I'm actually rating this while seeing it on TCM. I'd thought that this would be fun; after all, it IS Rankin-Bass. I grew up watching their Christmas specials in the Eighties, and I'm a huge fan of The Last Unicorn. So it was natural that I'd expect good things of this.
Honestly, the only thing good about this is what an excellent job the animators did of making Mother Goose actually resemble Margaret Rutherford; but this is a severe waste of her talent, and it's a shame that this, of all features, was her last film.
I don't want to fault the animation TOO much. One must consider that this was in the early days of Japanese animation (as Rankin-Bass worked with a Japanese animation company), and that the animation is therefore going to be primitive. The flaws are in the voice acting (apart from Ms. Rutherford). For example, the villain's voice actor seems to be doing his best imitation of Christopher Lee--and his best imitation is HORRIBLE.
I'm sad to say it, but watching this is a wasted effort. I currently have it on Mute, because I can't handle it, and I plan to change the channel.
Honestly, the only thing good about this is what an excellent job the animators did of making Mother Goose actually resemble Margaret Rutherford; but this is a severe waste of her talent, and it's a shame that this, of all features, was her last film.
I don't want to fault the animation TOO much. One must consider that this was in the early days of Japanese animation (as Rankin-Bass worked with a Japanese animation company), and that the animation is therefore going to be primitive. The flaws are in the voice acting (apart from Ms. Rutherford). For example, the villain's voice actor seems to be doing his best imitation of Christopher Lee--and his best imitation is HORRIBLE.
I'm sad to say it, but watching this is a wasted effort. I currently have it on Mute, because I can't handle it, and I plan to change the channel.