Raggedy Ann & Andy: A Musical Adventure

I own an incredibly battered copy of this movie, which leads me to believe that I loved it when I was maybe 6 or 8, but looking back from my young adulthood, I can't say I enjoy it as much. It sat on a shelf for a few years before I dusted it off to reminisce with a movie that I remember loving so much, especially because the main voice was also the woman from Shining Time Station (another kiddie fave). But I soon found that 80% of the scenes made me feel like I was in a chemically-induced state of mind (which I've never actually done, but I'm sure the sensations are similar). Aside from overall creepiness from the male characters, I still appreciate the girly, cutesy message it sends that I oh-so-highly enjoyed in my childhood. But I may not watch it again until I have a dreamy-eyed daughter of my own

People not quite into their twenties take for granted the warm, feel good animated films that are available to them these days. Starting with Who Framed Roger Rabbit in 1988 (though unfairly attributed to The Little Mermaid a year later), a renaissance of animation had begun that is still going strong today (thanks mostly to Pixar). But the privileged children of the 90's would never know of the cold, bleak wasteland of theatrical animation in the 1970's. With the advent of Fritz the Cat in 1971, soft, fuzzy, family-friendly animation fell out of favor with the studios, and ushered in the dark wave of adult themed cartoons. Ralph Bakshi led the pack with such topical and wholly adult productions as Coonskin (a.k.a. Streetfight), Wizards, Heavy Traffic, the original Lords of the Rings, and the previously mentioned Fritz the Cat. Soon his violent vision was adopted by other renegade animators and before long, virtually all animated films were saddled with either a PG or dreaded R rating. So it goes without saying that a sweet little film like Raggedy Ann and Andy: A Musical Adventure hardly had an audience when it was released in 1976. The fact that it ever got made is a testimony to the desperation of the studios and people who so desperately missed the sweet and touching films in the old Disney vein. This film dared to be cute, had the tenacity to be sweet, had the temerity to be gentle, the chutzpah to be (GASP!) KID FRIENDLY! In all fairness, it must be stressed that RAAA was not alone in their attempt to bring softness back into modern animation. Charles Schulz's wonderful Peanuts characters had two great attempts in the seventies with Snoopy, Come Home and Race For Your Life, Charlie Brown. And the usually rigid and slap-sticky Hanna Barbera brought us that lovely tear-jerker of a cartoon, Charlotte's Web. But these productions were far and few between, and never on such a grandiose scale as their more violent bretheren. With RAAA, director Richard Williams (the real brain trust behind Who Framed Roger Rabbit, not Robert Zemeckis, who only directed the live action) not only attempted to revive family friendly cartoons, but also attempted to bring back lavish, fluid animation and movie musical sensibilities. In doing so he brought back some of animation's pioneers to make sure the film was done right. Grim Natwick (creator of Betty Boop, animator of Snow White and Richard's mentor) lent a hand, along with countless others, in the creation of The Greedy, King Cuckoo, the Camel with the wrinkled knees and the rest of Johnny Gruelle's storybook menagerie. The Brilliant Joe Raposo (of Sesame Street fame and brain trust of Kermit the Frog's Bein' Green)provided delightful songs for the film (The Camel's sweet and somber song alone is worth watching this film), and Didi Conn and Mark Lynn-Baker voiced the title characters to perfection. The net result of this creative hodge podge was one of the warmest, most entertaining and family friendly cartoons to break through the doom and gloom of standard 70's animation.

Regretfully, movie critics denounced the film for reasons too varied and unfounded to mention here. That, coupled with the fact that RAAA became avalanched by the glut of violent animation and the wealth of bad family films, resulting in it barely making a blip on the pop culture radar. Thanks to old school television programming (does anyone else recall Nickelodeon's Special Delivery?), I re-discovered this long lost treasure in the mid 80's, and had the foresight to immortalize it (along with some vintage 80's commercials) on Beta video (and you don't get much more vintage that Beta). This has been a gem in my movie collection ever since, and still holds a special place in my heart and my childhood. So modern movie going audiences, count your blessings. You have warm, family friendly animation dropped at your feet these days. But you never know. The day may come again soon where such kid-oriented fare becomes passe, and the studios return to churning out violent, bleak animation, just as they did in the 70's. If that day does come, however, I still have a copy of Raggedy Ann and Andy to see me through the darkness, comforting me in the knowledge that, at least in animation, good will always rise out of the ashes of evil.

The last time I saw the movie I was around seven years, so my opinions might be jaded over time. At the time I enjoyed the filming that switched between cartoon and live action. At the time I felt sad for the blue camel and his sad life. Also I felt glee when after Captain Contagious kidnapped the heroine (a princess or toy shepherdess) the tables the were turned on him. Unfortunately the producers never decided to transfer this movie to VHS, so all I have are twenty year old memories. I am sure that if I saw the movie again I would consider it corny and sappy, but I really enjoyed it the movie at the time.

I actually found a copy of this movie recently. I hadn't seen it in easily twenty years and its one of those movies that ALWAYS had stuck with me. Every time I mentioned it to someone, they would look at me a little strangely. Watching the film again brought back alot of memories and I was amazed at how much I had actually retained.

The animation style is very interesting because each character is done by a different animator, each using their own style. At times this is a little jarring but overall it adds to the mood of the movie which is WEIRD. The film switches from happy musical numbers to the dolls getting trapped in a pit with a grotesque, horrifying candy monster (one of the images that was burned into my memory 26 years ago.) Definitely a great deal of imagination involved in this film. If you can find this, its definitely worth watching.

I have very fond memories of this film, as I saw it with my two younger sisters when it first shown theatrically in 1977 and I was eight years old. Apparently it was deemed a failure - and is now practically forgotten (the pan-and scan videocassette - which never did justice to the picture or it's ambitious Panavision compositions is now out-of -print.) The film is very stylized (shades of YELLOW SUBMARINE) and admittedly uneven. Some of the characters and sequences are exquisite while others are somewhat juvenile and undistinguished. The sad discarded blue camel (shades of Eeyore) and his blue song are truly heartwarming. Joe Raposo's songs are for the most part simply beautiful. Definitely a worthwhile curiousity that will probably (sadly) fall into total obscurity.