Customer Reviews

Raggedy Ann & Andy: A Musical Adventure [VHS]

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4 star:		(1)
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2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

The world of 70's animation is a strange one. A viewer takes his/her own chances. Things can get pretty wild, pretty crazy, pretty "tripped out." Such is the case with "Raggedy Ann and Andy: A Musical Adventure."

Don't get the idea that this is necessarily a bad thing. It's a safe alternative to getting tripped out yourself; just watch a tripped out cartoon! But I'm getting ahead of myself. Here's the story. Raggedy Ann and Andy are the property of Marcella, along with several other toys. Much like in "Toy Story," they come alive whenever Marcella leaves her room. In this film, the dolls and Marcella are live-action until the little girl leaves the room and the dolls come to life. When that happens, the film becomes animated. The animation isn't all that attractive, but it does have its own sort of charm. The delightful music throughout the film, composed by Sesame Street's Joe Raposo, includes a ragtime flavor, naturally, along with a Broadway zest. Anyway, on the day of Marcella's birthday, a new doll comes into the room. Her name is Babette, and she's from France. A pirate captain who lives in a snowglobe sees her and falls instantly in love with her! He gets the other toys to help set him free through trickery and steals away the French doll. The Captain then sets out to sea in his pirate ship, and Raggedy Ann and Andy have to go on a quest to rescue her! Now, here's where things get trippy! Along the way, the ragdoll brother and sister encounter a gluttonous blob of candy eating taffy (eager to eat Raggedy Ann's candy heart), a spaced out Camel, a crazy King and an even crazier Knight, some weird sea monster I can't even describe,...it's all just bizarre!

I remember seeing this film when I was VERY young. I LOVED this movie! I am primarily into Disney animation, I confess, but I loved this one for so many weird reasons. Part of it, I'm sure, is the appeal of toys coming to life. There's also the fact that the characters, the main ones anyway, are so loveable. I've always loved the camel especially. I used to have dolls of Andy and Ann that got beat to heck from my playing with them and having them act out this movie. I recently replaced them after seeing the movie again as a rental, and I made a camel doll that looks very similar to the "real" one in the movie, and I must say, he came out pretty darn good! He looks much better than the ones being sold when the film came out, anyway. So, I went on to make a Raggedy Arthur doll too, their dog from the two Chuck Jones Holiday Specials I also recommend viewing ("Raggedy Ann and Andy and the Pumpkin Who Couldn't Smile" and "Raggedy Ann and Andy and the Great Santa Claus Caper"). But, what I want now is this movie! Can you imagine it on DVD? Someday, hopefully, we'll see it happen!

This movie is almost impossible to find,but if you can you are in for such a treat. I remember my Dad recording this movie for me in the summer/fall of 1979. This was back when VCR's were not an everyday thing and more of a gadjet. I am so glad he did,because I am still in the process of obtaining the actual video of this wonderful film. The film is a full length 86 minute cartoon that was released on the big screen in 1976. This film stars several famous voices. Raggedy Ann is voiced by Didi Conn,who starred in the Movie Grease as Frenchy and later was on Shining Time Station in the late 80's. The voice of Andy is done by,unknown at the time,Mark Linn Baker (credited just as Mark Baker). He of course was best known as Larry Appleton on Perfect Strangers. Grandpa is voiced by Mason Adams,who has done many voices. Gadzooks is voiced by the very talented Paul Dooley,who was Whimpey in the 1980 movie Popeye with Robin Williams. Sir Leonard Looney is voiced by Alan Sues. He best known for his work on Rowen and Martin's Laugh In. The movie is directed by Richard Williams and features 9 or so songs from Joe Raspo of Seseame Street fame. The film starts out with live action and Marcella coming home on her 7th birthday. The film then becomes an cartoon introducing all the characters. Marcella receives a new doll for her birthday named Babete. She however is not very impressed with the playroom and retires to her very nice doll house. She then catches the eye of the pirate captain,who tricked Raggedy Ann to free him from his snow globe prison. He then kidnaps Babete and takes off out the window. It is up to Raggedy Ann and Andy to save her. They go out into the deep,deep woods (which Marcella never says to go). There is a nice song of their travels in the woods. They then meet the camel with the wrikled knees. He explains his story in one of the best songs of the film. He is convinced their is a camel caravan somewhere in the sky and is often trying to get back there. They then fall to the lair of the Greedy,a giant glob of toffee or caramel or something,who has gathered all the sweets of the world into his one domain. He expalins that he constantly is eating and cannot stop,unless he is asleep. The Raggedys and the camel float in a giant cupcake wrapper and ask if they can help the Greedy. He explains in song that he needs a sweetheart to be filled up. It turns out he needs a candy heart which Raggedy Ann has inside her. He wants to take it out,but the Raggedys and the camel manage to escape. They next meet Sir Leonard Looney who tells them they are in Looney Land,where all of the practical jokes in the world come from. He takes them to King Koo Koo,who is just a tiny little King. Interesting,he grows every time he laughs. He wants to keep the Raggedys and the camel in his kingdom to make him laugh so he could grow bigger. However just a part of the King grows bigger at a time (such as an arm or leg only ) because there is nothing funny enough to keep all of him big at the same time. After a big pie fight,the Raggedys and the camel escape and get into some kind of Looney Boat. They start the boat by pressing the stop button. Sir Leonard questions the King why he let them escape. He then says he has a plan. He calls up Gadzooks the sea monster who is very bored on the bottom of the sea. The King asks Gadzooks if he is interested in doing a favor for the King. Next the Raggedys and the camel find the pirate ship and find out that there was a mutiny and now the precious French Doll Babete was the new Captain. Somehow she took over the ship and locked up the Captain and his parrot friend Quezy in the bottom of the ship. There is a nice song between the Captain and Quezy. The Raggedys and the camel try to find out what's up with the new captain Babete. The Captain manages to get free and trys to take his ship back,however he is still madly in love with Babete. She has everyone including Raggedy Ann tied up. Then The King and Gadzooks come to the ship. Gadzooks grabs the Captain,the camel and several pirates and begins tickling them. The King grows bigger and bigger. Gadzooks then grabs Raggedy Ann and Babete. The King is now the size of a blimp. Then Quezy,from the advice of Andy charges right into the King blows him up like a balloon. Everyone spins into the air and in live action Marcella finds them in a puddle of rain water in the back yard. She takes everyone back into the playroom except the the camel. The Raggedys are back home and tell of their adventures. Babete and the Captain patch up things and start a new friendship. He can visit her on Sundays. The camel outside sees the camel caravan vision one last time and makes his way into the playroom. Raggedy Ann suggests he lives in the playroom and they all live happily ever after. This is a very fun and cute film. I not recommend this movie for real small children,just because of the detail. Every year I watched it as a kid I keep learing something new each time. Even today I find something special every time I watch it.

