I saw it on TV when I was very, very young. It existed as a pleasant, hazy memory for many years, although I couldn't remember the title of the film.
Then someone on a nostalgia TV forum recognised it from my description ("a kid in a go-cart goes around a pole and becomes a cartoon"). I got the DVD and re-lived the experience, 40 years on. Great stuff.
In the combination live-action and animated feature THE PHANTOM TOLLBOOTH, June Foray voiced three characters: "Ralph," "Faintly Macabre," and "Princess of Pure Reason." Chuck Jones and Abe Levitow directed the animated sequences, with David Monahan directing the live action segments. Dean Elliott scored the 1970 film.
It took about an hour for this film to get interesting, which seems to be a long-standing opinion.
I guess if you enter the film thinking you'll enjoy Maurice Noble's art direction for 60 minutes (it's AWESOME), then the story will kick in.
And the character design was the usual Chuck Jones until The Census Taker appeared, then it got really interesting. I wonder if they changed animators at that point or something.
And the character design was the usual Chuck Jones until The Census Taker appeared, then it got really interesting. I wonder if they changed animators at that point or something.
Reportedly, Jones completed 4,000 drawings before sending them to animators, to work on their own versions. Eleven animators are credited on the film.
