Peter Cullen Movies

Nearly fifty years after Ed and Veronica "Vern" Savko opened their modest California rest stop along a twisting stretch of the Mulholland Highway, the iconic pit stop known as the Rock Store is still going strong thanks to the motorcyclists and drivers who have kept the tradition of the Sunday drive alive years after it went out of style. It was shortly after the end of World War II, when the Unites States' economy was booming, that Americans truly fell in love with the automobile. Each Sunday, families would pile into the car for a leisurely drive. A cornerstone of that tradition was the roadside pit stop, small "mom and pop" style stores where families could stop and get a hearty meal during their relaxing day trip. Eventually, progress and want of convenience drove the vast majority of these independent stores out of business - but not all of them. Ed and Vern have been the owners and operators of the Rock Store since the early 1960s, and most local motorists couldn't imagine a drive though Southern California's Santa Monica Mountains without a stop at this thriving artifact of Americana. Over the years, the place that was originally built as a stagecoach stop has become a popular destination for tourists, joy-riders, and motorcyclists. Celebrities such as Steve McQueen, Ewan McGregor, and Arnold Schwarzenegger have all been spotted dining at the Rock Store, though maintaining this landmark hasn't always been easy due to such obstacles as forest fires and controversial road closures. For those who have never had the pleasure of visiting the Rock Store, this film highlights how Ed and Vern helped to shape the town of Cornell, California while keeping the tradition of the Sunday drive alive and well: For those who visit the Rock store frequently, this film offers a colorful look at the rich history behind a motorcycle mecca and popular weekend destination spot. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Walt Disney Pictures presents this straight-to-video animated feature starring Winnie the Pooh and friends. It's Easter and the whole gang is excited because that means Rabbit will be playing the Easter Bunny as he has in years past. Unfortunately for Pooh, Tigger, Piglet, Eeyore, and Roo, Rabbit isn't interested in partaking in any festivities and would rather spend the day focusing on spring cleaning. After some unsuccessful attempts to rouse Rabbit into the spirit, Roo has an idea that just might save they day. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide

One of the smaller residents of the 100 Acre Woods finally gets his moment in the spotlight in this animated feature, based on the characters created by A.A. Milne. As Winnie the Pooh (voice of Jim Cummins) and his pals Tigger (also voiced by Cummins), Rabbit (voice of Ken Sansom), and Eeyore (voice of Peter Cullen) set out to harvest honey from the hives in the forest, Piglet (voice of John Fiedler) is told he's too small to come along. Feeling like he often gets the short end of the stick, Piglet decides to strike out on his own, and when the honey hunters return, they can't find their friend -- only his scrapbooks of their adventures of the past. As they look through the books, Winnie and his pals realize just how much their friend means to them, and how much they've taken him for granted. They set out to find Piglet and ask him to come home, and along the way the little pig makes a big difference when his pals need him. Piglet's Big Movie includes several new songs from singer and songwriter Carly Simon. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Part of The Book of Pooh series, which offers preschool kids simple life lessons and scholastic pointers, The Book of Pooh: Fun With Words makes a game of learning words and language. Winnie the Pooh and his dear friends from the Hundred Acre Wood use music, song, dance, and play to help little ones develop mnemonic devices for remembering word usage and sentence construction. This episode originally aired on Playhouse Disney. ~ Betsy Boyd, All Movie Guide

Part of The Book of Pooh series, which offers preschool kids simple life lessons and scholastic pointers, The Book of Pooh: Stories From the Heart uses puppetry and computer animation to tell Christopher Robin's imaginative tales. Kids join Christopher Robin, Winnie the Pooh, Piglet, and Tigger for an afternoon of storytelling and lesson learning. The program, based on stories and characters created by A.A. Milne, features six new songs. ~ Betsy Boyd, All Movie Guide

