The Ranking of Don Bluth's Films 

Come now, if Abraham Lincoln can hunt vampires. Rasputin can be a purgatorial sorcerer with a talking bat for a sidekick.

Honestly the reason why the land before time was short is because during production, most of the scenes were cut due to it being incredibly dark for its demographic. Speilberg didnt want these scenes in there because of it disturbing parents and kids, despite Don Bluth wanting them in. I can personally understand why, and it didnt ruin the movie for me.

I think the film of Anastasia that makes it work, is that we know that the REAL story ended in tragedy. But the fantasy of having a happier ending to one of the historical characters with a hidden history of her tragic ending. And Rasputin's villain song rocks that really helps the movie.

In my opinion, All Dogs Go To Heaven is his best film. Back when I was a little kid, I used to watch that movie constantly; looking back to it brings back good memories and it's probably my favorite of Bluth's. I did the same thing with Land Before Time. The rest of the movies were good but I think his worse was Troll in Central Park, and for the movie, Titan A.E., that one wasn't very great. I don't mind Thumbelina, it was okay but I agree it wasn't the best. Also, Anastasia was a pretty good movie. I heard they made a musical from it. Hopefully, Don Bluth will return and keep making kids movies not just for the nostalgia but also to entertain people again. From what I heard, he's making a movie out of Dragon's Lair. He's made a success in making children's movies and my nephew likes Land Before Time. It'd be nice to see more movies of Bluth's.

10 The Pebble and the Penguin (20/100) 9 A Troll in Central Park (25/100) 8 Thumbelina (39/100) 7 Titan A.E. (60/100) 6 Rock-a-Doodle (69/100) 5 All Dogs goes to Heaven (79/100) 4 Anastasia (90/100) 3 An American Tail (95/100) 2 The Land Before Time (98/100) 1 The Secret of N.I.M.H. (100/100)

If we're going to talk about Ariel's faults, she did toss her family aside for a "chance" with a total stranger she'd just met. The Disney happy ending completely strips what was originally a cautionary tale of facing the consequences of your actions & not trying to be something you aren't. She was like a hardcore gambler who bet her house, car, & life savings all on one bet; Disney let her win, but in the anime, she loses everything.

I'm glad to see someone ranking Don Bluth's films! My favourites probably are "An american tail" and "All dogs go to heaven", but I also love "The secret of Nimh", "The land before time", "Anastasia" and even "Rock a Doodle", which I think is somewhat underrated. I used to love Thumbelina, nowadays probably not that much, but I wouldn't place it at the bottom. I think "A troll in central park" is his worst, but even that one I think had potential to be a good movie, if only the writing wasn't so inconsistent. Funny enough, I don't think scriptwriting was Don's strongest asset, even in his best ones. Most of them tend to be a little too episodic, with uneven pacing and plot holes. But what makes the good ones great is that they know how to appeal to the viewer's emotion. Don Bluth's films follow Walt Disney's old motto "For every laugh, there should be a tear". A bit of a side rant, regarding "The little mermaid": I think the current reading of Ariel's character is too exaggerated. She makes mistakes, but she's not a spoiled brat, her father was the one who was overbearing and unreasonable, and her reason to want to become human is relatable and valid. The current popular perception on her lacks nuance, instead of going as "hmm, maybe Ariel is a little flawed", people are now like "Omg, she's such a bad role model because she gave up her voice for a man, yadah, yadah, yadah".