This movie starts off with live action and continues when the dolls in Marcella's playroom come to life. The story centers around a new addition to the playroom. A French doll named Babbette,who gets kidnapped by a Pirate. The playroom sends Raggedy Ann and her brother Andy to search for her. They meet many entertaining characters along the way. This was one of my childrens favorite movies. And now that my daughter has children of her own we have been trying to find a copy of this wonderful movie.

I can only hope that the wonderful people who created this beautifully animated movie will get it out of archives, clean it up and re-release it someday in the future to theaters and DVD before I'm too old and my VHS copy finally stops working. It far reaches any expectations of any Disney movie from the same time era. I compare it to sleepers such as "Iron Giant". It truly deserves recognition. I was dazzled by it as a child in the theater, and at 33 years old, I am still amazed how good it is.

...I can still quote this movie.

This was the most fantastic movie I'd ever seen as a little girl. My mother and I saw it about 5 times in the theater, and I haven't heard anything about it since. Guess what I'm buying for Mother's Day?

This should be on DVD!

If this is the film featuring the voice of the lovely Didi Conn as Raggedy Ann, then it is the children's masterpiece i was thinking of. i remember seeing this movie MANY times as a child, and it was always a joy to watch. The music is heartfelt and sincere, not an ounce of pretense. This movie should DEFINITELY be made available again, not just on VHS but DVD as well. This treasure for children of ALL ages (girls AND boys) deserves as much, if not more.

When I was little, I watched this movie so much I knew the words by heart! It was about 15 years later that I watched it again, it all slowly came back to me. I love this movie. It made me happy then, and it still makes me smile after all these years. It's like a pre-Toy Story in a way, but of course it's not computer graphics. If you've ever wondered what your toys did when you left the room, or if you like Raggedy Ann and Andy, you may want to check the movie out.

Fantastic, beautifully done animated feature. This one was directed by Richard Williams who was also behind "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?". This film was originally filmed/created in widescreen format. Some of the best animators of the 70's worked on it. It would make a terrific DVD! Loved this one as a kid and now all my little nieces and nephews love it too! HIGHLY recommended!

I love this movie. I had it as a kid and used to watch it all the time. I would love to own it for my daughter. I would really love if it were on DVD!!!!!!!!!

This is a fantastic animated musical! A lot of color, great songs (THANK YOU, JOE RAPOSO!) My kids watched this over and over in the 80's and now my beautiful granddaughter, 4yrs. old, watched it today and loved it. She is already trying to sing "Candied Hearts and Paper Flowers" (my favorite) and "I Never Get Enough". I really wish this would come out on DVD. It is a classic! Weird and scary are what you see in most childrens animated programs today........How I miss the good ol' days when films made for children encouraged helping one another, sticking together no matter what and music with lyrics that made you feel happy and warm inside.