Tubby the Tuba

I don't care who knows it: I love this movie. There, I've said it.

And since there is no plot summary here yet ... Tubby is indeed a tuba, who longs to find a melody he can play. But nobody writes music for tubas to play, they're only supposed to do that oom-pah thing. But Tubby, despite feeling he should maintain his life station of background instrument, cannot contain his desire to play leads.

The story unfolds with a lot of interesting characters, some of them other instruments, some "tunes" which seem to be something like orphaned sirens with musical noted-shaped heads. Yet it all makes sense when you watch it.

At any rate, it's a well-made cartoon. Kids will enjoy it and I think it has a lot to say on the subject of independence and finding the best way to live your life. Hey, Dick Van Dyke wouldn't attach his name to any old thing, right?

I love animation, and being fond of some of the actors involved and of the puppetoon I naturally wanted to see Tubby the Tuba. Five years I got the DVD and watched it over and over. After my last viewing, only a couple of days ago, I think this movie has held up really well.

It is still the simple, charming and delightful movie I fell in love with. The sound on the DVD(probably from the repeat viewings) is occasionally rather muffled, and the movie itself could have been about 2 or 3 minutes longer.

That said, while kept simple, the animation is vibrant and colourful, with fluid backgrounds, lively colours and character designs that move well and are not overly-cute. The music is wonderful, and one of the main reasons why I love Tubby the Tuba so much. The incidental music is wholly memorable, and as for the songs- my favourite being Oom-Pah- the melodies often have me humming all day long after watching and the lyrics are clever and droll.

Very good dialogue and a simple yet delightful story are also definite things to like about Tubby the Tuba. The dialogue has many amusing and touching moments without being too complex or over-simplistic. The story as I've said is a simple, which is not a bad thing at all, yet delightful one with lots of charm and heart, is well paced, doesn't feel over-stretched and entertains and educates without preaching.

Even the characters' names are of interest. They are very fitting and sometimes funny too. Haughty Violin and Pee-Wee the Piccolo are prime examples. Tubby is one of my favourite title characters in an animated film. Throughout the film, I feel for him and I identify with him, and what's even impressive is that I don't feel as though I am forced to do so. The voice acting is terrific, Paul Tripp's narration is droll and evokes sympathy, and Pearl Bailey, Jane Powell and David Wayne's voice-overs are in tune to their fittingly named characters.

But Tubby the Tuba will always be Dick Van Dyke's film, a born entertainer who participated in many of my childhood favourites, including Mary Poppins and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Van Dyke's voice is very distinctive throughout, and entertaining anybody or making anyone identify with him comes naturally to him.

Overall, a delightful film and deserves to be better known. 8/10 Bethany Cox

I really don't like it myself. Now, the grandparents got it for the kids, and they like it, so I suppose that was a success. I have two reasons for not liking this movie. First, I don't care for 20th century classical music, specifically dissonant music. There is a lot of that in this film. If the music is older, then it is older dissonant music.

Also, most of the character interaction in this movie is negative. The instruments make fun of Tubby, and drive him away. He finally catches on with the circus, but they eventually throw him out. He hooks up with an orphan melody, who herself is treated badly by other orphan melodies. There is just so much negative in this movie. Yes, there is the obligatory happy ending, but for me it is a painful journey. The overall message is keep trying, but the intermediate message is that you are going to get dumped on a lot before the good happens. To me, it also reinforces being mean, since so many characters are mean to Tubby.

However, with only 8 votes, I'm betting this movie doesn't get a lot of viewing anyway. I will admit, just about any way you can sneak classical music in front of a child is probably a good thing. But I think this story could have been better.

I think they copied some parts from Dumbo and Cinderella. Suspicious. Just could be better to be very honest. Liked most of the music though but liked it more as a toddler.

According to the David A. Price book, "The Pixar Touch," this production may lay claim to being the first computer-animated feature.

Developed largely by technicians without previous animation experience, even many of the people who worked on it were dismayed at how bad the animation quality was. It took a few more years before computer animation actually was recognized as the powerful tool it has become in features by Pixar and others, not to mention special effects work in many other "live action" films.

However, I note with interest that some comments dislike the story itself and don't speak to the production quality, so maybe the piece holds up after all.

PS - Fans of animation will find the Price Pixar history fascinating.