Raul Garcia, writer, director and animator of animated movies, adapted five great stories of Edgar Allan Poe into five short animated movies, banded together by graveyard conversation between Poe (Stephen Hughes) in a form of raven and Death (Cornelia Funke). Each story uses different animation technique and Sergio de la Puente composed original music which fits perfectly with their mystical atmosphere. In first segment Christopher Lee tells famous "The Fall of the House of Usher", followed by strange but striking computer animation. Second part brings archive footage of legendary Bela Lugosi reading "The Tell-Tale Heart" with black and white animation that feels like negative. "The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar", narrated by Julian Sands, is done in comic-book style. Guillermo del Toro presents an internal monologue of the prisoner in the Inquisition dungeon, from the story "The Pit and the Pendulum", with video game type of animation. The last story brings "The Masque of the Red Death" in the form of a moving aquarelle and without narration. And just for a brief moment Roger Corman gives voice to Prince Prospero. Considering that all together lasts just a little over one hour, stories are very reduced, so connoisseurs and fans of Edgar Allan Poe might resent them as butchered, while those ignorant of his work could have troubles understanding them, especially last two. But if you read these stories, or at least saw movie adaptations and roughly know what are they about, and if you are not nagger trying to find faults in everything, you'll enjoy magically gloomy and dreary atmosphere of this really extraordinary movie.8/10

This animated anthology based on 5 of Edgar Allen Poe's stories is well done, complete with choice actors for narration such as Christopher Lee, Julian Sands and a surprising (but obviously dated) monologue from Bela Lugosi who does a fine job reading through one of Poe's most well-known tales, "The Tell-Tale Heart". Animation is slick in 5 different computer-enhanced styles including a linking story between Poe in the guise of a Raven and a mysterious entity desperately trying to conceal her identity when it's obvious from the start that it is Death. This anthology focuses solely on Poe's more famous dismal stories ("The Fall of the House of Usher", "The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar", "The Pit and the Pandulum", "The Masque of the Red Death" as well as the aforementioned "Tell-Tale Heart") and only hint at the less gruesome works and love poems Poe produced during his lifetime. Designed primarily of kids, the interaction between Raven and Death touch on some historical facts of Poe that are quite adult and sad if you know anything about the writer. It's interesting to note how they seem to talk about Poe in both present and past tense. The problem with this anthology is not in the end result but on the material; Poe's works can be very cryptic, hard to read, filled with lavish but difficult to comprehend wording, and host periods of history that sometimes does not translate well with younger generations albeit adults. This anthology may truly only be for Poe fans, as those who do not know his works, or only lightly, may find themselves lost in the imagery and symbolism that he's most famous for.

You get Poe as animated as ever could be a pun, some might wanna make watching this. Seriously though: Poe interpreted by different artists and therefor different styles is a mixed bag as could be expected. First of all you have to like animation and horror to even think about watching this. If not you may want to stay clear of this, which also has a lot of Horror talent at voicing department.The different animation styles can also be viewed as a curse (no pun intended) or a blessing. Some might have wanted one style throughout the whole thing, I personally like the change and the different approaches. But it's important you know before deciding to watch this. Especially if it's not your thing.Depending on your knowledge of Poe, you will have a different degree of information concerning the plots of the stories. Whatever that will do to your viewing pleasure

I'm an unashamed fan of Edgar Allan Poe ... I admit it freely. I've visited every one of his houses in New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Richmond, and I have a huge collection of audio readings and film adaptations of his work. When I first got wind of this film and some of the voices connected with it (Sir Christopher Lee and, joy of unexpected joys! Bela Lugosi), I couldn't wait until the release date.Now it is here.Now I've seen it ... and I'm very pleased.Not delighted or overjoyed, but pleased.I have to admit that compared with other animated versions of Poe's work "Extraordinary Tales" is a little lightweight. I was surprised to see quite a lot of kids in the audience of the showing I went to (it took me quite a while to find a theater in my home city where it was showing since the film is currently in limited release), but after having seen the film I can honestly say that this is a great way to expose kids to Poe for the first time. I was prepared for the different animation styles of each of the five stories included in the film, but I was pleasantly surprised that the stories are enclosed by a pastel-animated framing story involving a talking raven (voiced by Stephen Hughes, and I won't tell you who the raven really is!) and the unseen voice of Death (wonderfully performed by Cornelia Funke).As to the stories themselves, here they are in my order of preference: 1) "The Tell-Tale Heart" (narrated by Bela Lugosi); 2) "The Masque of the Red Death" (no narrator); 3) "The Pit and the Pendulum" (narrated by Guillermo del Toro); 4) "The Fall of the House of Usher" (narrated by Sir Christopher Lee); 5) "The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar" (narrated by Julian Sands)I chose "Tell-Tale Heart" as Number One not only because of Lugosi's wonderful narration but also because of the black-and-white animation style used. "Masque of the Red Death" has no narration (except for one line delivered by the famous director of Poe films Roger Corman), but the animation style used here reminds me a lot of Ralph Bakshi's style in his film version of "The Lord of the Rings", very beautiful and flowing. I don't know if "Pit and the Pendulum" is actually CGI, but it seemed that way to me, and del Toro's narration has a wonderful velvety gruffness that makes the listener believe that the narrator is an old man remembering his experience (and I was intrigued by the twist given to the story). The highlight of "House of Usher" is, of course, the wonderful narration done by Sir Christopher Lee and the house and background are beautifully chilling, but the animation of the characters is a little too reminiscent of Minecraft figures and the story is a little too abbreviated (but this too has a wonderful and shocking twist!). As for "Valdemar", the animation is a little too comic-book-like for me, but the on-screen character of the narrator has (to my delight) more than a slight resemblance to Vincent Price!I will definitely add "Extraordinary Tales" to my collection should it ever be released on DVD, and I also definitely recommend it to other Poe admirers and to parents who want to introduce their kids to Poe ... there'll be plenty of time for them to become truly addicted (as I was and am) to the unabridged and more horrific versions ... if they (and you) dare!