The Phantom Tollbooth (1970)
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The Phantom Tollbooth Movie Review
The Phantom Tollbooth is a 1970 live-action/animated family fantasy film directed by Chuck Jones and starring Butch Patrick. It’s a dense, but sweet flick.
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“Now there’s no sense anyplace,
and it’s all my fault“
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A boy named Milo who is bored with life enters a fantasy world where letters and numbers are at war. Based on the titular book, this is one of those children’s stories that are meant to influence and teach children on a variety of subjects. It is at the most extreme when it comes to the vast number of messages that they included here, but the most important one is the utmost importance of education. It also touches on laws and how problematic they can be.
It’s a lot to teach children so much during such a short time, and the movie is certainly overly dense. The same goes for its characters. There was no need to focus on this many characters. Had they cut some characters and even themes, the movie would have been great. This way, it’s just solid. A more streamlined version is sorely lacking as the editing is very troublesome.
Milo is quite well developed. There are a lot of kids who are bored during childhood, so this depiction was fairly accurate, and Butch Patrick was very good in the role. But that’s pretty much it when it comes to strong characterization in this movie. Other creatures and personalities are all highly memorable, but due to their very short screen time, they were reduced to underutilized possibilities only. Tock the watchdog is by far the best of the bunch. I loved their dynamic together and he was so endearing as this great sidekick.
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The Phantom Tollbooth is at its best in the world building and animation. This world full of letters, numbers and many creatures representing the two was superbly crafted from top to bottom. But the gorgeous, charming and even artistic animation steals the show, especially in some of the more strikingly darker stretches. Chuck Jones directed the movie, but the humor is surprisingly mostly absent, but at least the animation is awesome. The live-action segments also worked, but there are only two – the beginning and the very end.
