Titanic: The Legend Goes On (Italian: Titanic, mille e una storia[5] or Titanic: La leggenda continua), also released as Titanic: The Animated Movie,[6] is a 2000 Italian animatedmusical film about the sinking of the RMS Titanic, written and directed by Camillo Teti.[7]
Plot
The story begins on the White Star Line–chartered boat train, which is carrying passengers to the RMS Titanic. A poor girl named Angelica, is treated as a servant by her wicked stepmother and two stepsisters. She dreams of finding both love and her missing mother, with only a blue locket as a clue to her mother's identity.
At the same time, an upper-class English man named William boards with his maid, who laments the loss of her daughter years ago, and his secretary, Gaston. Other passengers include the gold-digging Winnie, a failing banker named Jeremy McFlannel, a jewel thief named Corynthia Meanstreak, her two henchmen Kirk and Dirk, a detective named Sam Bradbury, who has been sent to pursue them, and Molly, a gorgeous singer. Also boarding in the cargo hold are a group of animals, including a family of Yiddish mice, some geese, a dog named Fritz, a magpie named Hector, and a band of Mexican mice. Throughout the voyage, the various passengers meet and interact. William and Angelica fall in love at first sight, while Winnie and Jeremy fall for each other after Winnie's dog Flopsy trips him. Gaston, meanwhile, attempts to woo Molly with Angelica's locket, which he found after she unknowingly dropped it. Sam goes undercover to find Corynthia, while Kirk and Dirk make several unsuccessful attempts to steal jewelry from Winnie.
The film reaches its climax at a reception held in honor of the passengers. Angelica is able to attend with William after her cabinmate Victoria loans her a suitable dress. Meanwhile, the Yiddish mouse child Maxie discovers that Angelica is missing her locket and recruits the other animals to help search for it, finding it in time for her to wear it to the reception. Upon seeing the locket being worn by Angelica, and hearing the correct implication from one of the ship's officers that it was stolen when she received it, Molly slaps Gaston and leaves him. When Gertrude, Bernice and Hortense (the stepmother and stepsisters, respectively) attempt to break up Angelica and William, Maxie scares them off. Kirk and Dirk manage to successfully steal a pearl choker from Winnie, but learn that it is fake, as Winnie is not rich and uses fake jewelry to infatuate wealthy men.
The Titanichits an iceberg and begins to sink as the passengers rush for the lifeboats. Angelica, Victoria, and Victoria's grandchildren manage to avoid her stepfamily, who have boarded a lifeboat, reunite with William and they lead the steerage passengers to the boat deck. All of the animals escape on floating crates, rescuing the ship's cook in the process, and are led to safety by dolphins. Winnie chooses to stay behind with Jeremy, who reveals to her that he is not the rich man she thought he was – he was on his way to America to be bailed out after his bank failed.
Despite learning this, Winnie still loves him and they remain on the ship to die together. Molly also chooses to stay on the ship, singing and dying with the band. William grabs a small child to protect them as he falls overboard, while the ship breaks in half and sinks beneath the ocean. He puts the child safely in a nearby boat, but his foot is trapped in a rope from the ship's stern, and he is dragged down with the ship, apparently dying. On one of the lifeboats, Angelica discovers that William's maid is actually her mother and the two are reunited. They come across Sam in the water and pull him aboard. William surfaces (having freed himself from the rope and stayed alive underwater) alongside the boat and is reunited with Angelica. An epilogue reveals that the two were married and lived happily ever after, Detective Sam Bradbury put Corynthia behind bars, Kirk and Dirk married Angelica's stepsisters, and Gaston married a wealthy socialite, hoping to live off her money but ending up in charge of her home's household chores.
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Titanic: The Legend Goes On was in production for three years.[3]
Release
It was released to theaters on 15 September 2000 in Italy,[1] and received a DVD premiere in Canada the following July.[4] The Canadian VHS by Equinox Entertainment (titled Titanic: The Animated Movie) and DVD has since gone out of print, though it has been re-released by Third Millennium Distributions.[8]
English versions
There are two English versions done with the same cast: an uncut dub, and a drastically cut and re-edited dub. The latter one features an altered plot, with entire scenes edited in a different sequence, removed, re-used, or placed before other scenes, as well as different music score and songs by Matt McGuire.[9] While the uncut version is 82 minutes long, this version was shortened to 58 minutes, plus 12 minutes of credits showing some deleted scenes, bringing the runtime to 70 minutes.
Reception
The film was described by Linda Maria Koldau, author of The Titanic on Film: Myth versus Truth, as being "a failed Disney imitation that excels in bad taste".[10] Christopher Campbell of IndieWire wrote that the film was "inappropriate for children" and that "it's so terribly written and drawn that it's offensive to the Titanic's memory."[11] Film critic Tim Brayton of Alternate Ending said it was "Among the most nuttily enjoyable bad movies of the 2000s."[12][13]
Titanic: The Legend Goes On has appeared on several "worst-ever" lists. British film magazine Total Film named it as the worst film ever made, after it topped a list of the 66 worst films ever in 2012.[14]Total Film also included it on a list of the "50 Worst Kids Movies", noting that it is "Widely considered one of the worst animated movies ever made."[15] Likewise, Spanish film magazine Fotogramas selected it as one of the 20 worst films ever made.[16]Collider also described it as one of the worst films ever made, but notes that it "[lacks] the cult following that other bad films often acquire."[17] While noting its inclusion on list of the worst films, Rachael Johnson of MovieWeb listed it as the worst film about the Titanic.[18] Will Roberts of American-based Showbiz Cheat Sheet listed it as the worst animated film ever made, while Screen Rant included it on a list of the twelve worst animated films of all time.[19][20] It became the lowest-rated film on IMDb's Bottom 100 list in 2012.[21]
^ abcMorandini, Laura; Morandini, Luisi; Morandini, Morando. "Titanic, mille e una storia". il Moranidini: Zanichelli editore (in Italian). MYmovies / MoNet. Retrieved December 3, 2011.
^Fara, Giulietta; Cosulich, Oscar, eds. (2006). Future Film Festival (in English and Italian). Edizioni Pendragon. p. 115. ISBN88-8342-444-1. Retrieved May 29, 2010.
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