A Troll in Central Park (1994) User Reviews

Loved this when I was young

[susan-atkinson · 6/10 · 23 July 2007]

My grandmother bought me this movie many many years ago (I still have it on VHS) and I loved this movie then. The cute plot line and message that you can do anything and be yourself makes it a cute movie for young kids. Compared to some of the movies available out there now, I would definitely show this to my children. There is singing, dancing flowers, and a cute troll to boot!

No, it is not the most sophisticated film, but still a cute one! My only caution is that Gnorga, the Queen, may frighten some children, especially when she is fighting to with Stanley to take the children. Overall, this movie still has a special place in my heart from when I was young.

A very good voice cast and some nice music save an otherwise forgettable film!

[TheLittleSongbird · 6/10 · 22 May 2009]

I don't think that Troll in Central Park is as bad as people make it out to be, as a matter of fact it's very sweet, but anyone who loved Secret of Nimh and Land Before Time like I did, will be disappointed. The animation on the most part was quite flat, with the exception of some nice animation in the musical numbers and the effects, and there were some lifeless backgrounds in the scarier bits. The incidental music is lovely, but I didn't care that much for the songs. They're not excrement, but they are certainly not Oscar-worthy. This was disappointing, as Cynthia Weil and Barry Mann have done some lovely songs for American Tail and Muppet Treasure Island, but the songs they did here didn't feel the same. The script wasn't bad, but there were times where it could have been more imaginative. The characters were likable but not particularly memorable. Stanley is very sweet, with his wiggling ears, and the late Dom DeLuise voiced him earnestly, and there is some very nice singing. Gnorga is rather frightening, but Cloris Leachman was brilliant in an almost unrecognisable voice over. Phillip Glasser was good, but he and DeLuise lacked the chemistry they had in American Tail. Rosie was really sweet and Charles Nelson Reilly and the singing and dancing flowers provided the humour,(even if it reminded me strongly of the Silly Symphony Flowers and Trees) that was much needed, in a rather lacklustre plot. All in all, one of the weaker Don Bluth films is redeemed by a very good voice cast, and some nice music. 6/10 Bethany Cox

Easy to scorn and mock but warm, thoughtful, and surprisingly light on contempt for its audience

[cjj20 · 6/10 · 19 June 2010]

This movie suffers the most attacks among Don Bluth's films, and it's not hard to see why. A Troll in Central Park is childish, short, and, well, flowery. But at the same time, there's a charm to it, a sense sincerity, even inspiration, that pays off in the end. Tots movies are often filled mindlessly with clichés and treacle, but Bluth, a passionate animator, was never one to resign himself to that.

The settings are a kingdom of trolls, where bad=good and vice versa, and New York city. The main character is Stanley, apparently the only good troll, who can magically grow things with his literally green thumb. He's caught growing flowers and taken to the Oscar the Grouch gone extreme villain, queen Gnorga, who sends him to a place where nothing grows; New York City. But he lands in central park, where he meets the cute toddler named Rosie and her older brother Gus, who's sorta wild. Thus the (short) plot is set in motion, with Stanley entertaining his two new friends and Gnorga deciding to just finish him off.

There are a couple scenes, such as the trip on Stanley's boat that's made of "a dream", that can be a little intriguing. And the songs are surprisingly memorable. Gnorga's "Queen of Mean" has a nice beat to it, and manages to ride out her "terrible is wonderful" gag for just over two minutes with some amusing images. And Stanley's twice sung "Absolutely Green" is warm and bright. While a basic description would probably make one think "syrupy clichés", the song as a whole actually seems inspired. And when coupled with the animation of the scenes, there's little question of its sincerity. (The idea made me think "John Lennon's 'Imagine' for young kids".)

But that doesn't mean it's not flawed. Sometimes it's too cutesy, mainly with Rosie, and at times it overextends the ho-hum comedy, as with Gnorga's comic relief sidekick, King Lort. It isn't breathtakingly exciting, despite some engaging moments, and there's not much beyond the environmental stance that reaches out to older viewers. I wouldn't call any of the characters deep either, except maybe Gus and Stanley. And while the climax (stepping up the intensity a bit to become a little creepy) and ending were good, the very last bit went too far with New York City itself. (I prefer to think of it as a vision, rather than what actually happens.)

Overall it's a decent, worthwhile kids movie. So if you need a film to watch with kindergarteners, give it a chance. It may charm you more than you care to admit. But if I'm wrong, I'm still glad there's a movie for those seven and under that treats its audience like children, not morons.

If you're over 7 years old, this movie will be a chore to watch.

[TOMNEL · 3/10 · 1 May 2008]

This has to be one of the most pointless and boring animated feature films of all time. Don Bluth had directed some stinkers in the past, but this was by far the worst. By the end of the movie, it feels like nothing happened. The animation is a step down from Bluth's previous films, and the character designs and animation are just terribly loose. The only real positives about this are the voice over acting, and the lively musical score, despite only having bad songs.

Stanley the troll (Dom Deluise) is unlike the other trolls. He's more interested in planting flowers and making the world pretty, where the other trolls only want to cause misery. The trolls have black thumbs that turn things to stone, but Stanley has a green thumb for bringing plants to life. When Queen of the trolls, Gnorga (Cloris Leachman), finds out about Stanley being a good troll, she shoots him up in the air, and he lands in Central Park. Meanwhile, a little boy Gus wants his dad to take him to the park, but his dad is busy, so he and his infant sister Rosie go off on their own. They meet Stanley, and go on a stupid adventure with him, while Gnorga is hot on their tail, and for some reason wants them all out of the picture.

Babies will probably have a good time watching this, though some parts may be too scary. Older kids will despise this, unless it has a nostalgia factor to them, which it does to me, and I still hate it. Everything is overly corny, and cheesy and sappy. The plot....heck, what plot. It's pretty much just, little boy and girl go to park, meet troll, he teaches them about imagination, bad troll comes in, chaos ensues. The songs in the movie are really bad, which is weird because the musical score is quite pretty. The voice over acting is actually pretty good, with Cloris Leachman in an almost unrecognizable voice over role, Charles Nelson Reilly doing the same likable voice he'd done in so many other cartoons and Dom Deluise with his normal, over the top voice. Other than the music and voices though, this is an utterly ridiculous movie.

I dislike the beginning, and I downright despise the ending of this sappy kiddie junk that should have had less put into the direction, and more into the writing.

My rating: * out of ****. 75 mins. G.

I'm a bored troll, a very bored troll....

[morphricky · 2/10 · 22 July 2012]

If it wasn't for Don Bluths outstanding animation and the good voice acting, this would be completely painful to watch. And that is being nice, since this movie is mind-numbingly boring and it seems to make very little sense. The moral of the story (you have to be brave to fulfill a dream) comes in way too late, by this point my mind had already melted from boredom.

There's no animation so beautiful I could watch an hour of things bouncing around and smiling. At least half an hour of this movie consists of just this and it's not like it's very spectacular to watch.

Plot? I couldn't find one. Things pretty much happen at random.

The characters aren't very likable either. Stanley comes off as annoying and too cowardly. Gus is a spoiled annoying brat who spends most of the movie arguing with people and shouting "Rosie!". Rosie is cute, but that's it. Gnorga was the only somewhat entertaining character, but she doesn't spend much time in front of the screen despite the fact that she is the villain.

There's also a big lack of humor, remember-able moments and inspiring dialog. It's like stuff just happens, the characters talk because they have to and... well, that's it.

What crowd was this movie aimed for? It's pointless and boring for anyone over five, but the movie is too scary towards the end for anyone at that age to enjoy.

It's hard to imagine this movie and "The Land Before Time" had the same directors. How is it even possible?

one of the cutest movies ever

[AbumchuckO2 · 23 December 2006]

I would just like to say that this movie is beautiful -- Stanley is one of the best leading characters of an animated film ever! The visuals of this movie are stunning it wont let you down.... there are just so much emotions in this movie... it makes it hard not to feel for whats going on -- this movie has touched me as a person in many ways... funny story: when i was a child i would always wish for a green thumb on every birthday --- the of the film is the most touching thing you will ever see EVER -- I recommend this movie to the whole family --- The thing that really surprises me is that fact that not many people know about this movie .... I can not get over that fact... Another thing, its not a Disney film but its way up there -- its a work of art.. but see if this movie was Disney it would be all over the place and it would be labeled a classic.... its a real damn shame that this movie does not get any attention. It should also be said that Don Bluth who was the director of this film is also the director of my favorite none Disney movies..... I'm sure if he made more movies he would be called the nest Disney!!!

No...just...no

[ann-chess · 2/10 · 5 August 2010]

Whatever happened to the masterpieces Don Bluth gave us? Secret of NIMH, hello? Of course, not ALL of his movies had to be like Secret of NIMH...but at least have the wonderful vibe. Is that vibe in this movie? Not even a little.

I cannot believe I watched this movie as a kid. Why do people like this movie? I can't bear watching it! It's horribly written (I think Bluth got help from a few five-year olds to write the script.), there is no good moral, and it is sometimes confusing!

