History Creator / DonBluth

* ProductionPosse: Don Bluth was always followed by Gary Goldman and John Pomeroy, and the three had left Disney at the same time to start Bluth's independent animation studio. Among the actors normally cast, Dom De Luise was a regular.

* NiceMice: Probably the only exception in any of his movies would be Ms. Field Mouse from ''Thumbelina''. Plenty of [[YouDirtyRat villainous rats]] in his work though.

Though, sadly, [[BittersweetEnding he couldn't really enjoy it]]. His films couldn't compete with Disney's juggernaut hits, and were lost in the overcrowded "all the animation that isn't by Disney" market. For a while in the '90s, it looked like he was ready for a comeback, but the competition with [[{{Pixar}}]] movies deemed to be a little too much.

[[caption-width-right:252:Don't let that smile fool you--he's the animation world's [[TheWoobie woobie]].]]

'''Don Bluth''' (1937-) is a former Disney animator to whom many a 1980s (and to a lesser extent 1990s) child owes much of their childhood.

Though, sadly, [[BittersweetEnding he couldn't really enjoy it]]. His films couldn't compete with Disney's juggernaut hits, and were lost in the overcrowded "all the animation that isn't by Disney" market. For a while in the '90s, it looked like he was ready for a comeback -- and then [[{{Pixar}} a little studio in Emeryville, California]], soon to also be known for gorgeous animation and offbeat but heartwarming stories, came along and changed the playing field forever...

* CoversAlwaysLie: The DVD covers to his films always use sub-par stock art and make the movie look far more [[LighterAndSofter cutesy]] than it really is. One of the worst victims, aside from the aforementioned "Family Fun Edition" of ''NIMH'' (perhaps better known for this because it has a more vocal fanbase), would have to be the cover of ''AnAmericanTail'', which shows Tanya as she appears in ''Fievel Goes West'', a movie Bluth ''didn't even direct''. And depending on which edition of the DVD it is, a lot of very minor background characters made it onto the cover, for whatever reason. Because the original VHS cover done by ''Drew Struzan'' apparently wasn't good enough anymore.

* GrayRainOfDepression: First appears in ''BanjoTheWoodpileCat'', and the scene of a little lost animal crying in the rain is replicated almost identically in ''AnAmericanTail''.

* OnlySixFaces: While his films aren't ''too'' bad about this, if you really pay attention a lot of his characters have similar facial features, body types and mannerisms. For example, compare [[WesternAnimation/AnAmericanTail Fievel]] to [[RockADoodle Edmond]], BanjoTheWoodpileCat to [[WesternAnimation/TheSecretOfNIMH Martin Brisby]], [[WesternAnimation/{{Thumbelina}} Jacquimo]] to [[WesternAnimation/AnAmericanTail Henri]], [[WesternAnimation/TheSecretOfNIMH The Great Owl]] to [[RockADoodle The Grand Duke of Owls]], [[RockADoodle one of the Duke's owl henchmen in the chorus]] (the one with the green cape, NOT Hunch!) to [[WesternAnimation/ThePebbleAndThePenguin Rocko]] and [[AnAmericanTail Warren T. Rat]] to [[WesternAnimation/AllDogsGoToHeaven Carface]] or [[WesternAnimation/TheSecretOfNIMH Ms. Shrew]].

* CatsAreMean: Written in giant, neon letters. There are but three notable exceptions: ''BanjoTheWoodpileCat'', of course, and the [[MySpeciesDothProtestTooMuch nice cat characters]] in both ''AnAmericanTail'' and ''RockADoodle''.

* BlueEyes: Any of the protagonists have that color of eyes, most notably, Fievel.

** ''Anastasia'' is his only dark movie of TheNineties, from what you can tell where one scene has the villain turning into a skeleton after being skinned alive by magic

Much as current CG animated movies tend to exist in the public mind as "either {{Pixar}} or DreamworksAnimation", his works were considered one of the two main forces in animation alongside {{Disney| Animated Canon}}. Bluth films are well-known for gorgeous character and effects animation and for a strong sense of fairy tale storytelling -- and [[{{Grimmification}} all that entails]]. His films tend to be darker (thematically and literally) than the standard Disney fare. They also overall tend to be much, much ''stranger''. Even his not-so-good movies have a cult audience, thanks to their crazy fever-dream logic and the fact that the animation is still ''really'' pretty.

