"Oh, Thank you, Thank you very much!!! Well, hay, I'm the king of Rock-N-Roll! You ain't nothing but a Hound Dog!"

I've said it before and I will say it again. What makes a movie so good, is how evil of tough the villain is. The tougher the villain, the greater the victory. Kids and family films these days don't have challenging or evil villains, they're all goof balls! But not in Rock-A-Doodle, this film has probably Don Bluth's most vile, most sinister, most evil villain yet! He's dark, he's shadowy, shows no mercy, not even to children, and this vile being goes by the name of................THE DUKE! (Drum roll) Let that send chills down your spine!

Anyway, there's a lot of things in life that we take for granted, like the sunrise. Oh, sure we've seen that sun go up and down tons of times, it's no big deal. But just imagine up your up one morning and the sun comes up just as usual, but as you see the sun rise, it goes right back down!!! It's 8:00AM and the sun still isn't up! Your not living in Alaska, and the sun does not come up for the rest of the day nor the next morning! Scary thought huh? Well, that's pretty much what this movie's all about, the sun not rising.

On a farm somewhere in an America a popular rooster named Chanticleer was famous on the farm because the farm animals had a fixed belief that his crowing raised the sun. The farm animals had never heard of the solar system or the Earth revolving, so they believed that this rooster was responsible for sunny days. Chanticleer, could also sing and dance too. So all of the farm animals loved him for this.......except...........for............THE DUKE! The Grand Duke of Owls (his full name) hired a fellow owl to ambush Chanticleer before the sun would rise so that he couldn't crow. And the plan worked, Chaticleer forgot to crow, and the result,................the sun rose up without him!!!! The farm animals were outraged, calling him a phony, a fake, and a rip-off! (Hay they were the ones who started the false belief!) And so the farm animals cast Chanticleer out, and so the sad rooster went to Las Vegas to look for work. But then, ....suddenly,.....THE SUN WENT BACK DOWN AND DID NOT COME BACK UP! It was 8:00 in the morning, no sun! The Duke's plan had worked! Rain clouds came in and started to flood all of the local farms and towns. The Duke's powers had quadrupled because there was no sunlight. Now the Owls own the farmland and the entire Western Hemisphere!

Meanwhile a young boy named Edmund got involved with the incident. (this is where there's live action and animation in the movie. I think it's Don Bluth's first time of doing that) Edmund got meet up with the Duke because Edmund tried to call for Chanticleer, and the Duke wasn't going to stand for that! The animated Duke and the live action little boy Edmund was in real trouble, because the Duke shows no mercy not even to children. And as Edmund is feuding with the Duke Edmund's parents are drowning in the flood created by the Duke! (You see, he is cold blooded!) The Duke turned Edmund into a cat, (animated of course) just before the Duke finishes off Edmund the farm animals come in and save him. The Duke retreats for the moment but with the promise of returning. Edmund tells the farm animals where the big city (Las Vegas) is. So Edmund and the farm animals are off to go find Chanticleer, bring him back, and then make him raise the sun by crowing.

The Duke orders his owl to go after Edmund and the others who are out to find Chanticleer. Only 3 farm animals go with Edmund while the others stay in the almost flooded house. Patoo (dog), Snipes (bird), and Peepers (mouse). The owls attack and sink their boat, but they manage to make it to an Aqueduct Pipe, which takes them straight to the city! The Duke orders his best (but not brightest) owl "Hunch" to go after them in the city. Hunch is the only owl capable of flying in the bright city since owls hate light.

This is a serious problem for our heroes. If Chanticleer doesn't crow and raise the sun then not just the farms but the whole world will be affected! Every plant and tree will die, Asia will fry, gravity might loose it's grip, and the environment will be damaged! Can they get Chanticleer back before it's too late? Watch it and see!

For Who?: Family, kids, and ELVIS lovers!

Year: 1991 Theater

Action: Body Guard Bashing, owl attacks, "Remember the U.S.S. Toy Box", Boat Sinking, bike chase, studio chase, helicopter chase, Aqueduct Pipe fall, giant trees, Duke Twister, Water tower drowning, camera flashes, light hit, and more.

Violence: No gore, no real bad stuff, very ticked off and evil villains though. Plus a helicopter buzz cut.

LoveMaking: "......Oh, isn't it romantic,......when roosters fall in love..." Goldie is the only lover chicken out here. Goldie falls for Chanticleer.

Language: Does "You imbecile!!!" count?

Cast: Duke: Christopher Plummer (Sound of Music "Captain Von-Trapp") (An American Tail "Henri")

Snipes: Eddie Deezen (Dexter's Laboratory "Mandark")

Chanticleer: Glen Campbell (The Glen Campbell Show)

Peepers: Sandy Duncan (The Cat From Outer Space)

Music: About 10 musical numbers including the ending credits. DON'T WORRY, they're all good! They're Rock-N-Roll musical numbers.

Awards: The Academy hates everybody!

Pros: It's really good! Like I said, the more evil or tougher the villain is, the greater the victory will be for the hero. It has a great storyline. And a very good theme. It's also one of my own top favorites.

Cons: Not for everybody. Kids may have to see it at least twice before they get the entire point. Might get too intense for really little kids.

See ya!