Movie Reviews for Rumpelstiltskin

Rumpelstiltskin

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Movie Reviews of Rumpelstiltskin

Movie Review: "I NEED A MIRACLE"
Summary: 4 Stars

"I Need A Miracle", sings the beautiful miller's daughter Katie (Amy Irving)-- and she needs that miracle quickly!
Because of her father's foolish boasts, she must spin straw into gold, or die! Enter Billy Barty as the mischievious title character/elf who seizes the opportunity to exploit Katie's plight for his own ends.
"RUMPELSTILITSKIN" was the first of the popular Cannon Movie Tales series of live-action fairy tale films.
Directed and written by David Irving from the Brothers Grimm story , this film is very much a family affair. David directs his mother Priscilla Pointer and sister Amy. Priscilla Pointer plays Queen Grizelda, who seemed very evil to me. Grizelda would sooner see Katie killed than have her son Prince Henry (John Moulder- Brown) marry the poor girl. Clive Revill is the ridiculously pompous and greedy King Mezzer.
It is wonderful to see Amy Irving ("CARRIE", "YENTL", "CROSSING DELANCY") in a starring role that gives her so much screen time. It is also nice to have Billy Barty as the title elf, who really is not as generous as he seems. He really wants to steal someone and use them as a slave and cook so he can have fun all day. As King Meezer's greed increases, the price of the elf's help grows higher and higher. He always speaks in rhymes and alternately giggles and screams as he works his magic. Rumpelstiltskin is a very spooky and scary little elf, indeed.
The songs by Max Robert, including "Straw Into Gold," "I Need A Miracle", "I'm Greedy," and "One Little Name," are serviceable to the plot but not particularly memorable. I wish the character of Prince Henry had been more developed in the screenplay. John Moulder-Brown has very little to do except hang around and hope Katie won't be killed by his father and mother so that he can marry her. Katie receives invaluable assistance from a talking raven and a supposedly mute servant girl named Emily. Henry should have been a more active Prince and participant on her behalf.

Movie Review: the very first of the Cannon MovieTales
Summary: 4 Stars

RUMPELSTILTSKIN was the very first installment of the Cannon MovieTales series in 1987. These great, family-friendly musicals have become quite popular and beloved over the years, and have now found their way to DVD.

"A promise made is a promise kept": that's the moral of this delightful fairytale which tells the story of Katie (Amy Irving), the beautiful miller's daughter who, according to her tale-telling father, can spin straw into gold. Of course, she cannot perform this task, but the greedy King Mezzer (Clive Revill), so taken with the concept of more wealth, demands that Katie spins the straw into strands of gold...or she will die. In the attic of the castle, Katie is visited by a strange little man, who offers to spin the gold...but for a price.

Amy Irving shines with a delicate performance; and reveals a lilting singing voice with such musical numbers as "Queen of the Castle", "I Need a Miracle", and "One Little Name". This film was very much a family affair for the Irving clan, because Amy's brother David Irving was the director, with their mother Priscilla Pointer as Queen Grizelda.

Clive Revill also turns in a suitably-hammy performance as the King; and Billy Barty commands with his wonderful turn in the title role. Yael Uziely is also very effective as the mute ladies' maid. John Moulder-Brown plays Prince Henry.

This was the premiere installment of the Cannon MovieTales series (which were filmed, very economically, back-to-back on location in Israel); however the subsequent titles all went straight to video.

A fantastic family musical at a price that's bound to please--and be sure to seek out the other Cannon MovieTales titles!

(Single-sided, single-layer disc)

Movie Review: A Fairy Tale with a Good Song.
Summary: 3 Stars

Worth watching if only for the one song "One Little Name" sung by Amy Irving. All the songs are pleasant within this musical. Enjoyable.

A bragging miller gets his daughter in a jam. She must spin straw into gold for a greedy king. She makes a bargain with a "bad" elf. When she becomes princess, she must guess the elf's name or give him her baby.

"Hansel and Gretel" by the same studio is good too, with a witch with a lot of personality, probably doing a lot of ad-libbing.

I suggest how they could have written a better script under the "comment button" below.