What was it about the seventies anyway?

I’ve reviewed a few animated films from this decade by this point and they are all (with the exception of the Disneys) weird as balls.

But I get ahead of myself. I’m going to let you in on a little behind the scenes secret. Ever since this mouse escaped the rat race and started writing full time, I’ve actually had less time to devote to this blog with work starting on most posts a mere few days before they’re scheduled to go live. This can be a problem when I starkly under-estimate just how much there is to research on a given movie and go plummeting down rabbit-holes

And my oh my, Raggedy Ann & Andy: A Musical Adventure is less a field full of rabbit holes than a giant hole with occasional bits of field clinging to the edges. But okay, a little background.

So waaaaay back in the 1910s an American named Johnny Gruelle patented a doll that he named Raggedy Ann and then wrote a series of stories starring her, which were such a success that Raggedy Ann became possibly the first bona-fide modern American toy fad. And, of course, as Jane Austen herself once said “it is a truth universally acknowledged that a toy franchise in possession of a fortune must be in want of an animated tie-in.” And boy howdy, did Raggedy Ann manage to get some impressive talent over the decades. For starters, there was a short series of Fleischer cartoons that were (naturally) as charming and well made as they were horrifying.

There were also two television specials produced in the seventies by Chuck Mofawkin Jones. But, without a doubt, Raggedy Ann’s most famous foray into the world of animation was 1977’s Raggedy Ann & Andy: A Musical Adventure which is…well, it’s something.

Here’s what it’s like. Imagine Hasbro want a new Transformers movie. And the director they initially tap dies and so they bring in a replacement; David Lynch. And now Optimus Prime is dancing with a backwards talking midget in the red lodge. That’s kind of what happened here.

Lynch in this instance was Richard Williams, who we’ve had our dealings with in the past. One of the best animators to ever work in the medium, period, Williams was shanghaid into making a glorified toy commerical and decided to use that opportunity to have the time of his life. This film is basically Williams and some of his most talented animator friends (Betty Boop co-creator Grim Natwick, future Genie animator Eric Goldberg and Art “I created Goofy and sued Walt Disney for unfair labour practices, took him all the way to the Supreme Court and lived to tell of it” Babbitt to name a few) having a ball on the dime of the good folks at the Bobbs-Merril publishing company.

But is it a good movie? Well…

This movie’s Wikipedia page boasts that it’s “the first feature-length animated musical comedy film produced in the United States” and, despite the suspiciously specific wording I feel confident in hbomberguying Wikipedia on that and calling BULLSHIT. Off the top of my head, Snow White and Pinocchio precede this movie by decades. Of course, both of those movies are described by Wikipedia as “animated musical fantasy” rather than “animated musical comedy” but I have no frickin’ idea how Raggedy Ann constitutes a comedy but Pinocchio doesn’t. For one, Pinocchio actually makes me laugh.

I suppose the only argument that could be made is that it’s the first “animated musical” anything is that it was originally intended to be a stage musical, and then a live action stage TV special and then finally an animated feature. Oh, they did eventually make the stage musical complete with a poster that looks like what would happen if you told an AI to imagine an Indiana Jones/Strawberry Shortcake crossover as directed by Ingmar Bergman.

Oh, and holy fuck, this is how the play opens: Little Marcella (Raggedy Ann’s owner and a staple character of the books) is dying from a broken heart after her mother abandoned her father for another man which drove him to alcoholism. And then her dog tried to eat her bird which resulted in them both dying.

That’s not even the worst part! Marcella Gruelle, as well as appearing in the Raggedy Ann books was Johnny Gruelle’s real life daughter who died at the age of 13 from an unsterilised vaccination needle which is how Raggedy Ann got co-opted as a symbol of the anti-vax movement…gah!

Sorry! You see what I mean about rabbit holes! Okay. The movie. The movie!

So in a live action sequence we see little Marcella returning home from school with her favourite toy, Raggedy Ann. Because Ann sees more of the world outside the nursery, she’s become the de facto leader of Marcella’s other toys; Mr Potato Head, Rex the Dinosaur, Slinky Dog…*checks notes*

Sorry, wrong film. The toys are…the toys are bizarre nightmares quite frankly. I don’t even understand what half of these things are supposed to be:

Anyway, we now transition to animation and, after introducing the real heroes of this whole endeavour in font that’s so incongrously wacky it’s gotta be taking the piss…

…we get the opening credits, which may be unique in the history of animation. I’ve certainly never seen their like. For you see, every character is introduced with the name of the artist who animated them. And I love this. You ever see the Key and Peele sketch where teachers are treated like pro athletes? This is like a movie from an alternate universe where the credit actually goes to where it belongs; the animators.

In the toy room, Ann tells the other toys that it’s Marcella’s birthday and that means she’s going to be getting some new presents. The first one has already arrived, and it’s crushed Ann’s brother Andy like a common witch.

They rescue Andy who sings a song about how he’s absolutely not a girl’s toy you guys, he’s a tough boy toy who does toy boy things.

