Where's the love for Rocky and Bullwinkle?

[Erine81981]

Says the guy who abandoned watching this movie to go watch VeggieTales commentaries.


.... Yeah, you probably made the right choice.

Dun dun Dunnnnnn! What's going to happen next? Stay tune for our next exciting episode "Veggies are for dinner?!" or "The Moose has a tale."

 

[Drtooth]

Seriously... you think Rocky and Bullwinkle is bad, Dudley Do-Right was much worse. It's as half the cast never heard of the show, and the other half tried to make up for the first half. Snidley was well cast, though.

Incidentally, you know why Dudley Do-Right even got made? Someone said that the narrator from the George of the Jungle cartoons sounded like the narrator from Dudley's cartoons. And they preceeded to not hire the same narrator from the movie, who actually panned the movie in "The Moose that Roared."

Also, I hear the impossible to find Boris and Natasha is impossible to find for a reason.

 

[Erine81981]

Also, I hear the impossible to find Boris and Natasha is impossible to find for a reason.

I saw a small clip on The Hub Channel. So maybe we'll be able to see it after all.

 

[D'Snowth]

I saw it on HBO once about ten years ago or so... it was... interesting, to say the least.

Interesting choices in Canadian casting (Sam Sleaze as Boris and Miss Finch as Natasha).

 

[Drtooth]

This is the most conflicting thing I ever found out.

A miscommunication at Disney almost lead to a 1991 revival of Rocky and Bullwinkle... the show they pitched when they found out they only had video distribution rights?



Darkwing Duck.

My favorite cartoon show came out of the ashes of a revival of one of my favorite cartoon shows, and had that revival of one of my favorite cartoon shows actually happened, we wouldn't have my favorite cartoon show.

That is the worst paradox I've ever seen.

 

[minor muppetz]

A miscommunication at Disney almost lead to a 1991 revival of Rocky and Bullwinkle... the show they pitched when they found out they only had video distribution rights?

I recall reading in a Jim Hill article from I think 2002 (one of his later articles involving the planned Henson-Disney merger) that at one point Disney considered buying the rights to Rocky and Bullwinkle after the success of the videos, but spent so much time haggling on the deal that Universal stepped in and made a quick deal before the Disney one could be finalized. And it was said that because of Universal getting the rights Disney turned down an opportunity to renew the video rights (because Disney didn't want to support the competition).

I was surprised that this wasn't mentioned in The Moose That Roared. Unless Jim Hill was wrong/lying.

 

[Drtooth]

I don;t remember him talking much about the sale to Universal, let alone Disney's involvement. I think there was a brief mention of them releasing the Bullwinkle cartoons on home video, but that was it.

But on the plus side, we got Darkwing Duck out of it.

 

[minor muppetz]

I don;t remember him talking much about the sale to Universal, let alone Disney's involvement. I think there was a brief mention of them releasing the Bullwinkle cartoons on home video, but that was it.

Here's the article that talks about it: http://www.laughingplace.com/News-PID115500-115501.asp

Though looking at the article, it looks like the deal was only for theme park and merchandising rights, as opposed to full character rights like I'd thought after all these years.

 

[MissMusical12]

I recently rented the Boris and Natasha movie, first time I saw it since 1997. And after all these years, I still think it's better than the Rocky and Bullwinkle movie, though now I feel it could have been better.

While it is often funny, at times it feels more like a Lifetime original movie (and I don't watch Lifetime) or a crime drama (I don't watch those, either). Interestingly, it was originally broadcast on Showtime but was intended as a theatrical release, and at the beginning the narrarator references looking at tickets for the film, but the quality looks more video than film to me.

I'll say that one of the best things about the movie is the narrarator. Pretty much all of his dialogue is funny. I sort of want to say over-the-top as well. And the narrarator is voiced by Cory Burton, who replaced Bill Scott on Gummi Bears. I wonder if he was hired because he'd replaced Bill Scott on a cartoon, though Scott wasn't the narrarator on the original series.

One of my biggest problems with the movie is the fact that the actors playing Boris and Natasha don't have the right hair. Boris has a full head of hair here, while Natasha's is too short. And in the movie Natasha becomes a famous model and they especially mention her hair being one of her signatures (and they also say it was inspired by a Pottsylvanian hero as they show a photo of Moe Howard).

