Resan till Melonia
Encyclopedia
The Journey to Melonia is a 1989 Swedish-Norwegian animated fantasy adventure film directed by Per Åhlin
, very loosely based on William Shakespeare
's The Tempest
. It was Per Åhlin's first fully animated feature film, since his earlier films Out of an Old Man's Head and Dunderklumpen!
had both used a mix of animation and live action. The full English title is The Journey to Melonia: Fantasies of Shakespeare's 'The Tempest.
It won two Guldbagge Award
s for Best Creative Achievement (a category with three awards for technical achievements without their own categories). The first was to Åhlin for the animation and the second to Björn Isfält for the music.
The movie begins with one of the child slaves, a boy named Ferdinand, escaping from Plutonia in a box, and ends up on Melonia, where Miranda and Prospero nurse him back to health. Prospero has just finished a magical growth elixir (humorously labelled "power soup" for the remainder of the movie), which Caliban is entrusted. Slug and Slagg kidnap Caliban and bring him to Plutonia. Ferdinand, Miranda, Prospero and some others journey to Plutonia in order to free Caliban, which eventually turns into a quest to free Ferdinand's enslaved friends. Eventually, Miranda helps the children escape by transforming them into birds and transporting them into an old theater, where William the poet is making a less than successful attempt at staging Shakespeare's
The Tempest. After breaking out of his prison, the thirsty Caliban thoughtlessly drinks the elixir. Slug and Slagg, encouraged by Caliban's growth, attempt to coax him into working for them, but their rants of superiority by arms falls upon deaf ears. They then attempt to destroy Caliban using the great drill, but he easily lifts it off the ground and plunges it into the floor, causing the island to sink to the bottom of the ocean in a gigantic maelstrom
. Slug and Slagg are unable to escape the maelstrom and as they do not appear again, it's safe to assume that they sink to the bottom and drown. The theater almost sinks as well, but is saved by Caliban. Prospero loses his magical powers, but accepts it readily, knowing that everybody's power will replace his magic. He frees Caliban and Ariel from his service, and the movie ends with a singing Ariel flying off into the sunset.
, The Journey to Melonia was the then most expensive Swedish animated film ever made, much because of the long production process from 1982 to 1989. When making the script, Per Åhlin and Karl Rasmussen would pick lines from The Tempest they thought they might have use of, and then put them together into a coherent synopsis. An influence for the visual style was Jules Verne
's Propeller Island
from 1895
.
's A Midsummer Night's Dream
and Paul Grimault
's The King and the Mockingbird
. Some critique was given regarding the slow pace and ambiguous tone, making it hard to distinguish whether it was a children's film or aimed for adults. Others complained about the somewhat naïve message.
The most negative review came from Variety
, where Keith Keller wrote: "The Voyage to Melonia by Per Åhlin, Sweden's past master of animated films, probably has aimed over everybody's head with this go at The Tempest. Seven years in the making at a locally extraordinary cost $3.5-million, pic looks big but soon sags dangerously, and eventually ruptures."
Per Åhlin
Per Johan Axel Åhlin , is a Swedish artist and animator.-Career:Åhlin started his career as an artist for the Hasseåtage production Svenska bilder from 1964. After that he has worked on several other Hasseåtage films, including The Adventures of Picasso from 1978 where he provided and animated...
, very loosely based on William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
's The Tempest
The Tempest
The Tempest is a play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1610–11, and thought by many critics to be the last play that Shakespeare wrote alone. It is set on a remote island, where Prospero, the exiled Duke of Milan, plots to restore his daughter Miranda to her rightful place,...
. It was Per Åhlin's first fully animated feature film, since his earlier films Out of an Old Man's Head and Dunderklumpen!
Dunderklumpen!
Dunderklumpen! is a 1974 Swedish family film directed by Per Åhlin, which combines animation and live action. The story involves several musical numbers. It was released on 26 September 1974.- Plot :...
had both used a mix of animation and live action. The full English title is The Journey to Melonia: Fantasies of Shakespeare's 'The Tempest.
