Oddball Kids' Movies

[filkertom]

Only a few miles away from me, on Huron Street in Ypsi, is a reasonably new Kroger. I wanted to see if it was as nice as the one on Maple Road, where I have been shopping for a number of years. (The one on Carpenter, technically closest to my new address, and the one up on North Campus are big and clean and have maybe 60% of the stuff at the Maple Road one. The ones at Georgetown and on South Industrial... the less said, the better.)

Not bad. The produce section is huge, and very well organized. The butcher shop and deli seem decent. No Chippery or Boston Market. Very good pharmacy and magazine sections, much larger than any other Kroger in town. One cheapie DVD rack.

And on that rack was a movie I've been meaning to get for years: The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T.

Live-action musical adventure, starring Tommy ("Timmy and Lassie") Rettig as Bart, a kid who dreams of a tyrannical piano teacher, Dr. Terwilliker (Hans Conried in fine form), determined to prove his "Happy Fingers" method is the ultimate way to learn piano. Bizarre, goofy flick -- one of those that you have to show people to prove it exists.

Did I mention that the story, screenplay, and lyrics are by Dr. Seuss?

What are some of your favorite non-standard kids' films? Things like The Phantom Tollbooth would count here -- most of us in fandom know about it, but it's not a "recognized classic" like Mary Poppins or Chitty Chitty Bang Bang or The Wizard of Oz. Oh, and, just to make it more interesting, try to keep away from fully-animated films. As an example, Mary Poppins is only partially animated.

ETA: Oh, let fly on the animateds. Heck, my freakin' example, The Phantom Tollbooth, is about 90% animated.

ETA2: As long as I'm thinking of it, the animated Snow Queen -- the one shown in the U.S. with the live-action intro by Art Linkletter.

Comments

[saganth.livejournal.com]

Disney's "Condorman" about a comic book creator who gets to bring his creation to life when he gets asked to take part in a Cold War espionage mission. Utterly goofy and ridiculous, starring a very, VERY YOUNG pre-Phantom-of-the-Opera Michael Crawford! Also stars Oliver Reed, Dana Elcar, James Hampton and Barbara Carrera. I don't think it's out on dvd, but you can definitely get it on VHS (I have it). It's loosely based on "The Game of X" by Robert Sheckley (one of his non-science fiction novels). I saw this movie at summer camp when I was young, and it took almost 20 years for me to see it again :))

[loremaster2085.livejournal.com]

The Japanese animated version of Jack and the Beanstalk: http://www.animevice.com/jack-and-the-beanstalk/13-466/

A true classic!

[archiver-tim.livejournal.com]

Hey, I like my Tiny Kroger. At The Four Acre Kroger, the walk from the parking lot to the banannas is longer than all the walking in Tiny Kroger.

Did someone mention Explorers from 1985? That one was kinda neat.

[gardnerhill.livejournal.com]

Mad Monster Party, the Rankin-Bass Halloween film made in 1962. IMHO it's a better claymation-Halloween-musical than Nightmare Before Christmas.

I'm serious. NBC suffers from the usual disease too many current films have of being so invested in looking good and using all the state-of-the-art SFX toys that someone forgot to write a coherent plot or interesting characters into the film. (Fortunately Tim did a much better job in Corpse Bride which has all the stuff missing from NBC -- a strong plot, well-developed characters, an interesting WOMAN character, and Johnny Depp as the male lead.)

True, Mad Monster Party has ghastly Rankin-Bass clunky claymation, vintage misogyny, and the whitebread early-60s music hurts your soul. But it also has Boris Karloff and Phyllis Diller, and an involving story where the plots are deeper and more complicated than some emo skeleton bitching about his ennui.

[cathain.livejournal.com]

I haven't seen this mentioned. I was long past being an adult when it came out but it's one of the most beautiful kid's movies I have ever seen and holds a high place in my own collection.
The Secret of Roan Innish (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0111112/)
I mean, really, how can you go wrong with SELKIES?

[cathain.livejournal.com]

Oh and this is a new movie (2007) but no one has mentioned The Water Horse (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0760329/).

[violinsontv.livejournal.com]

A little film called "Three Nuts for Cinderella" that I saw on the CBS Children's Film Festival. Had a bad crush on the Prince. I later found out that it's been a Christmas TV tradition for years in Eastern Europe.

The first season of Afterschool Specials had some interesting stuff (you know--before it became Disease of the Week for Kids!) like The Last of the Curlews, a haunting little animated *without* a happy ending tacked on.

[mihai-lado.livejournal.com]

I love the 5000 Fingers of Dr. T ("VERY atomic!") but it is hardly new to DVD. I've had my copy for at least 5 years.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

Oh, I know it's not new -- heck, like I said, I got this at a discount rack at Kroger. I just never think to order it. And now I don't have to. :)

[sholamith.livejournal.com]

Most of the ones mentioned were wonderful! I've owned a copy of Dr. T for a while. I'd also add a number of old movies; Thomasina, The Scarcrow of Romney Marsh, The Fighting Prince of Donegal, The Slipper And the Rose and animateds like The Black Caldron, Wind In the Willows and Fantasia.

I almost forgot the original Witch Mountain movies.

[nimitzbrood.livejournal.com]

Since nobody's mentioned it yet I kind of liked Flight of the Navigator ( http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091059/ ) among other things mentioned.

[skemono.livejournal.com]

I just keep thinking that movie title is The 5,000 Fingers of Mr. T, which, uh... which could be interesting. He could do a lot of fool-pitying with 500 pairs of hands.

As for other kids movies... Milo & Otis? I don't think I've ever seen the whole thing, but my brothers seem to like it.

[wordsrtoys.livejournal.com]

I like the old black and white version of the Legend of the Canterville Ghost, with a young Robert Young playing a GI in England during WWII. Recently I also enjoyed the Disney movie called The Kid, time travel with Bruce Willis, and my grown children loved the animated Flight of Dragons, where fantasy wars with science.