** DVD and Blu-Ray releases of some of his more well-recieved films (especially ''{{WesternAnimation/Anastasia}}'') are selling pretty well, so that may get him more into the minds of Hollywood producers as well.

** In the late Eighties, Bluth was working on a project which, from [[http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v518/Tannhaeuser/DonBluth-BeautyandtheBeast.jpg surviving]] [[http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v518/Tannhaeuser/DonBluth-BeautyandtheBeast02.jpg stills]], would have been heavily influenced by Jean Cocteau's 1946 ''[[Film/BeautyAndTheBeast La belle et la bête]]'' -- an AnimatedAdaptation of "Literature/BeautyAndTheBeast". When he learned that the [[Disney/BeautyAndTheBeast Disney version]] was already being produced, he abandoned the project, wishing to avoid DuelingMovies. [[hottip:*: Depends on how one defines "heavily influenced" the very few story and character tidbits Bluth revealed about this treatment included a clairvoyant dog, a bird detective, an escape-artist lizard, the "King of the Bats", the "wee beasties", and "Queen Livia, herself"...most elements seem to have been of his own invention.]]

* EarnYourHappyEnding: In a lot of his films, this is probably the only thing that keeps his audiences from walking away severely depressed.

** In the late Eighties, Bluth was working on a project which, from [[http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v518/Tannhaeuser/DonBluth-BeautyandtheBeast.jpg surviving]] [[http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v518/Tannhaeuser/DonBluth-BeautyandtheBeast02.jpg stills]], would have been heavily influenced by Jean Cocteau's 1946 ''[[Film/BeautyAndTheBeast La belle et la bête]]'' -- an AnimatedAdaptation of ''BeautyAndTheBeast''. When he learned that the [[Disney/BeautyAndTheBeast Disney version]] was already being produced, he abandoned the project, wishing to avoid DuelingMovies. [[hottip:*: Depends on how one defines "heavily influenced" the very few story and character tidbits Bluth revealed about this treatment included a clairvoyant dog, a bird detective, an escape-artist lizard, the "King of the Bats", the "wee beasties", and "Queen Livia, herself"...most elements seem to have been of his own invention.]]

** ''Anastasia'' is his only dark movie of TheNineties, from what you can tell where one scene has a man turning into a skeleton after being skinned alive by Rasputin's magic.

* ParentalAbandonment: [[TheLandBeforeTime Littlefoot's mother]] was slaughtered by Sharptooth, [[AllDogsGoToHeaven Anne-Marie]] is an orphan, and Anastasia got separated, getting amnesia in the process, and ended up in an orphanage for 10 years of her life. With BanjoTheWoodpileCat and [[WesternAnimation/AnAmericanTail Fievel]] it was mostly their own fault they were abandoned.

* ''[[PetesDragon Pete's Dragon]]'': Lead animator on Elliot. This is said to be the movie that made him disillusioned with Disney and he quit soon after.

* ''VideoGame/SpaceAce'', another Interactive Movie, being ''Dragon's Lair'' [[RecycledInSpace IN SPACE]]!
* ''WesternAnimation/AnAmericanTail'': The first film he did alongside StevenSpielberg, and it was a huge financial success.

** After the success of ''WesternAnimation/TheSecretOfNIMH'', Bluth's second film was originally supposed to have been an adaptation of the fairy tale "Literature/EastOfTheSunAndWestOfTheMoon", but it never came to fruition because financial resources were drawn back. After teaming up with StevenSpielberg, Bluth's second film instead turned out to be ''WesternAnimation/AnAmericanTail''.

* ''{{Thumbelina}}'': It is Bluth's most stereotypically-Disney-like film prior to ''WesternAnimation/{{Anastasia}}''.

* AllAnimationIsDisney: The most prominent victim of this trope. He started with Disney before going independent, so it's only natural. And of course, it didn't help that he attempted a Disney-esque flavor with later films such as ''{{Thumbelina}}'' and ''WesternAnimation/{{Anastasia}}''. But his films became Disney clones because that's what studio heads wanted. That happens when you aren't in creative control of your own movies, unfortunately.

* CreatorBreakdown: ''Heavy'' ExecutiveMeddling attributed to the failures of ''{{Thumbelina}}'', ''WesternAnimation/ThePebbleAndThePenguin'', and ''ATrollInCentralPark''. It has been said that the overall crappiness of these films is due to their being the result of the studio heads asking Bluth to tone down his trademark weirdness.

