Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		3.0

The Hero of Color City Blu-ray Movie Review

Good Cause, Dull Film

Reviewed by Michael Reuben November 30, 2014

Magnolia Pictures has joined the world of children's entertainment with an animated film whose biggest appeal for adults is its charitable impulse. Both the film and the extras urge viewers to donate used crayons to the worthy cause represented at crayoncollection.org, where they can be redistributed to children whose families are too poor to afford them. The film itself represents its creators attempt to celebrate the power of childrens' imagination and their plea to help it develop.

Like the toys of the Toy Story franchise, young Ben's crayons come to life when people aren't looking. At night they dive into their box and return to the secret world of Color City, where their colors are refreshed. On this particular night, however, they are pursued by two of Ben's unfinished drawings, who are desperate to become more than sketches. Determined to attract the crayons' attention, the drawings decide to damn up the mystic color "falls" that supply all of Color City's needs. Uncertain why the colors have stopped flowing, but guided by the deductions of a learned crayon named Dr. Heliotrope, Ben's intrepid crayons must embark on a dangerous mission to save the city.

Both the crayons and the drawings have distinctive personalities supplied by an impressive array of vocal talent. The heroine is Yellow (voiced by Christina Ricci), who, true to her name, is afraid of everything. Naturally, during the course of the mission, she will have to learn to be brave. Wayne Brady voices the very cool Blue, for whom courage seems to come naturally. Rosie Perez voices Red, with attitude. Davie Kaye provides the pessimistic tones of Black, who, as the filmmakers acknowledge, has been modeled on Eeyore of Winnie-the-Pooh. Jeremy Guskin is White, who suffers from a deep sense of inferiority, because he never gets used. Jess Harnell is the enthusiastic but overly fussy Green.

The uncompleted drawings wreaking havoc are represented by Craig Ferguson, who speaks in lively tones for an undefined flying object known as Nat. His much bigger companion, called King Scrawl, does all the heavy lifting, and has no mouth for most of the film so that, for a long time, he can only make noise, which is supplied by David Kaye, in a second role. Other drawings are voiced by Jessica Capshaw, Owen Wilson and Sean Astin. Not surprisingly, by the end of the film, they all overcome their differences and become friends.

The animation is certainly capable, but the story is simplistic and not very interesting. In trying to keep it simple for the kids, the filmmakers have made the mistake of failing to supply enough substance to hold their parents' interest. The best they can offer is an occasional movie reference, such as a parody of King Kong's ascent of the Empire State Building, or a crayon character modeled on someone else, such as Professor Heliotrope, who is obviously based on Jerry Lewis's Julius Kelp in The Nutty Professor. (How many of today's parents will get the reference?) Even the extras (see below) are kid-oriented. When the film's producer is reduced to begging (in the behind-the-scenes) that reviewers remember, before they sit down at the keyboard and type out anything negative, what it was like to be three or four and look at the world with eyes of wonder, it's almost a confession of failure. The best animated features inspire that sensation of awe without anyone having to ask for it.

The Hero of Color City Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Magnolia Home Entertainment's 1080p, AVC-encoded Blu-ray provides a perfectly fine image for computer animation, with no obvious artifacts, noise or interference and colors that are bright and saturated, except when they deliberately begin to fade as part of the plot (that is, as the dammed-up color falls cause Color City to begin losing its luster). Although the average bitrate of 21.89 Mbps is low by Magnolia's standards, the fact that the project was digitally originated and the relative simplicity of the digital animation (as opposed to the complex frames of, say, a Pixar production) allows this degree of compression without obvious issues.

The Hero of Color City Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The film's lossless DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack provides a fine rendering of big effects like the journey through the "wormhole" to Color City and the climactic breaking of the dam that is blocking the color falls. It also renders the obligatory songs that are now a standard part of any feature animation film to be heard with clarity and fidelity. The soundtrack is credited to Zoë Poledouris (elder daughter of the late Basil Poledouris) and her husband Angel Roché Jr.<

The Hero of Color City Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The extras for The Hero of Color City have been formatted to be child-friendly. Many of them bring up screens with an array of characters from the film, who can then be selected one by one.

• Playing the Characters (1080p; 1.78:1; 9:53): Interviews with Ricci, Ferguson and Astin.



• Behind the Voices (1080p; 1.78:1; 4:01): Clips of recording sessions with Ferguson, Astin and Elizabeth Daily as "Tutti Frutti".



• Colorful Crayon Lines: Select a character and listen to a typical line.



• Creating The Hero of Color City (1080p; 1.78:1; 8:48): This EPK features producer John D. Eraklis and director Frank Gladstone discussing the film's themes and its animation techniques.



• The Hero of Color City Sing-Along (1080p; 1.78:1; 6:34): Follow the bouncing crayon as it leads the viewer through the words onscreen.
• Ring a Little Bell
• Heave Ho (Boat Song)
• Color the World



• Crayon "Juke Box" Music Medley (1080p; 1.78:1; 9:53): Though not a music-only track, this selection of mostly instrumental highlights from the film's soundtrack captures its biggest moments, while the corresponding scenes play in an inset window.



• Artwork & Drawing Galleries (1080p): Divided into "Characters" and "Places", these galleries contrast the line art with the finished drawings.



• Kid-Friendly Recipes from Bumble Bee (1080p; 1.78:1; 6:12): The "Bumble Bee" refers to the tuna trademark. All of the recipes involve tuna.



• Crayon-Collection—How to Donate Your Crayons (1080p; 1.78:1; 0:47): This is the same PSA that plays after the film's credits.



• How to Print Out the Coloring Pages: Directs the users to a website.



• How to Get the Soundtrack: "Available now in stores and online."



• BD-Live: Unlike most Magnolia releases, this one does not have trailers for other Magnolia features, although it does include a promo for the Chideo web service at startup. As of this writing, attempting to access BD-Live resulted in the message: "Check back later for updates".

The Hero of Color City Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

There's nothing wrong with The Hero of Color City, and it may well fire the imagination of kids who like drawing or inspire those who haven't yet opened a box of crayons to try playing with them. But the bar in the world of animated features has been set very high, and anyone who wants to enter the field should expect to be judged accordingly. By the prevailing standards, Color City suffers from a dearth of storytelling imagination. Strictly for kids.