Before you rate this comment negatively, let me explain the thing that gets to me most about this movie...

"Why is the moral so bad?" There were actually two "morals" in this atrocity. One of them was "If you dream, good things will happen"

...I understand that it's something for the kids, but when you think about it, that is NOT a good moral. You cannot just DREAM to get an A on the test, to have a steady relationship, or get a good job...you have to EARN it! I know that sounds a little over-the-top, but think! A kid can't dream to have a puppy. Your kid is going to be pretty disappointed if he dreams and he gets no puppy.

The second "moral"? Well, when we meet Gus, he's a kid who just wants quality time with his dad. But he's always busy, so he always complains that he never wants to do what he wants to do. After all the chaos he went through, what does he teach the children watching this movie?

"Dad...maybe we can do what I want to do?"

Let it sink in. It may not sound so bad at first, but like the other moral, when you think about it, it's not good at all. Kids need to learn that they can't always get what they want and that their parents have to work to pay for their food and their house. Again, that sounds over-the-top, but again, think.

Avoid this movie, especially if you're looking for something for the kids.

Passable, but not excellent

[joebrian55 · 7/10 · 17 April 2012]

I am currently scouring numerous kids' movies I've seen and determining whether they're good or bad for children, much less YOU.

This one... it's going to take a little more thinking before I decide. I borrowed this movie from a library because I am a Don Bluth fan and I have been hearing about the negative reception and obscurity it's got. Like many children of the 1990's, I grew up with awesome animated movies for children, such as The Lion King, The Land Before Time, Aladdin etc.

So we have a friendly troll named Stanley who lives in a land where trolls are mean and scary (think The BFG), and it is ruled by none other than a no-nonsense evil queen who believes bad is good and good is bad (Geesh, that sounds hard to say).

So the message in this movie is "If you believe in yourself and dream well enough, things will magically happen." which I really am struggling to look at without upsetting fans of this movie. At first, it sounds real, but if you think critically at it, you'll realize "No, that doesn't make sense!" As the Nostalgia Critic explained, "dreams don't happen by just dreaming, you make it happen!", which is actually true. Although that's probably the context Don Bluth was aiming for, it just sounds different than what was probably intended. I agree that only certain "dreams" can come true if you work hard to make it happen, but that strongly depends on what it is, like you can't just dream to become Sailor Moon, work hard for it and TA-DAH, wish granted.

But I give this a 7 rating because I don't find it as bad as many make it out to be, I realize many people on the internet saw it as kids and liked it since then. In fact, the animation is good, the voice acting is not bad, I did mention in one of my other reviews that one of my favourite actors is/was Dom DeLuise, and of course Cloris Leachman as the evil queen Gnorga, whose name I recognize from Castle in the Sky.

But the story seems a little rushed, some moments are drawn out and the story was just a little bit too simple for me, but it's aimed at kids so I'm not irked over that. However, I feel these faults and all the negative reception must have been blamed one thing: Warner Bros.

Considering the studio was totally pessimistic about marketing this movie, even deliberately limiting the movie's release and advertising, I'm sure they were plotting to make this film as bad as humanly possible, even rushing Don Bluth to finish the movie for fall of 1994.

If that's true, then I feel sorry for anyone who likes Don Bluth and are annoyed by this film. It's not Toy Story, but I still like it.

So, if you want to show it to your kids, then I think it would be a good idea to talk with them afterwards and explain to them the true meaning of "believing in dreams".

Ridiculous, corny, boring, nonsensical...am I making myself clear?

[Herbest8 · 2/10 · 12 June 2010]

Don Bluth has had his share of ups and downs in his long career. But this piece of dreck marks the only time he has truly hit rock bottom.

I hesitate to use the word "movie" to describe this bomb because this is not really a film. It is a lame idea loosely tied together with bad songs and some of the most saccharine padding and filler you will ever see in you're life.

The title character is played by Dom DeLuise (a good actor) and he does what he can with the role but this character is hopeless. He's one dimensional, annoying and just plain bland. The film's worst performance is a tie between Cloris Leachman and Charles Nelson Reilly who play the monarchs of the Kingdom of Trolls. Not only do they seem to grunt their lines, but they talk over each other! I mean, come on! Why make a movie where you can barely understand or hear what the characters are saying? The rest of the cast is pretty disposable. I personally think Jonathan Pryce should have played King Llort but that's just me.

But it's not all bad. Some of the songs are OK, DeLuise does what he can and the animation is typical Bluth: lush and beautiful.

But in the cold light of day, this dreck is simply an insult to the art of animation.