It won two Guldbagge Award
Guldbagge Award
The Guldbagge Award is an official Swedish film award awarded annually since 1964 by the Swedish Film Institute.-Etymology:Guldbagge is the Swedish name for Cetonia aurata, a beetle also known as rose chafer. The name of the award could also be interpreted as a play on the Swedish word skalbagge,...
s for Best Creative Achievement (a category with three awards for technical achievements without their own categories). The first was to Åhlin for the animation and the second to Björn Isfält for the music.
Plot
The beautiful paradise island Melonia is inhabited by the sorcerer Prospero with his daughter Miranda, the albatross Ariel, the good-natured vegetable-faced gardener Caliban and William the dog-nosed poet. They live a generally peaceful life, except for Caliban who has to work hard with the garden. A few miles away lies the dark island Plutonia, where the greedy industrialists Slug and Slagg rule. Once as green and flourishing as Melonia, Plutonia is now perceived as hell on earth, where children are forced to, under slave conditions, build weapons and tools of war, which Slug and Slagg believe is the way of the future. With Plutonia's resources nearly exhausted, Slug and Slagg turn their gaze on the unexploited Melonia, scheming to take it over with a gigantic drill.The movie begins with one of the child slaves, a boy named Ferdinand, escaping from Plutonia in a box, and ends up on Melonia, where Miranda and Prospero nurse him back to health. Prospero has just finished a magical growth elixir (humorously labelled "power soup" for the remainder of the movie), which Caliban is entrusted. Slug and Slagg kidnap Caliban and bring him to Plutonia. Ferdinand, Miranda, Prospero and some others journey to Plutonia in order to free Caliban, which eventually turns into a quest to free Ferdinand's enslaved friends. Eventually, Miranda helps the children escape by transforming them into birds and transporting them into an old theater, where William the poet is making a less than successful attempt at staging Shakespeare's
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
The Tempest. After breaking out of his prison, the thirsty Caliban thoughtlessly drinks the elixir. Slug and Slagg, encouraged by Caliban's growth, attempt to coax him into working for them, but their rants of superiority by arms falls upon deaf ears. They then attempt to destroy Caliban using the great drill, but he easily lifts it off the ground and plunges it into the floor, causing the island to sink to the bottom of the ocean in a gigantic maelstrom
Maelstrom
A maelstrom is a very powerful whirlpool; a large, swirling body of water. A free vortex, it has considerable downdraft. The power of tidal whirlpools tends to be exaggerated by laymen. There are virtually no stories of large ships ever being sucked into a maelstrom, although smaller craft are in...
. Slug and Slagg are unable to escape the maelstrom and as they do not appear again, it's safe to assume that they sink to the bottom and drown. The theater almost sinks as well, but is saved by Caliban. Prospero loses his magical powers, but accepts it readily, knowing that everybody's power will replace his magic. He frees Caliban and Ariel from his service, and the movie ends with a singing Ariel flying off into the sunset.
Voice cast
- Allan EdwallAllan EdwallJohan Allan Edwall was a Swedish actor, director, author, composer and singer, best-known outside Sweden for the small roles he played in some of Ingmar Bergman's films such as Fanny and Alexander...
as Prospero - Robin CarlssonRobynRobin Miriam Carlsson , better known by her stage name Robyn, is a Swedish recording artist, singer, and songwriter. Robyn became known in the late nineties for her worldwide dance-pop hit "Do You Know " from her debut album Robyn Is Here . She co-wrote the song "Du gör mig hel igen" for...
as Miranda - Olle SarriOlle Sarri-Films:*1989 - The Journey to Melonia*1996 - Monopol*1997 - Välkommen till festen*2000 - Together*2001 - Om inte*2006 - Kidz in da Hood*2009 - The Ape*2010 - Äntligen Midsommar-Television:* 1978 - Olles mammas morbror...
