Phantom Tollbooth
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VHS Movie Reviews of Phantom Tollbooth
Movie Review: We Love It
Summary: 5 Stars
I've never read the book but we love the movie. I've always wanted to read the book but never found time, not much of a reader. I still intend to read it someday but until then this really is an enjoyable movie. I find unrealistic bloopers in movies about how people would really act in any give situation and I have always felt comfortable with the realisticness of this movie. Love it.Movie Review: A CHUCK JONES ANIMATION CELEBRATION! =-)
Summary: 5 Stars
What to say? Chuck Jones has created a real bona fide classic which ought to be shared by ALL age groups as well as cartoon fanatics like myself. (That is, whether or not you have kids in both the former and latter.)
Having first seen this at the age of 13, I must admit, I couldn't help feeling perplexed when I saw the first few minutes of the movie: bored, pessimistic little Milo making his way home from school, then finds a magical tollbooth popping up in his bedroom. Once he enters it, he finds out he's become a cartoon character, then wondering into an alternate cartoon universe with a crazy patrol officer constantly repeating the word "guilty" and little lethargic amoeba-like creatures called "doldrums". Since I was watching this on TV, so much of it freaked me out so bad I flipped to another channel. Now let's fast forward to the age of 26...
...and now I'm actually ENJOYING IT! Having been a lifelong Looney Toons fan myself, this movie IS a refreshing break from the usual fare of Bugs, Daffy, and Marvin the Martian. The unique style of animation as well as the psychedelic colors/Picasso-like backgrounds were BOTH timeless and way ahead of its time (especially since it was made in 1968). Besides, now that I've seen it in its entirety, it is pretty fun and enjoyable to watch as Milo embarks on a journey with Tock the Watchdog and the Humbug to rescue the princesses of rhyme and reason. Their disappearance has created nothing but confusion and despair over a magical land full of words, letters, and numbers coming to life.
The bottom line on the Phantom Tollbooth: if you want to see non-Looney Toons works of Chuck Jones and still enjoy classic children's TV/movies, like Captain Kangaroo, Electric Company,
Schoolhouse Rock, and Charlotte's Web, then THIS IS IT! :-)
Movie Review: A good but imperfect adaptation
Summary: 4 Stars
The first thing to keep in mind is that the book was aimed at "ages 7 to 77," as the old slogan went, but the movie is aimed at ages 7 to 10, maybe, with only a few nods towards anyone older than that.
This is still a terrific film for its intended age group. It's not perfect; a few too many times thoughtful solutions to problems from the book were replaced with slapstick, the film stops dead every time it hits a song, and the ending was radically changed -- and that last was a huge, gasping mistake, because it removes the original story's catharsis. On the other hand, some of the visualizations are wonderful; the Lethargians and Digitopolis are drawn with wonderful insight.
I'd advise, though, presenting this movie to children as a companion to the book after they've already read it, not as a replacement and not by itself.
Additional note: freed from the yoke of established characters, Chuck Jones absolutely let his imagination run free here, the result sometimes approaching Tim Burton levels of surreality. Animation aficionados of any age should seek this film out for that alone.
Movie Review: Why are family movies disapearing today? Bring this one back
Summary: 5 Stars
My husband and I adore this movie. I grew up on it and we hoped to have it around for our kids. Now our tape copy is wearing out and we find that a dvd isn't available! Please help send word to the studios that these types of family shows are exactly what people what today. And if you can, see this movie. I think you'll know why it is so special to us.Movie Review: A valuable lesson
Summary: 2 Stars
I read the Phantom Tollbooth as a 4th grader, soon after it came out, and it was my favorite book. When the movie came out I rushed to see it, and it was the first time I"d seen a movie that had been made from a book I"d read. I was bitterly disappointed. The movie is a failed adaptation of the book. It taught me a valuable lesson- reading a book is always better than watching a movie.
Fast forward 30 years and this book is now my son's favorite. He's dying to see the movie, and will learn the same lesson- movies can never come close to creating the world that books allow us to enter.