Rock-A-Doodle Character Analysis

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Rock-A-Doodle Rock-A-Doodle was always a childhood favorite movie of mine. I enjoyed the animation and the catchy songs; I could connect with the characters and I cared about what was happening in the story. This 1992 kids’ movie written and directed by former Disney animator Don Bluth stars Chanticleer, a singing rooster who leaves the farm to look for work in the “big city” after the sun rises one morning although he didn’t crow; and Edmund, a boy turned into a kitten, desperate to bring Chanticleer back home and “save the farm”. Of course all of their barnyard friends are along for the ride. As a child, the story made perfect sense and I found myself rooting for the main characters. Now I am an adult and my son watches the exact same old …show more content…

In the movie, Edmund (the boy) is read the story of Chanticleer by his mother. The story goes that the Grand Duke of Owls (he hates the sun!), sends someone to pick a fight with Chanticleer to distract him from crowing. He forgets to crow and he, and the rest of the farm, see that the sun rises without him. He feels worthless and ashamed, and clearly unneeded on the farm so he moves to the city and looks for work. Meanwhile, Edmund and his family’s farm is caught in a huge storm and flood. The sun has not been out for days so he calls on Chanticleer for help. He is turned into a cat by the Grand Duke and together with the other animals on the farm, goes looking for Chanticleer. Now here is the part of the story with I what perceive as a major plot hole. Edmund (the cat) and company want to bring Chanticleer back home so that he will crow and the sun will come up and the rain will stop, and the farm will be saved! So, which is it? Does his crow bring up the sun or does it not? When he forgot to crow, the sun came up anyways. Then he left and the sun ceased to rise again because he wasn’t there to crow. It makes no sense and is never explained in the movie. As a child I never noticed, as an adult I am pulling out my …show more content…

When Chanticleer leaves the farm, he basically makes it BIG as a rock star singer. He is for all intents and purposes, the rooster version of Elvis with “20,000 people out there screaming his name” each night. He is extremely successful (he even has movie deals!), albeit lonely. He misses his friends on the farm even though they laughed at him. Now, Edmund and friends might also miss Chanticleer but they mostly want him to come home and make the rain stop. How many roosters can fulfill their dreams of being Elvis? For every rooster trying to make in big in the harsh music industry how many succeed? I haven’t seen a statistic but I am guessing the success rates are low. Are there really no other roosters that can crow? Can’t literally any rooster go work on the farm and bring up the sun? It has to be Chanticleer, who is by now referred to only as The King? It all sounds pretty selfish to me. It’s like a burger flipper landing a huge acting role in a major movie, and McDonald’s begging him/her to come back because no one else can make fries quite the

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