Arlene

Arlene is a 1999 traditional animated film based off of the graphic novel by Robert Nadal and produced by Robert Animation Studios and Universal Pictures. The film was directed by Robert Nadal and Michael Wildshill

Prologue
"“Long ago, there once lived a planet far far away called Mystico. This planet was the home of two different species. The humans and the drogans. The humans live a normal lifestyle similar to of earth’s humans. The drogans, however, were classified as dinosaur and dragon hybrids who live in a more monarchy lifestyle with kings and queens. When they first stood on the lands, they fought for territory. But with much lives lost, they settled on an agreement to split the land in half and never intrude. But just when they thought the fighting would be over, they didn’t realize it was too late. The wrath and hatred between the two tribes have created a dark spirit fueled by rage, violence, and genocide. The spirit would feed the tribes hatred towards each other by tricking them back into war. And it worked. The two tribes went back to war and the spirit would feed on the wrath between the two tribes and transform into a monster of chaos and destruction. The Dragon of Shadows. Free to unleash its unlimited power, he engulfed the entire planet into the shadows, leaving the planet gone from the rest of the universe. The two tribes blamed each other for causing this, but they soon realized it was on both of them. Feeling guilty as the darkness continued to spread and enclose the planet, the two tribes called off the war and agreed to live in peace and harmony from now on. Their peace agreement would unleash 6 different elemental spirits. Intelligence, Agility, Power, Courage, Leadership, and Assistance. And those who represented the spirits would fuse them together to create the ultimate weapon against the darkness. The Staff of Serenity. The two tribes would use the staff to absorb the darkness around the planet. The Dragon of Shadows came back and tried to release more darkness and stop the two tribes from absorbing it all. But too much darkness released caused the Dragon of Shadows to be absorbed into the staff. With all the darkness and the Dragon of Shadows sealed into the staff. They soon hid it in a place where no living organism ever goes. To ensure the darkness is forever sealed, the element spirits would be passed down to each new representative from each generations, forming a group called The Galactic Comets.”"Transitioning from a vision to reality, we see a little 7 year old orphan girl named Tiffany. She’s been a somewhat independent kid when her mother died when she was 3. Before that, she encouraged her daughter as she read a book on the legendary Galactic Comets. As Tiffany grown more attached to the stories, she took the GC story to heart. Even believing in them, but everyone felt like she took her beliefs too seriously. But little do they or Tiffany knows that some stories, not all stories, but some stories really can be true.

As we go out into the cosmos we see a meteor heading to Earth. But before it can reach atmosphere, a laser shoots the meteor into smithereens, forming a meteor shower(the non-lethal ones). We look to see the laser was fired by a starship. Inside were the remaining 3 members of the current generation Galactic Comets observing the worlds around them. These members include Tiberius, representatives of Intelligence, his friend, Thomas, of Agility, and Tom’s younger sister, Tori, of Power. They used their free time to explore the solar system and even beyond. Tiberius, however, looks back at his past. How his home and his other friends who represented the rest of the elements was destroyed by the dark monster. Luckily, Tom and Tori comfort him saying he shouldn’t be ashamed he couldn’t stop him and they were under the same responsibility for not saving them. Though it didn’t stop him from thinking that the beast might be on the loose and could strike at any moment. They insisted that it hasn’t been spotted in almost 7 years. But speaking of whom.

Where the Shadows Attack
Heading back to the island of Tawaho, we gaze upon a meadow of animals, including cows, sheep, pigs, horses, and chickens, as they sleep peacefully. But as they were nuzzled on the ground, a dark haze starts to form around them. They wake up to see it and notice set of glowing red eyes. Frightened, they move away slowly. But as it got closer to them, they start to run. But it was just to fast for them. As they all started to make loud frightened noises, the town of DiamondVille woke up from the noise. The Mayor, Richard, and his wife, Valerie, got up and look out to see what was going on. They rushed their kids, Tiago, Desiree, and Hoover, and the police officials to follow them and investigate the disturbance.

Turns out they weren’t the only ones who noticed the disturbance. As we go back to the starship, an alarm goes off saying “Warning! Disturbance spotted in—Earth!”. Tiberius was startled and dropped down the telescope to see a dark beast as it eats all the animals in the meadows. Tom and Tori were worried about what was happening as they fought Tiberius for the view. Back to Tiffany, she suddenly hears a big old “ROAR!” and falls out of bed. She’s quickly runs downstairs and out the door to see the Mayor, his family, and the government head for the town gates to look out. She starts to follow them quietly without anyone noticing. Tom and Tori manage to get a peak into the telescope to see the monster. But they couldn’t make it out as it notices the mayor and everyone else and escapes before they could see it. As everyone made it to the meadows and gazed upon it, they were shocked in fear. The animals were all killed off only left as bones and blood. Valerie was concerned about who did this. Richard was speechless, wondering the same thing. Chief Glagowski tells Mayor Weber that they should warn the citizens about a possible murderer. But Richard states that telling the public will cause mass panic and they can’t afford that. He then adds that they need to keep quiet and uncover the culprit before they can strike again. Officer Misfif asks how they’re gonna do that without anyone raising questions. Valerie states for a complete and total lockdown until everything is set. Tiago claims that might raise more questions. Richard suggest having more security. But Valerie claims that security never works as she brings up a flashback about what happened last time. Tiago suggest blocking all ways to the meadows. Richard claims that’ll raise as much questions as the lockdown. They all begin to argue about which is the better idea.

