Topia (1981 film)

Topia is a 1981 American animated fantasy adventure film written and directed by Jack Kromen. The film tells a story of a boy who, after escaping from a horrific prison, discovers a girl with mystical powers who travel together through beautiful environments whilst being stalked by a hunter. The film was produced by Austrafilm as its first animated feature film with additional input by Hanna-Barbera Productions.

Released by 20th Century Fox on June 12, 1981, the film received critical acclaim from critics who praised its animation, musical score, and emotional weight of the story and was a modest box office success, making it one of the highest-grossing films of 1981, as well as the highest-grossing non-Disney animated film before An American Tail dethroned it in 1986.

Plot
In the forested of an unnamed land, a rabbit becomes the victim of a hunter and his fox. This rabbit then becomes a bowl of rabbit stew. Meanwhile, we are now focused on a boy who has escaped from his prison once again and as a result, there are two guards after him. As with the other attempts, the guards manage to pick up with him and catch him. He is thrown back in his prison and is threatened by the headman, the gaoler, death if he ever escapes again.

The next day, the boy is shown doing his usual job, mining for precious jewels which according to the gaoler, have been doing this for generations. Another prisoner claims to have found these jewels in question, but turns out these "jewels" are in fact coal and as a result, is thrown off a nearby waterfall.

Then we are brought back to the hunter, who has failed in catching a bird-like creature for his next meal, then we are introduced to a new character, a girl, wondering the forests, she appears to be lost in the vast ocean of trees. she stumbles across the cabin of the hunter, she enters his cabin and encounters the hunter but out of nowhere, he becomes aggressive to her, they seem to have had an encounter before. He chases her around the forest but the girl manages to lose the hunter.

The next day, we are back to the boy, who is mining as usual but during mining, he spots two figures by a far distance in the forest, the hunter, carrying the girl in his arms, who is trying to get free of his grip. The gaoler notices the boy gazing into the forest and scolds him, thinking he's planning another attempt to escape.

Later that day while in his cell, the boy overhears two guards, mentioning something about a guest coming over to visit the gaoler, which perhaps is an attempt by the gaoler to find love. One of the guards foolishly drops their keys to the cell doors and doesn't notice, and the boy takes this chance to escape once again. He gets hold of the keys and once again, escapes.

We are introduced to guest mentioned, she isn't given the best impression after she is greeted by bulky guards instead of the man she was expecting. We are then brought back to the hunter's cabin, where the girl is being held, she is shown to be hung on the wall by rope, all of a sudden, her eyes blow wide open, glowing in a bright white, she proceeds to make a spine chilling moan and her limbs even proceed to elongate.

But before anything else can happen, we are brought back to the boy, who is exploring the prison looking for an exit. He finds a room that happens to be a kitchen, where a chef is shown cooking what looks like a bolognese. Instead of apprehending him, the chef friendly greets him and even offers the chance for the boy to help him cook. During the conversation, a guard injures themselves and the chef heads off to tend to the guard, leaving the boy to the food, after looking through some cupboards, The boy gets the devilish idea of putting chillies in the sauce to sabotage the date. He proceeds with this, and the food is served to the gaoler and guest.

The guest instantly complains about the spiciness, with the gaoler proceeding to make an embarrassed claim he will fire the chef who made it. Quickly and surely, the guest's condition becomes worse and worse, as the guest's face becomes more and more red until it's nothing more then red. The boy is watching this all unfold, the gaoler notices the boy but before anything can escalate, the gaoler faces the guest, who all of a sudden, proceeds to explode into black ash. The boy takes the chance to escape. The gaoler, now completely covered in black ash, requests his guards to hunt down the boy, to which the guard nonchalantly accept.

The boy begins to explore the forest and like the girl, also encounters the cabin, he enters the cabin and encounters the girl, still in the same state as she was last seen, with the hunter and his fox cowering in the corner. Suddenly, the girls goes back to normal and there is silence in the room.

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Cast

 * Peter Cullen as the Gaoler
 * Paul Winchell as the Old Man
 * Sherry Lynn as the Guest
 * Jack Kromen as the guards
 * Don Messick, Peter Renaday and Neil Ross as prisoners


 * Frank Welker as the Fox and Animal Vocal Effects

Development
In 1962, the then 17-year-old Jack Kromen filmed a live-action short by the name of Topia, that would inspire the animated feature. This project was related to his school work in film production at the time. It generally followed the same plot as the animated film. During the production in 1979, it vanished and is considered lost.

In mid-1971, shortly after the release of his debut film The Widower, Kromen had been considering the possibility of making an animated film and then discovered the short that had been stored away for almost a decade. After watching it, he became convinced this was the animated film he wanted to make.

The screenplay was finished around late 1976, Kromen had extreme difficulty getting the film made, most studios rejected it due to its length (The script was over 150 pages at that point) and overall sheer ambitiousness of the project.

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Writing
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Animation
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Box office
The film's distributor, 20th Century Fox, barely did any promotion for the film, leading Austrafilm to finance the advertising campaign themselves. The financiers had expected the film to open in wide release in 1,000 venues, but Fox opted for a limited opening weekend in 100 theatres, with its widest release in only 700. Although in competition with the blockbusters Clash of the Titans and Raiders of the Lost Ark, it performed better in those theatres alone in its opening week than Friday the 13th Part 2, Dragonslayer and The Fox and the Hound. However, as a result of its release and competition with other summer fares, Topia became only a moderate success, grossing $47,934,719 in North America (making it the highest-grossing non-Disney animated film at the time), though it was more successful on home video, cable and foreign release, ultimately turning a profit.

Critical response
Despite having a limited release, Topia received widespread critical acclaim upon its release. It has a 95% "Fresh" approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 31 reviews, with an average rating of 7.11/10. The consensus states, "Jack Kromen's Topia may frighten younger audiences for its dark tale, but is likely enjoyable for older children and adults alike." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 93 out of 100, based on 46 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".

Transcript
Main article: Topia/Transcript