I do like the original, despite one or two flaws. I did feel it was a little too dark for children, but it was beautifully animated and moving. This sequel is definitely inferior in comparison, but there were a few redeeming merits. The animation is not very good, there were a number of colour changes and very flat backgrounds, and I felt that the animation on Red was a bit too frightening for children. The songs were very pleasant, especially I will always be with you, but not memorable. Then again, neither were most of the songs in the original. I did like the singing voice of Charlie, provided by Jesse Conti, not so much Charlie Sheen speaking-it just wasn't Charlie. Also Sheena Easton was lovely as Sasha; if you want to know a little more about her, she sang "A Dream Worth Keeping"(FernGully) and "Now and Forever" with Barry Manilow.(Pebble and the Penguin, which I like more than this to be honest)I loved Mark Watters' incidental music too. I liked the character David, but I found Anne Marie a lot more likable, I cannot watch the end of the first film without getting teary-eyed. Likewise with Carface, Vic Tayback was definitely better, but Ernest Borgnine did a very good job with the voicing I felt, but Carface lacked the calculating manipulation that made him so memorable in the original. Bebe Neuwirth's Annabelle did little for me too, I preferred Melba Moore's angelic interpretation. Now another flaw, and the main flaw, was the story. It was a good idea, with some neat subplots, but it was told way too fast. The studio should have focused on accuracy and detail rather than piling on rushed subplot and another. Now for the main villain Red, a bit too frightening for my liking, but I liked his song, with the Spanish flamenco like rhythms. George Hearn did more than adequately with the voicing,very menacing at times like in his song, but I felt he was out of character. I wouldn't initially associate Hearn with villainous roles. A more inspired choice would have been Tim Curry, as long as they didn't make him do a phony accent that they tend to burden him with. The script wasn't bad, but it did need a lot more work, whereas Borgnine and Dom DeLuise provided the laughs, Sheen and Easton were a little less convincing. In conclusion, a disappointing sequel to one of the more memorable Don Bluth movies, but it is not as bad as the Secret of NIMH sequel, which was so awful I didn't know what to say. 6/10 Bethany Cox
