Irgendwo im Traumland

I grew up watching this cartoon every Christmas; it's a family tradition that I treasure. It's about two orphans who struggle to survive everyday with their single mom. They have barely enough food to eat and yet they are grateful for even the smallest gesture of kindness. This cartoon isn't like the simple shallow Christmas stories that we all see today on TV. It has a deep message and represents an unforgettable era in our history. Even though I did not live during the Great Depression, I totally get the message in the cartoon. It's a timeless classic that will stay with you always and I recommend it to anyone with a child. This touching film will help a child learn to appreciate their comfortable surroundings. Now that I'm a mom I am happy to have purchased this film so my daughter can watch it, just like my mother and grandmother did when they were young.

Somewhere in Dreamland is very typical of the style of Dave Fleischer--two angelic kewpie-like children live in terrible poverty but dream of a world of limitless candy and toys. In spite of the overly cute premise and the fact that these children are interchangeable with the children in every other Fleischer cartoon, Somewhere in Dreamland is an adorable film, which excellent animation, especially in the dream sequence. For such an early cartoon, the level of detail is quite impressive--when the kids go to bed, both their pajamas and their blankets are shabby and ridden with holes. It's a shame that cartoons like this are no longer very popular--it's hard for kids today to relate to a cartoon where every body behaves incredibly saintly, and the only villain they have to face is the ever-looming Depression. But Somewhere in Dreamland is a lovely gem that remains a tribute to the inspiring optimism of the 1930's.

. . . dream. The formula for success in the tooth business as outlined in SOMEWHERE IN DREAMLAND begins with a family of starving kids. Such a clan is more than likely to feature mouths full of cavities, as proper preventative oral hygiene is not cheap. Next, toss in all the sweets you can eat. Add buckets of popcorn and slippery butter to the mix, as kernels failing to pop are one of the surest ways to break off precarious cusps and previously filled teeth, if any. What you've achieved so far is a perfect recipe for total tooth disaster. This is how Real Life vacations in DREAMLAND get funded--for those who do the drilling, at least.

i feel like this cartoon is a good way to introduce "the way things were " you don't find a lot of cartoons with the quality of a good deed these days it was my favorite growing up i saved the movie and now is my son's fav.... the best 3 dollars my father ever spent, and my son and i sing the song somewhere in dreamland every night,it fills my heart with warmth every time i see the ending when they wake up to see all the food,also is a good way to show how we take things for granted. it makes me happy to know my family can still watch the same shows i grew up on also my parents and grandparents,............overall i think this is one of the best older cartoons,in my opinion it is up there with the wizard of oz

Somewhere in Dreamland (1936)

*** (out of 4)

Animated short from Dave Fleischer has two poor children crossing in front of a bakery where they see all sorts of great food. They then have to walk home where their mother (voice of Mae Questel) has just hard bread for them to eat. That night they go to bed hungry but dream about a place where there's all sorts of food. I was really surprised at how much I enjoyed this film as at first I wasn't sure much was going to happen. I thought the storytelling was extremely good and I liked all the little points that Fleischer is able to get across without being preachy or having it in your face. I also thought the title song was quite catchy and done in a very good way. As you'd expect, the animated is quite good from start to finish and I really liked the Dreamland sequence because, well, it really did seem like a real dream. I won't reveal the twist at the end but it's quite charming and makes it easy to see why this short has turned up on many Holiday collections.