We then see Tiffany as she hides behind a rock to prevent from getting noticed. As she tries to peek over, she sees what looks like a dark monster. Almost dragon-like. She suddenly gets the idea that it looks exactly like... But she gets caught by everyone else as Richard notices her. He breaks off the argument and runs towards Tiffany. He asks what the heck she’s doing here. Tiffany was silent for a moment and then told him she heard the loud noise and followed him here. Everyone else comes to her and she starts to feel insecure. Valerie states what she did was dangerous and she could’ve ended up like her mother. Dead. Tiffany tries to explain and tells them she saw the culprit. She claims it looked like “The Dragon of Shadows”. Desiree freaked out, but Richard calmed her saying that it’s just a myth. Tiffany insisted it was that. But everyone started to chuckle saying if that was “The Dragon of Shadows”, then they would’ve been dead already. Richard tells them to stop. And then he told Tiffany that it was his responsibility to make sure she’s safe, as her mother’s last request before she died. He then told the officers to investigate the area and find some sort of trace. He and the rest will take Tiffany back to the orphanage. As they began to walk back, we once again see a dark haze and the glowing red eyes as it gazes upon Tiffany. It knew she was on to something.

Back at the starship, Tiberius was really concerned about what just happened. Tom and Tori asks what that even was. It look familiar to them. Tiberius believes it bared a resemblance to the Dragon of Shadows. The dark black tone, glowing red eyes, and dragon-like features. Tom found it hard to believe because no traces of the Dragon of Shadows were found near here. Maybe it managed to slip their minds. It was crafty. Tiberius decides to connect the evidence and plan out the resolution. Tom says they can’t fight back. It already took out the remaining members when they were on their own. It could have the spirits in check. Tiberius sees his point and decides to go with plan B. Create a creature to take on the monster. Their generation has had plenty of experience doing so. 402 times to be exact. But there was one little problem. They didn’t have enough ingredients to form it. They needed to find some more. But Earth was one of the only places they can get some of them. Tiberius decided to go in and gather the requirements and would bring them back to the ship. And if anything happens, Tom and Tori can finish the plan. After one last good luck, Tiberius set out in a rocket and set destination to Tawaho Island.

After Tiffany was dropped off back at the orphanage, we see her as she sits down on the ledge pondering on what that thing really was. She swore it was “The Dragon of Shadows”. She eventually hear someone who overheard her mentioning it. She looks around to see an old man across on the other side of the road. She ask what he knows about it. He responds “Lots”. And then he asks her to follow him. Tiffany declines stating it’s against rights for a child to follow a stranger. The old man crosses his heart and tells her he’s not those kind of people. She then looks around and follows him to a dark alley where we discover his home which looks like one of those mobile campers. On the camper were loads of pictures and artwork of the Galactic Comets and The Dragon of Shadows. She then asks him if he was a GC Enthusiast. He says he is and no one really believe his belief. She starts to chuckle and say she’s been there. She takes a closer look at some of the evidence of “DOS” and asks how he managed to find such evidence. He claims he once thought he came in contact with it, but no one believed him. After a while, Tiffany had to go hurry back to the orphanage before the sun rises so no one suspects anything. She waved goodbye and ran off. On her way back, she looks up into the sky to her mother. Upon viewing, she sees what looks like a shooting star. She sighs and say “I wish life wasn’t this difficult”, and then goes back into her room in the orphanage.

Looking closer at the shooting star, we see it’s actually a rocket. As it starts to cool down from reentry, it crashes right onto the mountains and land into a lake. We hear Tiberius moan and groan from crashing as a door pops open. He then climbs out of the rocket and lands into the lake. Tom and Tori try to contact him via telepathy and see of he survived. Tiberius tells them he’s fine and ready. Once he’s gotten the last required ingredients, he’ll rendezvous them at the island in the lake by the mountain. However, it seems as if he was being followed as we see someone in the shadows eavesdropping on him. He tried to use the opportunity to attack, but Tiberius suddenly looks around for anyone following him. He tries to hide from him as he looks and decided to wait a moment before attacking. He then follows him while remaining in the shadows. After a while, Tiberius manages to grab the remaining ingredients and gives the go ahead to Tiberius. But before he can finish his sentence, he’s attacked. Tom and Tori hear all of this and asks if he copies. Tiberius is, however, left unconscious, dropping the ingredients. Tom and Tori are worried and decided to head to the rendezvous location immediately. When the culprit notices them as they land. He takes Tiberius quickly and escapes. Tom and Tori run out of the starship after landing to look for Tiberius, who was gone. All that was left were the final ingredients. Devastated with the loss of another representative and best friend, they decide to avenge him and finish the job. They grab the final ingredients and begin to form the DNA molecules to create the creature.

