Painter Saves the World!

November 30, 2007 11:52 AM

Name this presumably 80's era animated movie: an evil toad king with a screaming mechanical army has taken over the kingdom, and the hero of the story is a painter with an old style oval thumb palette and a blue beret.

May or may not have musical interludes, and I'm also not sure about the toad villain, but it seemed reptilian at the time apparently. May or may not have a princess involved. The "mechanical" army was this strange animation consisting of a silhouette of a bunch of faceless, glowing eyed armored soldiers with polearms, with an audio track that was akin to "rawrawrawrawr" as they stomped through the scene. I recalled this in a fleeting day dream, and I need to see it again!

posted by prostyle to media & arts (11 comments total)

For some reason I want to say "The Wind in the Willows" but I'm probably completely off.
posted by slyboots421 at 12:29 PM on November 30, 2007

Could it have been The Black Cauldron? I don't remember, but IMDB says the cauldron has the power to create an unstoppable army and is sought by the Horned King.
posted by LobsterMitten at 12:46 PM on November 30, 2007

Maybe Wizards? also.
posted by clanger at 12:52 PM on November 30, 2007

Also, one form of "strange animation" is called "rotoscoping". Ralph Bakshi used this in a couple of films in the '70s/'80s: Wizards, and The Lord of the Rings. Armies from those movies sort of look like the army you're describing.
posted by LobsterMitten at 1:15 PM on November 30, 2007

Seconding Wizards and LOTR. You might be mixing them up with something else, but your desciption is classic Bakshi. Heres an image search. Look familiar?
posted by damn dirty ape at 1:55 PM on November 30, 2007

Unfortunately it is none of those, although the screencap from Wizards was very appealing. They appear to be carrying spears of sorts, I distinctly remember the silhouettes of the armies weaponry being polearms with opposing axeheads as well as spikes. I don't know how you would describe this movie without describing the painter as the central hero, it was a very prominent theme.
posted by prostyle at 2:39 PM on November 30, 2007

I had also found The Magic Paintbrush but the book doesn't really sound too relevant in terms of details, and I can't find a screencap or clip to verify visuals.
posted by prostyle at 3:55 PM on November 30, 2007

Is it The Elm-Chanted Forest?

"A mysterious evil is bent on destroying the enchanted forest in this animated adventure from director D.V. Hreljanovic. If artist Peter Palette is to save the little woodland creatures, he must thwart a plot by the Cactus King to turn the forest into a desert. But first he must learn how to communicate with the animals -- thankfully, Peter gets a little help from a magical tree ... an elm, to be exact."
posted by iconomy at 7:45 PM on November 30, 2007

Here are three YouTubes - one shows a guy with a blue beret. 1 2 3.
posted by iconomy at 7:49 PM on November 30, 2007

Awesome! The polearms are in the 3rd link, and he must visit a frog somewhere... Cactus King indeed! Thanks, ico!
posted by prostyle at 8:50 PM on November 30, 2007

You're welcome! I actually found it because of your comment - I went to YouTube to see if there were any videos of The Magic Paintbrush. There were, and in the comments of the one I looked at, someone mentioned another cartoon with a character called The Cactus King, and I thought....hhmmm....and googled "animated movie" "Cactus King" painter and found Elm-Chanted Forest easily. And what a totally disturbing movie it is....I love it!
posted by iconomy at 9:08 PM on November 30, 2007