The Princess and the Goblin (1992)

User Rating:

6.4/10   

Director:

József Gémes

Writers:

Robin Lyons (screenplay)
George MacDonald (novel)

Release Date:

3 June 1994 (USA)

Genre:

Animation | Fantasy

Plot:

The story is about the adventurous Princess Irene. The princess is off playing in the woods when she is attacked by goblins pets...

Plot Keywords:

Princess | Goblin | Based On Book | Kids And Family | Independent Film

Cast

Joss Ackland	...	King Papa (voice)
Claire Bloom	...	Great Great Grandmother Irene (voice)
Roy Kinnear	...	Mump (voice)
Sally Ann Marsh	...	Princess Irene (voice)
Rik Mayall	...	Prince Froglip (voice)
Peggy Mount	...	Goblin Queen (voice)
Peter Murray	...	Curdie (voice)
Victor Spinetti	...	Glump (voice)
Mollie Sugden	...	Looti, the Princess's Nanny (voice)
Frank Rozelaar-Green	...	(voice) (as Frank Rozelaar Green)
William Hootkins	...	(voice)
Maxine Howe	...	(voice)
Stephen Lyons	...	(voice) (as Steve Lyons)
Robin Lyons	...	Goblin King (voice)

Also Known As:

A hercegnö és a kobold (Hungary)

Runtime:

USA:82 min

Country:

UK | Hungary | Japan

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Iceland:L | Spain:T | USA:G

Company:

Siriol Productions

Trivia:

The first animated feature to come from Wales. The film was produced in two countries, with Siriol films based in Cardiff and Pannonia in Hungary.

Quotes:

Curdie: Those goblins aren't so bad if you know how to deal with 'em.
Princess Irene: But they were horrible!
Curdie: I guess they are a little creepy, but you shouldn't run away; you have to face 'em and sing! Of course, singing doesn't always work down there...
Princess Irene: Down where?
Curdie: Underground, in the mines.
Princess Irene: The mines?
Curdie: Yeah, where they live: where my father works. Don't they teach you anything in that castle of yours?
Princess Irene: Of course they do; reading, writing, arithmetic...
Curdie: Arithmetic? Great; that'll work against the goblins. At least you'll be able to count them.

The story and characters are good, but this cartoon feels unfinished.

Maybe I'm just used to sound effects and music making scenes seem more dramatic, but this cartoon felt unfinished. There is very little music in any scenes to help set the mood. The sound effects are also missing a lot, like one scene a boy stomps the ground and it makes no sound. This is not a musical (hence there being no music), but one song appears about 5 times, like one of the writers were smart enough to think up one song and wanted to brag by playing it over and over again. The animation is also lacking quite a bit. Some cool tricks, like putting layers between the characters and foreground are used, but the actual animation is pretty bad. It almost looks like a good looking anime cartoon, or a bad looking Disney knock-off. These are the little things, that made this movie a step down in it's rating.

Princess Irene escapes one day from her nanny, gets lost in the forest, and meets many of the horrible pets of the goblins who live in the area. A young miner boy, Curdie, finds her and scares off the animals by singing the only song in the movie. When Irene goes back to the castle, she meets her dead grandmother who tells her some odd secrets about the castle and the goblins. Curdie follows the goblins to their area of work, and chaos ensues.

The best scenes in the movie are the ones featuring the goblins, and there are way too few of those. This movie is around 80 minutes, and the goblins have maybe, 10 to 15 minutes of screen time, but it seems longer because they're such interesting characters. Scenes with Irene in the castle can get quite boring, and what's strange is Irene's nanny Looti is actually a much more interesting character than Irene. Scenes with Curdie can be annoying, because he tends to think out loud, which just adds up to bad writing and inexpressive animation.

Overall, this a fun movie, and it's somewhat cute and funny, but it's nothing special.

My rating: ** 1/2 out of ****. 80 mins. G.