A Troll in Central Park
A Troll in Central Park
G | 07 October 1994 (USA)
A Troll in Central Park Trailers

A friendly troll with a magic green thumb grows one flower too many for the queen, whose laws require all trolls to be mean ugly and scare humans whenever possible. As a punishment, he is exiled to a world of concrete, where he should live a life of proper trolldom: Manhattan.

Reviews
anthony-rigoni

That is exactly what this movie is about: pointless randomness!!! If there is somebody who mixed together random ideas with a blender, that is exactly how this movie got made. There's this one troll who sang "I'm a bad troll" to the tune to "Eh, Uchnem" from "the Volga Boatmen". Was that even suppose to be a song? Yeah, compared that freaking song to the god-awful musical numbers from "Tom and Jerry the Movie"! And speaking of god-awful musical numbers, none of the songs were original or creative. What have you done, Don Bluth? What have you done?! You were the guy who created timeless masterpieces such as Dragon's Lair, Space Ace, and the Small One and then you have to make this random piece of crap. And take a good look at the main character, Stanley. That pea-brained pussy is the worst protagonist I have ever seen. And one scene even rips-off the classic light-saber fight between Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader from "Star Wars V"(Except the fact that Stanley doesn't get his hand chopped off). If you want a movie filled with pointless randomness, this movie is the one for you. However, if you don't like pointless randomness, avoid this moronic nightmare at all costs.

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Herbest8

Don Bluth has had his share of ups and downs in his long career. But this piece of dreck marks the only time he has truly hit rock bottom.I hesitate to use the word "movie" to describe this bomb because this is not really a film. It is a lame idea loosely tied together with bad songs and some of the most saccharine padding and filler you will ever see in you're life.The title character is played by Dom DeLuise (a good actor) and he does what he can with the role but this character is hopeless. He's one dimensional, annoying and just plain bland. The film's worst performance is a tie between Cloris Leachman and Charles Nelson Reilly who play the monarchs of the Kingdom of Trolls. Not only do they seem to grunt their lines, but they talk over each other! I mean, come on! Why make a movie where you can barely understand or hear what the characters are saying? The rest of the cast is pretty disposable. I personally think Jonathan Pryce should have played King Llort but that's just me.But it's not all bad. Some of the songs are OK, DeLuise does what he can and the animation is typical Bluth: lush and beautiful.But in the cold light of day, this dreck is simply an insult to the art of animation.

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TheLittleSongbird

I don't think that Troll in Central Park is as bad as people make it out to be, as a matter of fact it's very sweet, but anyone who loved Secret of Nimh and Land Before Time like I did, will be disappointed. The animation on the most part was quite flat, with the exception of some nice animation in the musical numbers and the effects, and there were some lifeless backgrounds in the scarier bits. The incidental music is lovely, but I didn't care that much for the songs. They're not excrement, but they are certainly not Oscar-worthy. This was disappointing, as Cynthia Weil and Barry Mann have done some lovely songs for American Tail and Muppet Treasure Island, but the songs they did here didn't feel the same. The script wasn't bad, but there were times where it could have been more imaginative. The characters were likable but not particularly memorable. Stanley is very sweet, with his wiggling ears, and the late Dom DeLuise voiced him earnestly, and there is some very nice singing. Gnorga is rather frightening, but Cloris Leachman was brilliant in an almost unrecognisable voice over. Phillip Glasser was good, but he and DeLuise lacked the chemistry they had in American Tail. Rosie was really sweet and Charles Nelson Reilly and the singing and dancing flowers provided the humour,(even if it reminded me strongly of the Silly Symphony Flowers and Trees) that was much needed, in a rather lacklustre plot. All in all, one of the weaker Don Bluth films is redeemed by a very good voice cast, and some nice music. 6/10 Bethany Cox

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Mr. Neutron

A Troll in Central Park is not a terrible film. It's just extremely sweet and innocent and this world isn't ready for it. Anyone over six years of age will be embarrassed to watch this - even alone - but that's more of a societal problem. But there are definitely reasons to see this. The animation is amazing, particularly with the children. It's realistic but somehow completely believable in an animated world. And their movements are so fluid and realistic. You can tell every action was acted out and studied meticulously. I really wish this was done more often. The environments also look amazing, especially when the human world comes into play. As for the cute or humorous sidekicks, that's another story entirely. It's probably just a personal bias, but I hate the way Don Bluth designs his more cartoon-y characters. Their personalities aren't any better, ranging from "cute" to marshmallow-peep-flavored-vomit "cute".Anyone who loved The Secret of NIMH will be shocked to see this film. I mean, how can the same guy who made a progressive, dark and outstanding film be responsible for this? The story is very fairy-tale esquire, like a children's storybook come to life. The villains are more humorous than threatening, the characters spontaneously break into song and dance and everything is whitewashed with cuteness. This is the result of Don Bluth finally giving in to the pressures of Disney, trying to replicate their formula, losing his identity in the process and ultimately falling flat. Luckily, Anastasia would be a healthy step up. But for fans of Bluth's one-hit wonder, it's kind of depressing.

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