Jetsons: The Movie (1990) Movie Review

 Hey everyone, how's it going? I'm doing well. I'm back for another movie review and this week I'm covering a movie that is one of my favourite movies of all time, Jetsons: The Movie, which was the last piece of Jetsons media to come out following the series's revival in 1985, and The Jetsons Meet the Flintstones in 1987. It was also the final movie directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera before their deaths in the 2000s. So, let's get into it.

Released on July 6th, 1990, Jetsons: The Movie was a box office disappointment, garnering $20 million on a budget of $8 million. I think that's because it had several things going against it. The first is that it was released two days after Die Hard 2 and a week before the Whoopi Goldberg film, Ghost. In addition to that, Dick Tracy was still in theatres, and, like with the TV show it's based on, Jetsons: The Movie just ended up falling by the wayside as a result of having so many heavy hitters in theatres at that time.

After being promoted to Vice President by Mr. Spacely, George Jetson and his family, Jane, Judy, Elroy, Astro, and Rosie the Robot, have to move to a space station near Spacely's Orbiting Ore Asteroid, a mining facility that has had several accidents and glitches, resulting in four previous heads of the facility leaving. The family has to adjust to living in space, with new friends and neighbours, while George and his employee, Rudy 2, must get to the bottom of the problems the plant is facing. 

So, it's your typical TV show episode in movie form. However, it also has alot of social commentary about things that people were concerned about in the '90s, such as pollution. Watching it now though, it also has some social commentary about things that we're concerned about in the modern world. Like greedy corporate tycoons, and the effect they've had on the world.

My favourite scene in the movie is when George finally stands up to Mr. Spacely at the end of the movie, after years of being a corporate stooge for Spacely. Spacely has always been a miserable person, but he's basically an outright villain in this movie since he knowingly mined the asteroid, despite the Grungees living there. So to have George finally stand up to him and say, "No sir Mr. Spacely" was absolutely satisfying to me. 

Based on The Jetsons, which was an animated sitcom that aired on ABC from September 23rd, 1962 to March 17th, 1963, and then returned for two more seasons in syndication from September 16th, 1985 to November 12th, 1987, Jetsons: The Movie starred George O'Hanlon as George Jetson, with Jeff Bergman stepping into the role after O'Hanlon died while recording dialogue for the film, Mel Blanc as Mr. Spacely, who also died during the film's production, leading to Bergman stepping into that role as well, Don Messick as Astro, Penny Singleton as Jane Jetson, Patric Zimmerman as Elroy, and Janet Waldo as Judy. Oh, right, let's talk about that cast change.

After rising to popularity when her self-titled debut album, Tiffany, was released in 1987, Tiffany Darwish, known professionally as Tiffany, was cast as Judy Jetson, replacing Janet Waldo, even though Waldo was still relatively healthy and had still been voicing the character in the revival of the TV show, as well as in The Jetsons Meet the Flintstones. Universal executives decided to replace Waldo with Tiffany figuring that with her popularity, her being in the film would result in stronger box office numbers for the movie. 

The problem is that by the time the movie came out in 1990, Tiffany was no longer as popular as she had been only two years earlier when production on the movie began. This is due to the fact that music tastes had changed in the '90s, with rap, hip-hop and heavy metal becoming more dominant, leaving behind bubblegum pop and dance music behind. Also, Tiffany's fanbase was made up of teenagers, and the target audience for the movie, which was children and adults, wouldn't know who she was unless they were kids who had older siblings or adults who had teenage children who listened to to her music. And because it's an animated movie, you don't see her on screen, only Judy, so all people who saw the movie would see her name, but it wouldn't necessarily mean anything to them, unless they had that connection I mentioned earlier. 

Personally, I like Tiffany as Judy, as it lends a bit more believability for an 18 year old to be voicing a 17 or 18 year old character. Having said that though, I do think it was unfair for Universal to replace Janet Waldo after she'd already recorded Judy's lines for the movie, just on the off chance that a once teenage pop idol might bring in more money for the movie based on an already popular TV show that had been running for nearly 30 years between its original network run, its revival in syndication, and the numerous reruns that the show has had over the years. I think the situation helps with the fact that the movie's voice director, Andrea Romano, who is most well known for hiring Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill as Batman and the Joker respectively in Batman: The Animated Series, only two years later, asked to have her name removed from the movie in protest against the cast change. Though her name still appears in the end credits, not as the voice director.