Next Morning
After last night, people were discuss the ruckus that happened and it started to spread like wildfire. The government tried to contain themselves, but Tiffany had to go out and take a breather because she had to carrying heavy weight, having to keep quiet about what happened. She went back to the old man place, but he wasn’t inside when she looked. She looked around and he was no where to be found. She thought maybe he went out into the sight of the incident. But the exits were both guarded and locked. Tiffany needed an alternative way out. But she notice a light. She went and followed it and saw the outside of the town. She thought maybe he found a way out without anyone noticing. Luckily, she planned ahead in case anyone was looking for her. She looked around to make sure no one was following her and saw an open hole in the town walls. She tried to climb through it and look at the scene of the incident. No one else was out there and she thought maybe investigators found more evidence of what happened. She still had some belief that it was The Dragon of Shadows. But at the same time, she had a feeling that she was just seeing things as everyone else told her. She thought her mother would believe her if she was still alive. She later decided to looks closer into the incident without getting any of the remaining blood on her. But before she can go further.

In the starship, we see the DNA as it has metamorphosed. A hatch shuts the capsule close and began to steam. The vibration began to rattle the machine and for a moment, the capsule was launched. Tom and Tori woke up, startled when they saw the capsule was gone. They quickly ran out to find it and to their surprise, the capsule was flying in the air. Tiffany suddenly hears the capsule as it flies into the air. But it then starts to descent down back to the ground. She runs over to the mountains to follow it. As the capsule begins to fall down, it lands down the edge of the river into the river, tumbling and rolling off the rocks. Tom and Tori went down to get it. The capsule crashed down and the creature flew out of it and crashed into a cliff wall. When Tom and Tori see it unconscious, they look closely at it. The creature appears to look more human. A young woman to be exactly. Something didn’t seem right to them. They thought maybe it was a defect or error. Tom went back to look at the blueprints while Tori kept an eye on the creature. But Tori suddenly heard someone coming. It wasn’t Tom. So she quickly tried to hide in a bush. She peaked and saw a little girl. It was Tiffany. She looked around to see what was going on. She then noticed the creature as it was still unconscious. She ran over and tried to wake her up. Tom returned to look closer at the creature, but Tori pulled him into the bush. Tom was confused why Tori wasn’t keeping an eye on the... But Tori cuts him off saying he has to be quiet. She then shows him Tiffany as she’s looking closer at the creature. Tom immediately backed up for a moment and slowly moved back forward to peek. Tiffany wondered if the creature was alive. She slowly walked closer and opened its eye lids for a moment. As she looked into it, it moved it’s eye. Tiffany freaked out and stumbled back. The creature suddenly began to wake up. Looking around, she was confused and unaware of what was around. Tiffany tried to explain to her what all this was. She then asked Tiffany who she was. She introduced herself and asked who she was. And then the creature stayed silent for a moment. Tom and Tori needed to intervene, but they couldn’t show themselves off like this. They began to disguise themselves by turning into humans. Tiffany noticed something going on in the bushes. She walked up to see two people as they were about to come out of the bushes. They ran towards the creature and asked if she was alright. The creature was confused and asked who they were. They claimed to be her parents, Tom and Tori. Tiffany noticed that and asked what even happened. The creature wasn’t sure because she was unconscious and she then asked Tom and Tori what happened. Tom explained to her that she was knocked unconscious after she fell down a cliff. Tiffany bought it and then asked them if they knew who she was. Tom and Tori stood for a moment and looked at each other. They told them to give them a moment. They went back into the bush to discuss how they’re had to define the creature. After a few discussions and deciding, they were ready. They went back to introduce Tiffany to the creature, Arlene. Tiffany liked that and was about introduce them to her. But she didn’t because of how she saw them as a happy family. She then stood a bit insecure. Arlene was concerned and asked Tiffany if she was alright. She said she’s fine. She then decided to take them to DiamondVille to insure no one notices she’s gone. She told them to follow her back.

Main

 * Natalie Portman as Arlene
 * Taylor Momsen as Tiffany
 * Daniel Day-Lewis as Old Geezer
 * John De Lancie as Tiberius
 * Corey Feldman as Thomas
 * Winona Ryder as Tori
 * Robert Nadal as Mayor “Richard” Weber
 * Jennifer Hale as Valerie Weber

Minor

 * Elijah Wood as Tiago
 * Tara Strong as Desiree
 * Spencer Breslin as Hoover

Production
After the success of the original graphic novel, author, Robert Nadal, formed a partnership with Universal Pictures to make an animated adaptation of Arlene. He originally talked with Disney, but they turned down. Productions of the film began in early 1996 and would cost around $65,000,000. It would become Robert’s director and animator debut.

Release
The film was originally scheduled for April 1999, but was pushed back to July 7th 1999.

On July 7th 1999, the film was released worldwide in theaters