December 22, 1965
Belvision/ Universal
Children's, Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Musical
VHS
C+
As the title suggests, this Belgian kiddie flick is an odd, very '60s blend of Collodi's antihero (whom the Blue Fairy has changed back to a wooden puppet after some misbehavior) and the space age. This doesn't really explain why the Cat of the Fox and Cat pair has become a stuttering "catnik" named Mr. Groovy, but oh well. The sci-fi element isn't bad, combining actual facts about the planets with genuinely scary creatures like Giant Radioactive Salivating Crabs from Mars. However, the music is pretty awful, especially that "Goody Goody Morning" dreck.
The "star" of the movie is Arnold Stang as Nurtle the Twurtle, although I'll always prefer him costarring with another Arnold in Hercules in New York. One of the other voices is Norman Rose's, and he'd be the voice of one of the title characters in Love and Death. Writer Fred Laderman (later Fred Ladd) would write a couple of the Pippi movies.
No comments:
Post a Comment