Movie Review : ‘The Princess and the Goblin’ Raises Unanswered Questions

“The Princess and the Goblin,” a new animated feature opening today, feels like 82 minutes of audio-visual junk food--cloying, devoid of significant content and ultimately unsatisfying.

Based on the 1872 novel by Scottish writer George MacDonald, this fairy tale focuses on Princess Irene (voice by Sally Ann Marsh), who leads a sheltered life in her father’s castle with only her bumbling governess and her cat, Turnip, for company. On a walk, she meets Curdi (Peter Murray) a miner’s son, who learns that subterranean goblins are plotting to seize the kingdom. Curdi foils their plan with a little help from Irene and the royal guards because he knows the goblins’ weaknesses: They hate singing and stepping on their feet is the only way to hurt them.

All ends happily, although the screenplay by producer Robin Lyons leaves many loose ends dangling. Why is Curdi the only person who knows how to defeat the goblins? While sneaking through the underground kingdom, he discovers the Queen Goblin (Peggy Mount) has six toes on each foot, while her subjects have only one: Why is this significant-sounding discovery never mentioned again? How do the goblins manage to flood a castle on a hill by unleashing one underground stream? (Can they teach my landlord how to generate that much water pressure?)

Parents who sit through the film will have ample time to devise answers, as the characters aren’t interesting enough to hold the viewer’s attention. Irene and Curdi are perfect Victorian children who make waxworks figures seem lively. Curdi just wants to do good deeds; Irene will only go where the magic thread of her great-great-grandmother’s ghost (Claire Bloom) leads--she takes no real risks and therefore doesn’t really grow.

The animation, done by crews in Wales and Hungary, looks like Saturday morning kidvid. Director Jozsef Gemes, is widely respected for his epic paint-on-glass feature, “Heroic Times” (1982): He deserves better material--as do the children who’ll be parked at a matinee of “Princess” while their parents shop in an adjacent mall.

* MPAA Rating: G; Times guidelines: It contains slapstick cartoon violence, unresolved story points and stiff animation. * In general release throughout Southern California.