* FollowTheLeader: ''{{Thumbelina}}'' and ''WesternAnimation/{{Anastasia}}'' were pretty blatant attempts to copy the Disney formula.

* OnlySixFaces: While his films aren't ''too'' bad about this, if you really pay attention a lot of his characters have similar facial features, body types and mannerisms. For example, compare [[WesternAnimation/AnAmericanTail Fievel]] to [[RockADoodle Edmond]], BanjoTheWoodpileCat to [[WesternAnimation/TheSecretOfNIMH Martin Brisby]], [[{{Thumbelina}} Jacquimo]] to [[WesternAnimation/AnAmericanTail Henri]], [[WesternAnimation/TheSecretOfNIMH The Great Owl]] to [[RockADoodle The Grand Duke of Owls]], [[RockADoodle one of the Duke's owl henchmen in the chorus]] (the one with the green cape, NOT Hunch!) to [[WesternAnimation/ThePebbleAndThePenguin Rocko]] and [[AnAmericanTail Warren T. Rat]] to [[WesternAnimation/AllDogsGoToHeaven Carface]] or [[WesternAnimation/TheSecretOfNIMH Ms. Shrew]].

Much as current CG animated movies tend to exist in the public mind as "either {{Pixar}} or DreamworksAnimation", his works were considered one of the two the main forces in animation alongside {{Disney| Animated Canon}}. Bluth films are well-known for gorgeous character and effects animation and for a strong sense of fairy tale storytelling -- and [[{{Grimmification}} all that entails]]. His films tend to be darker (thematically and literally) than the standard Disney fare. They also overall tend to be much, much ''stranger''. Even his not-so-good movies have a cult audience, thanks to their crazy fever-dream logic and the fact that the animation is still ''really'' pretty.

* OnlySixFaces: While his films aren't ''too'' bad about this, if you really pay attention a lot of his characters have similar facial features, body types and mannerisms. For example, compare [[WesternAnimation/AnAmericanTail Fievel]] to [[RockADoodle Edmond]], BanjoTheWoodpileCat to [[WesternAnimation/TheSecretOfNIMH Martin Brisby]], [[{{Thumbelina}} Jacquimo]] to [[WesternAnimation/AnAmericanTail Henri]], [WesternAnimation/[TheSecretOfNIMH The Great Owl]] to [[RockADoodle The Grand Duke of Owls]], [[RockADoodle one of the Duke's owl henchmen in the chorus]] (the one with the green cape, NOT Hunch!) to [[WesternAnimation/ThePebbleAndThePenguin Rocko]] and [[AnAmericanTail Warren T. Rat]] to [[WesternAnimation/AllDogsGoToHeaven Carface]] or [[WesternAnimation/TheSecretOfNIMH Ms. Shrew]].

* ParentalAbandonment: [[TheLandBeforeTime Littlefoot's mother]] was slaughtered by Sharptooth, [[AllDogsGoToHeaven Anne-Marie]] is an orphan, and Anastasia got separated, getting amnesia in the process, and ended up in an orphanage for 10 years of her life. With WesternAnimation/BanjoTheWoodpileCat and [[WesternAnimation/AnAmericanTail Fievel]] it was mostly their own fault they were abandoned.

* ParentalAbandonment: [[TheLandBeforeTime Littlefoot's mother]] was slaughtered by Sharptooth, [[AllDogsGoToHeaven Anne-Marie]] is an orphan, and Anastasia got separated, getting amnesia in the process, and ended up in an orphanage for 10 years of her life.

* ParentalAbandonment: [[TheLandBeforeTime Littlefoot's mother]] was barely slaughtered by Sharptooth, [[AllDogsGoToHeaven Anne-Marie is an orphan]], and Anastasia got separated, getting amnesia in the process, and ended up in an orphanage for 10 years of her life.

* ParentalAbandonment: [[TheLandBeforeTime Littlefoot's mother]] was barely slaughtered by Sharptooth, [[AllDogsGoToHeaven Anne-Marie is an orphan]], and Anastasia got separated, getting amnesia in the process, and ended up in an orphanage for 10 years of her life]].

* HumansAreBastards: In ''TheSecretOfNIMH''. It doesn't really crop up much elsewhere, humans are usually just ignorant in his other movies with animal protagonists.

* LighterAndSofter: Most of his 90s works compared to his 80s ones, ''especially'' "A Troll In Central Park".

* ParentalAbandonment: Literally, this one is in every single film.

