Alakazam the Great
It's an anime film about a monkey who was afraid of everything until he becomes King and is now a real dick to everyone and everything.
Then, learning about Merlin the Magician, wants to have magical power like him but uses it for personal gain.
Now he must unite with a Prince, a pig and a hobo to fight evil, save the world and yada yada yada.
This movie is not my cup of tea.
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Jennifer commented
Am watching this on Comet right now. I first read about it in the book The Fifty Worst Films of All Time. This does have its charms--the animation, by Osamu Tezuka, is really lovely--but it would make a great candidate for Rifftrax or the new MST3K. In its original Japanese version, it was an adaptation of the Buddhist myth of the Monkey King and the Journey to the West, but the American dub removed all Buddhist references, making this just a "magic kingdom", giving the characters some rather juvenile-sounding names (including changing a Buddhist deity to Merlin The Magician!), and giving the story a catch-all "learn humility and be good to your neighbor" storyline. They also recorded a new soundtrack (and to its credit, it's beautifully orchestrated) with some songs that are obviously trying to follow in Disney's footsteps. There are also quite a few Big Lipped Alligator Moments (some sort of pageant that shows an animal "unzipping" various outer coats like a Russian nesting doll and turning into other animals while doing so). The voice cast is talented, but a little cheesy--Sterling Holloway is the narrator, Jonathan Winters a bumbling pig, Dodie Stevens (singer of "Tan Shoes And Pink Shoelaces") the hero's girlfriend, and Frankie Avalon is Alakazam's singing voice. His speaking voice is provided by Peter Fernandez, aka Speed Racer--which could give riffers a field day. The dialogue is rather ridiculous in spots--full of American idioms and some rather corny jokes (Alakazam to his girlfriend when she pleads to go with him to see Merlin: "Magicians don't like girls. They saw them in half!"). Even without the American re-dub, it seems Tezuka put in some modern visual jokes and references into the ancient myth--as some Disney movies have done. In short, it's got enough virtues to make it not entirely unbearable, but the attempt to shoehorn the ancient story into a Disney mold gives it plenty of riffability.