Luna Eclipse

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Luna Eclipse is a 1997 traditional animated adventure film and the first animated film produced by Universal Feature Animation. The film was directed by Michael Wolf and distributed by Universal Pictures

Prologue
The film opens with a little girl ready to go to bed when she asks her grandfather to read her a bedtime story. Out of stories she hasn’t read, her grandfather decides to pull out a book from a chest in his room. Blowing off the dust, he began to sit down and start reading. "“In the kingdom of Pyralina, there lived an emperor and empress. They’ve taken great pride on their kingdom and everyone in it. Together, they would eventually have their son, Samuel, who would be next in line to take over as emperor of the kingdom. But Sam let power get into his head. He wanted to take over the title alongside his parents, but they refused claiming he wasn’t ready for the role. Frustrated, Sam took out his anger on the townsfolk. The citizens were angered by the rulers claiming their son was out of control. They tried to reason with them, but they began to fear what he might become. The Emperor called out for a wise man to foresee the future. The one stepped and up and foretold that “If he were to continue down this dark path, he would be defeated by a shard barer of white hair”. When Sam overheard them, he grew paranoid and afraid. After that, he formulated a plan to change his fate. He stole his mother’s shard artifact and used it to steal the moon and use it’s power. But when his parents found out what he’s done, they tried to stop him and revert the moon back to his original place. But, unsuccessful, they soon met their demise as Sam pushed them back and they fell down the edge of the castle and the mountain. Sam loses the shard as it is soon caught by someone else. But when returning it, the people eventually found out the rulers weren’t here and later presumed they died. Sam went along with it, not letting them know he was the cause of it. The one who found the shard, a teenage woman, decided to hold onto the shard as the one thing keeping their legacy alive. Many years have passed as the woman got older and she would eventually give birth to her second child. But to her and her husbands surprise, she saw her hair was as white as snow. When word got around about this odd occurrence, Sam saw it as a death note as he not only saw someone of white hair, but the mother was also the shard barer who would most likely pass the it down to her. Samuel ordered the women to give him the baby and the shard. When the women refused, Sam was furious and proceeded to charged at her. But she runs off, down the mountain, and loses him. Sam sends his guards to find them and bring them to him. Afraid Sam might catch them, the women had to act fast. She didn’t want to have her baby be killed by them. She then proceeded to take a basket and drift her baby across the river and even pass down the shard with her. As the guard catch up to them, she quickly distracts them by taking her with them. Sent back to the kingdom, Samuel greets her with a death threat to give him the child. But not having it or even the shard, he orders to have her executed. The baby is left off drifting down the river but the basket ends up tipping over, dropping the baby into the water. But before she could drown, a young woman runs over and saves her. She looks around to see if someone lost their baby, but no one answers. She then decides that until she finds answers, she’d take the baby in as her own.”"More Coming Soon

Cast

 * Lori Beth Denberg as Luna, a 16 year old girl and barer of the Moon Shard
 * Diana Wolf voices baby Luna
 * Alicia Silverstone as Sasha, Luna’s 21 year old big sister and Sam’s wife
 * Mary Kay Bergman voices young Sasha
 * Diana Wolf as Darcy Jr, Sasha’s newborn daughter
 * Chris Farley as Samuel, the emperor of Pyralina and Sasha’s husband
 * Ewan McGregor as Zeke, Sasha’s childhood best friend and love interest
 * Haley Joel Osment voices young Zeke
 * Anna Faris as Amara, Luna’s adoptive mother
 * Maurice LaMarche as Roscoe, Luna and Sasha’s biological father
 * Jodi Benson as Darcy, Luna and Sasha’s deceased mother

Release
This film was released on May 28, 1997

Reception
The film was met with mixed reviews from critics and positive from audiences. The film received a 70% on Rotten Tomatoes with the consensus stating “Luna Eclipse may not reach for the stars, but has great characters and animation the whole family can enjoy.” The film grossed out $210 million worldwide, making it the highest grossing non-disney animated film of 1997

Accolades
The film was nominated an Academy Award for “Best Original Song” with “We Stand” & “Mom Will Be In Your Heart” and an award for “Best Dramatic Score”, but lost both of them to Titanic. The film was also nominated and won an Annie Award for “Best Animated Feature”