Oh yeah, I should mention the songs. After all, this is the first feature-length animated musical comedy film produced in the United States*******. The songbook was written by Joe Raposo, who was responsible for some of the catchiest theme tunes of your childhood, including Sesame Street, Madeline and The Smoggies. He also wrote Sing which was covered by The Carpenters. So the dude has a very respectable pedigree which I hope will soften the blow when I say I think the songs are Raggedy Ann’s weakest element. And there are a lot of songs in this thing, 20 squeezed into an 85 minute film and they just grind all forward momentum to a halt.

The toys climb up the new box to meet the new toy who is revealed to be a space ranger Babette, a fancy French bisque doll.

Babette is none too happy of having to share a nursery with these American plebs, and wants nothing more than to return to Paris. Babette catches the eye of another toy, the pirate Captain Contagious who kidnaps her to be his bride.

This is the main plot, by the way. Raggedy Ann and Andy have to go on a quest to rescue Babette from Captain Contagious and his old-fashioned ideas of romance and this comes around 25 minutes into the run time. See what I mean about the songs slowing everything down?

So Ann and Andy climb through the nursery window and find themselves in the Deep Dark Wood where they meet the Camel with Wrinkled Knees, a blue stuffed camel who’s desperately trying to rejoin his caravan of camels. Who he sees floating in the sky like Pink Elephants on an Absinthe Bender.

Ann and Andy offer to let the Camel come back and live in their playroom after they find Babette and he agrees to let them ride him. Unfortunately, he starts seeing camels in the sky and races off a cliff to join them, and all three toys plummet into a giant canyon full of taffy.

What was it about the seventies? What was it about this decade that made people say “hey let’s just spend a year of our lives animating a bunch of random shit, just random nonsensical shit without rhyme or reason, one whole year of our lives doing that”? I mean, I’m not saying our current era of micro-managed, suffocated, corporatized animation production is better necessarily but I still don’t understand the thought process. In the taffy pit, Ann, Andy and the Camel meet The Greedy, a massive living goo monster that’s constantly devouring itself. This is probably the most famous sequence in the entire movie because it is:

a) Astonishingly animated.

b) Utterly baffling and terrifying.

And so basically functions as a microcosm of the movie itself.

The Greedy tells them that he eats so much because he’s lonely and desperately wants “a sweetheart”. Of course, Raggedy Ann lets slip that she has a heart made of candy which results in the Greedy trying to eat all three toys.

They escape, and come next to Looney Land where they meet Sir Leonard Looney who is just soooooo wacky!

Looney takes them to meet King Koo Koo, a tiny little monarch who can only get bigger by laughing at other people. Koo Koo wants to keep Ann, Andy and the Camel prisoner but they escape in a Looney Land ship presumably on loan from the Pepperland navy.

They see Captain Contagious’ ship on the horizon and prepare to board her to rescue Babette, only to discover that Contagious has been overthrown and that the new captain is…Babette. She has used her feminine wiles to take command of the ship and now rules over her adoring crew with ruthless discipline and a whip.

Ann tells Babette that she’s come to rescue her and bring her back to the play room and Babette is all “uh, no bitch, Babette’s going home” and has them tied to the mast while she sets sail for Paris.

King Koo Koo then attacks the ship with a giant monster named Gazooks who’s a big green blob. I mean, they could have just brought The Greedy back, it’s basically the same thing…whatever. Koo Koo orders the Gazooks to tickle them all. Laughing at their misfortune causes Koo Koo to grow to massive proportions. Andy realises that Koo Koo’s really just full of hot air and gets the captain’s parrot to peck him which causes him to explode.

In the real world, Marcella finds the toys outside in the garden and brings them back inside. The Camel is welcomed into the playroom and Babette apologises for selfishly seeking freedom from a life of being someone else’s plaything and even forgives Captain Contagious, calling him “a very romantic man”

***

There are fans of animation and fans of animated films and I think this really is more for the former group than the latter. If you like your feature length animation served with a strong script and a satisfying narrative structure then, well, this movie will be about as good a time for as another Robert Williams animation.

But, if you like the idea of watching one of the most high powered animation teams ever assembled just going hog fucking wild on someone else’s dime, I can definitely recommend.

Animation: 17/20:

The problem with an animation showcase like this is that, while none of the sequences are bad at all, there are definitely some that are stronger than others and the incongruity of it all can get very distracting. Also, while the animation is frequently very technically impressive it’s not what I’d call charming. Many of the characters are frankly a little unsettling. I admire the movie’s animation more than I love it.

Leads: 06/20

I know it was the seventies and all, but it is still kinda galling that Raggedy Ann does essentially nothing in the climax of her own movie.

Villain: 09/20

Marty Brill gives a pretty fun performance as King Koo Koo.

Supporting Characters: 05/20

I feel like these characters were designed more to be interesting for the artist’s to draw and animate than for the audience to engage with.

Music: 06/20

No disrespect to Joe Raposco but this is a pretty terrible musical.

FINAL SCORE: 43%

NEXT UPDATE: 28th December 2023

NEXT TIME: What is Christmas, if not a time to reconnect with old friends?