When Mike said he was choosing a movie about a troll for this week’s episode of “Oh No! A Giant Monster!”, I naturally assumed he would make the obvious choice of an animated classic. No, not those silly “Trolls” movies with Anna Kendrick and Justin Timberland or whatever his name is; those are just colorful jukebox movies that I guess SOME people enjoyed. Nor did I expect “Trollkins: the Movie” but mainly because that remains sadly unfilmed. No, I truly believed that Mike would choose the greatest cinematic portrayal of a troll: Don Bluth’s tragically misunderstood “A Troll in Central Park.” Starring the voice talents of such luminaries as Dom DeLuise, Haley Mills, and Charles Nelson Riley (not to mention Cloris Leachman), this emotional tour de force has long been dismissed simply because it has a 14% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and because of ludicrous criticisms such as “slow” and “cloying” and “this is the same guy who did ‘Secret of NIMH’? What happened?” I am very sad to announce that Mike showed a similar barbaric response when I suggested that this would be his choice, mostly involving him laughing until Bosco came out his nose. No, he chose a giant monster movie (ok, that’s SLIGHTLY more in keeping with this series’ theme) from some country called Nogaway or something. I think he made it up. Anyway, courage, Don Bluth! I will tell the story of your greatest troll-based triumph some day! Until then, give a listen.
Poll question: what do you think is the most effective movie monster? Leave a comment or call our Giant-Monster-Sighting Hotline at 617-398-7266.
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I keep thinking Troll Hunters and this are the same movie and I should have watched this one instead of avoiding them both!
Hard to be more effective than Godzilla. It is powerful and keeps changing and adapting over the decades. It can be silly or terrifying. I do think Giger’s alien is a contender despite the farther you go into the franchise the more watered down it gets. Even in the worse alien films if you ever saw it coming for you would freak the F out. In the film Aliens when the alien queen was coming in up in the elevator and ship to save them was nowhere to be seen the audience started screaming “kill yourselves! kill yourselves before it gets you! Jaws has a shot as most effective in that after one movie it permanently scarred generations of people and is still keeping them out of the water to this day!
I remember the first time I saw “Jaws”; I thought I’d never go within a thousand feet of the ocean again…
Godzilla really does have the terror of a force of nature but I’d give the edge to the alien queen; that first shot of her…. I remember how silent the whole theater got.