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Felix the Cat: The Movie

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This article is about the 1989 movie. For other uses, see Felix the Cat (disambiguation).
Felix the Cat: The Movie
Release poster
Directed byTibor Hernádi
Screenplay byPete Brown
Don Oriolo
Story byDon Oriolo (Story)
Michael Fremer (Additional dialogue)
Produced byDon Oriolo
Janos Schenk
Christian Schneider
StarringChris Phillips
Maureen O'Connell
Peter Newman
Alice Playton
CinematographyLászló Radocsay
Edited byValeria Schenk
Music byChristopher L. Stone
Production
companies
Felix the Cat Creations
Animation Film Cologne
Distributed byNew World Pictures
Release dates
  • January 26, 1989 (1989-01-26) (premiere)
  • August 13, 1991 (1991-08-13) (video)
Running time
78 minutes
CountriesUnited States
Germany
Hungary
LanguageEnglish
BudgetUS$9 million[1]

Felix the Cat: The Movie is a 1988 animated film based on the cartoon and comic strip character of the same name. It was produced in Europe in 1986-87,[1] but was not officially released in the United States until 1991.[2]

Plot

In the Kingdom of Oriana, the Princess Oriana, ruler of the kingdom, has been informed by a local fortune teller named Pearl that the Duke of Zill is invading the kingdom. Oriana and Pearl go down into the cavern underneath the castle to use the Dimensporter to go to another dimension to find a hero to save the kingdom. Just before they can enter the transporter, Oriana and Pearl are kidnapped by the Duke and are imprisoned in his kingdom. But before she's taken away, she sheds a magical tear that takes on the form of Oriana's image, which flies into the transporter and is immediately transported to Felix's dimension.

Felix the Cat is taking a nap underneath a palm tree when a tear finds him. The tear wakes him up and guides him to the abandoned Anairo Gold Mine ("Oriana" spelled backwards), where the transporter is located. Felix and his magical bag of tricks are soon transported to the fantastic and strange Kingdom of Oriana. When he arrives there, his bag changes into a drill and accidentally floods the transporter control room. After resurfacing in a swamp of Zill, Felix meets Pim, a reluctant lacky who leads Felix to Wack Lizardi, the owner of a local circus. Pim suggests to his boss that Felix could be a new attraction, so Wack confiscates Felix's bag and locks Felix in a cell before and after every show. Meanwhile, The Professor - Felix's arch-nemesis - and Poindexter, his nephew, have followed Felix to Zill, hoping to steal Felix's magic bag.

Meanwhile, at the circus, Felix meets Princess Oriana. At first, Oriana is skeptical but soon realizes that Felix is the hero for which she has been looking. She tells Felix that her kingdom was overtaken by a Duke of Zill, who is her uncle. The Duke was a scientist until one of his experiments went wrong and horribly disfigured his face. He was sent to the Land of Zill and began plotting his revenge after the Zillians began to see him as a god. Felix promises the princess that they'll escape. They leave Wack's circus in bubbles. Felix, Oriana, Pim, and eventually the Professor and Poindexter set off to the Kingdom of Oriana. After braving the creatures of the world, they arrive at Oriana, where they can fight the Duke.

It turns out that the Duke wants the Book of Ultimate Power, which he thinks will give him the power to rule the world. But when he discovers the contents inside the book ("Truth", "Love", and "Wisdom"), the infuriated Duke commands his newest creation, the Master Cylinder, to destroy Felix and his friends. Felix takes the book and throws it at Master Cylinder, destroying it, and causing the Duke's robotic minions to explode. With his armies defeated, the Duke flees, swearing to return, and the kingdom of Oriana is saved. Felix, The Professor, and Poindexter walk into the transporter to take them home. Oriana thanks Felix with a hug, and the film ends with Felix saying "Righty-o!"

Cast

Additional voices

Production

Felix the Cat: The Movie began development in the late 1980s, when Don Oriolo (the son of Joe Oriolo) began work on a feature-length television special intended as a pilot.[3] After Oriolo took the project to Europe, it ended up with director Tibor Hernádi and his Hungarian crew, at a cost of US$9 million.[1]

The film opens with an introduction by Felix, who is rendered in CGI using then-new motion capture technology; this model also appears throughout the end credits. The rest of the film, however, is rendered in hand-drawn animation.[4] The animation was produced at Pannonia Film Studio in Hungary, with some parts subcontracted to studios in Poland and Bulgaria.

Release and reception

New World Pictures picked up the film in May 1987, some time after completion, and planned to release it in the U.S. market on Thanksgiving season; these plans fell through.[1] The film premiered at the Wadsworth Theatre in Los Angeles in January of 1989 as the opening selection of the third Los Angeles Animation Celebration.[5]

Felix the Cat: The Movie was originally slated for a Thanksgiving 1990 release, but in order to avoid competition with Home Alone, The Rescuers Down Under, Dances with Wolves, Predator 2, and Three Men and a Little Lady, the release date was changed to April 1991.[4] The film cost $9 million to make, and became a box office bomb, grossing $1,964,253.[citation needed]

The film was released on VHS on August 23, 1991[2][4] by Buena Vista Home Video. The film was also a staple of Disney Channel's programming roster during the 1990s. As of 2011, its only legitimate DVD releases have occurred in Great Britain, the Netherlands, Bulgaria, Germany, and Serbia.

The staff of Halliwell's Film Guide called it a "Laboured attempt to update the classic cartoon figure."[6] Philip Strick of MFB commented that it was "more likely to bury the ingratiating Felix beyond revival than to stimulate fresh legions of fans".[6] In his 2005 book Television Cartoon Shows, Hal Erickson noted that it "managed to salvage whatever marginal charm the 1960 series has had by dressing it up with first class animation and character design."[3]

Songs

The film features the theme song from the Felix the Cat TV series, on which the film is based. The score was composed by Christopher L. Stone, with songs by Bernd Schonhoffen, Don Oriolo, and Christian Schneider.

The other songs throughout the film are:

  1. "Sly as a Fox"
  2. "Together Again"
  3. "All You Need is Friends"
  4. "Who is the Boss?"
  5. "Mizzard Shuffle"
  6. "Face to the Wind (The Princess Song)"
  7. "Something More Than Friends"
  8. End Credits (Instrumental)

All music published by Felix the Cat Creations Music, Inc. Original "Felix the Cat" theme song by Winston Sharples, published by Famous Music.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d Cawley, John; Korkis, Jim (1990). Cartoon Superstars. Pioneer Books. pp. 88–89. ISBN 1-55698-269-0. Retrieved 2010-05-20.
  2. ^ a b "New on Video" (Registration required to read article). Beacon Journal. 1988-08-12. p. D21. Retrieved 2010-05-21.
  3. ^ a b Erickson, Hal. "Felix the Cat". Television Cartoon Shows: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1949 through 2003. Vol. 1 (A—L). McFarland & Company. p. 327. ISBN 0-7864-2099-5. {{cite book}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  4. ^ a b c "Felix The Cat: The Movie". www.bcdb.com, April 13, 2012
  5. ^ Solomon, Charles (1988-8-12). "L.A. Celebration Brings Home Animation" (Registration required to read article). Los Angeles Times. Tribune Company. p. Calendar 4. Retrieved 2010-05-20. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  6. ^ a b Gritten, David, ed. (2007). "Felix the Cat: The Movie". Halliwell's Film Guide 2008. Hammersmith, London: HarperCollins Publishers. p. 401. ISBN 0-00-726080-6. {{cite book}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
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