| Rock-a-Doodle | |
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VHS cover |
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| Directed by | Don Bluth |
| Produced by | Gary Goldman John Quested Morris F. Sullivan |
| Written by | David N. Weiss |
| Starring | Glen Campbell Sorrell Booke Christopher Plummer Charles Nelson Reilly Ellen Greene Sandy Duncan Eddie Deezen Phil Harris Toby Scott Ganger Will Ryan |
| Music by | Robert Folk T. J. Kuenster (songs) |
| Editing by | Lisa Dorney Dan Molina Fiona Trayler |
| Studio | Goldcrest Films Sullivan Bluth Studios |
| Distributed by | United States: The Samuel Goldwyn Co. United Kingdom: Rank Organization[1] |
| Release date(s) | April 3, 1992[2] |
| Running time | 76 min. |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $18,000,000[3] |
| Box office | $11,657,385 |
Rock-a-Doodle is a 1992 American animated film based on the re-telling Edmond Rostand's comedy, Chantecler.[4] This film was directed by Don Bluth, produced by Goldcrest Films for The Samuel Goldwyn Company, and originally released in the United States on April 3, 1992.
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Chanticleer (Glen Campbell) is a proud rooster whose singing wakes the sun every morning (or so the other farm animals believe). His singing keeps the other animals happy and the farm free from downpours. However, one morning, Chanticleer is attacked by a rooster sent by the "Grand Duke of Owls" (Christopher Plummer). Chanticleer wins, but forgets to crow and the sun rises without his singing (it is not greatly hinted, but it is believed the Duke raised the sun with his powers as a means to help his plans of getting rid of Chanticleer). The other animals reject him and drive him out of the farm, causing a perpetual rainstorm and the beginning of the Grand Duke's reign of terror on the farm. The story is then revealed to be a storybook that a mother, Dory (Kathryn Holcomb) is reading to her child, Edmond (Toby Scott Ganger), who is becoming increasingly concerned about the impending flood on the family's farm.
As his mother leaves to help battle the storm, Edmond calls for Chanticleer to come back. He is instead confronted by the Grand Duke of Owls, who expresses anger over Edmond's lack of consideration for the needs of the owls and subsequently transforms Edmond into a kitten as punishment.[5] Before the Grand Duke can devour Edmond, he is distracted by the appearance of Patou the Basset Hound (Phil Harris) and is driven away by the shine of a flashlight, which is the only weakness against him, thanks to Edmond. Astonished by his transformation, the farm animals tell Edmond that they also seek Chanticleer's return, as his crowing is the only thing that can bring sunlight back to their farm. Edmond teams up with Patou, the magpie Snipes (Eddie Deezen) and the mouse Peepers (Sandy Duncan) and they make their way to Las Vegas, where they hope to find Chanticleer.
Meanwhile, at the Grand Duke's lair (where he creates rainclouds through the use of a gigantic pipe organ), the Grand Duke is alerted of Edmond's journey to the city by his pygmy nephew Hunch (Charles Nelson Reilly), who the Grand Duke then sends off to stop Edmond and the other animals, who are floating on the flood. After fending off an attack from Hunch and the rest of the Grand Duke's owl henchmen, Edmond and the others finally reach the city, where they begin their search for Chanticleer. After a few hours, they finally find Chanticleer, who is now making a living as a famous Elvis impersonator, arousing the jealousy of a fellow performer, a pheasant named Goldie (Ellen Greene).
Edmond and friends try to talk to Chanticleer, but are pushed aside by a group of singing bouncer toads. Once the Grand Duke finds out where they went, he sends Hunch after them, but, fearing the bright lights of the city, the Grand Duke gives him a pair of protective sunglasses to prevent the light from hurting him. The flood worsens and the farm animals lose communication with Edmond and the others as the Grand Duke and his owls wait for the batteries in the animals' flashlight to run out, knowing that it will run out eventually. Edmond and his friends disguise themselves and manage to send a note to Chanticleer, but he is distracted by Goldie, who has fallen in love with him.
Edmond's attempt to reason with Goldie results in him and his friends being captured by the bodyguards and locked away in a trailer. Hunch breaks into the trailer and tries to do away with the group, but his failure inadvertently sets them all free. Out of guilt, Goldie shows Chanticleer the note that Edmond sent him and the two ride off on a prop motorcycle to save their friends. Chanticleer and the gang manage to flee from the bodyguards in an intense car chase and steal a helicopter, which they use to make their way back to the farm, where the farm animals have run out of batteries in their flashlight and are about to be eaten by the Grand Duke and his owls.
After using the helicopter's searchlight to temporarily drive off the owls, Edmond and the others try to get Chanticleer to crow, but he is out of practice and soon gives up. The Duke taunts Chanticleer in his stupor and strangles Edmond when he chants for Chanticleer. Awed by Edmond's courage, Patou and the other animals chant the rooster's name in unison, causing the Duke to transform himself into a tornado.
Finally regaining his confidence, Chanticleer crows loud enough for the sun to rise, shrinking the Duke down to a harmless miniature version of himself and Hunch, eager for revenge, attacks his uncle with a flyswatter. The floods begin to subside. Believing that Edmond died, the animals mourn him until he transforms back into a human, since his punishment is over and Edmond learned the error of his ways and stopped being afraid causing the Duke's spell to be broken. Edmond awakes in the real world, where it is assumed by Edmond's mother that his adventures were just a dream. Nevertheless, Edmond still believes in Chanticleer, causing the real world and Chanticleer's world to merge into one.
