The Lava Man is a 1994 unreleased and unfinished German-American animated film based on the 1976 children's book of the same name by Gudrun Pausewang, directed by Michael Sporn and Produced by Ivor Wood and Written by Ralph Bakshi.
Theatrically released in the United States on December 18, 1996, by Weston Wood Studios the film was panned by critics and grossed $62,567 at the North American box office, becoming a box-office bomb. Many professional critics and Bakshi fans have regarded it as Sporn's best film.
This film is more imaginative than The Wind in the Willows (1995) and The Magic Voyage (1992) and Peter Pan (1953), This is the second film to be produced by MGM/UA Distribution Co.
Plot[]
The Lava Man in the Volcano (who is literally a man in the volcano), wishes to join the humans of Town dancing in parties, because he thinks life is boring. One night, as a comet flies by, the Lava Man jumps out of the volcano, catching the comet's tail, bringing him down to the Forest, frightening forest animals. The crash brings hundreds of people from a nearby town to the site. The Lava Man ends up getting thrown in prison because the people mistake him for an invader, instead of a friendly visitor, and even gets shackled with a ball and chain. Nights later, he enters the aruppting of the phase of the volcano, loxing to a size and so can escape, via the window. When the general comes to inspect, he finds that the Lava Man's prison cell is empty.
Two weeks later, the Lava Man grows back to his full size, wandering while discovering the plants and animals, he comes upon a garden party, with people in gorgeous costumes dancing. A grumpy killjoy complains about the music to the police, and, scared by the police officers' equipment and uniforms, the Lava Man dashes in the forest, beginning a wild chase. Swiftly outracing the police, he comes upon a hidden castle, where he finds scientist Bunsen van der Dunkel, who shows him his experiment he had been perfecting for years: a spaceship, which the Lava Man can use to go back home. Bunsen takes the Lava Man to the rocket ship and waits for him to arupt again to his third phase. A few nights later, the Lava Man squeezes into the rocket, bids Bunsen a tearful farewell, and blasts off back to the volcano. He realizes that the humans of Town were not as welcoming as he thought they’d be, as he can never live peacefully on the city and he stays nestled up in the volcano, inside the silvery fire, and never returns to city.
Voice Cast[]
Santiago Ziesmer as The Narrator
- Mickey Rooney provides the voice for the USA version
Hartmut Neugebauer as The Lava Man
- Peter Strauss provides the voice for the USA version
Hans Clarin as The Player
- Dom DeLuise provides the voice for the USA version
Tilo Schmitz as Npc18
- Ernest Borgnine provides the voice for the USA version
Mario Adorf as Npc4
- George Hearn provides the voice for the USA version
Uwe Ochsenknecht as Npc7
- Charlie Adler provides the voice for the USA version
Ulrich Wildgruber as Npc3
- Jim Cummings provides the voice for the USA version
Mona Seefried as Npc2
- Diana Ross provides the voice for the USA version
Ralf Wolter as Npc1
- Steve Weber provides the voice for the USA version
Tilo Prückner as Jezy
- Jeff Bennett provides the voice for the USA version
Heiner Lauterbach as Dum
- Rob Paulsen provides the voice for the USA version
Michael Habeck as Stubborn Monster
- John Hurt provides the voice for the USA version
Lutz Mackensy as Npc11
- Derek Jacobi provides the voice for the USA version
Hans Paetsch as Npc5
- Jeff Bennett provides the voice for the USA version
Thomas Karallus as Npc9
- Tony Jay provides the voice for the USA version
Christian Schult as Npc10
- John Hingle provides the voice for the USA version
Production[]
Conception
Conception[]
The Animated Movie Guide said "considering the artistic and financial success of The Princess and the Goblin Ralph Bakshi and Michael Sporn decided to cater to the dating crowd, in addition to preschoolers". The Pebble and the Penguin was produced by Don Bluth Ireland Limited. Production began in November 1991. The working title of the film was A Penguin Story. In 1994, "Bluth spoke enthusiastically of such pending projects as The Pebble and the Penguin and A Troll in Central Park". The film was originally slated for release in summer 1994 (while Thumbelina was scheduled for November 1993 and A Troll in Central Park was scheduled for March 1994), but due to some production difficulties (and probably to avoid competition with The Lion King, Baby's Day Out, Speed, and Forrest Gump), the film's release date was changed to April 1995.
Animation and researchEdit[]
Though Bluth Productions was based in Dublin, artists from Ireland, England and Hungary worked on the project, at least seven directing animators working on the film; among them John Pomeroy. The penguins in the film are clothed. Humans wearing penguin costumes were filmed and then used as photostat references for the animators. The iconic quote from Hubie, "Goodness glaciers!" as well as his overall appearance, is a sly reference to Gentleman Glacier, an old Canadian newspaper cartoon used to illustrate snow accumulation each year.[citation needed] Only two scenes in the film were "augmented by computer animation", one of which being "The Good Ship Misery" song sequence. The opening credit and overture sequence has the animated penguin characters playing and dancing on the sheet music for the songs in the film.[citation needed] According to The Free Lance–Star, the animators researched for the film by "watching documentaries and visiting zoos, such as San Diego's SeaWorld and Scotland's Glasgow Zoo". The site added that in promotional material, the animators explained they "discovered that the land of snow and ice shines with many different hues".
Production problemsEdit[]
During a late stage in the production, MGM insisted for numerous changes to be made to the film, such as removing some characters, trimming down some sequences, scenes being cut from the final product, and having the voices be re-recorded. As a result, the animation, in particular the special effects, fell behind and to make sure the movie made it to the deadline, additional coloring had to be done at Reflex Animation Ltd, a Hungarian animation studio. Don Bluth and Gary Goldman were so dissatisfied with the changes MGM was insisting that they left during production (to help set up Fox Animation Studios) and demanded to be uncredited as the directors. The book Animated Films said, "changes at MGM during production...resulted in the project being affected in terms of production value". In a 2001 edition of his magazine Toon Talk, Bluth admitted: "Penguin had story problems. We knew it. The crew knew it". Though he attempted to fix these issues when his Irish studio got taken over by the Hong Kong company Media Assets, "the story and film were now compromised", so neither he nor Goldman stayed. They had their names removed from the film's credits and accepted an offer by Bill Mechanic – 20th Century Fox's then-president – to set up a new animation studio in the US (which would become Fox Animation Studios). Bluth said to his animation crew "I can't chew with someone else's mouth". Despite this executive interference, The Animated Movie Guide noted MGM/UA producer Walter Mirisch's comments on the film: "I think it's one of Don's best films ever...There's no issue of our claiming the credit for this. It's his film".