The Electric Piper review

Lost media works like this. Beyond some leads and the occasional clip, the full source for the time being is impossible to find. Come the discovery, people would do anything in their power to make it the most easily available film, show, whatever out there. I'm just happy that whatever could be seen again.

Such is the way with The Electric Piper. Given that Nickelodeon instills stricter copyright laws, you could always expect something of theirs to be taken down within weeks, days at worst. Exceptions apply to stuff they failed to renew their license on, which for the record helped keep Just for Kicks and Cry Baby Lane on the internet, two other lost pieces of media FYI.

History

The Electric Piper was completed in 2000, but appeared on Nickelodeon three years later. This is owed to clearance issues on the songs used. The film was directed by Raymie Muzquiz, a supervising producer who aided on many Nickelodeon shows and Klasky-Csupo productions, starting out during the first three years of The Simpsons. The film was written by Bill Burnett, one of the creators behind ChalkZone. That show had an interesting art aesthetic, and that's something that this film would double down on.

However you look at it, there seems to have been a fair level of ambition with this. Sorta why this film has a great number of recognizable actors. We have Wayne Brady, Rodney Dangerfield (who at the time knew he was at a dead end with his acting career and was hunting for paychecks), Rob Schneider and Cousin Oliver (Robbie Rist for those who're new). Also like to point out that Christine Ebersole was in this, just so I could point out she was in Mac and Me.

Remember when I brought up clearance issues early on? Well that's a contributing reason to why this film has been, until now, very difficult to find. Compared to other Nickelodeon-related lost media such as Cry Baby Lane and Clockman, this didn't have as much of a legacy, no matter how small, and for a time clips were made available. It's curiosity that encouraged people to dig this up, and curiosity saved the day.

While this film is nothing special nowadays, few have actually sat down and actually reviewed it. I only found three YouTube videos reviewing the film and they look highly suspect.

Premise

The Electric Piper is a retelling of the urban legend The Pied Piper of Hamelin. The core of it is mostly there, beyond the inclusion of kid protagonists... some songs... and Wayne Brady.

The Electric Piper and Mick and Janet Dixon.

They're going for a 60s aesthetic with this, establishing a society who have obeyed moral constructs and strong authority enforcement to a tee, and our hero is a funky fresh independent... dude?

Set in Hamlin (possibly Hamlin New York), we're given full disclosure on how rigid society is. Adults are wrapped in their pride and virtue to the point that nothing else matters to them. All they see is what violates their vision of a utopian society, and they take it out on their kids, derailing any hopes of a more free future for one confined to a stereotypical nature. Of the prime sufferers are Mick and Janet Dixon, getting dragged along by their father Nick, Nick the Dick Dixon (or Dickson, any may apply).

Thanks to the ignorance of the adults, rats begin infesting the town, and only the kids care enough to notice. This might sound like a weird call to action, but the Pied Piper was called to help a town who had been suffering from the plague. This makes sense when you take the original story into account.

Our Piper, named Sly, agrees to rid the town of the plague, and all he wants in return is a motorcycle Nick owns. Since the plague is cleared before the first third of the movie wraps, Nick naturally refuses to give up the motorcycle. Now, remember what I said about the mindset the adults have. Would Nick ever use the motorcycle again? Has he ever used it since his conversion to morality? Is the Dix in Dixon starting to make more sense here?

Continuing with another core aspect of the urban legend, The Pied Piper takes away all of the children, and given the rigid nature of society, there was nigh protest. Sly would cater to their whims, give them the life he never had a chance to live and the grownups would live on knowing that they had the chance to stop this from happening.

If it gone on any further, the kids would return, dominate the town and everything would be ran backwards. Seems like a better version of Recess, or Codename Kids Next Door, or if the later took over entirely...

Guilty pleasure, see the faults, went for a comparison, give me a break.

To the credit of the adults at this point, they actually feel bummed about losing the kids. The harsh reality of the world they've created crashing down on them, and they begin aging for some reason... Okay best I could tell, they've been ignoring stuff like their mortality and their health for so long and this is actually how old they really are, the prior scenes exist to establish how far behind they are on the times and hence, how in denial they are.

The kids catch wind on the effect their departure has on their parents and demand they go back, but Sly refuses. This leads to an interesting scene where Mick plummets to his death while trying to get to the other side of a chasm, and after Janet chastises Sly, he reluctantly agrees to let them go.

Of this, the adults learn to not put a muzzle on creative freedom, Nick gives up his motorcycle and Hamlin became San Francisco. Okay, Monroe County is a predominately blue county so this was inevitable.

Animation

One thing you could pick up on in this film is the design. It's certainly unique, in that it fits the 60s aesthetic. The animation itself is a whole other kettle of fish. The frame rate is okay, but the overall animation is a little... off. It swaps between lightly choppy movements and spontaneous clean ones. In spite of that, it's still easily identifiable, it's its own thing, and I'm not one to have a heart attack over bad animation, or people who bitch about bad animation for that matter.

Music

Given that this is a music-driven movie, it'd be foolish to not touch upon the songs. As blasphemous as it is to say, I don't know what songs they're trying to reference. I'd say that's a good thing because they found a way around the clearance situation. The songs themselves fit the themes of the scenes they occur in. A dour yet upbeat town anthem sets the rigid tone Hamlin gives, with a nice pop tune following soon after, with the rest being funk and classic rock influenced. And if you're curious, yes, unlike The Secret of NIMH 2, the actors in this are able to sing. Wayne Brady and Robbie Rist are musicians, so that could be why.

Overall

I think the reason few people tried to find this sooner was because, honestly, it was neither amazing nor bad. At least with something like Rapsittie Street Kids, you're led by the allure of bad CGI, or Cry Baby Lane, it's the fact that Nickelodeon aired something that actually parallels, sometimes surpasses Are You Afraid of the Dark? in terms of scares. This had a unique design, but it wasn't enough to elicit any further attention.

But that doesn't mean this film isn't worth watching. I get the gist of the film and once you get older and experience rigid social and working classes in full force, this would hit home. As a retelling of The Pied Piper, it has a decent approach, and it does a good job at appealing to young audiences. The acting is great, and I wouldn't be saying this had it not been for the people tied to this. Robbie Rist has shaken the rusty shackles of Cousin Oliver, Rob Schneider isn't the worst actor in this, Rodney Dangerfield does a good job too, and Wayne Brady was a great choice for Sly, fitting the funky aesthetic.

What I'm trying to say is, they did everything right here. So watch it. Okay?