Review of "David and the Magic Pearl"
​By C. Randall Nicholson

Watch the full movie here if it hasn't been taken down from YouTube.

"David and the Magic Pearl" is the English dub of a 1987 Polish/Swedish cartoon called "David i Sandy" (David and Sandy). The tiny local library in Hopkinton, New York had "David and the Magic Pearl" on a VHS tape, and I watched it several times as a child. I must have liked it because I, a Mormon at the time, once persuaded my mother to let me watch it on Sunday by rationalizing that it was about a temple, and for whatever reason, she accepted that.

But I didn't carry any particularly vivid or fond memories of it, so when I watched it again in December 2014, I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it. Not that it's "good" as such. It has a nonsensical plot and weird, inconsistent animation. But if you don't take it too seriously, it's quite enjoyable. First, the opening song is so catchy that sometimes I play it in my head just for fun.

​Naw, naw, na-naw-naw
Naw, naw, na-naw
Hey everybody, here comes Davie
He's our pal and we'll tell you why
All the animals in the jungle
Know that Davie's a great little guy!

The plot follows David, a young boy from Chicago whose family goes on vacation in a cabin in the jungle. He gets a new dog named Pips for his birthday and meets a stranded baby eagle named Sandy, and together they help a group of small beetle-like aliens, led by Plix, who have lost their magic pearls (yes, plural, despite the title). The pearls must be kept out of the wrong hands - such as the hands of a pair of poachers, the lovely Miss Fawn Doe and her dimwitted ape companion Samuel, and their boss Mr. Stealmore, a megalomaniac who wants to take over the world (for starters) and pave the entire jungle over with concrete. David gets involved in all this because his parents let him play in the jungle with no supervision all day. In the English dub, he was among the first voiceover roles of Christine Cavanaugh, who was better known for playing Gosalyn in "Darkwing Duck" and Chuckie in "Rugrats," and sadly passed away around the time that I was rediscovering this movie. (To my delight, it turns out she was a graduate of Utah State University.) I think the English dub is superior, not just because I can understand it but because it has more background music and narration by David. Granted, the near-constant narration is one of the things that annoys some people.

While I watched it as an adult, Miss Fawn Doe became my new animation crush. She has a certain charm about her and some of the funnier lines. For example, when her rage fails to tempt David out of his hiding spot, she coaxes, "Come back, little man! I have pizza! And a skateboard! And a videotape of Maddona!" In the days before the Internet, those were more valuable than gold. Although similar in some respects to Chantelle DuBois from the execrably bad "Madagascar 3", she's a far more compelling villain because she actually has a realistic motivation: money! Though initially startled by the appearance of the aliens, she's apparently familiar enough with them to use the more colloquial term "spacers." Depending on how things are going, her mood swings between faux naivete and unbridled frustration.

After she gets trapped in one of her own cages, she has a change of heart and promises to help David, Pips, and Sandy stop Mr. Stealmore. She proves it by cutting her hair and changing into clothing that covers more of her legs.

And then even David isn't immune to her charm. He remarks, "And, well, let's just say we all liked what we saw!"

It's unclear where this jungle is meant to be located. ​There are giraffes, which are only native to Africa (or would be if they were real), but also eagles and a Bactrian camel (the two-humped variety, though on the back of the VHS cover it appears to have three humps!) and some kind of kangaroo mouse, none of which are generally found in jungle environments at all. The elephant appears to be an African/Asian hybrid, judging by the size of its ears and the lack of tusks, respectively. (Its pink coloration and ability to hover after inhaling a butterfly, however, remain a mystery.) The temple architecture incorporates elements from Central America, but one of the ancient voices inside chants something like, "Bhakti karma soloma," words clearly taken from India. Obviously the spacers hold the key to an elaborate fan theory tying all of these pieces together.

I don't care what anyone else says. I love this cartoon and I want everyone to know it.