The Secret Of Nimh, this is the greatest non disney animation movie ever, besides the fantastic vocal cast, the visual scenes are just magical & spectacular... Honestly, who doesn't love " FLYING DREAMS? "

My Ranked 10. A Troll In Central Park 9. Rock-A-Doodle 8. Thumbelina 7. Titan A.E 6. The Pebble and the Penguin 5. All Dogs Go to Heaven 4. Anastasia 3. An American Tail 2. The Land Before Time 1. The Secret of N.I.H.M

I have to disagree with your critique of Anastasia not working due to it being based off of real events because while it takes the name of those people the movie itself isn't trying to recreate the actual real life story. In fact it is a what if fairy tail scenario which separates itself from real life, it was even advertised as a what if pure fantasy setting in Russia when it was released back in the day and ended up doing pretty well there critically and box office wise because it was viewed through the line of a fantasy what if story instead of based on real life. TDR: Anastasia was NOT meant to be viewed as anything to do with history nor a historical recreation but a fantasy what if scenario which works surprisingly well

The thing I find special about Anastasia is that while it's a dodgy subject, being based a historical figure that has a tragic ending, and has a wild yet average premise, you can't help but enjoy it to a point that you WANT it to work. And I think that's because it's Don Bluth's grandest film in scale even if it isn't his best. It succeeds where Pocahontas doesn't for me. It has engaging characters, a story of growth and self-searching that hits the mark, and a soundtrack that connects the audience to the film and each other. I think the one thing that had it an average rating was the competition. Disney had so many animated musicals out at this point (up to Hercules in 1997) and even by Hunchback, audiences started getting tired of it and I think Anastasia got one look and it was lopped in with the bunch. And Pixar at this point was in the limelight with Toy Story, and 2D animation was beginning to decline. I think timing, audience reception, and marketing held it back. But with it now being on Disney+, we might see a resurgence and have it back on the map along with Don Bluth.

THIS IS BRILLIANT THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!! - Animation student

What about Bartok the Magnificent?

*My Ranking:* 1: The Secret of N.I.M.H. (1982) - Excellent 9,7/10 2: Anastasia (1997) - Exellent 9,5/10 3: An American Tail (1986) - Incredible 9,1/10 4: The Land Before Time (1988) - Great 8,9/10 5: All Dogs Go To Heaven (1989) - Okay 6,8/10 6: Bartok: The Magnificent (1999) - Okay 6,7/10 7: Titan A.E. (2000) - Mediocre 5,1/10 8: The Pebble and the Penguin (1995) - Mediocre 5,0/10 9: Thumbelina (1994) - Bad 4,9/10 10: Rock-a-Doodle (1991) - Bad 4,8/10 11: A Troll in Central Park (1994) - Terrible 2,3/10

Frankly as far as I’m concerned Don Bluth raised the bar so even his worst movie was pretty darn good I love the pebble and the penguin, there are some things that are annoying in it but it’s hard to hate anything don bluth made

Great ranking! My personal favorite has to be American Tail. The setting, the simple yet effective conflict, the themes of it, all just ring clearer there for me than any of Bluth's other movies.

I like Anastasia and the secret of nimh and rock a doodle Even though rock a doodle is bad

My ranking would be: 10. Rock-a-Doodle 9. A Troll in Central Park 8. Thumbelina 7. The Pebble and the Penguin 6. All Dogs Go to Heaven (I mean, I like this movie, but compared to some others, it clearly has more story issues and sometimes feels a bit too much for me, still a film with a lot of good heart and enjoyable characters) 5. Titan AE (very underrated honestly) 4. Anastasia 3. The Secret of NIMH (I love this movie, and keep in mind, the Top 3 here contains films I pretty much love equally, it is just that I prefer the other two slightly) 2. An American Tail 1. The Land Before Time

Funny thing you brought up land before times short runtime, apparently over 11 minutes of footage were cut and some of it was even edited around. Great ranking btw!

To be fair, I haven't seen Troll, Penguin or Thumbelina, but I'm of the opinion that all of Don Bluth's movies were great. The only criticism I have is for Rock-A-Doodle, and it's mainly that I think it would've been better had it only been an animated film.

I noticed some audio quality issues and editing mistakes in the last fifteen minutes, some of your points did go on for too long, and the occasional stuttering was grating. Despite these problems, I enjoyed the ranking fine enough. My favourite would have to be a tie between An American Tail, and All Dogs go to Heaven. The former is just an incredible piece of animation, and the latter is very unique and ambitious in its concept and execution.

