DUCKTALES, THE MOVIE: TREASURE OF THE LOST LAMP. Directed by Bob Hathcock; written by Alan Burnett; produced by Bob Hathcock for Disney Movietoons. Animated. Rated G.
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Duck Tales doesn't rank with Sleeping Beauty or Fantasia as an all-time great animated movie. But it's certainly head and shoulders above other TV-show expansions that I've seen.
It's got a reasonably interesting and coherent script, good voice talents for its characters, and maintains the high Disney quality of its animation.
Fans of the syndicated "Ducktales" TV series won't need any introduction to the characters involved in the movie, and it's a good thing, because the plot jumps right into the middle of an adventure at the very beginning of the movie.
Scrooge McDuck (Alan Young), who loves money more than almost anything, but is still considered to be a sympathetic figure, is hot on the trail of a legendary treasure. He acquires it, and loses it again, early on in the movie, but overlooks the most valuable piece in the collection—a magic lamp inhabited by a powerful (but also winsome and entertaining) genie (Rip Taylor).
This creature makes friends with Scrooge's great-nephews Huey, Dewey and Louie, and ends up saving them all from the evil wizard Merlock (Christopher Lloyd), who also wants the lamp. The best voices belong to Merlock, understandably, and his side-kick Dijon (Richard Libertini). But they naturally get their just desserts before the final credits, in the best cartoon tradition.
Parents of young children (the ones most likely to be demanding to see Duck Tales, and the ones most sure to enjoy it) will find the movie diverting. So while it doesn't have the agelesss appeal of Disney's best, we can appreciate that, at least.
September 5, 1990