Felix the Cat: The Movie
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 Everyone: "НЕТ"
Felix: "Golly! My movie is terrible!" | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Felix the Cat: The Movie is a 1988 or 1989 animated fantasy film directed by Tibor Hernádi and based on the cartoon and comic strip character of the same name. It was made in Europe during 1986 and 1987, but was not officially released in the United States until 1991.
Felix the Cat: The Movie was initially meant to serve as a pilot film for the new Felix the Cat series, but due to the film's poor reception, it was canceled.
Plot
In another dimension, the villainous scientist Duke of Zill, with the help of his mechanical, geometric army, takes over the Land of Oriana, prompting Princess Oriana to send a distress signal to another dimension for help. This is picked up by Felix the Cat who must save the kingdom and restore order once again.
Why It Doesn't Make Felix Come Back
- The idea of making a film based upon the most iconic cartoon character, while interesting, was not a great idea, considering that the character hasn't been popular since the 50s, making the film feel dated.
- Compared to the smooth and detailed animation from the 1930s and even the 1920s shorts, this film has stilted, downgraded and jumpy animation, with an oversaturation of bright colors and unnecessary fast movements, even The Transformers, which came out in 1984 (nearly four, five to seven years ago), looks miles better than this.
- The plot is so confusing that it can be hard for kids, teenagers and even adults to understand what's going on. After Felix gets kidnapped, Pim hops on one of the robots in a very odd matter and later on out of nowhere joins Felix and co., and Poindexter pays the ticket vendor with wrenches to capture Felix.
- While Oriana's character is shown to be "kind and sweet", there are many incidents where she shows her darker, more mean-spirited side in the film and can come across as unlikable, such as how she pushes Felix aside when Felix tells her that he can help her get out of the circus twice, and even told a story of how her father banished the Duke of Zill after a tragic accident.
- On the subject of Oriana and the Duke of Zill, the film's art direction also received mixed reactions from fans since while Felix, the Professor, Poindexter, Pim, Grumper and Madame Pearl have decent designs that are the source material, the more realistic-styled human characters like Princess Oriana and the Duke of Zill(before being in his armor after the tragic accident), the more wackier designs of Wack and the creatures from the Circus clash and the out-of-character designs of the Headhunters with Felix and the company's more cartoony aesthetics has been given criticisms for being very out-of-place. It's very inconsistent, tho in the formals case, while Felix The Cat(as in the original 1920s and 30s cartoon show) also had human characters, those shows at least had the human characters have cartoony appearances(most of which look like something out of a Popeye cartoon). In this film however, it is very glaring with its mediocre models, for examples:
- Both Oriana and the Duke in particular looks more like rejects from Scooby-Doo, Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors, Jem and the Holograms (which ended on the same year, three months before this film first aired in MIFED), He-Man and the Masters of the Universe/She-Ra: Princess of Power and Marvel (with the Duke in particular in his armor looking like a rejected poor man's version of Mysterio from Marvel Spider-Man).
- Both Wack and the creatures from the Circus all look more like Fraggle Rock and Sesame Street rejects (the formal which ironically, came out the same year that this movie came out in the West).
- The Headhunters looks like rejected Dr. Seuss and even He-Man and the Masters of the Universe/She-Ra: Princess of Power characters.
- While an interesting premise, the plot of how Oriana is kidnapped by a sinister overlord is a rip-off of much better previous media before this film, especially the Super Mario Bros. series.
- False advertising:
- Despite Felix the Cat being the main protagonist of the film and getting a fair amount of screen time, the movie mainly focuses more on Princess Oriana, the Professor and Poindexter.
- Oriana is shown wearing a crown in the poster, yet she's never shown wearing it in the film.
- Both Oriana and the Duke of Zill look way different in the main film than they do on the cover.
- Forgettable and sometimes unnecessary music, most infamously the "Sly as a Fox" song, you can remove this song entirely from the film and it would change nothing.
- The intro to the film feels more like something out of Dungeons & Dragons, nothing feels like Felix the Cat until after the intro.
- There are multiple plot-holes though out the film that are never explain and makes no since, most of which goes to Princess Oriana's questionable and utter infuriating actions:
- Why did Oriana disbanded her own army, which would have protected her from the Duke of Zill and his forces?
- Why does Oriana have a Dimensional Transporter in her own castle, and yet she never uses it?
- During the Circus scene, why doesn't Felix just use his Magic Bag to create something as a way to break free from Wack's Circus?
- Why doesn't Oriana just pop the bubble she's trapped in?
- Why did Poindexter pay the ticket vendor with wrenches, and why did it gladly accept wrenches even though it said it's money?
- When, were and why did Pim all of a sudden wanted to aid Felix and co.?
- Why does Oriana call out Felix the Cat on a few occasions even though the latter said he has a plan to escaping Wack's Circus?
