Richard L. Fairchild
like or not like. have certain expectations, or do not have certain expectations. beautiful ideas. check. sweet song in "Be a Happy Guy too." check. profundity in the Tree of Knowledge. check. sweetness all around. check. ingratitude for the skill and talent which produced this movie. no check. smug criticism by "sophisticated" reviewers. check. proof the movie is good and is truly a delight by the reviews of smug critics. check, and thank you. i guess i have to write more, because my review isn't able to be published without 10 lines. OK, here's some more. and more yet. OK, i'll keep writing.. is this enough? how about this? and is this enough? and what about this? am i in a college class? am i back in my film class in college? i don't feel that young anymore. maybe the sandman has brought me there.
docdespicable
I'd wanted to see this rather badly for years - maybe that was the reason, when I finally got my hands on the DVD, that it was a let-down. Too-high expectations. It's nice to see the Rankin/Bass team NOT cashing in on a holiday, of course. We're treated to an all-to-brief bit of Jack Gilford's "imitation of a pot of pea soup coming to a boil" that was one of his signature pieces, early in his career. The vocal talents are, for the most part, a delight: Tallulah Bankhead as the Sea Witch has a field day with the little she has to work with; Ed Wynn, as the unclothed Emperor, is very funny, though at times he sounds like he's reading from the script, while Terry-Thomas is perfect as the first tailor; Victor Borge, though, seems a bit subdued as his partner; Boris Karloff, perfect as the Rat, makes full use of his mellifluous voice and long experience in radio and voice-over work.But those are the real hi-lights. The rest sort of fade out of memory. There are some extremely effective sequences - the Little Mermaid's journey to the lair of the Sea Witch, for example, would have had me under my seat, if I'd seen it in the theater as a child - but many of the other voice actors (well, all of them really) seem wasted in their roles. The performances are fine, but it's like being at a buffet where you only get a small taste of the delicacies - you want more.I think that's part of the problem here. Another is the number of Anderson stories drawn upon - none of them has the time to build any depth, and none of them provides a real sense of resolution. Added to that is the parade of stars. Ray Bolger as the Pieman - the point of this was... what? He doesn't get to do much of what made him a great performer.All of which is to say that THE DAYDREAMER isn't a bad little film - but it isn't a very good little film either.
Brian Washington
I loved watching this whenever it came on when I was a kid. I loved how they took a young Hans Christian Anderson and put him in the middle of the stories that would later bring him fame. The thing that I think was a great moral to this story was that it is better to stay and face your problems than it is to run away. Too bad it is not shown on broadcast television anymore for the few people who don't have cable or sattelite.
Joseph Brando
Fairy Tale lovers are in for a treat with this star-studded live action/animation feature film produced by the wonderful Rankin/Bass team - best known for their holiday masterpieces "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer", "Frosty the Snowman" and "Mad Monster Party", just to name a few. The wraparound story (which is live-action) deals with a young Hans Christian Anderson struggling to find The Garden of Paradise. These parts of the movie are admittedly corny, but on his journey, we are treated to four enchanting stories, each filmed in Rankin/Bass's trademark stop-motion "Animagic". The stories are unusual in that they all end on a low note rather than a typical "Disney happy ending" - keeping true to Anderson's original tales. Included here are "The Little Mermaid", "The Emperor's New Clothes", "Thumbelina" and "The Garden of Paradise". Once again Arthur Rankin and Jules Bass have created a fantasyland of wonder and imagination filled to the brim with beautiful tunes. This movie should get 10 stars alone for getting Tallulah Bankhead to voice the sea-witch in "Little Mermaid". Magnificent Eye-Candy!
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