Silly, perhaps corny but harmless fluff and occasionally funny

[DarthBill · 7/10 · 17 January 2006]

It may not be ranked with the best animated classics, but the animation's strong as usual in this Don Bluth production, the story of Stanley (Dom DeLuise), a good natured troll who prefers planting over destruction, and the positive influence he has on two kids and vice versa.

Sure it might be corny or silly in spots, but it's a harmless, inoffensive piece of fluff that will probably appeal more to the little kids than anyone else, but older folk with a kinder, more forgiving critical heart - as well as a soft spot for sugar coated fantasy - should find it a brisk viewing.

What hath Disney wrought?

[arc_a2007 · 4/10 · 31 March 2009]

A Troll in Central Park is not a terrible film. It's just extremely sweet and innocent and this world isn't ready for it. Anyone over six years of age will be embarrassed to watch this - even alone - but that's more of a societal problem. But there are definitely reasons to see this. The animation is amazing, particularly with the children. It's realistic but somehow completely believable in an animated world. And their movements are so fluid and realistic. You can tell every action was acted out and studied meticulously. I really wish this was done more often. The environments also look amazing, especially when the human world comes into play. As for the cute or humorous sidekicks, that's another story entirely. It's probably just a personal bias, but I hate the way Don Bluth designs his more cartoon-y characters. Their personalities aren't any better, ranging from "cute" to marshmallow-peep-flavored-vomit "cute".

Anyone who loved The Secret of NIMH will be shocked to see this film. I mean, how can the same guy who made a progressive, dark and outstanding film be responsible for this? The story is very fairy-tale esquire, like a children's storybook come to life. The villains are more humorous than threatening, the characters spontaneously break into song and dance and everything is whitewashed with cuteness. This is the result of Don Bluth finally giving in to the pressures of Disney, trying to replicate their formula, losing his identity in the process and ultimately falling flat. Luckily, Anastasia would be a healthy step up. But for fans of Bluth's one-hit wonder, it's kind of depressing.

Excellent film, this was my childhood favorite.

[paper-mario64 · 9/10 · 26 December 2014]

I honestly don't get why so many people hate this film. Sure it has its flaws, but overall it's still a very enjoyable movie with great animation, musical score, voice acting and presentation. I found myself sympathizing with Stanley (Dom DeLuise) as he is banished from the Troll Kingdom into New York City and later pursued by Queen Gnorga who wants him turned to stone.

The songs are beautiful, especially Absolutely Green. All the voice actors and actresses did an excellent job. The animation is very smooth and well-done. As a child this was one of my favorite, if not my favorite animated film. When I was young the scene when Stanley is turned to stone drove me to tears. I found myself cheering when he comes back to life.

However, the film does have its flaws. For example quite a bit of it consists of filler scenes such as flowers dancing and Stanley showing the children Gus and Rosie his magical dream boat. And the ending, after Stanley is revived, goes a bit overboard with him literally covering the entire city in vegetation. But unlike others, I wasn't too bothered by these flaws.

Overall, I found A Troll in Central Park to be a lovable, entertaining children's film. As a child at heart I still love this movie and rate it 9/10. It's a shame we'll likely never see a sequel because I would have loved to see Stanley come back.

A Panned Movie Worth Reconsidering

[BabelAlexandria · 7/10 · 4 March 2022]

I got this because my kiddos and I have enjoyed other, better known Don Bluth films, without realizing the negativity surrounding this one. I will say that we could only get the film in DVD, and the picture quality was way below what we've come to expect, even on older films which have not been remastered. The troll is a little bit over the top, it's true, but his general plight of feeling different and being persecuted, in part because of a fear he would influence other trolls, is clearly topical in the early 2020s. The alternation between troll land, a real Central Park, an eerily devastated Central Park ("tornado"), a whacky imaginative world, and New York City, makes the film hard to follow. But the movie does feature one of the best animated cityscapes (complete with Twin Towers) of New York I've ever seen, even if it's "stone" structure is praised by the evil troll queen (an Ursula look-alike, by the way). And, given the troll Stanley's "green thumb" and leprechuan-like appearance, the movie is a good choice before St. Patrick's day (we watched it in early March). Finally, the sequence at the end where the entire city is wrapped in plant growth as Stanley celebrates is priceless and, once again, timely.

Not very good

[Josephpr1990 · 3/10 · 9 July 2023]

I remember watching this 1994 American animated musical fantasy film when I was a kid. I thought I found it very entertaining but it's not great as the other Don Bluth films such as The Secret of NIMH, An American Tail, The Land Before Time and Anatasia. It's kinda mediocre and annoying especially the soppy troll named Stanley himself. It's probably one of the worst 1990s films of all time. The songs are kinda forgettable and unlistenable as well.