Yup, Anastasia was bigger and better than any Disney movie from the era. Loved it as a kid.

Here's my ranking of worst to best: 10. A Troll In Central Park (shitty 💩) 9. Rock A' Doodle (dull asf 😒) 8. Titan A.E. (not a fan 💤) 7. Thumbelina (ehh 🙄) 6. Pebble and The Penguin (It's okay😕) 5. Anastasia (it's alright 👌) 4. All Dogs To Heaven ( its good😏) 3. The Secret of Nymph (great 🙂) 2. An American Tail (fantastic 😄) 1. The Land Before Time (amazing! ⭐😃)

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="444">7:24</a> "I'm a FAIRY!"

Nymh is definitely #1 Always have been a favorite.

The Catholic Church should officially designate The Secret of NIMH as a miracle of some kind, because based on ALL of Don Bluth's later work, there is simply no rational explanation for how this movie can exist and be this good.

My favorite Don Bluth movie series is All Dogs Go To Heaven and The Land Before Time movie series.

My 2 favorites are definitely ADGTH and Titan AE.

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="2021">33:41</a>-<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="2025">33:45</a> The Scooby-Doo and Ruff Ruffman franchises in a nutshell.

I watched Rockadoodle awhile ago. I was actually positively suprised how entertaining it turned out to be. Especially the owl villain was ton of fun. I liked how in one scene he was playing classic arch villain type and next we see him doing some baking and after that we see him sewing lace or something. The movie is crazy as shit and the kid character was annoying, but other than that I gave it a pass as I was waiting for something much worse. Or maybe I'm saying this because I was really high while watching it, but I rest my case.

My favourite Don Bluth movie was Anastasia, it's gave me my intense interest of the Romanov family, along with the stories that the people made of the duchess Anastasia. Some of the part of the plot were actually historically true! Like people trying to con thier way into the Romanov family claiming to be the duchess Anastasia. The musical of Anastasia definitely does do thier story justice, taking Rasputin out as the villain which makes sense due to him being the royal advisor of the family and actually showing in the last show off the family being lead into the basement and going more into depth of how Anastasia escaped and her families demise.

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="840">14:00</a> I love Rock-a-Doodle, it's not weird, and I love the songs and references ;-;

Fievel goes west is my favorite Don movie! Easily the best!

My opinion: 10. A Troll In Centrel Park (2/20) 9. The Pebble & The Penguins (5/20) 8. Titan A.E (9/20) 7. Anastasia (12/20) 6. Thumbelina (15/20) 5. Rock a Doodle (Sorry not sorry, (16/20) 4. Land Before Time (17/20) 3. The Secret of NIMH (19/20) 2. An American Tale (19/20) 1. All Dogs Go To Heaven (20/20)

I'm always astounded by how much respect this man gets from his fans. Even his best movies have erratic tone shifts and humongous plot holes.

Okay, I’m just going to put my very plausible assumption in about <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="1316">21:56</a> The real (Grigori) Rasputin got very close with the Romanov Family through the hemophiliac Son of Czar Nicholas and Empress Alexandra. He was mostly always available to come over and heal Alexei at Alexandra’s call. I’m pretty sure he got close enough to the family where he was introduced to all the Daughters of the Romanov family including Anastasia. I want to say there are even photographs on google of Rasputin with Alexandra and all of the children together. I Believe There’s no way that they could not have met each other at-least once.

1.) Land Before Time 2) Anastasia 3) Secret of NIMH 4) American Tail 5) Troll in Central Park. That's my listing of the ones I've seen. :) Can't say I'm too interested in the ones I haven't seen yet, other than All Dogs Go to Heaven

I'm sick of people hating on rock a doodle,such a cat hater

You know the irony is that some people who worked with don bolted to work on beauty and the beast

Did you notice that Don Bluth draws birds in a very unique way , eerily scary and wondrous at the same time. Especially the wise ones

I have The Secret of NIMH, All Dogs go to Heaven, An American Tail, Titan A.E., and The Land Before Time on DVD

Love the kingdom hearts music

Ehhh...I'd say Penguin easily beats Rock A Doodle for memorability's sake. Titan I haven't seen, but it's at least a daring narrative exploration.

