| The Legend of the Titanic | |
| Director: | Orlando Corradi Kim J. Ok |
| Producer: | Orlando Corradi |
| Music: | John Sposito (Gianni Sposito) |
| Editing: | Emanuelle Fogelietti |
| Studio: | SEK Studio ITB Spain Hollywood Gang Productions USA Mondo TV |
| Distributor: | Mondo TV |
| Runtime: | 84 minutes |
| Country: | North Korea Spain Italy United States [1] [2] [3] |
| Language: | Italian |
The Legend of the Titanic (Spanish; Castilian: '''La leyenda del Titanic''', Italian: '''La leggenda del Titanic''') is a 1999 Italian animated fantasy film directed by Orlando Corradi and Kim J. Ok.[4] The film is a very loose adaptation of the RMS Titanic sinking and featured several fantasy elements such as anthropomorphic animals - with by far its most fantastical contribution being the implication that nobody on the Titanic - not even the captain - lost their lives that night.[5] [6]
The Legend of the Titanic was followed by a 2004 sequel titled Tentacolino and a 2011 television series, Fantasy Island (not to be confused with the popular 1977–1984 fantasy drama of the same name).[7]
In New York City, an old mouse named Connors tells his grandchildren the supposedly "true" story of the RMS Titanic, after discouraging one of his grandchildren from playing with a shark whistle, telling him it will attract Mr Ice.
In April 1912, Connors was a young sailor mouse on the Titanics maiden voyage from Southampton to New York. A young Brazilian mouse named Ronny, who enjoys playing soccer, befriends Connors, while at the same time. Mr. Ice, a tiger shark who escaped from prison is asked to arrange the destruction of the ship. Mr. Ice and his gang of sharks prepares to sink the Titanic. Geoffreys asks the radio man to send an urgent wire from Maltravers to his whaling ships by telegraph, but the mice chew apart the wires to stop it from being sent.
Ice and his gang fool a giant innocent-minded octopus named Tentacles into heaving an iceberg to the surface of the ocean. The Titanic crashes into the iceberg, during which Maltravers and his entourage flee the ship in a lifeboat. In order to fix the telegraph wires, the mice enlist the help of a French mouse named Camembert, who insist they tie the wires to his moustache, electrocuting him to death.
Suddenly, several whales and dolphins arrive to help with the rescue, while a guilt-ridden but determined Tentacles tries to hold the bow and the stern together as they are splitting apart, and keep the ship on the surface for as long as possible. Everyone jumps off the Titanic into the sea and are saved by a whale. Once everyone on the ship has been saved, the Titanic finally sinks, taking Tentacles with it and seemingly crushing him. In the morning, the passengers are taken aboard the RMS Carpathia. The said ship arrives in New York and disembarks the passengers. Tentacles and Camembert show up, inexplicably unharmed.
Back in modern-day New York old Connors tells his grandchildren that whales are still hunted, and that they must do whatever they can to stop the whaling scheme at all costs.
The Legend of the Titanic was an international effort between North Korea's state owned SEK for animation, and Spanish ITB and American Hollywood Gang as producers, as well as an Italian writing team and composer.[8] [9] [10]
Tim Brayton of Alternate Ending gave the movie a 0.5/5, stating "A giddy, so-bad-it's-the-most-essential-movie-I've-ever-seen disaster of tasteless incompetence."[11]