Okay, this movie isn't Disney. The character development is flawed to say the least but this is a good movie overall, considering what they had to work with. The only thing I really disliked about this movie was some of the writing. Irene would sometimes be shown to be pretty tough... then she'd turn into a complete idiot. Same with Curdie, but even more because he was supposed to be tough. And then he seems to forget to be consistent. This is evident when he's captured in the middle of the movie by the goblins and tries to sing to save himself. But then he seems to forget to keep singing, thus helping them capture him.And the music. The song they got was absolutely wonderful. It captures the story really well. Unfortunately, not only is it the only song in the movie, but it's repeated over and over again.That's the bad, but the good is still there. It is entertaining and sweet. I wouldn't recommend it for the older crowd but for kids, it's a pretty good movie and not one they'll be embarrassed about liking when they get older. The plot is good and the voice acting is great.

Maybe I'm just used to sound effects and music making scenes seem more dramatic, but this cartoon felt unfinished. There is very little music in any scenes to help set the mood. The sound effects are also missing a lot, like one scene a boy stomps the ground and it makes no sound. This is not a musical (hence there being no music), but one song appears about 5 times, like one of the writers were smart enough to think up one song and wanted to brag by playing it over and over again. The animation is also lacking quite a bit. Some cool tricks, like putting layers between the characters and foreground are used, but the actual animation is pretty bad. It almost looks like a good looking anime cartoon, or a bad looking Disney knock-off. These are the little things, that made this movie a step down in it's rating.Princess Irene escapes one day from her nanny, gets lost in the forest, and meets many of the horrible pets of the goblins who live in the area. A young miner boy, Curdie, finds her and scares off the animals by singing the only song in the movie. When Irene goes back to the castle, she meets her dead grandmother who tells her some odd secrets about the castle and the goblins. Curdie follows the goblins to their area of work, and chaos ensues.The best scenes in the movie are the ones featuring the goblins, and there are way too few of those. This movie is around 80 minutes, and the goblins have maybe, 10 to 15 minutes of screen time, but it seems longer because they're such interesting characters. Scenes with Irene in the castle can get quite boring, and what's strange is Irene's nanny Looti is actually a much more interesting character than Irene. Scenes with Curdie can be annoying, because he tends to think out loud, which just adds up to bad writing and inexpressive animation.Overall, this a fun movie, and it's somewhat cute and funny, but it's nothing special.My rating: ** 1/2 out of ****. 80 mins. G.

Before I go further, ask yourself, when did Little Mermaid come out? Then ask yourself, when did Jurassic park come out?1989, 1994. Aladdin? Here's the kicker.. 1992, same year as Princess and the Goblin.The reason I bring those films up is because, not only because of their success, but because of the sheer technical brilliance of the animation. Sure, some of Jurassic parks dinosaurs were made with robots, but it was also the starting points of major 3-D Animation. Which means back in 1992, they had the skill to produce a good movie. Not three years later did the first all CGI TV show premier on Saturday morning.The point is, the princess and the goblin was gipped. I can see the potential for a good story here, but with shoddy characters and character design, and the only good quality this movie had to boast about were the background and water animation..Let me continue on with the characters. Irené, the leading lady, was dense as a pickle. In fact you got more from a pickle, like, spice, pizazz. this kid has no personality, and was the poster child for cliché animated mannerisms. IE, every single girlish pose, she does in this movie.Next is Curdie, who's a broken record, repeating himself over and over with the key to stopping the goblins with not a witty repartee in the mix. He was NO Aladdin. Honestly this movie reminded me more of early low budget anime made in japan then it did a feature film.The villains, actually, had the most potential, I thought, they fought dirty, they were dark, but, yet again, they were brought down by the poor presentation. Froglips, as stated in his name, had this horrible lisp which only stole from his character. The mother I rather liked to a point, more towards the end of the movie, though, when she was fighting. Pacing and flow were something I gawked at. They would take a character away from a scene and often have no follow up scene to show any characters were effected by it. In short, this movie is so driven by plot that it ignores character development.In short, this one's better left to clips on youtube.

The Princess and the Goblin is a story about bravery and loyalty. This animated version features a lovely song, excellent voice acting and enjoyable animations. Curdie, the miner boy, sings a song with such haunting beauty that you feel the power in it (reminiscent of a soloist in the Vienna Boy's Choir). The song remains in your memory long after you watch the movie.From the beginning, the encounters with the goblins and the cobs are handled in an unexpected and amusing fashion.My family liked The Princess and the Goblin and we recommend it. This movie is refreshingly different from other animated fare, and it brought the 1872 book by George MacDonald to life.