Gurikku no bouken

I was interested in watching The Enchanted Journey after coming across it by chance, and it was a decision that I am very glad I made. While I have seen better animated films, this lovely yet hard-to-find film was a true gem.

The animation is very nice, the backgrounds are ethereal with striking colours and the characters look cute. The soundtrack is of both beautiful and haunting quality, the dialogue has some funny, dark and poignant moments throughout and the story is heartfelt and charming with a dark centre to it too. As well as looking cute, the characters are likable and aren't thankfully devoid of personality. The voice acting is great, especially from Orson Welles.

Overall, The Enchanted Journey is lovely and worth looking out for. 10/10 Bethany Cox

We had this on an old VSH that someone recorded over as a kid. I was very saddened by that as back in the early 80s you couldn't exactly stream content. Anyhow my sister and I watched it several times and role played the main character's adventures in real life. To this day I am a fan of squirrels in general and maybe it's due to this movie! I'm excited to watch it with my little one.

If you look around on line this should be easy enough to find, but back in the late 80's this was one of those video tapes that stood out at the store; it wasn't a Disney movie, or something from Loony Tunes, and yet it had some cute woodland characters on the cover. Though it wasn't something that I rented a bunch of times, it did stick out in my memory - though I hadn't seen a lot of it, I knew just by the designs and the movement and tempo that it was *different*, and indeed it was as originally it was done in Japan and bought by Hi-Top video - and I have fond memories of this little movie about chipmunks who gather the courage to leave the city and find their way across the country and in the woods.

I didn't really know his name at the time, but it was also my first exposure to Orson Welles (I didn't come to the Transformers movie until... last year, actually). But I even knew then that this was a special actor with some force; he plays a pigeon, and yet he carries so much force and authority within just a handful of minutes (he's only in the first part of the film in the city). When I rewatched part of the film online, I was struck by how much fun Welles had with the role; it made me sad that he struggled through doing Unicron, when this was a better use of his talents for a children-movie voice-over. He's spirited, fun, engaging, and he gets the hero chipmunk on his way. It's also good animation, if not great, and it works for kids and maybe some adults can get into it as well who won't be TOO discerning.

Check it out if you can get it on VHS or online - it doesn't re-invent the wheel, but it has some goofy designs and passes the time with harmless joy.

This is a great, "must see" movie. It's funny in some parts and dramatic in others, with sad, touching spots throughout. The voice acting, featuring the late, great Orson Wells in one of his last roles, is top of the line. This is a great movie for all the family and provides a good alternative from the tripe that Disney has been releasing lately. Hunt this down and watch it if you can.

The Enchanted Journey is one of the first feature length cartoon I can remember watching. Funny is places it's not afraid to show a dramatic side at times. Great acting and animation combine to make this a great among the genre, easily beating out most Disney movies. While it a rather hard movie to find, it is definately worth the search. In closing, this is a great movie for the whole family entertaining young and old alike.