Day 218: "Do I get the job, or should we move right onto the shark infested waters test?"

At one time, George Lucas really was a talented storyteller and an amazing judge of quality in others' projects.  Released in 1983, Twice Upon A Time was one of the films that he produced during his most prolific period.  This uniquely animated movie always piqued my curiosity, but always found something else to watch or couldn't find a copy to see.  FINALLY, I got to see this wonderful movie.  Twice Upon A Time is the story of the dreamworld where, there is an ongoing battle for airtime in peoples' sleep: the nightmares and the good reams.  The leader of the nightmare "corporation," Synonamess Botch (greatest villain name EVER) tricks two employees of the dream group (they work in the Garbagerie: the disposal room of rejected dreams) into sabotaging the Cosmic Clock.  This is the device that, once disabled, will now allow him to broadcast nightmares continually.  This is not only a beautiful movie to watch, but it is one of the most cleverly written as well.  I was laughing out loud in a lot of places, and laughing hard.  The comedic timing is brilliant, and the script is smart and moves along at an almost machine gun pace.

The cast in this consists of relative unknowns, the lone exception being Lorenzo Music (the voice of Garfield the Cat on his own show).  All of the characters are played totally over the top, from the sinister Synonamess Botch, to the hero-in-training Rod Rescueman, to Ralph, the all-purpose animal.  Even Mumford, the lone mute character, is played like Chaplin's Little Tramp.

This movie is an absolute blast to watch.  It's a bit short, but that just means you can watch it again immediately, because there will be something you missed the first time through.  I loved this and really hope that it gets the Blu-ray release that it deserves.  This is a brilliant movie that has been overlooked for decades, don't make the same mistake I did: see it.  9.25/10.

See you tomorrow, and GO WATCH A MOVIE!!