Just like Don Bluth's previous work Thumbelina (which was released in same year), it was originally distributed by Warner Bros. Since 2002, 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment (now known as 20th Century Studios Home Entertainment but I still don't care) has owns its distribution rights of this film. As of 2019, Disney now owns the rights of the same film even after their purchase of 21st Century Fox.

If you don't like this film, don't buy it on DVD 📀 or Blu-Ray and try not to waste your money on this rubbish.

Don't feed the troll in Central Park! This movie is over trolling in cutesy that it's annoying!

[ironhorse_iv · 4/10 · 14 May 2014]

A Troll in Central Park also known as Stanley's Magic Garden is one of those film, that I watch as a child and really didn't like it, then. Re-watching it as an adult, I know the reasons why. I think the movie was unintelligent, too cutesy pandering, and just not what I wanted from a Don Bluth film. The reasons why 1982's The Secret of NIMH, 1988's Land Before Time, and 1986's American Tail; works, is because it had a complex story with depth that makes it watchable for both adults and children. There was action, comedy, and great animation. Here, it's lacking. Honestly, any kid 6 or up, will think of this movie, as baby drool. If the movie target audience was toddlers, sure it was success, but if the target audience was kids like myself, at the time, it sure was a failure. The movie is about Stanley (Voiced by Dom DeLuise) whom been exile from the Kingdom of Trolls by Queen Gnorga (Voiced by Cloris Leachman) & King Llort (Voiced by Charles Nelson Reilly). The reason for this, was to stop him from producing plant life with his green thumb. Don't know why, they're against it since they need it to breath, but go with it. I have to say, I do love Queen Gnorga opening song 'Queen of Mean', you truly get why trolls like upsetting people. Anyways, Gnorga banishes Stanley to New York City where, they believe has no plant life. Not knowing of them, Stanley finds himself in Central Park where two children named Gus and Rosie (Voiced by Phillip Glasser and Tawny Sunshine Glover) help him find his happy place. Unhappy by these recent results, and determined to suppress Stanley, Queen Gnorga travels to Central Park, herself, to have a face to face showdown with the Green Environment and his new-found friends. While the movie indeed insulting to child intelligence. It somewhat told a good undermine environment message. Yes, cutting trees are bad, and planting trees are good. Ironic, ain't it? That the movie waste so much paper to animated this film, to bring a message of saving trees. The movie tells it, so awful. Having evil trolls with no redeeming elements rather than realistic human characters wanted to destroy trees, doesn't help save the environment. I tell you why! When you make your characters less human, you suck out the humanity, meaning people are less likely to see what they could become. Honestly, the 1972's movie, 'The Lorax' told this story, better. This film need to be a cautionary tale of when someone, anyone, takes too much without realizing it. 'Absolutely Green' is a really positively song about being gentleness, empathy and living up to your dreams. Still, believing and doing something about it, are too different things. The movie wants you to dream for a better world, but the film doesn't give you, any tools or life lessons to make that happen. The movie kinda underhand the song message, by having Stanley go as low as Gnorga, by doing violent acts toward her. Yes, have the courage to fight what you believe, but turning her into a bush, and the whole NYC green is just malicious. There is reasons why we're don't live in the Forrest and Jungles, like our ancestors, because being surround by certain wildlife is dangerous. Yes, the movie is trying to be innocent, here, but honestly, who in their right mind, think that New York City is better off a Jungle, has to be crazy! I have to say, Stanley is an alright character. I know a lot of people hate him, due to his over optimist attitude. Perhaps because it contradicts what many people believe, is right. I do agree ignoring the harsh real movie for a make-believe world is pretty sad. The character can seem disrespectful and even indifferent to the challenges faced by many people to the point, it felt like a slap to the face. People want a realistic truth and mood in their fantasy. Stanley reminds me of a long-time marijuana smoker who trips out how the world should be, but has nothing really to show of it. Indeed, Stanley is surprising a stoner. The entire film could an allegory about the dangers of conformity. Remind me to Plato's Cave Allegory, a bit with the character arch of Stanley. Anyways, most of the voice acting is pretty good. The kids are bit annoying. I really can't stand Gus, he was a bit too fussy. No character arch as the kid doesn't learn how respectable, his dad had to work to provide food and shelter for him. He's still a bit self-egoism in the end of the film. The pacing is not that good. The movie partake in several minutes of undeluded filler. Lot of plot-holes and puzzling questions throughout this movie. Some examples are a four-year-old and his baby sister walk around the crowded streets of New York, unattended, and nobody notices or thinks this is suspect? Another one is how the trolls are aware of New York and know where it is? Indeed, one of reason for this film failing in the box office was because the film was released without any sign of promotion and its release was limited. The distributor Warner Bros. did not have any confidence in the film. That really tells you what they think of the film. The movie is a form of cinematic torture for adults and keep children in permanently infantilized. The movie isn't that bad. The animation is colorful, and well done. It's a notch better than those cheaply produced animated features that are released in straight to video releases. Overall: Troll in the Big Rotten Apple is a very bad troll as it lacks humor, conflict, and sense. Don Bluth had to be trolling when making this movie.