Thumbelina: Even as a very young girl I disliked the movie and I was its target audience. It was because I hated the bird. Just use your wings and fly to help Thumbelina ???? Though I still like the love song, even to this day. Do agree that the movie came out way too late, but I just think Don chose the wrong HCA story to animate- even the original story is very clunky. Troll in Central Park: Don't remember much of this one. But it looks okay for very young children. Might rewatch it one day. Pebble and the Penguin: I LOVED this movie as a kid and still to this day. Yeah, the animation is rough and unfinished in parts buuut idc. It's a sweet romantic story. Rock Chicken: Remember seeing this again as a kid and liking it- rewatched it again as an adult and yeeeah. Very weird and very messy imo. Titan AE: Never seen this one. Though I love how Don took a bit of a risk and aimed a movie towards tweens/ teenagers. Might check it out. Anastasia: Love this one. One of my favorite animated movies of all time. Yeah, agree that it should've worked but it somehow did. I think it worked because we didn't know about Anastasia's true fate till a decade after this movie was made. Anastasia came in in '97 and rl Princess Anastasia's dead bones were discovered about '08. Land Before Time: Another one that I loved as a kid. Yeah, it's simple- but good. American Tail: Good movie. I was surprised by how depressing and how cruel it was at times though, even as a kid. Dogs go to Heaven: Watched this movie for the first time ever a few years ago and didn't really like it. It was ok. I just really didn't like the characters or the songs. The ending was bittersweet tho. The secret of NIHM: Another one I watched for the first time and liked it. Loved the animation and the strong female lead. It feels sweet and different but in a good way. Great video- was cool to hear your thoughts/ opinions and rankings! Jealous that you got to meet up with Bluth too!

It was either Thumbelina or ADGTH of Don’s I watched first but WAY back as a kid, my brother absolutely LOVED TLBT, I don’t know if he had Don’s original movie version, but I remember he loved the series made by a different studio and had them on DVD, it wasn’t until years later I realized Don made the original. :) (Ducky is my favorite in the original, R.I.P. precious Judith… Also, Anne Marie was my favorite in ADGTH as well…) Thumbelina is probably my most favorite though, I loved it as a little girl, as cheesy as it was, I recently watched it again years later and I still loved it, Thumbelina and Cornelius are my favorite but I have a new character I love in it now, (as I rediscovered Gilbert Gottfried and how much of a fan I was of him this entire time without realizing it as he made my childhood), remember Berkeley Beetle/Mr. Beetle in it? Yeah, he’s my favorite now, Gilbert’s voice as him in it LITERALLY has me DYING every time the character is on screen, his whole “HIYA TOOTS!” and everything OMG! He’s so funny! 🤣 Little me years ago didn’t quite understand his character but I KNEW it was Gilbert because I breifly remember Didget from Cyberchase during my childhood, and found out it was him), little me was like NO WAY! :D So yeah. XD Berkeley is weird by many fans, but honestly I kinda ship him and Thumbelina (I know, I’m weird. XD ) But honestly it works, (after her and Cornelius of course), the others? Yeah no, they were WAY to old for her.

I think in the 90s Don Bluth forgot why his movies in the 80s where such amazing gems, the reason why most people remember very well The Secret of Nimh, Fievel, Land before time and even All dogs go to heaven is because they are animated movies that were dark, more mature and even more violent than the Disney products, when he tried to copy Disney he failled because it was obvious that the 90s era from Bluth was full of bad Disney rip off, I respect Bluth but I think he's better with more edgy and mature stories than comedies and musicals

Do Jim Henson next.

Sadly All Dogs go to Heaven lost against Disney’s Little Mermaid

Can you rank all the don bluth villains

The name Of Troll in central park,Reminds me The meme Of The trollface 😂

I saw titan AE in theaters and I thought it was a good movie.

