others. Personally, I think it is just as good as any Disney film of the era, and you have to love the voice casting of Glen Campbell.

If it hasn't already been done, someone ought to release a retrospective blu-ray set of Bluth's golden years.

this is so awful. good thing elvis is dead because the embarrassment of this may have killed him. i like to watch this and laugh. if you don't want to watch the whole thing, just watch the end for the final song and dance. laughs all around. i especially like the way they blend the real life boy (who has coon skin cap hair) with the hideous animation.

Have you ever seen a movie and felt so much potential was wasted not only because of the narrative execution, but also for focusing on the wrong lead? For me, it would be Don Bluth's Rock a Doodle, one of his worst features to date. What's interesting is that this film was originally meant to be produced by Walt Disney in the early 1960s, but was rejected in favor of Sword in the Stone. Fast forward to the 1980s when Don Bluth and his team put the project into development, the film went through numerous changes in both the writing and even editing stages. Needless to say, the final result might've hatched out of a rotten egg.

The movie is about a barnyard rooster named Chanticleer who could make the sun come up by singing, but then heads to the big city after the sun comes up without him crowing. However, massive storms and dark clouds stop the sun from appearing, so it's all up to a human turned into a kitten called Edmond and a gang of farm animals to find Chanticleer and restore the sun's balance. Right off the bat, the movie's biggest problem is that instead of focusing on Chanticleer and his transition into the big city, we instead have to follow Edmond, an unappealing excuse of a main character who speaks trite dialogue and acts more obnoxious than adorable. It doesn't help that throughout the story, almost every single sequence has an overabundance of expository narration, as if the movie thinks its audience can't figure it out for themselves. To make things even worse, because Chanticleer's role is reduced to that of a MacGuffin, his status of being an Elvis-like rock star past his country origins feels completely sidelined. I guess anything actually thought provoking is out of style in this watered down mess.

Speaking of watering things down, as good as the voice-acting can be, it often feels like the cast tries so hard to over-cutesify their lines in mind of the audience, which in return makes the characters insufferable. In addition to Edmond being obnoxiously pandering as a cute protagonist, his actor did such a weak job that it feels more like you're watching a grade school performance than a kid on the big screen. By his side is the narrating blabbermouth Patou, the know-it-all Peepers, and the misogynistic jerk Snipes, who barely offer any substance outside of one trait only, like shoe tieing or claustrophobia. Almost everyone else is just a plot-demanded architype like Chanticleer's stunning girlfriend Goldie or the controlling con-artist Pinky and his dumb henchmen. The only character worth enjoying in the movie is the villainous Grand Duke of Owls, since he's so deliciously maniacal that he at least offers some amusement in this trainwreck. With a cast of characters that elicit groans instead of charm, is it even any wonder why Chanticleer should have been the focus?

To the film's credit, the animation and art direction are quite spot-on. While the character designs can range from looking cute to grotesque, the movements are quite smooth and bold with a strong dose of tight choreography given the dance sequences. The distinction between the grim looking urban farmland to the vividly bright cityscope is quite fascinating, and even during fast-paced scenes, the movie does give us a good amount of scenery to awe at. Unfortunately, that's where the visual positives end, as even with these impressive artistic choices, the editing can often be so rapid-fire that it ruins the viewer's appreciation of detail. Also, the beginning and end of the movie feature live-action segments in the real world before Edmond ends up in the animated fantasy-land. With that said, there is no reason for these segments to exist at all, as you could have started things off in the farmland and gone from there (as well as save yourself from some of the most laughably bad attempts at animation/live-action compositing ever done in film history).

Finally, with this film being a part-musical, I will admit that most of the songs are actually kind of fun to listen to, especially in the movie's context. The songs can range from upbeat country fodder, to appropriately corny Elvis-inspired tunes, and even charmingly cheesy love ballads. It also helps that Glen Campbell's performance as Chanticleer is the extra spice that livens the feature up when necessary. However, what nearly ruins them is not only the aforementioned narrating dribble, but also how the movie might as well have ADHD given that it goes from the dance sequences to something else going on with the characters. If you're not even gonna let the musical numbers play out on their own, then maybe you shouldn't have even bothered with these annoying explanatory add ons. There are a few songs that do play out fully, mostly belonging to the villains, but the lyrics are so embarrassing and they run for so little that you immediately forget them as soon as they're over. The best musicals know when to let a song play out in full to keep the story going...this could have been one of them.

In the end, not only is Rock-a-Doodle an embarrassing waste of a legend's talents due to its oversimplified tone, but it's a sad case of putting focus on the wrong character to drive the feature forward. Even with some impressive visuals and upbeat songs, it's all ruined in the execution by a movie that doesn't trust its audience to think for themselves. Let this be a lesson to storytellers: never underestimate your viewers, because they can smell saccharine indulgence from a mile away. Why else do people not even care about this movie anymore? Especially when the director himself has done better for his audience.

In all honesty, I never saw this as a child. Perhaps that accounts somewhat for why I don't enjoy it very much now. Unlike many other children's films which have plots that people of all ages could appreciate, this was contrived and full of holes that you could "drive a John Deere tractor through", as Chanticleer would say. The songs were lackluster and all sounded the pretty much same, and the kid that played Edmond brings a whole new level to bad child actors. I did have a few good laughs though, mostly due to the good ol' Patou, so I can't rate it too low. Overall, if you didn't see this as a kid, you more than likely wont like it now.

