Bedknobs and Broomsticks

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Jay W "Bedknobs and Broomsticks" is a strange movie, that came out in a strange time in Disney history. This is the type of Kids' Movie like "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory", "Pete's Dragon" and of course "Mary Poppins". They are their own unique kind of experience. The movie is light on story. Miss Price is an apprentice witch who wants to learn a specific spell and complete her witch training. Every plot point that attempts to move things forward gets sidelined for minutes of filler. For example, our heroes need to find a book. In order to do so, they have a song and dance number. They need to go to an island. They then take a detour where they sing and dance with some fish and spend 10 minutes watching animals play soccer. The movie just kind of trails off. It has nearly a 2-hour runtime and most of it is just affects driven filler. I can't imagine kids of today having the attention span to sit through these various side quests. There are certain emotional beats that feel really rushed, where other plot points feel like they drag on unnecessarily long. Like out of nowhere the kids will have a change of heart, be laughing at someone juggling "I love you, will you be our new daddy?". Where did that come from? The ending also makes the lessons learned throughout very unclear. Angela Lansbury is always a delight. David Tomlinson does a great job. The movie has a great imagination, there really aren't many movies like this one. Your enjoyment will entirely depend on how patient you are with filler material. It isn't always the destination but the journey. Much like Miss Price's magic, it a bit sloppy, impractical but still something special. Rated 2/5 Stars •  Rated 2 out of 5 stars 11/26/24 Full Review Nick S Disjointed and simply didn't work. Interesting to see it as a prototype for harry potter with the school of witchcraft letter in mail and the broom + portkeys though. Rated 2/5 Stars •  Rated 2 out of 5 stars 11/14/24 Full Review Dale R This seems like an attempt to recapture the magic of Mary Poppins, but falls a little short. The plot is about an English witch that fends off a German raid in 1940. The Sherman Brothers wrote the music for this and all the songs are catchy and enjoyable. The children actors did a good job and the writers gave them something to work with. Angela Lansbury and David Tomlinson also did well in the lead roles. I felt David Tomlinson was not playing Mr. Banks in this movie, but a different character, unlike in The Love Bug. The animation sequence was not up to the Mary Poppin level. It seemed cheaper, most likely because of the Xerox animation style being used at the time. Plus, during the soccer match, I felt there was something missing and then noticed that there wasn’t any score in the background which I believe took away some of the emotional weight of the scene. The finale is a well done set of special effects and puppeteering and turned out to be satisfying. If there is a movie screaming for a remake, this is it. Imagine what they could do with the animated sequence and the finale with today’s technology. . . Definitely worth a watch! Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 07/07/24 Full Review Aaron B If you're looking for old-timey whimsy and charm, this film has it. Sure some of the songs are a bit filler-ey, but I still find them enjoyable from the strength of the music and the actors' performances. The visual effects also hold up in my opinion Rated 4.5/5 Stars •  Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 01/13/24 Full Review dingo K This movie has memories. It's fun. It has a strange combo of subject matter but work. At the time, this show was different. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 07/09/23 Full Review sean g Loved this movie as a kid, and still love it now, great old story with the Great Late Angela Lansbury , good family fun, good movie for 1971 Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Read all reviews

Bedknobs and Broomsticks

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