I dig The Secret of NIMH, but All Dogs Go to Heaven reigns supreme because of Carface. The only reason I went to see it was because it has a Pit Bull in it and I ended up addicted. I have a couple of Carface figurines.

Dud, i hate how your voice goes from Alvin to Clark Duncan in less than half a second lol

My opinion: 10. A Troll in Central Park (1/10) 9. Thumbelina (3/10) 8. The Pebble and the Penguin (4/10 only for Tim Curry) 7. Titan A.E (6/10) 6. The Land Before Time (7/10) 5. All Dogs Go To Heaven (8/10) 4. Rock A Doodle (8/10) *(don't judge I actually really love this movie)* 3. Anastasia (9/10) 2. An American Tail (9/10) 1. Secret of Nimh (10/10)

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="793">13:13</a> that cut is absolutely perfect

From where I sit, only A Troll in Central Park is utterly unwatchable as a film because of its overly pandering nature to children. All the others I recommend (although your mileage will vary for the bottom half of his filmography, including Thumbalina, Rock-A-Doodle, the Pebble and the Penguin, and Titan A.E.). But even Thumbalina with its very generic, cookie-cutter elements, such as strictly archetypical characters, Broadway pop musical numbers, and miniature fairy-scale world, still has things that are fun or interesting. The animation is solid, the character designs may be generic but are still appealing, and it does have some of that fairy tale magic in its tone and style that makes Hans Christian Anderson stories so timeless.

Sierpień 2024 Anastazja (1997)

Secret of NIMH is definitely his masterpiece

Just a heads up, Spielberg took 11 minutes out of Land Before Time which took out alotta darker moments!

I’m surprised All Dogs Go To Heaven got ranked higher than An American Tail in this video

I think Thumbelina is far from his worst work given the real fact that I kinda liked it as a child. Troll in Central Park i liked a tiny bit better. The Pebble and the Penguin felt flat to me. So that is the worst imo

I completely understand the criticism of magical and fantasy elements being smashed into a 'based on true event' story being jarring, but in defence of 'Anastasia' I don't think it was marketed as a 'true story' and almost every biopic and 'based on true events' live-action movie is immensely inaccurate and fictional.

Thumbelina got wings because she drank a certain beverage from a silver and blue can.

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="231">3:51</a> THUMBELINA!

At <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="466">7:46</a> when it shows "9. Not As Bad But Still Terrible". Where is that song from? :)

So Netflix bought mgm so can they make a all dogs go to heaven remake or reboot? I would like to see belladonna come back she was a ok villain i wished she should up more in the all dogs go to heaven tv series

My least fave was rock a doodle. Mrs brisby and the secret of the nimh was my favorite

Just watching the clips of Thumbelina alone (even though the songs are annoying in their own way), these visuals just kind of... grate on my nerves way too much. Everything is too damn whimsical. Chicks hatching already wearing clothes?? The character designs make the story suffer as well. I did like both versions of "Soon," and when Thumbelina's mother sings it, it's a genuinely moving song... and then the film keeps cutting to the various animals and they're just too silly for the mood the scene is trying to convey.

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="371">6:11</a> most based scene in an animated movie ever

Thumbelina gets a lot or undeserved hate, I really liked it, it was true to the original tale, I liked the characters, it was a lot better than people give it credit for. While it not a masterpiece like Secret if NIMH and not as good as Land Before Time & Anastasia it is still better than a number of Bluth's other movies.

All of his movies have a hint of creepy/skeevy. He’s a weird dude.

i love the troll in central park

My absolute least favorite Don Bluth film is Rock-a-doddle.

