Released to home video as a feature in 1995, this is the pilot episode for "Gargoyles," a high-profile syndicated cartoon series that represented a three-year effort by Disney's television team, yet feels inescapably like a gothic rendition of the "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles."
The saga begins in 10th-century Scotland. The gargoyles are the fearsome, winged survivors of an ancient, nocturnal race. Dormant during the day (living in the form of stone statues) the gargoyles guard Castle Wyvern, coming alive on the battlements at night to defend the castle against marauders,
even though the resident princess and her sorceror distrust the noble creatures. The gargoyles are powerless one day when a human traitor causes the castle to be sacked by Viking invaders. By dusk most of the gargoyles are shattered, and the vengeful sorceror casts a spell leaving the rest
perpetually petrified.
A millenium later, tycoon David Xanatos breaks the spell by shipping the ruins of Castle Wyvern brick by brick to his soaring Manhattan skyscraper. Their reawakened chief, mighty Goliath, leads his dwindled clan to defend their new roost when mystery commandos strike. Xanatos claims the raiders
are soldiers from a rival company, and sends the loyal gargoyles to sites throughout the metropolis to grab computer data allegedly stolen from him. Of course, Xanatos is the evildoer, in partnership with Goliath's estranged mate Demona, attempting to trick the gargoyles into being tools of
corporate espionage.
Clever scripting draws a parallel between twin betrayals 1,000 years apart, but the storyline disappoints with Xanatos' master plan--a set of robot-duplicate gargoyles, whom he sends to fight the originals. Didn't Leonardo, Raphael, Michaelangelo and Donatello do this bit more than once? The
baddies are defeated partially thanks to the character who qualifies as an "April O'Neil" surrogate, pretty NYPD Det. Elisa Mazza who went on to become Goliath's Beauty-and-the-Beast-like companion in the TV series, in which Goliath, Elisa and the other gargoyles (who take names from NYC
geography) traveled through time and space, and re-encountered Demona and Xanatos, among other friends and foes.
The film's animation art is acceptable, with particularly good backgrounds, but owes a major debt to Fox Television's stylish "Batman" cartoon (spun off into the theatrical feature BATMAN: MASK OF THE PHANTASM). One wonders how native Japanese animators who have rendered truly horrific demons,
notably in the adults-only LEGEND OF THE OVERFIEND, would have approached this material, though there's already a hint of anime in this pic's fanciful Jules Verne version of a New York with incredible towers, patrolling airships and laser rifles. But coy violence (never have so many bullets missed
so many huge, winged targets), dude-speak dialogue, and weak plotting mark this for American kiddie consumption. Good character voices, including "Star Trek: The Next Generation" cast members Frakes and Sirtis, make the best of an intriguing and atmospheric premise adrift in gadgets and gimmicks.
At least the markedly somber tone never allows Goliath to cry "Cowabunga!"(Violence) leave a comment
