Animation I shall always have a soft-spot for, and while Twice Upon a Time is not one of the best animated movies I've seen, it is still great especially for how unique it is. The animation has a style that I have never seen before in an animated film but it is an interesting one. It is colourful and the character features especially Botch's mouth are just as impressive. The nightmarish scenes are incredibly haunting, the accidental nightmare sequence is a definite standout, in fact of any animated film I've seen recently it was this scene that really stood out as uniquely fascinating and hugely impactful. Some of the pop tunes are on the dated side, but are still very catchy. The incidental score is one of Twice Upon a Time's greatest assets, very beautiful and addicting, there are some crazy aspects as well that fit very well. The script is witty and funny, the humour is quite racy for the time but very effective still, while the story is exciting, the characters are interesting the voice acting from particularly Lorenzo Music and Marshall Efron is top-notch. All in all, unique and great animated movie, sadly also it is underrated. 9/10 Bethany Cox

Despite the patronage of George Lucas, this captivating and totally original fantasy in "Lumage" (a combination of animation through live action cut-outs) is about as far removed from the usual kiddie fare as anything made by Ralph Bakshi in his heyday. Brilliantly conceived characters such as the shape-shifting dog Ralph (one of a duo of bumbling, rejected heroes), Synonamess Botch (the hilariously foul-mouthed villain) and Rod Rescueman (the pompous novice superhero) breathe life into a uniquely clever concept: Frivoli vs. Murkwood or, the eternal fight between dreams and nightmares. In this context, the MOR-infused songs on the soundtrack ought not to have worked but somehow they do. It's a real pity, therefore, that I have had to watch this via a truly crappy-looking boot (culled from a TV screening) of the uncensored version – there is also a milder variant that toned down the language for its VHS release – since the film is otherwise unavailable on DVD. Interestingly, both Henry Selick and David Fincher worked on this picture in subordinate capacities.

I first saw this on the Disney Channel back several years ago. And just fell in love with this movie.Twice Upon a Time takes place in 3 different worlds. Frivoli the home of Sweet Dreams, Murkworks the production of nightmares, and Rushers of Din(mainly the real world we live in). We're called Rushers because we don't have time to remind us what we need to do and what we need to get. While the dream worlds have all the time they need. They explain so in the movie.The 2 dream lands compete over the Rushers' slumber during nighttime. Greensleeves, an eccentric old Leprechaun is in charge of delivering good dreams with the help of his little works Figs(Figmen of Imagination). While Synonamess Botch the short-tempered and mischievous owner of Murkworks Nightmare Factory, sends out his vultures that drop Nightmare Bombs on the snoozing Rushers. And they also capture and imprisoned the Figs at Murkworks. Greensleeves sends an S.O.S. that Murkworks is holding his helpers. But he was captured and held prisoner at Murkworks.Meanwhile in Frivoli, 2 would-be heroes: Ralph(the multi-changing animal)and Mum(a sound o fix talking prankster) try to fit in the society but were exiled to Garbage duty because they didn't include "La La's" during their working shift. Flora Fauna(a flower actress) is worried about her Uncle, Greensleeves. She accidentally got in with the other garbage and met Ralph and Mum. Flora received a letter from her uncle and now knows that he's in trouble. Mum and Ralph find this to be the opportunity to become heroes.Meanwhile Botch has an idea in tricking them to stop "THE Cosmic Clock" and releasing the Magic Mainspring. Which ultimately stopped time, and gives Botch the advantage to place Nightmare Bombs everywhere in Rin. And once the Magic Mainspring returns to the clock then Rin will become a city of nightmares. It's up to Ralph and Mum to prove themselves as the heroes.Twice Upon a Time is a really great animated movie. Very unappreciated too, due to the fact that it didn't receive any potential when it first came out in limited theater release. From what I read on the internet and what not. The cool thing about is, the unique animation and special effects making it very fascinating to watch. And features THE Lorenzo Music as the voice of Ralph. It's also distributed by LucasFilms and produced by George Lucas himself. I only seen the family version of this movie. And it may be awhile for me to see the original version. Mature or Family Safe, doesn't matter which one I've seen, it's still a wonderful movie.And a real shame that it's hard to find and rarely heard of now and days. It deserves a decent DVD release. The G rated version that I've seen is perfectly fine. Just has one drinking scene, non-exposing nudity, and plenty of gun fire. But trust me any kid will enjoy this movie.

I first saw this classic on HBO after its short lived time as a theatrical release. The version aired on HBO is much different in two respects to the current Warner Home Video VHS version.1) It's longer; has more footage to explain some salient story points. 2) Some of the jokes are little more risqué and daring, adding much needed R-rated humor to what's otherwise a mediocre comedy.The film has good amounts of intellectual comedy, which range from subtle puns to sight-gags to slapstick. Most of the sight-gags are reserved for the black-&-white live action sequences, while the other jokes are kept mainly for the animated portions.I personally find this film very funny and enjoyable, but the humor isn't for everyone. By that I mean it takes a certain kind of patience and willingness to churn the joke in your mind to really appreciate it. So even though it's a comedy, and a fairly clean one, it's not for everyone.The funnier version is with the slightly racy humor. Some of the opening lines by the antagonist help establish his character, and add some much needed zing and energy to a film that can be hard to interpret at times. The "cleaner" version lacks this element, and suffers for it.The film itself is somewhat difficult to describe. It's animated, but uses a unique technique called LUMAGE; where transparent and semi-transparent material is backlit and the characters and background are illuminated from behind, giving them a kind of glow. This gives the film a semi-amateurish feel, but in a good way, because the animation is meant to be styleized, and actually enhances the larger joke that the film is trying to convey: A kind of fairy tale cum melodrama spoof, set in a fantasy world that creates our dreams and nightmares.Shot in San Francisco and the SF Bay Area en large it was fun to see and identify various places in the live action sequences (though this'll probably only appeal to folks who live in my area).The film only has one real drawback *WARNING POSSIBLE SPOILER*; in the early sequence of the film Ralph and Mumford (our heroes) are working in the dreamworks, filling rockets with dream dust or somesuch. The idea here is that said rockets are fired off and sent to Uncle Greeny who distributes the dreams to the people of "the real world" (known as "DIN"). One rocket loses its balance or somesuch, falls over when its lit, and rockets all over the Dreamworks factory, causing much havoc. Me and my friends kind of understood what was happening in this sequence, but needed to see it several times before we were really able to discern what was happening. *SPOILER OFF*Overall it's an enjoyable film, but the humor's tuned for those who like their jokes on the subtle and intellectual side. Watch at your own risk ;-)RESTORATION SCREENED EVENING OF MAY 6th, 2008;After many years I saw the "adult" version of this film last night, and viewing it with adult eyes and frame of mind I must admit to having some small mixed feelings regarding the more racy dialogue. It still adds zing to the film, and helps set a certain tone for that version, but, I can see where Korty objected to the PG language. Still, given all the other references in the "clean" version of this film, I'm still puzzled as to what kind of film he ultimately trying to make. Children's films don't have innuendo, blow-up dolls, nor nude models (however gorgeous :-)) flashing on the screen. In that vein, I have to state that the film could go either way, but is, in a small way, well served with a few taboo words... though they're really needed.