La Freccia Azzurra

Obviously I have seen the English dubbed version of this, or I should say the American dubbed version. All the other titles seem to be in reference to the toy train set, The Blue Arrow, but the American title of this movie was "How The Toys Saved Christmas."

Not complaining about the other Christmas classics, such as Rankin-Bass, toy tie-ins or movies with Jimmy Stewart, Natalie Wood or Peter Billingsley, but it was nice to watch a different story for a change.

I saw this movie on the WB network last year and recorded it for keeps.

It seems to be the story of a witch called Granny Rose (in the American version, Mary Tyler Moore does the voice) who helps Santa deliver toys at Christmas time. A stingy man called Mr. Grimm (Tony Randall) wants to keep the toys himself and sell them only to children who can afford them.

The toys flee in the night to get themselves to the children and it truly makes for one merry adventure.

It might remind one of Toy Story, but it seems more similar to the Island of Misfit Toys from Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer for some reason.

But it is the assortment of toys themselves that are most memorable and enjoyable; a marching band, French soldiers, a pilot and his plane, crayons with little faces, a teddy bear, a duck on wheels, a toy dog, construction workers, Jingles the wizard, a cranky sea captain and his boat, and of course, the Blue Arrow and its crew.

When the train, pulling the boat, is almost hit by a train, the soldiers stand at attention with the little cannons, ready to meet the enemy and save the Blue Arrow. It all makes for very amusing story telling.

When the two dolls (who are bigger than all the action figure sized male figures and they must ride on top of the train instead of within) think they may be separated, or when the colored crayons find their home are absolute standouts.

Truly a marvelous story and very well done and animated. Shame it seems to be lost in the holiday shuffle.

"La Freccia Azzurra" (The Blue Arrow) is a charming movie decrypting the story of several toys from the toy store of "La Befana" (Granny Rose) who are searching for a young Italian lad named "Francesco" and also in search for the owner (child) who will truly like them and love them. But yet nothing could go as simple as walking through the streets and not meet problems... They encounter close death, possible annihilation, and various other problems such as the Horrible Scarafoni (Mr. Grimm) who wishes nothing but to stop these toys to be able to sell them... I would just like to point out ONE simple thing that in the versions that are not in Italian you may understand that Granny Rose is a helper of Santa Claus which is completely false it is just because Granny Rose in Italian is "La Befana" an old witch who goes around giving gifts to children on the 6th of January in hopes of finding Jesus. Like the Dutch, Italian children get visited by two imaginary people each, in the case of the Dutch, Saint-Nicholas and Santa Claus and for the Italians Santa Claus and then the "Befana". Watch this movie to see an epic journey of several toys as they struggle to find a master who will love them.

There's no doubt that this film could have been better made, the story is quite cute, but it has that cheap, churned out, European feel about it. In the right hands it could be a lovely little story, maybe even a live action version.

I probably would have loved it as a small child though and it might still have a meaning for me now if I had grown up with it.

There is a lot of exaggerated elements and characters, which I personally found over the top and Mr Grimm in particular falls over a lot in a very OTT way.

I would have liked to know more about Granny Rose's story and her part in Italian/Swiss (It wasn't clear) culture. A bit of education and alternative tradition to go with what should have been a charming film.

It wasn't so unbearable that I couldn't finish it, but I can only imagine what my niece and nephews would have said if I'd tried to make them watch it. Judgemental wouldn't cover it.

114.15/1000.