I want to begin my review with a disclaimer; I have never seen any episodes of the 1987 DuckTales. As such, there may be some things I cover in this review that may confuse me or the general film viewer but would be understood by DuckTales fans. Anyway, the VHS of this movie was one I purchased alongside All Dogs Go to Heaven last Friday. I decided to spend this afternoon watching this, and...
For an extended TV series episode, this one worked out fantastically, but as a general film it's just a tad better than ho-hum. The animation was made by a French studio affiliated with Disney, and since it isn't WDAS, the quality overall is more akin to a Disney TV series (if slightly better) than The Rescuers Down Under. It does have some surprisingly effective... well, effects, with the fire shooters in the pyramid being a personally prominent moment. The animation also presents the frenzied moments, especially the sentient toys scene, with the necessary ridiculousness to make it amusing, though serious action shouldn't bring high expectations. It was probably just my VCR acting weird, but the animation has one very distracting snag; the lighting in a lot of scenes flickers and acts up when it shouldn't, even in more static scenes where the lighting required no adjustment. As I said, it's probably either my PV-9451 or the tape itself, but the lighting in some scenes felt rather sloppy and could have used one final check by Disney before they released this, in the event that this happens on different tapes. I have to admit that the story impressed me for a simple extended TV episode, but its twist in not having the heroes achieve their goal first already felt like it was done, better, in other movies in Disney's animated canon. That's not to say Merlock succeeding in his goal first was an awful twist, especially considering DuckTales is one of Disney's pre-Renaissance highlights next to The Fox and The Hound and The Great Mouse Detective. As for each character, I already had a sense of who they would be from viewing fan material (the Disney Wiki in particular) and the extended Disney shorts universe. Christopher Lloyd did enough work to make Merlock the villain one would love to hate, which is important considering that Merlock is otherwise forgettable. For most of the other important characters, they're basically the same as in the show, so it's up to you if you want to know their personalities by watching this or the series.
If you are just a regular film viewer, I would be sort of torn on recommending this movie, however I would lean towards doing so just for a few laughs over 74 minutes. It's a guarantee that you will enjoy this film, however, if you are a DuckTales fan or someone who watched DuckTales in their youth. It's not even a mediocre film, but likewise it's not close to stellar.
For an extended TV series episode, this one worked out fantastically, but as a general film it's just a tad better than ho-hum. The animation was made by a French studio affiliated with Disney, and since it isn't WDAS, the quality overall is more akin to a Disney TV series (if slightly better) than The Rescuers Down Under. It does have some surprisingly effective... well, effects, with the fire shooters in the pyramid being a personally prominent moment. The animation also presents the frenzied moments, especially the sentient toys scene, with the necessary ridiculousness to make it amusing, though serious action shouldn't bring high expectations. It was probably just my VCR acting weird, but the animation has one very distracting snag; the lighting in a lot of scenes flickers and acts up when it shouldn't, even in more static scenes where the lighting required no adjustment. As I said, it's probably either my PV-9451 or the tape itself, but the lighting in some scenes felt rather sloppy and could have used one final check by Disney before they released this, in the event that this happens on different tapes. I have to admit that the story impressed me for a simple extended TV episode, but its twist in not having the heroes achieve their goal first already felt like it was done, better, in other movies in Disney's animated canon. That's not to say Merlock succeeding in his goal first was an awful twist, especially considering DuckTales is one of Disney's pre-Renaissance highlights next to The Fox and The Hound and The Great Mouse Detective. As for each character, I already had a sense of who they would be from viewing fan material (the Disney Wiki in particular) and the extended Disney shorts universe. Christopher Lloyd did enough work to make Merlock the villain one would love to hate, which is important considering that Merlock is otherwise forgettable. For most of the other important characters, they're basically the same as in the show, so it's up to you if you want to know their personalities by watching this or the series.
If you are just a regular film viewer, I would be sort of torn on recommending this movie, however I would lean towards doing so just for a few laughs over 74 minutes. It's a guarantee that you will enjoy this film, however, if you are a DuckTales fan or someone who watched DuckTales in their youth. It's not even a mediocre film, but likewise it's not close to stellar.