I have given a name to my fear!

[Vartiainen · 1/10 · 8 December 2016]

And that name is Stanley the Troll! That mentally handicapped offspring of Dopey the Dwarf and the Lucky Charms Leprechaun. The Unclean, the Unsafe, the Unhealthy. Grower of flowers, destroyer of the realms of men, caretaker of your children under the bridge.

Suffice to say, not a fan.

So yeah... wow. Is this a bad film, or what. I mean, what happened Don Bluth? Secret of NIMH is still one my all-time favourite animated movies. Whereas this is one of the worst movies I've seen. Period. It's ugly. Nothing in it is beautiful. The plot makes absolutely no sense. Or, actually no. It makes sense in that I can sort of follow what's going on. In that regard there are worse out there. But it certainly doesn't help in this case because the story is worse than you would tell your young nephew when he comes tucking your sleeve, demanding you tell him a story and you pull something straight from where the sun don't shine. Way worse.

The characters are ugly. Stanley being the worse. Something about him just sets of the Stranger Danger alarm in my head. Especially the way he smiles at the kids in this film. Goosebumps, and not the good kind. The songs are pure garbage as well, singing mixed morals and bad life lessons. Well okay... the voice actor of Stanley doesn't sing off-key. That's something, right?

And the final nail in the coffin. It's simply ugly visually. At least with all the other Don Bluth movies you get great visuals. The man and his team are phenomenal animators. But this looks like the table scrapings from the studio dog.

I'm sorry Mr. Bluth, but my soul died a little bit with this film. I know the 90s were not kind to you, but... No. Just no.

No comment

[PinkBubbles · 2 July 2000]

This movie is horrible, and I wonder how people can call it entertainment.

I went and saw this movie as part of my cousin's birthday party, having high expectations because of the other Don Bluth films I seen. Boy, I was wrong. I had difficulty keeping my eyes open. This movie is what gives young child audiences a bad name.

The character's voices are hideous and will haunt you in your sleep, and the plot seems like something torn out of a fairy tale book for being too corny.

Maybe if I were 2 years old, I'd have a different opinion, but as of now, this is one of the worst animated movies I've ever seen.

This just goes to show where Don Bluth's career went after making classics such as "All Dogs Go to Heaven", and "An American Tale".

My rating: 1/2 a * (out of 5 *'s)

Oh Don Bluth... from making "An American Tail"... to this...

[santielkapodeflores · 3/10 · 8 January 2014]

In the starry sky of the history of animation, Don Bluth stars as one of the greatest directors to ever grace with his works. He achieved the record for the highest-grossing animated film outside Disney not once, but three times (An American Tail, The Land Before Time, Anastasia).

It is said that Don Bluth was the sole major factor that turned Disney to re-organize their strategies, make "The Little Mermaid", and ultimately lead to the Renaissance Age Of Animation.

But sadly, now that Disney was awaken again, Don Bluth was overwhelmed with the competition against them. The issue is complex and I will explain it in my upcoming review of "The Pebble And The Penguin", which was the following Don Bluth film.

Now, I will talk about "A Troll In Central Park".

Well the technical features are high-quality, one of the things that Don Bluth kept in all his filmography no matter if his films were bad. The film has a colorful, contrasting, lavish animation, one of the things Don Bluth never compromised. It even has that style of the '30s-'40s (Snow White, Pinocchio, etc. ) feature films and short cartoons in the gestures and mannerisms of characters. Rotoscoping, employed in the children's parents, is also a nice thing to watch.

The music also saves what otherwise would be a forgettable film. "Gnorga The Queen Of Mean" surprises the public with the sudden modernity of a Pop rock tune like those of the '80s and '90s (why is it that most of the times, the villains have the best songs in a film?). "Absolutely Green" is a poignant song of the kind that makes your eyes watery, complete with a children choir. The fact that is played in two powerful, nicely executed moments in the films surely will make, at least, the youngest of the children cry. Also the background music, just like the animation, is employed here just like Dumbo and other films of the early Disney era.