***Thumbelina: Character designs between the animal & humanoids feel REALLY disjointed, like Barbie & Ken got stuck in a Cuphead game. Had a couple of really good songs reminiscent of Aladdin. Very weak opening scene, which has THE worst song, turned off a lot a people. My favorite of his bad films. ***A troll in Central Park has zero likable characters, especially the baby, & is overly reminiscent of this awful christmas special called The Little Troll Prince. The child voice actors were terrible & the troll himself is so saccharine that he gives you cavities. No good songs at all. ***Pebble & the Penguin went through development hell, & it shows. There were rewrites, cut scenes, voices were recast, the staff reportedly worked on it fully expecting it to bomb. The main character is an absolute dork with an awful character design. No good music. ***Rockadoodle: No one in our family likes Elvis. The best song plays at the beginning & the rest of the music is absolute shyte, especially the villain crew's songs. The chemistry between the rooster & the chicken...Not feeling it. Too many character for a real sense of focus. ***Titan AE: Never saw it. The bland Grey & sepia color pallet & use of motion capture & CGI animation were all turn-offs for me at the time of its release. I was also completely burnt out on Sci-Fi thanks to 3 Star Trek series, Babylon 5, Space Cases, Farscape, Sea Quest, Earth 2, Stargate SG1, Futurama... ***Anastasia: Not as insulting as that animated Titanic movie with the talking octopus that claims that absolutely no one on the Titanic drowned, but it would have been better if they had just said it was inspired by the fame grifters claiming to be Anastasia. They didn't even pronounce her name right. ***Land Before Time: An excellent drama with some bold tragedy & beautiful music, & somehow it spawned a lot of truly godawful musical sequels. ***American Tale: Loved by parents. Kids preferred Fievel Goes West, which is the only good sequel a Bluth movie ever got. Good music. Unfortunately was a key inspiration for that awful Titanic movie with the talking octopus. Great world building with the scale of things & McGuyvering mechanics. ***All Dogs Go to Heaven. Doesn't insult the intelligence of older viewers, unique protagonist for a cartoon, gives Dom DeLuise someone to play off of, excellent villain, got a surprisingly good but short lived TV series, good music. ***Secret of NIHM: How fitting that his very best movie got the very worst sequel, even worst than Furngully 2. You watch this movie & wonder how much better The Black Cauldron might have turned out had it been an early Bluth film instead of a Disney one. Kinda LOTR vibes. Great end theme.

Marzec 2025

I'd put All Dogs Go To Heaven way below Anastasia. I hated that movie.

Have not finished the list yet, but Anastasia at 5 is ridiculous. I do like them, but movies like "All Dogs go to Heaven" and " An American Tail" above Anastasia is just wrong.

I never heard Ariel hate . how is she unlikable ?

All dogs go to heaven Anastasia land before time Rock doodle do Are my personal favs

Anastasia has a Broadway musical and I heard it’s better than the movie

Titan A.E... Is weird for me. I remember hating the first third, the second being decent, and being totally on board in the third act. So I have no idea if I like it, let alone think it's good.

I can help you get clips from things without the tags.

My top 5 Secret of NIMH Land Before Time Anastasia Thumbelina( Yes I liked it, I didn’t mind that Thumbelina was a sweet passive girl, and I don’t blame her for falling in love with Cornelius, & it was like the original fairytale) American Tail( I’m a Cat lover, a vegetarian cat seriously?, Cats sent to Hong Kong to be eaten, mice are jews & cats are nazis/soviets) Still the movies animation & songs are great with the exception of There are No Cats in America basically a copy of America in West Side Story. So while its a beautiful emotional film it does have it flaws that bother me HM: Titan AE Don’t like the Abrahamic religion Heaven & Hell buts in All Dogs Go To Heaven, while I watched it as a kid I am not a fan of it. Penguin & Pebble in my opinion was better . Rock A Doodle was lame but the girl was sexy

You can tell the reviewer didn't grow up when these films came out. The context and environment was different in the 90s. So this is a terrible review.

Love Secret of NImH ^^

I wanted to love Nimh, but Jeremy ruined the movie for he. He's so annoying and horribly creepy.

Dragons Lair I & II and Space Ace arent on here. Sacrilege

You're being over critical on thumbelina. I can't continue to watch this atrocious review.