My next sentence or two will reveal "spoilers", though it seems the movie is hard to find and I'm not sure how many of you actually have a bif desire to see this movie. At the end there are many plot twists as almost every supporting character reveals themselves to be after the microchip Boris and Natasha were after, for different reasons, but for the most part they are pretty much bad guys. Boris and Natasha's neighbors reveal themselves to be "Agents Moose and Squirrell", obviously implying Bullwinkle and Rocky, but they also say they cosmetically altered their appearance "once again", but this movie would be the first time they were known to have altered their appearance like that. It seems they would have been the only true "good guys" in this case, though when Natasha finds out, Rocky/"Tish", whom Natasha had developed a little friendship with earlier, seems to genuinely apologize to Natasha over the revelation.

Also, I have read that the producers apparently couldn't secure the rights to have Rocky and Bullwinkle actually appear, in their usual form. I wonder why, since they could get the rights to make a movie based around Boris and Natasha. I wonder if that's why they hired actors with the wrong length of hair, but then again, the original animated versions of them appear in the title card. I didn't see any character copyright notices in the end credits (I also didn't see any character copyright credits in the first three Muppet movies or Follow That Bird).

While Dave Thomas and Sally Kellerman seem to play the characters well, at times they seem to play them as too real. I guess I sort of have that problem with many live-action adaptations of cartoons, certain characters seem to develop more than the original cartoons allowed. I also feel it's strange that Sally Kellerman got top billing, when Boris' name comes first in the title and duo billing. Kellerman was an executive producer in the film, so maybe that's why, or maybe she was a bigger name drawl than Dave Thomas at the time (though I hardly know anything else she was in, besides M*A*S*H and Follow That Bird).

On a scale of 1 to 5, I'd give Boris and Natasha a 3 and a half.

I actually watched the Boris and Natasha movie about 2 weeks ago. Somebody uploaded it on Youtube, and then it was taken down. Oh well.....
Anyways, this movie had it's good parts, but I personally felt it was pretty weak. Was it as bad as "The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle?" No. Was it the best movie ever? No. Could've it been better? Yes.

First of, I kept thinking after I watched the movie that this was only made because Sally Kellerman wanted play Natasha Fatale AND be the executive producer of the movie AND have her song, "It's Good To Be Bad" to be played over the credits. (By the way, her song was the best thing about this movie. The song is VERY catchy and I would love a download of it somewhere (or for it to at least be uploaded to Youtube).)
Sally's Natasha EASILY overshadowed Dave Thomas's Boris; his Boris was really weak. Did not like Boris and Natasha's hairstyles. They barely had any chemistry, but a smile did come on my face when Boris announced Natasha as his girlfriend in the end (No kiss? Really????).

Personally, in a movie revolving around them, Boris and Natasha weren't really that great and seemed too real. Yet, in a movie that really DOESN'T revolve around them (The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle), Boris and Natasha (Jason Alexander and Renee Russo) were the best (and pretty much the only that I liked) things in the movie and they stayed more true to the original characters.

 

[minor muppetz]

First of, I kept thinking after I watched the movie that this was only made because Sally Kellerman wanted play Natasha Fatale AND be the executive producer of the movie AND have her song, "It's Good To Be Bad" to be played over the credits. (By the way, her song was the best thing about this movie. The song is VERY catchy and I would love a download of it somewhere (or for it to at least be uploaded to Youtube).)

I think I knew that Kellerman's husband/boyfriend produced it. I recently found out that Sally Kellerman wrote an autobiography. I looked in the store at the part about the movie (I also looked to see if there was anything about Follow That Bird, but according to the index there wasn't), and it said that June Foray gave her some tips on playing Natasha.

Oh, and that song IS a great song. I didn't realize until I watched it again a few years ago that it was sung by Sally Kellerman.

I kinda liked the references to Natasha's actresses. Like when she's leaving a party and somebody asks if she's met Sally Kellerman, or when June Foray appears as a fan of hers and says that she feels they have something in common. There was one joke I never got, where as Boris and Natasha were leaving, I think the hotel, a staff member thinks she's seen Natasha somewhere before, I wonder if that was meant to be her recognizing her or if the two actresses had worked together on something. And I noticed the credits said that John Travolta played John Travolta, but in his cameo I never got the since he was playing himself or somebody with the same name.