The Fearless Four Review

The Fearless Four

Release Date: 5th December 1997 - USA

Production Companies

Warner Bros. Pictures (presents)

Bioskop Film

Munich Animation Film

Genre: Animation/Family

Rating: G

Runtime: 89 minutes
                 78 minutes

                 (edited)

Budget: $15,000,000

Plot Summary

While not sharing their appearances, the four fearless animals have one thing in common. To play and perform music. The animals are a dog named Buster, a donkey named Fred, a cat named

Gwendolyn, and a rooster

named Tortellini. Together,

these four animals left

their old lives as they

journeyed to the city of

Bremen to seek fame and

recognition.

Little did the animals know that Bremen was not what it seems, as there were dark secrets and corruption. Will the Fearless Four be able to use their musical talents to prevent this evil plot?

Voice Cast (English)

James Ingram - Buster

B.B. King - Fred

Oleta Adams - Gwendolyn

Zucchero - Tortellini

Christopher Gaze - Narrator

Ian James Corlett - Dr. Greed/1st Assistant/Hunter #2

Scott McNeill - The Manager/

2nd Assistant/Hunter #1/The

Recording Director/Guard #1

Garry Chalk - Platini/

The Baron/The Miller/Guard #2

Kathleen Barr - Mozart/

Wasp #2/Big Mother Berta/

Samantha

Richard Newman - Ackerman
Robert O. Smith - Dr. Sevenbrains/Taxidermy Representative
Michael Donovan - The Heir/
The Host/Guard #3
Stevie Vallance - The Heiress/Wasp #1

Crew

Producer/Director - Eberhard Junkersdof

Director/CGI Director - Michael Coldewey

Director/Animation Director - Jürgen Ritcher

Based on the Fairy Tale "The Bremen Town Musicians" - Jacob & Wilhelm Grimm

Screenplay - Bert Henry, Dagmar Kekulé and Georg Richel

Voice Director: English

Version - Michael Donovan

Character Designers - Carles Burges, Sandra Cama and Carlos & Jordi Grangel

Painted Background Designer - Walter Kössler

Animation Supervisors: Stardust Pictures, London - Robert Stevenhagen and Darren Vandenburg

CGI Supervisor - Nico Tuma

Editor - Uli Schön

Sound Designers - Donald J. Malouf

and Nikki Moss

Supervising Sound Editor - Alexander Saal

Re-Recording Mixers - Andy D'Addario,

Ray Gillon and Dean A. Zupancic

Re-Recording Mixer/Sound Re-Recording

Engineer - Hubertus Rath

Score & Original Songs - Peter Wolf

Lyrics - Ina Wolf

Review

In the 1990s, Disney was the prominent player in 2D animation following the success of The Lion King. Other non-Disney films, unfortunately, fail to imitate its wizardry. There lived an obscure movie from Germany based on a tale for children entitled THE FEARLESS FOUR. I haven't watched it for a long time. I'm excited to review this movie, as I have fond memories of it from my childhood. It is disappointing that Warner Bros. did not release the English translation in cinemas or a DVD/Blu-ray package. It let me down and forced me to find it on YouTube. The film's character animation didn't share the qualities of Disney or Don Bluth. It is distinctively impressive on its own. More appealing is that it is the earliest movie to combine its hand-drawn animation with outdated computer graphics.

While the makers of FEARLESS FOUR updated the story with a modern twist and for the English dub, it's not always faithful to its original release in Germany. Some scenes are bowdlerised by the studio when considered taboo and left in the cutting room. The characters are decent. The villain, Dr. Greed, has borne a resemblance to one of the Simpsons characters. The four musicians included James Ingram, Oleta Adams, Zucchero, and bluesman B.B. King. These lads are responsible for the singing and the voices of the animals.

THE FEARLESS FOUR has a profound message that teaches us not to mistreat our pets. This rare kids' musical requires devotion from anyone who hasn't seen it.

Star rating: (7/10) Good Movie

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