The fourth and final season of the original Transformers cartoon series is actually a three-part miniseries titled "The Rebirth." The age-old war between the two rival Transformer factions, the Autobots and the Decepticons, takes the combatants to Nebulos, a planet controlled by evil telepaths. In the course of events, the lines of battle are blurred when, thanks to those aforementioned telepaths, several Decepticons, disguised as good-guy Autobots, infiltrate the other side. As the climax approaches, the fate of everyone concerned rests in the hands of the Autobots' human ally Spike -- with a bit of assistance from the revivified Optimus Prime, head of the Autobots, who has merged his intelligence and resources with the "super computer" Vector Sigma. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this entertaining feature for the 3- to10-year-old set, the wicked witch Hydia (voice of Cloris Leachman) and her two nasty daughters, Reeka and Draggle (voices of Rhea Pearlman and Madeline Kahn) are scheming to flood Ponyland with a strange liquid called Smooze. The ponies find allies in the Grundles, who have already been made homeless by the Smooze. The challenge is to stop the witch and her daughters, send them back into their volcano, and retrieve the lost land of the Grundles from under its cover of Smooze -- not to mention protecting Ponyland from the worst. Not an easy agenda, even after several adventures gear everyone up for the grand finale. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Voice-acting legend Peter Cullen (Transformers) lends his deep, velvety pipes to this special Voltron feature in which a formidable enemy, King Zarkon, assembles an expansive army of evil-doers. The only hope of taking the fleet down is an alliance between Vehicle Force Voltron and Lion Force Voltoron. ~ All Movie Guide

While languishing in prison with the Penguin as his cellmate, evil magician Felix Faust conjures up a spell which enables him to steal the special powers of the Galactic Guardians. No sooner has this happened than the Penguin appropriates these powers for himself, and as result the Super Powers Team now works for him! In order to thwart the Penguin and emerge as the real villain of the piece, Faust absorbs all of Superman's powers--and unless at least one of superheroes can break free from the Penguin's influence, the Man of Steel may never be completely "himself" again! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Transformers was one of several syndicated half-hour cartoon series of the 1980s designed to promote a line of toys. In this instance, the playthings, marketed by Hasbro, were tiny robots that could be "transformed" into automotive vehicles, and vice versa. It was not for nothing that the series' theme song boasted that its characters were "more than meets the eye." Basically, the series chronicled the eons-old battle between two branches of the Transformer family: the Autobots, mentored by Optimus Prime, and the Decepticons, headed by Megatron. After battling for centuries on their home planet Zobitron (also known as Cybertron), the two warring factions decided to move their battleground to another world, and in the process crash-landed on a prehistoric Earth. Released from suspended animation in 2005 A.D., the good-guy Autobots (bearing such names as Inferno, Grapple, Red, and Smoke Screen) and the bad-guy Decepticons (numbering among their ranks the likes of Dirge and Thrust) resumed their conflict as though no time had passed at all. The Autobots managed to win several humans over to their side, notably earthlings Spike and Sparkplug, and, when the battle returned to the Autobots' home planet, Marrisa Fairborne of the Earth Defense Command. Although the animation was mediocre, The Transformers boasted excellent writing and story values, thanks to the input of such fantastic-fiction specialists as Donald F. Glut and Marv Wolfman. Also, the writers did a nice job weaving the Hasbro-licensed characters into the action, rather than have them merely show up as walking and talking advertisements. Debuting in daily "strip" syndication in September of 1984, the series remained in active production for three years. After its syndicated run, The Transformers was rebroadcast by cable's Sci-Fi Channel from 1992 to 1997. The series has also spawned a number of sequels, among them Beast Wars, Beast Machines, and several Japanese anime versions of the property, released in the U.S. under such titles as Transformers: Robots in Disguise and Transformers Armada. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

"Don't expose him to bright light. Don't ever get him wet. And don't ever, ever feed him after midnight." This sage advice is ignored midway through Gremlins, with devastating results. This comic Joe Dante effort is set in a Norman Rockwell-esque small town at Christmastime. Seeking a unique gift for his son an erstwhile inventor (Hoyt Axton) purchases a cute, fuzzy little "Mogwai" from a Chinatown shopkeeper's (Keye Luke) grandson (John Louie), who dispenses the above-mentioned warning before closing the deal. Meanwhile, young bank clerk Billy Peltzer (Zach Galligan) must suffer such antagonists as rich-bitch Mrs. Deagle (Polly Holliday) and priggish Gerald (Judge Reinhold) while pursuing his romance with Kate (Phoebe Cates). These and a variety of other plot strands are tied together when the lovable mogwai (named Gizmo) is exposed to bright light and gotten wet. In short order, the town is invaded by nasty, predatory Gremlins, who lay waste to everything in sight as Billy and Kate try to contain the destruction. Like most of Joe Dante's works, Gremlins is chock-full of significant cameo appearances: in this instance, such pop-culture icons as Dick Miller, Jackie Joseph, Chuck Jones, Scott Brady, Harry Carey Jr., Steven Spielberg (the film's executive producer) and even Robby the Robot all show up briefly on screen. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide