Product Details

• Actors: Les Tremayne, Mel Blanc, June Foray
• Directors: Chuck Jones
• Writers: Chuck Jones, George Selden
• Producers: Chuck Jones, John Allen, Joseph Aidlin
• Format: Animated, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Lions Gate
• DVD Release Date: January 25, 2005
• Run Time: 26 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (60 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0006FO9G0
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #13,516 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Rikki Tikki Tavi/Yankee Doodle Cricket" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

RIKKI TIKKI TAVI/YANKEE DOODLE CRICKE - DVD Movie

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

53 of 57 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Typically fine and faithful Jones adaptation of a classic, January 25, 2005

By 

Nicholas Edwards (Belchertown, MA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Rikki Tikki Tavi/Yankee Doodle Cricket (DVD)

This was one of my favorite stories when I was a kid. I had always heard of the existence of this film, and was never able to see it until the release of this DVD. Judging from those of Jones' kid-lit adaptations I had seen (the wonderfully witty "Dot and The Line" of 1965; the glorious "Grinch" of 1966; "Horton Hears A Who" [1970]; and the lovely "Cricket In Times Square" of 1976) I was expecting great things, and was largely satisfied. The music and the writing ("oh Rikki-Tikki,
you ARE brave and beautiful!") tend to be a tad cloying. But these are minor cavils: the tone is, by and large, splendidly consistent. A good deal of the Kipling text is used, and Orson Welles reads it with terrific brio. The voice characterizations,
particularly those of June Foray, are as note-perfect as one could wish. The 4:3 transfer is decent, the mono sound perfectly adequate. The color is not as brilliant as it might be, but I suspect the source material and transfer are not to blame for this. It must be said, finally, that the production staff Jones had at his studio in 1975 were not as capable
of sustained flights of visual fancy as the staff Jones had at MGM only ten years earlier. Many of those artists were veterans
of the great Warner Bros. period, and were thus linked to a great tradition. The visual scheme in the "Rikki Tikki" film is pleasant enough, but one misses, for example, the almost manic inspiration of Gerry Chiniquy or Maurice Noble. In short: this is a terrific film by anyone else's standards, but alongside Jones' best work it must be judged a mixed bag. Still, it contains some of the finest character and action animation in any Jones film, and no animation afficionado should miss it for this reason, as well as the pleasure of seeing a great story told very well indeed.

24 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars IT"S ABOUT TIME, November 20, 2004

By 

Brian J. Glendinning "BRIG" (Pflugerville, TX United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Rikki Tikki Tavi/Yankee Doodle Cricket (DVD)

Short and simple review- great movie for the family back in the time when the WHOLE family could watch a family movie. I've been waiting for this to be on DVD for ever!!!!!

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Kipling's Mongoose Comes to DVD, December 21, 2005

By 

L. M Young (Marietta, GA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Rikki Tikki Tavi/Yankee Doodle Cricket (DVD)

My CBS-recorded copy was full of drop-outs, so I was delighted to find out this great Chuck Jones adaptation of the Kipling Jungle Book tale was finally on DVD. Although the story is animated in the usual Jones style, it has been done more in an effort to look like book illustrations. Although the mongoose is cute--much more adorable than the real thing--parents should be warned that all these Jungle Book stories have been taken word-for-word from the actual book and not from the cutesy-poo Disney flick, so the cold-and-sinister cobras and other snakes hissing about death may be frightening for very young children.

Included on this DVD is the third story in Jones' Chester Cricket cycle, Yankee Doodle Cricket. I had not seen this cartoon before and was quite disappointed by it, especially after reading a review saying it was the funniest of the three. It has none of the charm and humor of the original Cricket in Times Square or the delightful silliness and holiday spirit of A Very Merry Cricket. Your mileage may vary!

This DVD is practically perfect. There are some dust specks and flecks visible; however the colors and lines are bright and clean and the sound is good. The only downside to this DVD is the interminable previews that you are automatically subjected to. Hint: pressing the menu button on your DVD remote won't help, but once the previews start, you CAN skip through them by pressing the chapter button until you get to the actual menu.