** Bluth was going to work on ''Fievel Goes West'', but creative differences made him walk out on making it.

* ''{{Thumbelina}}'': It is Bluth's most stereotypically-Disney-like film prior to ''{{Anastasia}}''.

* ''{{Anastasia}}'': Intended to be his big comeback and [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ka2GMsbW4Jo was marketed as such]]. To date, his last big hit.

* AllAnimationIsDisney: The most prominent victim of this trope. He started with Disney before going independent, so it's only natural. And of course, it didn't help that he attempted a Disney-esque flavor with later films such as ''{{Thumbelina}}'' and ''{{Anastasia}}''. But his films became Disney clones because that's what studio heads wanted. That happens when you aren't in creative control of your own movies, unfortunately.

* FollowTheLeader: ''{{Thumbelina}}'' and ''{{Anastasia}}'' were pretty blatant attempts to copy the Disney formula.
* FurriesAreEasierToDraw: But then again, TitanAE and {{Anastasia}} both had very well-animated humans as main characters (humans were usually simply rotoscoped in his earlier films).
** TitanAE also used a significant amount of rotoscoping.

* SmallAnnoyingCreature: A stock character that shows up in his works to lighten the mood. Examples include Digit in ''AnAmericanTail'', Petrie in ''TheLandBeforeTime'', Hunch from ''RockADoodle'' and Bartok from ''{{Anastasia}}''.

** After the success of TheSecretOfNIMH, Bluth's second film was originally supposed to have been an adaptation of the fairy tale "Literature/EastOfTheSunAndWestOfTheMoon", but it never came to fruition because financial resources were drawn back. After teaming up with StevenSpielberg, Bluth's second film instead turned out to be ''AnAmericanTail''.

* ''TheRescuers: '' His first animation directing credit for Disney.

* ''TheSecretOfNIMH'': His first push for a return to the rich, classical style of [[TheGoldenAgeOfAnimation the older Disney films]], and his BreakthroughHit. Many fans and critics still consider this his best film.

* ''AnAmericanTail'': The first film he did alongside StevenSpielberg, and it was a huge financial success.
* ''TheLandBeforeTime'': Also produced alongside Spielberg and GeorgeLucas, making even more money than their previous collaboration.
* ''AllDogsGoToHeaven'': Still highly regarded for the most part, but didn't do too well at the box office. To be fair, the other animated film released that day was ''TheLittleMermaid''...

* ''ThePebbleAndThePenguin'': A film that was disowned by [[AlanSmithee Bluth himself]], because it suffered from abysmal animation and lots of ExecutiveMeddling during production.

* ''BartokTheMagnificent'': Direct-to-DVD, continuity-free sequel to the above and --this is important-- the '''only''' sequel to one of his films he was ever actually involved with.

** He also has intentions to start up a DragonsLair prequel detailing the backstories of the main cast. So there is some hope.

* CreatorBreakdown: ''Heavy'' ExecutiveMeddling attributed to the failures of ''{{Thumbelina}}'', ''ThePebbleAndThePenguin'', and ''ATrollInCentralPark''. It has been said that the overall crappiness of these films is due to their being the result of the studio heads asking Bluth to tone down his trademark weirdness.

* OnlySixFaces: While his films aren't ''too'' bad about this, if you really pay attention a lot of his characters have similar facial features, body types and mannerisms. For example, compare [[AnAmericanTail Fievel]] to [[RockADoodle Edmond]], BanjoTheWoodpileCat to [[TheSecretOfNimh Martin Brisby]], [[{{Thumbelina}} Jacquimo]] to [[AnAmericanTail Henri]], [[TheSecretOfNimh The Great Owl]] to [[RockADoodle The Grand Duke of Owls]], [[RockADoodle one of the Duke's owl henchmen in the chorus]](The one with the green cape, NOT Hunch!) to [[ThePebbleAndThePenguin Rocko]] and [[AnAmericanTail Warren T. Rat]] to [[AllDogsGoToHeaven Carface]] or [[TheSecretOfNimh Ms. Shrew]].

* {{Rotoscoping}}: Bluth likes to do this a lot, but he usually sticks with using it to animate difficult vehicles and such. The effect is very appropriate, as the giant rotoscoped machines in ''NIMH'' and ''American Tail'' look ''terrifying''. In more recent movies, this effect was largely replaced by ConspicuousCGI and the impact is... less good. Human background characters in ''TheSecretOfNimh'' and ''AnAmericanTail'' were also rotoscoped, though non-rotoscoped humans appear in later movies.