I remember seeing this the first time it aired on TV. I was a little young to get some of the subtler bits, but I liked it. Wouldn't mind seeing it again.

The last few minutes of the movie are fantastic.  Well, except for the goofy stuff with Dizzy and Stretch, and the skating goon who wants to be "good."  Still, Omar and Angel facing the demon, Mok screaming from his floating control booth, and the wild images and music was great. 

I imagine it was intense and memorable for a younger lad, especially if you were a preteen.  I wonder if the silly Bluth-ness wouldn't seem so bad to someone that age.

At that age (I must have been 12 or so), it seemed pretty edgy for a cartoon. I always put it in the same league as Heavy Metal, but that's because Heavy Metal made a similar impression on me when I saw it years later. I'm sure it's apples and oranges. Given that I haven't seen R&R in over 20 years, I'm sure I'd probably see the Bluthiness much more. I'm going to have to see if I can find a copy for rent. It would bring back some memories. I remember laughing my butt off at the Uncle Mikey show.

Just checked to be sure Nelvana, the Canadian company that made R&R, wasn't connected with Heavy Metal. According to Wikipedia, they were invited to contribute, but declined, because they were working on an animated feature of their own (guess which one).

Nelvana made quite a few animated films that stand out in my memory as being just a bit more edgy and weird than most of the cartoon fare aimed at kids at the time. Nelvana produced the Devil and Daniel Mouse, Romie-0 and Julie-8, Cosmic Christmas, the Boba Fett cartoon from a certain holiday special I will not name here, and a whole bunch of other stuff. Mind you, that was their earlier work. They produced a lot of cutesy stuff later on, like Care Bears and Strawberry Shortcake. Looking back, it's actually surprising how much that one company contributed to the cartoons I remember.

If it's a cartoon, I want to see it. Animation is really the one medium I never tire of. I sat down expecting this one to be stunningly awkward and dated. It was. Maybe I would have been more inclined to keep it in my library if the music hadn't struck the wrong chord with me song after song. I still strongly recommend it to other animation fans, of course.

It does make me sad that anything between Disney and Anime seems doomed to obscurity, even if this one deserved it.

Btw, if the Don Bluth haters out there still haven't seen The Secret of Nyhm, you haven't seen Don Bluth.

That and the original "Land Before Time" are a toss-up for my favorite of his works.  For a while, my group of friends had nicknames from "The Land Before Time."  I watch it (or "Nimh") today, and they are still very good films.

The problem with Bluth, for me, is that he is so uneven.  The movie will be very serious, with an interesting plot and inventive visuals, then suddenly something goofy happens.  Goofy even to a ten year old.


The 2-disc collector's edition DVD, which is what I link to in the review (and what I own) has "The Devil and Daniel Mouse" included as an extra.  It was neat to see that again, because I remembered it from my childhood.

According to the DVD notes, Mok's last name is Swagger -- however, due to objections by Mick Jagger's lawyers, his last name is never mentioned.

Mok is a very interesting character. He clearly doesn't believe in magic, even though he uses "magic" imagery in his self-promotion; he says that summoning the demon will be "a triumph of science". But the real reason why he's summoning a demon? It'll make an unforgettable stage show and thus prop up his sagging career.

The demon itself was made by photographing ground hamburger, then painting over the cels.

Ug, I feel like I've seen this movie before but I can't recall anything about it. It feels so familiar, I can't stand that feeling!