| The Puppetoon Movie | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Arnold Leibovit |
| Produced by | Arnold Leibovit |
| Written by | Arnold Leibovit |
| Starring | Dick Beals, Art Clokey, Paul Frees, Victor Jory, Dal Mckennon |
| Release date(s) | June 12, 1987, DVD November 21, 2000 |
| Running time | 90 minutes |
| Country | USA |
| Language | English |
The Puppetoon Movie, released in June 1987,[1] is an animated film that pays tribute to the Oscar-winning Puppetoons of George Pal. Written, produced, and directed by Arnold Leibovit and Arnold Leibovit Entertainment, The Puppetoon Movie is composed of animated sequences featuring George Pal's Academy Award winning Puppetoons Tubby the Tuba, Tulips Shall Grow, John Henry and the Inky Poo, all of which were also Oscar nominated. Pal's body of work known as Puppetoons received an Academy Award in 1943. A new tribute animation sequence features Gumby, Pokey, and Arnie the Dinosaur.[1]
It is important to note that in 1943, at the 16th Annual Academy Awards, George Pal received a Special Oscar "for the development of novel methods and techniques in the production of short subjects known as Puppetoons." [2]
The original release of The Puppetoons Movie contains 11 Puppetoons that Pal produced in the 1930s and 1940s. The Expanded DVD version has 12 additional Puppetoons.
The Puppetoon Movie first appeared at the American Film Institute Film Festival. Later it was released by Expanded Entertainment. Since then, it has appeared on Showtime, and in various prestigious film festivals in London, Annecy (France), Sitges (Spain), Tokyo, and Melbourne.[3]
Voices for the main characters are performed by Dick Beals, Art Clokey, Paul Frees, Victor Jory, and Dal McKennon.[1]
Contents |
The film opens on a film set, where Gumby and his friends are filming a dinosaur movie. A ferocious Tyrannosaurus Rex named Arnie charges on set and is about to devour a young doe named Barbara when suddenly, he removes his false teeth and lets the doe go out of sympathy. Gumby cuts the scene and questions Arnie on his hesitation to act ferocious. Although Arnie knows it is all just acting, he feels unfit for the part because it just isn't him. He explains that he once was a ferocious T-Rex, but thanks to the divine influence of George Pal, he has reformed and is now a vegetarian without a bad bone in his body. Gumby fails to understand the profound effect of George Pal on Arnie's persona, so Arnie and Pokey show Gumby a set of George Pal shorts to show him the significance of the artist, thus starting The Puppetoon Movie.
The following shorts are featured as part of the movie. The first four listed (in pairs of two) are not presented in their entirety, and are actually presented as one lengthy sequence. (The opening title and credits for "The Little Broadcast" are shown, but the titles and credits for the other three are not)
After all the shorts, Gumby and the others meet other characters who George Pal animated, such as the Pillsbury Doughboy and the Alka-Seltzer mascot Speedy. Gumby then thanks George Pal for making all this possible, and everybody cheers. The screen pans out and shows a creature in silhouette with red eyes that looks similar to a gremlin, who looks at the audience, says "George Pal!", then climbs up a support beam while laughing like a maniac. Afterwards, the credits start to roll.
The following are included as bonus shorts on the "Special Expanded Edition" DVD. Three of these bonus shorts also appear as part of the movie, but were not presented completely uncut. All bonus cartoons retain their original theatrical openings and closings, complete with Paramount logos
The movie received mixed reviews.[4]