Also, before I get to talking about the movie's soundtrack, being that we were just talking about Tiffany, can I just say that I didn't realize that Brad Garrett voiced Bertie Furbelow, as his first role in a movie. Like, I know him as Ray Romano's brother, Robert, on Everybody Loves Raymond, but it's crazy to me that his movie career began with this movie.

 Tiffany also recorded three songs for the movie's soundtrack, which were "Home", "You and Me", and "I Always Thought I'd See You Again". "I Always Thought I'd See You Again" is one of my favourite songs. Other songs on the album was "We're the Jetsons (the Jetsons Rap)" by XXL, "With You All the Way" and "Stayin' Together" by Shane Sutton, "Maybe Love" by Steve McClintock, "Through the Blue" by Gayle Rose, "Mall Theme" by John Duarte, and "The Jetsons Theme" by the Stunners. The movie also has a score by John Debney, though that wasn't released as part of the film's soundtrack album. Shane Sutton has a song called "First Time in Love" in the movie, during the scene where Judy and her boyfriend, Apollo Blue, go to the Drive-In Movies just before Jane calls them to help look for Elroy and Teddy 2. However, it doesn't appear on the soundtrack, nor has it ever been commercially released.

Honestly, the music is one of my favourite parts of the movie. To be fair, it absolutely dates the movie, particularly with Tiffany's songs, but anytime a song is playing during a scene, especially "Stayin' Together" and "You and Me", I automatically start dancing and singing along.

I remember watching the movie on VHS when I was a kid. I don't remember who got it for me, or when exactly I got it, but I watched it so often when I was a kid. I also don't remember if this movie was my introduction to the Jetsons. I'm pretty sure I saw the TV show in reruns before I saw the movie, but I don't actually remember for sure. I remember watching reruns of The Flintstones at noon, usually with reruns of The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends on YTV after that, but I don't actually remember watching The Jetsons until after I saw this movie. Eventually we got rid of all of our VHS tapes, but after I started collecting them in 2019, I got another copy of the movie on that format, as I hadn't seen it in over a decade.

Despite Jetsons: The Movie having been out on DVD since 2009, I never got my hands on a DVD copy of the movie at all in the 2010s. Even with the DVD's re-release in 2015. So, finally, last week I pulled the trigger and bought the movie on DVD off of Amazon since I've also have never seen a copy at any of the thrift stores I've been to, or even other second hand media stores I've been to. I watched it on DVD for the first time last night for this review, and it's awesome. There aren't any bonus features on this release, but getting to watch the movie on DVD is great. Especially since the movie is in widescreen.

 Sadly, this was the last piece of media to feature the Jetsons until 2017 when The Jetsons & WWE: Robo-WrestleMania! was released direct-to-video. I've never seen that movie, but Jeff Bergman is the only voice actor to return from previous productions featuring the characters, as he took over as George and Mr. Spacely during production on Jetsons: The Movie, with Grey Griffin as Jane, Danica McKellar as Judy, Tress MacNeille as Rosie, and Trevor Devall as Elroy. Despite the show still airing in reruns, I think the box office failure of Jetsons: The Movie, and the subsequent deaths of the original cast members and of William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, forced Hanna-Barbera to focus on other characters like the Flintstones, Scooby-Doo, and Yogi Bear, among others, instead. Especially with the 2001 closure of the studio and its absorption into Warner Bros. Animation. I love the Jetsons and I feel they're still relevant in this day and age, so I hope they get a comeback in the near future.

Overall, I still love Jetsons: The Movie. It's funny, interesting, and alot of fun. It's pretty cheesy, but for me it's cheesy in a charming '90s way. It's also pretty dated, especially with the music used for it, but I absolutely love it. Even though it failed at the box office and critics didn't care for it, I still recommend watching it if you've never seen it before. Especially if you're a fan of the TV show.

Alright my friends, that's it for me for today. I'll be back soon with more posts. So until then have a great rest of the day and I will talk to you all later. Take care.