The story of William Tell is an interesting and entertaining one, if at times sprawling. Being most familiar with it from Rossini's opera, it is always interesting to see different adaptations of the story/legend.
As a child, 'The New Adventures of William Tell' was one of my favourites from Burbank, indicated in my review for 'International Family Classics II' four years ago (a long time and perceptions do change, can't count the number of times something has gotten better on re-watch or if something doesn't hold up anymore). Seeing it again for the first time in a long time, it is an opinion no longer shared.
Now, 'The New Adventures of William Tell' is somewhat around the low middle of Burbank's output which saw a lot of good animations and occasionally close to great ones as well as some very bad ones. 'The New Adventures of William Tell' fits neither extreme, and while it is no longer a favourite like it was as a child there is enough to make me still like it, if somewhat slightly rather than very much.
Burbank's output often has the same obvious drawbacks, of which to a young adult are more apparent and 'The New Adventures of William Tell' has four of the most common ones. Like with most Burbank animations, the animation is less than great. There are some nice moments, but some nice colours and lovely details in the backgrounds like the Alpine scenery and the forests are not quite enough to mask a lot of flat colours, lack of imagination and rough and hasty-looking drawing.
Dialogue is also lacking, some of it is very cheesy and forced. This is particular true for the villain Gessler, with very stilted and cringe-worthy dialogue that even many low-budget direct to video stuff would reject. My opinion of Gessler has also significantly lessened on this latest viewing, he is no longer a good villain like initially thought of. Instead he is over-the-top and somewhat annoying with no menace or even the fun factor, which diminishes the conflict, in fact conniving Marguerite is more convincing as a villain than he is. He also suffers from the worst of the very clichéd voice acting, which generally is too archetypal and with some thick and obviously artificial accents.
Coming off best of the voice acting is the heroic and dignified voice work for the title character, qualities more than worthy and appropriate for a very engaging character. Christian and Heidi are likable enough too, though Heidi's voice actress occasionally over-compensates, especially when she visits Christian in prison with Marguerite, and Christian's too earnest. Their chemistry is sweet, it is evident that they're in love and it's easy to see why. Marguerite, voiced with dignity and chilling iciness, is regal, beautiful yet also very conniving and more of a threat in the latter half than Gessler.
Music is also a strength, rousing and quite beautiful. The story is involving and goes along at a reasonably energetic pace, apart from a draggy start but the latter half really picks up and has some good tension. The whole stuff with the arrows and the shooting of the apple (a crucial and dramatic highlight scene of Rossini's opera by the way and of the story itself) are standout scenes.
Overall, no longer love it and there are some major flaws, such as the animation, dialogue, voice acting and the villain. However, the very engaging protagonist, a lot of the storytelling, the character of Marguerite, a couple of standout scenes and the music help make it mildly recommendable as long as expectations are not too high. 5/10 Bethany Cox
