SnoopyStyle Milo is a bored kid. He goes home and finds a box which unfolds into one genuine turnpike tollbooth. It presents a fantastical world beyond. As he drives the given car through the tollbooth, he turns into a cartoon character in an animated world.From the mind of Chuck Jones based on a children's book, this is a wild and imaginative road trip. It's got the charms of the Chuck Jones animation. The Doldrums are a little tiring. My sympathetic yawns almost put me to sleep. A bored kid is not the most compelling protagonist. It would be nice to have an ultimate goal or destination. The Castle in the Air sounds cool but meaningless. It would be better if he has a reason to get there. If the aimless Milo gets a goal from the start, he can learn to be proactive and curious from the quest. There is the central theme of not wasting time but I don't completely agree with the whole premise. It can get scattered with the weird wacky numerous characters. It rambles around and around. For Chuck Jones fans, this lesser known movie is a must. For everybody else, this may be an exercise in animation only.

SimonJack The favorite cartoons to this day of a boyhood friend and I are those of the Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote. They are the creation of animator, cartoonist, writer and director Chuck Jones. He also created other cartoon characters (Pepé Le Pew) and directed many animated shorts with other well-known cartoon characters (Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig) in the mid-20th century. Besides his animal caricature cartoons, Jones created animation shorts with an educational theme. He won an Oscar in 1965 for an early such short, "The Dot and the Line: A Romance in Lower Mathematics." It's a very clever, funny and entertaining short. I was not aware of "The Phantom Tollbooth" until recent years. I was one of a typical American householder busy raising a family during those years. That was a time when parents seldom could make it out to the movies. But, it's never too late to enjoy a good cartoon, or movie. So, I have enjoyed discovering shorts such as "The Dot and Line" and movies such as "The Phantom Tollbooth" in my later years. An interesting thing about this animated film is that it's likely way over the heads of young audience that it is about, but clearly aimed at the parents of those kids. The story is based on a book by Norton Juster, who also wrote the story and screenplay for "The Dot and the Line." Apparently, Juster was motivated in this story by what he saw in the classrooms of the day. That would be a boredom, laziness and listlessness of many students. So, those subjects become part of the film (the Doldrums, etc.). This is a clever tale, and fun way that the creators turn live action into animation. The characters within the story all show great imagination, and each is aimed to address some characteristic that goes against logic or education. The right age for grasping this subject in the early decades of the 21st century would likely be in the upper elementary grades (4 for the brightest kids, 5 for eager, interested kids, 6 for slower kids). Even then, most may have problems with some words, and that can be a good aid to get them scurrying to the dictionary or looking up words on their electronic devices. This animated movie is a good social picture of the culture of the time, while serving as an educational vehicle in itself. And, it's a very enjoyable and entertaining feature as well. At the very least, this is a fine teaching tool aimed at parents. If we let kids go like Milo at the start, they'll fall way behind in life.A number of actors voice the cartoon characters in the film - all very well. Many of the names are plays on words and the language itself. Some favorite characters are Officer Short Shrift, the Whether man, and the Official Which (sic) of the Kingdom of Wisdom. At one point, Tock The Watchdog says, "That's why people don't seem to care anymore which words they use as long as they use lots of them."A favorite line amidst the running witty dialog is said by King Azaz. He tells Milo, "You may ask all the questions that have never been answered. And answer all the questions which have never been asked."

rorymacveigh I remember this film I was always fondly attached to, mainly because its just such an enjoyable little film. It encompasses that nostalgic feel of animations together with a lovely and quite innocent little story. When I was younger, I didn't exactly pay much attention to the plot, but the idea of being able to get into a car that builds itself in your room and somehow become animated was just exhilarating to my young imagination and it probably will be to other children of that age.The film begins with Milo, a young boy with way too much time on his hands. Spending another bored afternoon in his apartment, he comes across a strange present in his living room. Opening it up, a tollbooth and car magically form. On the tollbooth, a megaphone gives Milo instructions to get in the car and enter the tollbooth, taking him into another world of mad fun. This world has every strange creature that was ever conceived going around at once. It has the sludge like dull-drums which feed off the exhaustion of those who are unfortunate to travel within their swamp like surroundings and a Police Officer on one wheel who enjoys branding people Guilty until proved innocent on some of the most moronic charges. After a while, he comes across Tock the Dog, a Guard Dog with an Alarm Clock ticking inside him. Together, he and Milo travel to the Kingdom of Words where they meet the Humbug (a sarcastic charlatan who is rather simple minded) and the King of Words, who is in a feud with his brother, the King of Maths after the pair disagreed on whether Maths or Words were more important. Soon Milo finds himself on a quest with Tock and the Humbug to find the Princesses locked in the Castle in the Air, who hope to restore order and peace to the world. After stopping off at the King of Maths, the trio are now armed with the tools needed to face the various ghouls and demons that await them on their journey ahead. Can Milo and his friends make it to the Castle? Can they successfully defeat the dangerous monsters that await them? Only the movie can tell you...

MartynGryphon I have loved the Phantom Tollbooth since I was a young boy, when my Father first rented it from our local video shop. After that, my brother and I seldom missed the opportunity to rent it out again if we could, and even today we can probably quote the entire film to each other, or to anyone who would want to listen for that matter.Made by MGM in 1970, The Phantom Tollbooth pretty much remains faithful to Norton Juster's book but gets brought right up to date, (for the time that is), and given a good dose of phsycodelia.Milo, (Butch Patrick), is a bored young boy who lives in San Fransisco, one day a mysterious box appears in his bedroom, which contains a magic tollbooth which, when passed through takes Milo into a cartoon world called the Kingdom Of Wisdom. A Kingdom ruled by two warring brothers. King Azaz of Dictionopolis whose iron rule is that words are more important than numbers, and The Mathemagician of Digitopolis, who holds the view that numbers are far more important than words.In order to restore some sanity back to the land he agrees to rescue the Princesses Rhyme & Reason from the Castle In The Air. But first he has to overcome certain obstacles, such as The Doldrums and their inhabitants, The Lethargians who want to stop Milo for Eating, Sleeping and even Breathing. He has to escape the clutches of Kakofonous A. Dischord a mad scientist that wants to stop Milo from ever hearing pleasant sounds again, which he tries with the aid of his accomplice the Awful Dynne (wonderfully voiced by none other than Candy Candido). Officer Short Shrift is a unicycle cop with a insatiable fondness for arresting people for no good purpose. and the Demons of Ignorance who wait in the mountains guarding the approach to the Castle In The Air.It's not all doom & Gloom though, as Milo does encounter many allies to aid him on his journey. There is Tock The Watchdog, Mr Humbug, The Spelling Bee who, by his own admission, can spell any word that has ever been written in any language, anywhere, The Whetherman and his sister Faintly Macabre, The not so wicked Which, (and no, they are not misspellings).Every Character in the Phantom Tollbooth is in fact a not too disguised Metaphor for something else. be it impatience, sloth and greed, but the film also shows a remedy for these negative traits.The most famous of all the people who lent their vocal talents to the movie, is none other than voice of Bugs Bunny, Mel Blanc. If Lon Chaney was the 'Man of a Thousand faces', then Blanc surely was The Man of a Thousand Voices' Unless you're really sensitive about everything, there is nothing in The Phantom Tollbooth that could offend anyone. It's a film that can be watched whether you're 8 or 80 and still get the same thrill from it. I'm also thrilled that my children are also fans of this film that meant so much to me when I was their age, and I hope it is something that they will pass on to THEIR children too.Enjoy!