Plans for an animated version of the Chanticleer tale dated as far back as the early years of the Walt Disney Studios, where several of its artists were interested in combining elements of the story with those about an anthropomorphic fox named Reynard. Though character designs by Marc Davis survive, Walt Disney personally rejected the pitch, and the film was never put into production or animation tests.[6] In the late 1980s, as a response to the success of Who Framed Roger Rabbit, the proposal was revised by a former Disney animator, Don Bluth, who wanted to tell the rooster's story through live action and animation.[7] Originally, the story's first and last scenes were to be shot in black and white, similar to 1939's The Wizard of Oz. The film's opening, which took place at a farm, had Edmond's mother reading the tale of Chanticleer to him.[7] Victor French from Get Smart was set to direct these scenes, but terminal lung cancer forced him out of production. Bluth, who had never done anything in this field, took over from this point. However, very little of this footage made it in the final cut.[7]
Chanticleer's girlfriend, Goldie the Pheasant, was designed to have attributes similar to that of Roger Rabbit's Jessica (as seen in the original trailer). Reactions from mothers during test screenings of her scenes made Sullivan Bluth, at the insistence of their investor Goldcrest Films, cover her chest with feathers as cel overlays, or simply paint her cleavage out.[7] To avoid a potential PG rating, Bluth edited out the showing of the Duke's "skunk pie" (the pie is not seen in full view in the final version), the animators had to replace Chanticleer's wine glass with a transparent cup of soda in the "Kiss and Coo" sequence, and had to draw coloured effects into the Grand Duke's breath to make him less scary for young audiences. Test audiences also felt confused by the storytelling so the filmmakers decided to include narration told by the dog character, Patou, voiced by Phil Harris. The crew, because of these changes, had to work overtime in order to finish the film by Thanksgiving 1990.[7][nb 1]
Rock-a-Doodle was originally going to be released by MGM-Pathe, but studio partnership was facing financial difficulties, so Bluth rescheduled Rock-a-Doodle for the 1991 Christmas season and found a replacement in The Samuel Goldwyn Company, which released two other animated features (The Care Bears Movie and The Chipmunk Adventure) in the mid-1980s.[7] However, that date was further moved to April 1992, in order to avoid competition with Disney's Beauty and the Beast and Universal/Amblin's sequel to Don Bluth's film, An American Tail, Fievel Goes West, which Don did not associate with.[7]
Rock-a-Doodle was the first feature-length family live-action/animated film since 1988's Who Framed Roger Rabbit, but unlike the live-action characters from that film sharing the screen with Roger Rabbit, Edmond is the only live-action character to share the screen with the animated characters; this was at the beginning, where The Grand Duke would have to answer Edmond before being turned into an animated cat, and at the end, where Chanticleer is singing a reprise of "Sun Do Shine" like he does at the beginning. Don Bluth chose this direction because he was influenced by Roger Rabbit.
The live-action and animation sequences were filmed in two separate aspect ratios. The animation was shot on an open-matte fullscreen negative, meaning the top and bottom of the image was cropped in order to fit the theater screen. However the live-action scenes, including all animated elements, were shot in hard-matted widescreen. When the film is viewed in fullscreen, all the animated sequences (except for parts of the finale) can be seen in full, but the live-action segments lose information on the sides.
The original songs were written and produced by T.J. Kuenster.
The background vocals on "Sun Do Shine," "Come Back To You," "Rock-A-Doodle," "Treasure Hunting Fever," "Sink or Swim," "Kiss 'n Coo," "Back to the Country," and "Tyin' Your Shoes" were sung by The Jordanaires, who were also known for backing up Elvis himself. The background vocals on "We Hate the Sun," "Tweedle Te Dee," and "The Owl's Picnic" were all sung by a triple-tracked T.J. Kuenster.
Rock-a-Doodle received generally negative reviews from film critics.[8] As of April 2011[update], the film has a Rotten Tomatoes rating of 25% "rotten".[9]
The staff of Halliwell's Film Guide commended its "excellent animation", but complained of the "poor and confusing narrative" that "rendered [it] pointless".[1]
Its $11.6 million take at the U.S. box office forced Don Bluth's studio into liquidation half a year after its release. Moreover, a Hong Kong company, Media Assets, purchased Bluth's next three films, Thumbelina, A Troll in Central Park and The Pebble and the Penguin.[7] None of these did any better than Rock-a-Doodle, commercially or critically. All of them preceded 1997's Anastasia, his comeback hit.
A book adaptation of the film, by Don Bluth and Chip Lovitt, was published by Troll Communications LLC (ISBN 0-8167-2475-X).
Rock-a-Doodle was first released on VHS on August 17, 1992. It was first released on DVD by HBO Video on July 20, 1999. A second edition was released by Metro Goldwyn Mayer on November 8, 2005. In 2010, the film was released along with The Pebble and the Penguin as a double-sided DVD. The film is also currently available for instant streaming on Netflix.
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