Now, it is when you start analyzing the human features that the film starts showing its lacks... Tiger and Fievel had an excellent chemistry going on in "An American Tail"... but it's hard to tell why the same voice actors (playing Stanley and Gus, respectively) didn't work as well here. Gnorga has the absolutely best performance of all the film, with an outstanding job of Cloris Leachman in a rather weird role, who clearly enjoys being so hammy and troll-like. Llort is the other performance that passes the exam, although Gnorga wins all the awards by far. As an Argentine I tried to find the dub for this film, but it was never screened in Latin America so only the Spanish dub from Spain was made. I watched the Spanish dub and then the original English. I liked the original one for the voices of Stanley, the kids and their parents, but the Spanish dub is way better for the voices of Gnorga and Llort. Wow, even the Gnorga's song is upgraded from their pretty simple original lyrics and adds way more vocabulary and intricate things!

Now, about the story... well, it's hard to call this a "story". And mind you, I'm a Don Bluth fan but even I admit this film failures. The film has many scenes and passages that seem shallow and simply don't go nowhere, plot-wise, such as Gus and Rosie playing in the park with balloons, boats or butterflies. The musical number of the flowers to cheer Rosie, in another passage, also qualifies. All these scenes make the film seem more like an "anecdote" of the children stroll in the park, but then again, this method can still be done well. Miyazaki proved in "My Neighbor Totoro" that you don't have to have a plot-driven, rather "Western-style" kind of storytelling, but also you can go in another way, with a rather "anecdote" or "trip" kind of story. But you don't see in "A Troll In Central Park" the gracefulness in which Miyazaki could present those kind of stories.

The film also seems to lack more soul, "Rock-a-Doodle" and "Thumbelina" are also among the failures of Don Bluth, but it was their loads and loads of characters that helped to give more substance and charm to the films. Here you have too few characters, in a film with many claustrophobic sceneries (a dark kingdom, an underground cave, barren lands...)

And when all is said and done, you have to look up to the info and find that this film budget was of $23.5 million, but only made $71,368... no words. This was one of the lowest grossing films of all time, one of the most notable box-office bombs (though not the greatest bomb of Don Bluth)

So, even with the animation, the music, and Gnorga to redeem the film and lift the rating, this is such a poorly executed, so underwhelming film, with so many fails and lacks, and such a failure for costing $23.5 million and only making 71 thousand dollars, that I will rate it 3/10. The reason I'm not rating this 1/10 is because of the aforementioned lifting factors.

But luckily, even if this is the worst Don Bluth film, both critically and financially, "A Troll In Central Park" will never be among the 10 worst animated films of all time, not even among the 20 worst ever... for Don Bluth, even in the misery and the mediocrity, still had his signature charm and willpower that made him one day leave Disney, and start an animation studio of his own.

LOVED THIS ONE 24 YEARS AGO!!

[Juliana_Rose · 8/10 · 31 August 2018]

Loved this when i was a child and remember watching it many times with my mom! what child do you know at an innocent 7 yrs of age follows the plot and what is happening the way an adult does?? mine are 10 & 11 and still don't understand what, why and how somethin happened in an animated movie made for children. so what if they don't understand some of the details, as long as they get the main idea. I still want to see this movie any given day just because it makes me feel like a kid again..

Stupid

[jmalek2013 · 1/10 · 18 February 2014]

Having looked at titles such as The Secret of NIMH, The Land Before Time and An American Tail, this entire film is complete garbage. There is only one word for an awful movie like this - STUPID. You heard right. It's just plain stupid. The colors look sloppy and makes the animation look totally fake. The songs are insane and idiotic. The story is atrocious. The characters in unlikable and, well, just plain stupid! They are annoying and unintelligent. The acting is awful. The characters actions have little to no impact on the story's plot. They also have no charm whatsoever. Their actions and egos are stupid. All in all, everything about this movie is pure garbage!

Avoid this film at all costs!

Beautifully Animated, Entirely Uninvolving

[Signet · 5/10 · 15 November 2003]

The retro animation, that calls to mind the style of early Disney, is very appealing but the rest of this film has little to offer to anyone over three. However, for those three and under, it will probably be just the thing to scare their Pampers off if it doesn't send them off to dreamland first. Really, a waste.

*sigh* No. Just, no.

