A Troll in Central Park (2022)

Don Bluth was a Disney animator through the 1970s. He worked on projects such as Robin Hood, The Rescuers, and Pete’s Dragon. There was a falling out between Bluth and the Disney company during the making of The Fox and the Hound, which led Bluth to resign from his high-ranking animation position. He would soon form his own animation company, one that would rival Disney through the 1980s and 1990s.

Some of the earlier productions that Bluth’s new company made were quite successful. The Secret of NIMH was their first feature-length film and set the stage for future flicks like The Land Before Time, All Dogs Go to Heaven, and An American Tail. Bluth’s production company was successful through the 1980s thanks to this string of films but would fall on harder times during the 1990s. Disney was on the upswing with their renaissance-era films, while Bluth’s movies seemed to regress and have less emotional and story impact. Disney was pulling away in the animation landscape, leaving Bluth to flounder.

One of the movies to come out of that early 90s era of Bluth productions was A Troll in Central Park. Stanley (Dom DeLuise) was a troll who was banished from his home for liking plants. He was flung into Central Park, where two children, Gus (Phillip Glasser) and Rosie (Tawny Sunshine Glover), stumbled upon him. When the troll queen, Gnorga (Cloris Leachman), found out that Stanley was thriving in Central Park, she showed up to get rid of him forever with the threat of turning him to stone.

A Troll in Central Park was the epitome of why Don Bluth’s movies no longer had the staying power of his older movies. There just wasn’t a whole lot to it. You can see from the story that there wasn’t too much depth. A troll got banished, then the queen who banished him came to essentially kill him. That was it. There wasn’t a major journey. It was a banishment followed by a battle and that was the whole thing.

You could compare that to Disney’s major animated release from the same year, The Lion King, and see just how shallow it was. The Lion King had a character banished from the home he was born and raised in. He had to learn and grow during his ostracization so that he could come back and relieve his kingdom of the evil ruler atop it. There was a character arc. A Troll in Central Park didn’t feature an arc. Stanley was a rather passive protagonist, letting things happen to him instead of pushing the story forward. He didn’t grow and fight back against the evil Gnorga. The most change that happened was when Rosie was in danger and Stanley decided he should help her.

The passive nature of Stanley was the most off-putting part of A Troll in Central Park. After being banished from his home, he just hung around in some cave under a bridge in Central Park. He made plants with his green thumb and slept. He had no drive to do anything beyond that. Even when he met Gus and Rosie, he just sang a song about his plants and then they all took a nap. When Gnorga showed up, it was Gus and Rosie that battled her. He slept through most of the conflict, only waking up after everyone had already fought and were on the brink of being defeated by Gnorga. He finally did something at that point, but it was an hour and somewhat into the movie. For over an hour, the titular troll had no forward momentum. He was as standstill as a character could be.

The other main characters, Gus and Rosie had a little bit more to do, but that’s only because they were the ones first in danger when Gnorga arrived at Central Park. Gus wanted to play with his remote-control boat. When his dad had to go to work, he snuck out of the house with his sister to play with the boat in Central Park. As they were leaving, Gnorga attacked. Gus led the charge to take down Gnorga. He wasn’t necessarily a great character. He was that whiny kid who complained and acted out when things didn’t go his way. What gave Gus some urgency and made him a better character than Stanley was that he actually did active things. He went to the park. He fled from Gnorga. He fought Gnorga when she kidnapped Rosie. Gus wasn’t just letting life happen around him. He was actively doing things to change the situations he was in.

Rosie, on the other hand, was only a little active. Her curiosity was what brought Stanley into their lives. While at the park, she crawled into the cave that Stanley now lived in. Yeah, the loss of her troll stuffy had something to do with it, but she still took the initiative to go into the cave. Rosie was the quintessential child character for a Bluth production. Earlier movies like The Land Before Time and All Dogs Go to Heaven had featured Judith Barsi in that role, before her tragic death. Tawny Sunshine Glover voiced Rosie. She was eight years old when A Troll in Central Park was released. That meant she was another young child portraying a young child. She did the same thing in Thumbelina, released only a few months prior. Don Bluth really liked to have children portraying children through realistic voice performances in his movies. The characters weren’t about being the smart, quirky children. They were kids who acted and sounded like real kids.

The active characters couldn’t make up for how passive Stanley was when he was one of the focal points of the movie. It was his story being told. It was his conflict. But everything happened because of the actions of other characters. It caused the story to be a simple, yet messy experience. A Troll in Central Park wasn’t the worst animated movie I’ve seen. But it wasn’t good. It was outshined by the other Don Bluth movie that year, Thumbelina, and both were no match for Disney’s animated flick, The Lion King. It made sense why Disney ended the 90s as a successful animated studio while Bluth’s company disappeared.

Don Bluth had a major influence over animation through the 1980s and 1990s. His company was the main competition for Disney, striking in an era where Disney was having trouble. His success came during their down time. But as Disney recovered and began releasing successful films once again, Bluth’s movies didn’t grow. They regressed into more simplified, basic stories. The Bluth productions couldn’t keep up and went away by the turn of the century. Those early films, though… They’ll always have a special place in animated films. They will always be remembered.

Now let’s throw some notes in here:

• Don Bluth also directed Thumbelina (week 286) with his partner Gary Goldman.
• A Troll in Central Park was the third Sunday “Bad” Movies appearance for Dom DeLuise, who also appeared in Baby Geniuses (week 50) and Sextette (week 141).
• Another three timer was Cloris Leachman, who was in The Oogieloves in the Big Balloon Adventure (week 39) and Foodfight! (week 143) as well as A Troll in Central Park.
• Finishing off the three timers was Neil Ross. He was in A Troll in Central Park, Son of the Mask (week 207) and Thumbelina (week 286).
• Three actors were in both A Troll in Central Park and Thumbelina (week 286). They were Tawny Sunshine Glover, Pat Musick, and Will Ryan.
• Finally, Bill Fagerbakke was in Space Buddies (week 270) and A Troll in Central Park.
• Have you seen A Troll in Central Park? What did you think? Let me know your thoughts in the comments or on Twitter.
• You can also get a hold of me on Twitter if you want to suggest a movie for me to watch. The comments are a good place for suggestions, too.
• Be sure to check out Sunday “Bad” Movies on Instagram.
• I’ll be getting away from animated movies next week. That was a nice one week adventure, but I’ve got something a little crazier ready to go. I’m going to be checking out a movie called Clownado, from the mind of Todd Sheets. I hope you’ll join me for that one. See you next week.