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The Phantom Tollbooth

Play trailer Poster for The Phantom Tollbooth G Released Nov 7, 1970 1h 30m Kids & Family Fantasy Animation Play Trailer Watchlist
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100% Tomatometer 11 Reviews 75% Popcornmeter 2,500+ Ratings
A delivery arrives at the home of young Milo (Butch Patrick), and at first the small tollbooth appears to be an ordinary toy. But when Milo steers his miniature car through the booth's gateway, he finds himself in a mysterious fantasy land. In Dictionopolis, Milo and his dog sidekick Tock encounter a city fixated on words, and draw the ire of Officer Short Shrift (Mel Blanc). Milo also treks through Digitopolis and over the Mountains of Ignorance, an adventure that teaches the boy vital lessons.
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The Phantom Tollbooth

Critics Reviews

View All (11) Critics Reviews
Judith Crist New York Magazine/Vulture The most satisfying post-revel feeling is in the realization that there are still those who care not only about fantasy and adventure but also about courage and ingenuity and, even more important, literacy and imagination. Apr 20, 2022 Full Review Stefan Kanfer TIME Magazine The youthful viewer and his parents should overlook Phantom Tollbooth's flaws and concentrate on the film's underlying moral. Feb 8, 2018 Full Review Rachel Wagner Rachel's Reviews (YouTube) It's not one that I'll probably ever watch again... [but] It was a fun one to finally explore. Rated: 5/10 Feb 12, 2019 Full Review Film4 Staff Film4 More would have been acheived without the inclusion of the sappy pop songs, but the film still has infinitely more savvy than most of the Disney cartoons of the period. Aug 4, 2014 Full Review Tom Hutchinson Radio Times [The film] has some wonderful ideas, but they're likely to be a bit above the heads of very young children. The rest should enjoy it, especially the bits with the great Mel Blanc, Toonville's greatest-ever voice. Rated: 4/5 Aug 4, 2014 Full Review TV Guide This fine adaptation of the children's book by Norton Juster was Chuck Jones's and MGM's first animated feature. Rated: 3.5/4 Aug 4, 2014 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View All (198) audience reviews
Dennis F I had to see this movie, being a fan of Butch Patrick from The Munsters and Lidsville - this is a great, feel-good movie, and I appreciated the effort it made to get children to think, and move - it covered many of life's lessons in the neat tale, in a fun way. I thought the animation was pretty good for 1970 or so. All of the voice talent was fantastic, and the "friend" is his in the real world scenes was also a great child actor from the time, who went on to be a great in the entertainment field. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 11/27/24 Full Review Joel H I'd heard of The Phantom Tollbooth before, but I'd never read the novel nor seen the movie. I didn't really know what to expect, to be honest. What I got was an odd mix of Looney Tunes and Sesame Street. This is an educational film first and foremost, which makes it feel a little bland. It also seems like an animated short that was stretched too thin as it tries to fill the runtime. The music was forgettable, too. Perhaps the book is better, but I found The Phantom Tollbooth to be a fairly dull drive through an after-school special. My kids liked, though, so maybe that's it's intended audience. Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 02/05/24 Full Review Audience Member Over 50 years old. This is still one of the best film adaptations ever. I remember reading the book back in elementary school and watching the movie in class. Both are perfect. The movie never got the giant exposure when it was first released since MGM sold off their holdings. It made learning about words and numbers interesting. Even using proper use of grammar with the importance of rhyme or reason balancing out chaos. The animation is terrific being done by Chuck Jones of Looney Tunes fame. Learning can be overwhelming for any kid but the book and movie make education fun. The main character Milo perfectly conveys the audiences feelings. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 11/08/23 Full Review Jeffrey M The Phantom Toolbooth was an amazing movie. I finished the book kind of a long time ago, so I slightly forgot the book when I watched this earlier today. I remember the book was better than this movie. I watched this movie for free on YouTube. Like the book, The Phantom Toolbooth was a very interesting book. Also this movie had really good lessons from math to enjoying life. The Phantom Toolbooth also had really good classic animation. The Phantom Toolbooth was a really good movie. What a good movie. I give this a 75%🍅. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 08/06/23 Full Review GEOMETRY D Well I didn't see the movie but I read the book which was made almost a decade before the movie and I saw the trailer of this and based on what I saw, I can already tell it's a bad movie. For starters, in the book there was Milo, not this random red head whose name is like Richard or something (I can't remember). Then Tock, he was probably 2/3 the size of King Azaz in the book but in this, there's this puppy the size of Milo and I couldn't see a watch on his back like the book. And finally, the Humbug… this has got to be the worst one yet. The Humbug in the book is small, green I think, and wide, but in this he is tall, skinny, blue. The book is way better and the movie is the worst book recreation ever, and this is based on the TRAILER, not the movie so I bet the movie is far worse.😡 Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars 04/19/23 Full Review Susan M This movie is Like if Dr. Seuss was on some sort of drug and read an encyclopedia. 10/10 may never watch again on my own free will:) Rated 5 out of 5 stars 04/13/23 Full Review Read all reviews
The Phantom Tollbooth

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Movie Info

Synopsis A delivery arrives at the home of young Milo (Butch Patrick), and at first the small tollbooth appears to be an ordinary toy. But when Milo steers his miniature car through the booth's gateway, he finds himself in a mysterious fantasy land. In Dictionopolis, Milo and his dog sidekick Tock encounter a city fixated on words, and draw the ire of Officer Short Shrift (Mel Blanc). Milo also treks through Digitopolis and over the Mountains of Ignorance, an adventure that teaches the boy vital lessons.
Director
Chuck Jones, Abe Levitow, Dave Monahan
Production Co
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Rating
G
Genre
Kids & Family, Fantasy, Animation
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Nov 7, 1970, Original
Release Date (Streaming)
Jan 1, 2009
Runtime
1h 30m
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