Disney's Real Power
Written: May 17 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Excellent Character Design, Storyline, Music, Artwork
Cons: Sloppy animation in some episodes, not enough episodes
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| GregoryWeagle's Full Review: TaleSpin |
No show has ever impressed me in the last ten years more than TaleSpin has. Created by Jymn Magon and Mark Zaslove; this spin-off of Walt Disney's The Jungle Book is one of most balanced series ever created for television.
It stars Jungle Book favorite Baloo Bear (Edmund Gilbert) who plays the role of a 1930's bush pilot who unintentionally meets a 12-year old boy bearcub named Kit Cloudkicker (Alan Roberts/R.J. Williams), a future pilot in-training, current navigator and a former air pirate. Baloo and Kit meet a evil gang known as the Air Pirates led by a 30 something year old air pirate Don Karnage (Jim Cummings). He can be ruthless; but his bottomless ego makes him quite entertaining. Baloo and Kit also have conflicts with another Jungle Book character; Shere Khan (Tony Jay) the CEO of a huge company and the commander of a large army of Thembria (a parody of the USSR) Col. Spigot (Michael Gough).
Baloo used to own a very famous airplane known as the SeaDuck until Baloo went one late payment too many on his plane. The bank foreclosed Baloo's business and sold it to an up and coming business lady; Rebecca Cunningham (Sally Struthers) the mother of her six year old daughter Molly Cunningham (Janna Michaels). Rounding out the cast of characters including an innocent mechanic named WildCat (Pat Fraley); and an owner of a sea island resturant Louie the Ape (Jim Cummings) who serves up interesting fruit juices, ices and ice cream.
The creators of the series did an excellent job of keeping the balance of a family comic/adventure, while showing hints of drama and compassion found in the plup serial stories in the 1930's. The artwork is top-notch with lots of detailed backgrounds and good effects. The animation is fairly good for the most part; however, the animation can sometimes get a little sloppy in some episodes.
However; TaleSpin's main strength will always be character design. The show's creators managed to successfully add an element of depth through the interaction of characters rather than blow-by-blow details. This allows children to watch and enjoy the show without feeling overwhelmed while teens are able to see a more mature series without going too far. What impressed me even more is the series' protryal of Kit Cloudkicker which proved to be Disney's best character to date. He doesn't seem to have the hyper rush that characters like Genki (Monster Ranchers), Ash (Pokemon) and most of the Digimon children seem to have. Kit is witty; thoughtful and compassionate. He has a voice in the series and he is never afraid to use it if needed. He has compassion; if you show compassion back.
The music soundtrack is excellent and also has an original opening theme song. This is not a typical animated series from Disney; it was considered a very gutsy attempt at trying to be different from the other series. This is the first DTVA series to use a computer for certain effects including some of the sequences in flight. Almost 16% of the voice talents in the series are under the age of Sixteen. I certainly recommend this series to kids and teens.
Gregory Weagle
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
GregoryWeagle
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Reviews written: 2
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