Most Helpful Customer Reviews
|
|
18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
KNOTTS WITHSTANDING, February 26, 2006
After I watched this movie last night, I found out that Don Knotts had passed away. Kind of a creepy feeling! Anyway, Knotts who won five Emmys for his role as Barney Fife on THE ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW was certainly one of our most endearing clowns. With his trademark voice and bug-eyed delivery, Knotts is one of the true legends of our time, and in LIMPET, he shows us why. Although he has more screen time as the voice of the fishy Limpet, Knotts manages to create a loveable character. The plot's been rehashed in many other reviews, so I'll stick to what makes this animated/live action film such a pleasure. With the cartoon stylings of the early sixties, the movie gives us a dreamy undersea world populated with such creatures as Crusty the Crab and the lovely Ladyfish. On the human front, we're blessed with character actors Jack Weston, Larry Keating, and Andrew Duggan. And the delightfully underrated Carole Cook, whose last scene with Henry the fish is unexpectedly poignant and touching.
A delightful film for the whole family to enjoy and to remember the delightful Don Knotts!
|
|
|
16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The INCREDIBALLY SUPERB Mr. Limpet!, September 14, 2002
Highly entertaining! Don Knotts gives his best performance in this picture. Kind of funny with the mix of animation and live action in a non-Disney film. With the animation, the singers, it's so lovely. I enjoy every second of this film. Too the people who highly dislike this movie, you're missing out on it. You don't have to be a child to enjoy it. "The Incredible Mr. Limpet" is the finest non-Disney animation/live action film. Too bad this was one of the last films to be made before the Warner Animation Department in Burbank shut down.
|
|
|
12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
"Das Limpet", January 12, 2007
THE INCREDIBLE MR. LIMPET (1964) is one of the most underrated films of all time. Coming in at approximately #64 on my own personal Top 100, MR. LIMPET is a blend of live action and colorful animation, an impossible fantasy film which somehow manages to entice even the most sourpussed of viewers. Although it starts out a bit slowly, MR. LIMPET is irresistible, a pure entertainment experience.
The fishlike Don Knotts is perfectly cast as Henry Limpet, a nebbishy bookkeeper from Brooklyn, circa 1942. Walter Mitty-like, Henry dreams of being a war hero. His one other passion is his fish tank. When Henry is rejected from military service as a 4-F, he falls into a depression and escapes into unreality by wishing he was a fish.
Walking on the Coney Island pier one day with his wife, Bessie, Henry takes a misstep and falls into the briny Atlantic. Lo, and behold!---he is instantly transformed into a (cartoon) fish (complete with pince-nez glasses). Although Henry is initially lonely, he soon makes the acquaintance of Crusty the Crab and the seductive but loving Ladyfish, and sets off with them to explore his new, aquatic, world.
During one of his many misadventures, Henry discovers that he is the possessor of a powerful vocal "thrum" which can be used as an early warning system. Thinking quickly, he finds the ship his friend George Stickel is assigned to, and convinces Stickel (and the U.S. Navy) that he can act as a sort of secret escort for convoys and naval ships crossing the U-boat strewn Atlantic.
With Henry by their side, the Navy is able to turn the course of the Battle of the Atlantic, discovering and destroying enemy submarines and warships by the score. Although the Nazis try to stop Mr. Limpet, he is able to turn their weapons against them.
His wartime actions earn him high rank and many honors, and Henry Limpet, having become the fish he'd always dreamed of being becomes the hero he'd always dreamed of being, too.
A charming (and oddly gentle) war film, THE INCREDIBLE MR. LIMPET is a nearly forgotten gem, a true popcorn-and-soda family film classic that celebrates the hero in Everyman.
|
|
|
Most Recent Customer Reviews
|