Rise of the Mages

The One Special Maiden is a 1991 animated fantasy adventure film directed by Garrett Fredrickson loosley inspired by "The Old Woman in the Wood" by The Brothers Grimm. Featuring an ensemble cast including Samantha Mathis, Gary Imhoff, Charles Nelson Reilly, Carol Burnett, Neil Ross, George Hearn, Joe Lynch, among others, it was produced by Toei Animation, Nightstorm Entertainment, Nippon Television Network, and Goldcrest Films and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures in the United States and Toei Company in Japan.

The One Special Maiden was released to the United States on December 18th, 1991 to positive reviews from critics and doing modestly well at the box office grossing $45.7 Million. In later years, the film has gone on to become a cult classic thanks to home video and television broadcasts of the film. The One Special Maiden is the first original film Garrett Fredrickson directed.

Plot
COMING SOON

Voices (INCOMPLETE)

 * Samantha Mathis as Rosie, a beautiful yet poor maiden who despite her disposition is quite brave and also kindhearted to others. Shinya Hasegawa served as the supervising animator for Rosie.
 * Charles Nelson Reilly as Ben, a talking raven who used to be a lumberjack until he was turned into a raven by a former associate of Lady Collette and was Rosie's best friend for the longest time. Yasuhiro Aoki served as the supervising animator for Nelson.
 * Gary Imhoff as Clayton, a somewhat nervous boy who is experienced in fencing, he befriends Rosie after the two have a chance encounter and eventually he falls in love with her. Yoshimi Komai served as the supervising animator for Clayton.
 * Peter Fernandez as Mayor Russell, the mayor of the land who Lady Collette is planning to overthrow in order for domination. Tadashi Yahata served as the supervising animator for King Russell.
 * Carol Burnett as Lady Collette, a seemingly rich and posh woman who is secretly an evil mage wanting to dominate the land. Naotoshi Shida served as the supervising animator for Lady Collette
 * Neil Ross as Manuel, Lady Collette's butler and accomplice who helps her with her plans. Koji Nashizawa served as the supervising animator for Manuel
 * George Hearn as Captain Lander, a police captain who secretly doesn't trust Lady Collette. Takashi Mukouda served as the supervising animator for Captain Wilhelm Lander.
 * Joe Lynch as Lady Collette's Clerk, a clerk who is unaware of Lady Collette's plans. Takahiro Kagami served as the supervising animator for Lady Collette's Clerk.
 * Julie Payne
 * Corey Burton
 * Eric Idle as Percington, a British-accented spy who knew Rosie when he was younger, he was later recruited by Captain Lander to know what Lady Collette is up to, being disguised as her chef. Shigeo Matoba served as the supervising animator for Percington.
 * Frank Welker
 * Jack Angel
 * Lorenzo Music
 * Barry Gordon as an Officer
 * Don Adams as an Officer
 * Carl Andy as an Officer
 * Cam Clarke
 * Candi Milo
 * Loni Anderson as a Priestess
 * Jim Cummings as a Merchant
 * Paul Newman as the Narrator

Production
Development on the film started in 1984, when Fredrickson started to get more into animation, two of the films that influenced him were Twelve Months (1980) and Twice Upon a Time (1983). While watching Twelve Months, he got the idea to make a fantasy film that was set in winter, and when he managed to get the ideas for the film together, he got in contact with Toei Company about providing the film's animation and for Japanese distribution. Toei ended up agreeing to do so and the first draft of the script was written in May of 1986.

Despite the script being done and revised a few times in 1986 and some additional work done with the character designs, pre-production wouldn't officially start until after the release of A Penguin's Memories in June of 1987, and after taking a bit of a break from working on A Penguin's Memories, he resumed working on the new project, but he knew help would be needed with co-financing, since his own company, Nightstorm Entertainment, which he had founded in 1985, and Toei Company were the only companies involved with the movie. In August of 1987, however, Goldcrest Films came in as an investor for the project's American Production along with the Nippon Television Network for the Japanese production. Weeks later, Warner Bros, who previously turned down the offer to release A Penguin's Memories because they didn't know how to market it, became highly interested to release the film in theaters. Fredrickson decided to rewrite the movie's plotline, instead changing the movie's prime focus to the female character Rosie, with the plotline being changed from a winter setting to something a little more inspired by The Grimm Brothers' The Old Woman in the Wood. Samantha Mathis, Charles Nelson Reilly, Gary Imhoff, and Neil Ross were cast in April 1988, with Carol Burnett, George Hearn, and Joe Lynch being cast later that year. The film's production began in June of 1988, and the film finished production in August 1991.

Release
The One Special Maiden was released in the US on December 18th, 1991. It was previously planned for release in November of 1991, but Warner Bros rescheduled it to December of that year in order to try and avoid competition with Beauty and the Beast and An American Tail: Fievel Goes West.

Box Office
The One Special Maiden grossed $45.7 million during it's theatrical run. While it did make a good amount of profit back, Warner Bros didn't do a lot of marketing on the film, and it partly struggled due to the success of Disney's Beauty and the Beast, however, it did manage to recover it's losses from home video sales.

Critical Response
The One Special Maiden received great reviews from critics, earning a score of 88% on Rotten Tomatoes with it's critical consensus reading "Whimsical and beautifully animated, The One Special Maiden shows that even the most simple of ideas can be executed into a very charming film", on Metacritic, the film has a score of 84 indicating "universal acclaim"

Home Media

 * 1992 Warner Home Video VHS
 * 1996 Warner Bros Classic Tales VHS
 * 2004 Warner Home Video Special Edition DVD
 * 2010 Warner Home Video Blu-Ray
 * 2016 Warner Home Video 25th Anniversary Blu-Ray (reprint of 2010 Blu-Ray)