Title: As Distant Experience from the Book as Possible
Review: "The Phantom Tollbooth" is one of my favorite books. I like the text. Very unusually for a children's book, I genuinely like the illustrations -- to the extent that I'd consider hanging a few on my wall. It's a distinctive book, and it has hugely valuable object lessons for children. So I had high expectations, paying to see it in a theater. They were completely dashed. The animation is weak standard fare -- a cold shock, compared to the excellence of the book illustrations. The book in some way cleverly holds the narrative together, the movie is a bunch of disjointed, cheezy, cheap cartoon shots. Director Chuck Jones did the same thing to Walt Kelly's "Pogo" -- enraging Kelly to such an extent that Kelly took control of the next Pogo film. Jones is a myopic Hollywood talent, seeing only his vision. What is deep in the book is superficial in this movie. The movie is disappointing and bland commercialism.
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