as Ferdinand - Tomas von BrömssenTomas von BrömssenTomas Birger von Brömssen is a Swedish actor.He played leading roles in Albert & Herbert, My Life as a Dog , Dykaren , Mannen från Mallorca and Sofies verden .He was first...
as Ariel - Jan-Olof StrandbergJan-Olof StrandbergJan-Olof Strandberg is a Swedish stage and film actor. He has appeared in 45 films since 1947. On stage one of his most famous parts is as Vladimir in Samuel Becketts Waiting For Godot, at Sweden's Royal Dramatic Theatre .He appeared in Erland Josephsons play Blomsterplockarna at...
as William - Ingvar KjellsonIngvar KjellsonIngvar Kjellson is a Swedish stage and film actor. He won the Eugene O'Neill Award in 1978.-Reference:* , at Dramaten...
as Kapten Julgransfot (Captain Tree-stand) - Ernst GüntherErnst GüntherErnst Harry Ingemar Günther was a Swedish actor. He appeared in 66 films and television shows between 1962 and 1999...
as Caliban - Eva Rydberg as Kockan (Cookie)
- Jan Blomberg as Slug (Shrewd)
- Hans AlfredsonHans AlfredsonHans Folke "Hasse" Alfredson is a Swedish actor, film director, writer and comedian. He was born in Malmö, Sweden. He is known for his collaboration with Tage Danielsson...
as Slagg (Slag) - Nils Eklund as Rorsman (Helmsman)
Production
With a budget of 22 million SEKSwedish krona
The krona has been the currency of Sweden since 1873. Both the ISO code "SEK" and currency sign "kr" are in common use; the former precedes or follows the value, the latter usually follows it, but especially in the past, it sometimes preceded the value...
, The Journey to Melonia was the then most expensive Swedish animated film ever made, much because of the long production process from 1982 to 1989. When making the script, Per Åhlin and Karl Rasmussen would pick lines from The Tempest they thought they might have use of, and then put them together into a coherent synopsis. An influence for the visual style was Jules Verne
Jules Verne
Jules Gabriel Verne was a French author who pioneered the science fiction genre. He is best known for his novels Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea , A Journey to the Center of the Earth , and Around the World in Eighty Days...
's Propeller Island
Propeller Island
Propeller Island is a science fiction novel by French author Jules Verne . It was first published in 1895 as part of the Voyages Extraordinaires...
from 1895
1895 in literature
The year 1895 in literature involved some significant new books.-Events:* Carlyle's House in Chelsea opens to the public.* Robert Frost marries Elinor Miriam White.* Ernest Thayer recites his poem, Casey at the Bat, at a Harvard class reunion....
.
Critical reception
The reviews were generally very positive, with film magazine Chaplins reviewer Göran Ribe comparing it to Jiří TrnkaJirí Trnka
Jiří Trnka was a Czech puppet maker, illustrator, motion-picture animator and film director. In addition to his extensive career as an illustrator, especially of children's books, he is best known for his work in animation with puppets, which began in 1946...
's A Midsummer Night's Dream
A Midsummer Night's Dream (1959 film)
A Midsummer Night's Dream is a 1959 Czechoslovak animated puppet film directed by Jiří Trnka. It is based on the Shakespeare play of the same name. It was entered into the 1959 Cannes Film Festival...
and Paul Grimault
Paul Grimault
Paul Grimault was one of the most important French animators. He made many traditionally animated films that were delicate in style, satirical, and lyrical in nature....
's The King and the Mockingbird
Le Roi et l'oiseau
Le Roi et l'oiseau is a 1980 traditionally-animated feature film directed by Paul Grimault...
. Some critique was given regarding the slow pace and ambiguous tone, making it hard to distinguish whether it was a children's film or aimed for adults. Others complained about the somewhat naïve message.
The most negative review came from Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
, where Keith Keller wrote: "The Voyage to Melonia by Per Åhlin, Sweden's past master of animated films, probably has aimed over everybody's head with this go at The Tempest. Seven years in the making at a locally extraordinary cost $3.5-million, pic looks big but soon sags dangerously, and eventually ruptures."