Redwall: The Adventure Begins

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If you think about it, Brian Jacques' Redwall series is perfect for a cartoon series -- you've got action, adventure, a hint of romance and lots of fuzzy animals. "Redwall: The Adventure Begins" is a solid first half to this animated adaptation, and it has a mellow medieval charm and optimism, as well as some endearing rodent creatures. The only problem is the "to be continued" ending.

Set in the middle of Mossflower Woods, Redwall Abbey is a place of peace and cooperation between all creatures that dwell there. But then the cruel sea rat Cluny appears and demands that the abbey surrender to him, and all its inhabitants become his slaves. A clumsy young monk named Matthias (whose family was murdered by Cluny) openly defies him -- and Cluny swears to get Redwall somehow.

Cluny and his allies begin a sneak assault on Redwall -- he sends his spy Shadow, infiltrates via a circus troupe, tries to tunnel into the abbey, and steals part of an inspiring tapestry. But...

EDITED VERSION: SCENES CHANGED!
This edition of "Redwall: The Adventure Begins" is highly edited from its original version, "Redwall: Season 1." I wouldn't have minded if scenes were just cut to make the film shorter, but different scenes were added that changed the whole plot/theme of the movie! We got the original version from our local library and enjoyed it very much; it was so close to the book and really exciting. We were disappointed, however, not to see a reasonably-priced DVD of it for sale. When this new DVD edition came out, I was ecstatic. I bought a copy for my brother as a Christmas present. When we got to sitting down and watching it, I was deeply chagrined......

--possible spoiler alert--

.......to find out that not only was Mattimeo made not find his sword (!) but a whole thing about a circus was added in with some female knife-thrower, palm-reading mouse that made Cornflower jealous. Everything was messed up. Why did Kaboom! change everything for?! To make it more politically...

Great Voice Overs
Appropriate for all ages the animation quality and story is passable interesting except the fiinal half hour or so where it starts to loose it's focus and ends rather weakly leaving you feeling as if the writers didn't know how to finish a story. The outstanding attribute to this animation is the selection of people to do the voice overs for the characters. Voices are often poorly selected in animations but this film is spot-on in that regard.

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