6/10

OMG! this movies was like my favourite childhood movie! i absolutely love(d) it! I haven't seen it in a while but I'm sure that when i do which should be soon, ill be as much entranced as what i was those some 14 years ago! Excellent movie! Great entertainment! Chanticleer was like my hero if u can believe that, i always used to pretend to be him! Hat a great rooster...and that scene with the Aqueduct pipe??? Gotta love it! This movie was so funny to me even though i probably didn't get what they were saying most of the time! As soon as i get this movie on DVD ill be staying inside for a cold lonely winter in front of my TV! i have a date with a rooster! I could never get tried of this movie! What a grand film to grow up with!

Although I think that along with Troll with Central Park that this is one of the weaker Don Bluth movies, I personally don't think it is that bad. When you compare the animation to gems like the Secret of Nimh and American Tail, you do think it is disappointing. Some of it, and I am putting emphasis on the some, was a bit Saturday-morning standard, and some of the minor characters were drawn rather weirdly. The non-animated parts were quite jarring to be honest with you, and seemed rather flat. Though i will say the animation is nowhere near as bad as people have said it is. I liked the incidental music, not so much the songs, they just seemed rather lacklustre as I am used to hearing Barry Manilow and Cynthia Weil songs, not Elvis-style ones. Although there was some excellent singing from Glenn Campbell, the songs' lyrics were rather mediocre. Also the owl's songs, or recitatives as I prefer to call them, sounded the same every time. However the voice overs were the redeeming merits. We all know from Disney classics such as Robin Hood and the Jungle Book, that Phil Harris is very talented at singing and acting, and he was put to good use here as Patou,("you're rocking the boat") although his narration did get distracting after a while, as the story is admittedly too heavily reliant on the narration. The narration in fact was to me more of a mini-commentary, that had been over simplified. However, Chistopher Plummer was wonderful as the voice of the Duke,("if I kill my nephew, would it be murder or charity?") who wasn't only the best character, but one of the better Bluth villains, he was really evil in some scenes, like when you first meet him. His performance was worth an award, it was so good. I also liked Edmund and Goldie, Chanticlair was very likable and the Duke's nephew was hilarious in some scenes, like when he screams Annihilation. In conclusion, one of the weaker Bluth movies, does have a number of redeeming merits, and not that bad. Anyone who's seen the secret of Nimh sequel will know how awful that was. 6/10 Bethany Cox

Let me begin by saying that "the Secret of NIMH" is my favorite movie of all time. I've often wondered why Don Bluth has never made any movie that has been anywhere near as good as this one (granted "NIMH" is about as perfect as any animated movie can get, so it's sort of a tough act to follow). Then I had the Golden Moment: Bluth is a Hayao Miyazaki trapped in the body of a Michael Eisner. On the one hand, he wants to elevate animation to an art form capable of heart rending beauty. On the other, he feels like he has to make films that are marketable, and that will be hits. In short, he's been clipping his own wings.

With that in mind, watching "Rock-a-Doodle" made me physically ill. It is the one movie that has completely screwed up my "is it worse that 'Theodore Rex'?" rating system, because it is so depressing to watch. Why did Bluth greenlight this story (if you can call it that)? You can be a parody of the old Elvis musicals, you can be an adventure with some animals lost in a strange city, you can be a fantasy with an evil wizard who wants an eternal night, you can be a dumb little kids' movie with some stupid kid dancing with cartoon animals. You can be any *ONE* of these movies but you cannot be all four at once!

I bought this film almost ten years ago and each of my children (14, 12 and 5 years old) has enjoyed multiple viewings of it. I include myself as a fan. The story is about a rooster who loses his ability to crow, partly because of the villainous owl, the Grand Duke, and his dastardly plans. The characters are interesting and well developed. The plot has plenty of suspense and villains for young children (and their parents); romance, heroes worth cheering, and a clear story line. The songs are catchy, the singing excellent, and appropriate for the story. Basing the main character, Chanticleer, on Elvis is quite appropriate and adds a bit of humor for adults. This film is equal in quality to Don Bluth's Thumbelina.

I don't so much remember the plot line, or the music, but i remember it was one of the best movie rentals i ever saw. It made me dance, it made me fell afraid, it helped me learn why i should know how to work the VCR, Even though i remember almost nothing about it, it still haunts my dreams once in a while, and now i simply must tell all you parents out there, this is a great movie for kids, although maybe not kids under 5, i was around 4 when i saw it, and i remember being Terrified, but i also remember that i couldn't get enough of that music. I'm 18 years old now, and i only watched that movie once, and i still remember it. shows how much of an impression it made on me as a kid huh?

Even the least interesting Disney animated flicks are light years ahead of "Rock-A-Doodle". I cringed in terror during each and every single second of this crapola film.

Just when you think the movie couldn't get any worse, there's that atrocious song and dance number at the end. Why did Don Bluth insist on combining live action with animation (the only time it truly worked was in the excellent "Who Framed Roger Rabbit")? And what was the point of involving that little kid in the story to begin with?

"Rock-A-Doodle" is probably one of the worst movies in general I've ever had the misfortune of seeing. I'm sure the money wasted on this steaming pile of excrement could have better used to feed several Third World countries.