Alakazam the Great

Released Jul 14, 1961

1h 28m

Kids & Family

Fantasy

Animation

List

Reviews

47%

Audience Score

50+ Ratings

A very smart monkey who is studying to be a magician overestimates himself and comes to learn humility.

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Clyde Gilmour

Maclean's Magazine

Probably just the thing for juvenile TV-watchers whose mothers want to get them out of the house for a while...the style of drawing and animation is early Disney, but less skillful than the original.

Oct 29, 2019

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Brian Costello

Common Sense Media

Early Japanese animation teaches positive lessons on virtue.

Rated: 4/5

Aug 27, 2013

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Audience Member

I hated this movie. Hated the characters, the animation, the writing, the musical numbers, the action sequences, I hated it all. This movie even gave me a headache. Alakazam the Great? More like Alakazam the awful!

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

02/18/23

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Audience Member

Funny and original!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

01/28/23

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Audience Member

I first saw this in Japan when I was 4 or 5. And I spoke Japanese at that time and it may have been in Japanese. So, I remember loving it then. Very good story with a moral and lessons that don't whack you over the head with them. Can't wait to watch it with grandchildren.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

01/30/23

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Audience Member

English-dubbed adaptation of a Japanese animated feature; cute for kids.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

02/27/23

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Audience Member

Oddball animated musical auto of Japan that was released in the US by American International Pictures and re dubbed by the likes of Sterling Holloway, Jonathan Winters, E.G. Marshall, and Frankie Avalon. The film is a retelling of the Chinese folktale about a trickster character, Alakazam The Monkey King. Peter Fernandez (who re dubbed everything from Godzilla films to Ultraman to Speed Racer to Starblazers to Courage the Cowardly Dog) did the voice of Alakazam, so that's kind of fun. However, compared to Disney releases of the time, the animation seems crude, but at time is nicely imaginative. Overall the film is best watched as a so-bad-it's-good period piece.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

01/31/23

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Audience Member

I really like it a very good movie

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

02/04/23

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Lee Kresel

Director

Osamu Tezuka

Director

Daisaku Shirakawa

Director

Taiji Yabushita

Director

Frankie Avalon

Alakazam (singing voice)

Sterling Holloway

Narrator

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Synopsis

A very smart monkey who is studying to be a magician overestimates himself and comes to learn humility.

Director: Lee Kresel, Osamu Tezuka, Daisaku Shirakawa, Taiji Yabushita
Screenwriter: Lee Kresel, Osamu Tezuka, Keinosuke Uegusa, Goro Kontaibo, Lou Rusoff, Hideyuki Takahashi, Ch'eng-En Wu
Distributor: American International Pictures, Toei Co. Ltd., Home Box Office Home Video
Production Co: Toei Animation Company
Genre: Kids & Family, Fantasy, Animation
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Jul 14, 1961, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Sep 1, 2016
Runtime: 1h 28m
Sound Mix: Mono

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