[hilemandavid · 2/10 · 14 September 2017]

Wow! Don Bluth, what have you done? Anyway, here yea, here yea! All rise! The Animation Court is now in session! Many critics, vs. "Troll in Central Park" for ruining the career of the famous director! The right, and honorable judge David T. Hileman presiding! Though it was not the final nail in the coffin for Mr. Bluth's animation studio - that came with "The Pebble and the Penguin" - "A Troll in Central Park" certainly was the handwriting on the wall, with it's terrible reviews and a horrible box office take. It couldn't even make 0.32% of it's $23,500,000 budget, only grossing $71,368! It was known as the biggest animated box office bomb, until, suddenly, 14 years later, "Delgo" came along. Gary Goldman, Bluth's partner, blamed the distributors at Warner Bros. Family Entertainment for it, for lacking any confidence in the film, releasing it without any sign of promotion, and only giving it a limited release. I don't think ANYONE would have any confidence in the film, when it looks so sappy it makes "The Secret of NIMH 2" look like the original! I mean... Gus, he's a spoiled brat! A spoiled, rotten, rude, impudent piglet! I don't recommend this film. Don't let the good music by Mr. Robert Folk fool you.

When an independent animation studio goes full on Corporate!

[jamestftotani · 1/10 · 21 November 2017]

After All Dogs Go To Heaven was beaten at the box office by a more sophisticated animated film adaption of Hans Christian Anderson's novel, one of the films Don Bluth and his animators worked on was A Troll in Central Park (yeah he worked on Rockadoodle and released it first but that's not my point). He was so passionate about A Troll in Central Park that he threatened to boot out his animators if they refused to have the same enthusiasm as he did. So you know what happened next? They all fled to Disney, the same place Bluth ran away from in bad terms, to work on a more promising project called Beauty and the Beast, a film Don Bluth once considered making. Thank God for Disney. Now lets talk about the sin A Troll in Central Park. The troll characters are so ugly, I know they're meant to be unappealing as characters but they literally put me off eating for a whole day! The child characters are so bad and unlikeable you wonder why their parents haven't sent them off to Pleasure Island yet! Say what you will about the autistic sons from The Unexpected Journey, because believe me I will at some point. At least their behaviour can be excused by the fact that they have autism and eventually there was a way that the mom still has a chance to turn them into mature and decent young adults as they grew. Nice to see Dimitri in the film however, instead of letting the spoilt brat do whatever he wants at the end of the film, he should send him off to a military boot camp run by Major Payne. I have to admit this is also the most pointless film of all time because if the babysitter had bothered to do her job, we would have actually gone straight to the credits. You really have to work HARD to make a character seem creepy. I'm not talking about Gnorga and her trolls, I'm talking about Stanley the happy troll. I like how Don Bluth Entertainment attempted to create an original story about a something/somebody who has trouble trying to get around with societal standards because this could have been the type of film that would resonate with minority groups such as the LGBT community. This leads to the question... Who is this film made for? Young children under the age of 7 would probably fall asleep or not pay attention to the film until they start screaming at Gnorga rocking up at New York's Central Park to turn Dimitri's son into a troll, thumb wrestle Stanley and turn him into stone (I'm not joking, thumb wrestling is the real climax of this film). Those over the age of 7 would hate this film for its cheezy bullshit songs and ridiculous filler that tries to be Fantasia and Dragon's Lair but ends up looking like The Oogieloves Big Balloon Adventure. The morals suck, such as the childish "if you dream, you will succeed in life" and "fuck parents do whatever you want". Those morals could have made anarchic socialist communist Antifa retards blush but because its from this wannabe Fantasia movie, they come off as extremely arrogant. At the end of the film, Stanley turns New York into a mass of greenery which is something evil villains would do in Marvel comics. I swear to God, there are no redeeming factors in this film at all! Not even throwing Dimitri and an Ursula wannabe character named Gnorga can be claimed as redeeming factors. Well I take it back. Maybe the only redeeming factor this film has is it can be used as an alternative to a doorstop.

Sweet Lucifer, watch Beauty and the Beast instead!

Harmless Fun

[Cylex · 5/10 · 7 July 2001]

While not the best of Don Bluth's films, younger children should still find some enjoyment here. A friendly troll called Stanley is banished to Central Park for having a green thumb. There he meets a boy named Gus and his baby sister, Rosie. He tries to teach them about the importance of dreams. But the evil troll queen, Gnorga, arrives to spoil their fun.

Stanley, voiced by Bluth stalwart, Dom Deluise, is a sweet enough character, if sometimes a little irritating. Gus is annoying at first, but improves near the end. Rosie is cute. But my favourite characters were the walking, talking, flowers. The villains were disappointing.

The songs are saccharine but I've heard worse. There are also some interesting sequences. My rating 5/10