- What happen to Oriana's parents?
- Before Felix and co. fetch a ride on some weird mechanical horses, Felix is shown with his Magic Bag, but later on he states that he left behind his Magic Bag. So why did he say that when he was just shown holding it one scene ago?
- Who and what are the Headhunters?
- Why did Felix use his Magic Bag to summon/create a barrage of hats against the Headhunters?
- The film shows no respect or faithfulness to the original Felix the Cat cartoons.
- There is an inappropriate moment despite the film being for kids, such as scene were after a song, a baby fox tries to urinate on Felix's Magic Bag and the scene in which Oriana is bleeding.
- One particularly sadistic scene where Felix is both laughing and making faces at dead bodies, which comes across as VERY out-of-character for someone like him.
- There are many characters that barely contribute to the film, with a special mention going to Madame Pearl, who only appears in both the Intro and Climax of the film, but is never seen/mentioned during the rest of the film or even the ending.
- Questionable sound mixing where music and sound effects are so loud, that it is often impossible to hear what the characters are saying. A perfect example of this is during the Circus scene when Oriana is walking with two robots and thinking to herself, but you can't hear what she’s saying to herself over the loud pounding sound from the robots.
- It doesn't explain the origin of Felix's bag, which just shows up with no logic or reasoning. It would have been nice to have it come with an explanation about where it came from and how Felix obtained it (this also implies in the older cartoons).
- Terrible editing:
- One example is when Madame Pearl is warning Oriana about the robot attack, but the sound of the robots marching scene plays before she finishes.
- Another example is the scene where the Duke of Zill falls down the stairs from his throne being reused for the climax where he's defeated.
- A very poorly piloted climax where Felix kills the Duke of Zill by... literally throwing a book at him. Yes, really.
- A CGI version of Felix's head appears at the beginning of the movie, and it's weird, pointless, poorly animated, and it looks like a ball. Not to mention that it even reappears in the credits!
- Bad lip-syncing. Grumper doesn't even close his mouth when he is talking in the beginning.
- As with Doogal and The Magic Voyage, the American dub was handled by someone who thinks children have a 1-second attention span, and so characters constantly talk even when they didn't in the original script and there is nothing for them to say.
- When Felix makes his debut at Wack's Circus, there is a short shot of Wack speaking with a different voice and not in English.
- Many animation errors. While in the hair forest after escaping Wack's Circus, Oriana is overtaken by a Headhunter. She falls and Felix asks if she's all right. In the first frame of her kneeling, she has blood on the shoulder on the left of the screen, but the next frame of her, her dress is white again.
- The film has its own problem with its continuity:
- During the "Who is the Boss?" music number when the Mizards are seen climbing inside a pipe, the purple Mizard was seen going in the opening of the pipe first. In the next shot, the pink Mizard who was following the purple one was changed to purple. The following shot then corrects the color of the pink Mizard into his correct color.
- During the chase scene were Felix and co. are at a desert-like area at night after escaping Wack's Circus, the scene cuts to them now at a cliff-like forest area in day time, and for no reason the Professor and Poindexter are also now adding Felix and the gang.
- Felix's dialogue can be pretty annoying sometimes.
Redeeming Qualities
- While not as good as the original cartoons, there are some good funny moments here and there.
- There are great songs such as "Face to the Wind" and "Who is the Boss" (If you take away the annoying sound of the audience in the latter song).
- Felix's design is accurate to the 1920s cartoon.
- Two of Felix's puns, "I think I'm starting to fall for you." and "I mean, who is this Duke of Zill anyway? He's the one who's got me into this pickle. Zill Pickle! Get it?" are classical.
- While very out-of-place in terms of design and being a jerk to Felix earlier, Oriana's design is also passable, beautiful, and okay.
- At least this movie is not worse than the disturbing bootleg Felix the Cat game.
- In a way, it did warrant Felix the Cat a return in the form of The Twisted Tales of Felix the Cat TV series, despite how bad this movie was.
Reception
In the United States, this movie was originally slated to be released at Thanksgiving Day of 1988, but when the movie finally did make it in 1991, it was released around the same time as Disney's Beauty and the Beast, Universal/Amblin's An American Tail: Fievel Goes West and Don Bluth's Rock-A-Doodle were in theaters, and as a result, it quickly bombed at the box office, earning $1,964,253 out of its estimated budget of $9 million.
It was widely panned by critics, fans, and audiences alike upon its release due to its poor animation, sloppy writing and very rushed plot. The staff of Halliwell's Film Guide called it a "laboured attempt to update the classic cartoon figure." Philip Strick of MFB commented that it was "more likely to bury the ingratiating Felix beyond revival than to stimulate fresh legions of fans".
The Movie is also Doug Walker´s choice as the Fourth Worst Movie he reviewed as the Nostalgia Critic.
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