The Phantom Tollbooth (1970) User Reviews

A must-see for Chuck Jones fans!

[La Gremlin · 8/10 · 22 January 2002]

I feel bad for a lot of underrated movies, mostly because the people who'd like them the most have probably never heard of them. I argue that Chuck Jones is the most important of the animation directors of the Golden Age of Cartoons, and this is his only full-length feature. If you like his cartoons, you should definitely hunt for this charming adaptation of Norton Juster's charming (if pedantic) novella.

Here's the interesting thing about "Phantom Tollbooth". Neither the book nor the movie strike me as a children's' story. Don't get me wrong, kids will probably like this movie, particularly older kids, but it's more for adults who can get the puns and such. Adult will also probably appreciate the psychedelic artwork from longtime Jones collaborator Maurice Noble. The amoebic Doldrums are a highlight as is the Awful DYNN, a manic crayon scrawl, and the cities of Dictionopolis and Digitopolis; they look like a riot at the Avant-garde Graphic Design class. Adorable and very, VERY sixties.

When I was a kid, I LOVED this movie

[pheenab · 8/10 · 25 September 2005]

Growing up I thought the movie was fascinating (HELLO! He goes into another WORLD that is CARTOON!). The songs are awesome too, and the whole film is a mystery. Now that I am older I am noticing how very clever the movie is too, including the use of language (you'd have to see it to understand). I also find a bit creepy now that I'm older, it gives me the willies. May it's the old animation, I don't know, but some of the scenes are really scary! It's a good show, watch it with a ten year old...and enjoy! You could also watch it with a 7-11 year old too. Like I said, it's a great show for kids. Especially if they're at that age where they want to be a little creeped out.

An interesting mix of numbers and words!The animation was decent!!

[Doc_Who · 7/10 · 31 December 1999]

This movie is about a boy named milo. He is very bored with his life. One day , he comes home to discover a giant package in his bedroom . Milo then goes on a magical journey to rescue "rhyme and reason" . They are royalty of the two kingdoms of words and numbers. Along the way, Milo picks up a few friends to help him in his task. They eventually save "rhyme and reason" . Milo then goes home to a happier life. The animatiin was about the type of the Chuch Jone's "Looney Tunes". There is a segment with milo checking out the tollboth as a human and animated!!!This movie is fine for families, just do not expect any of the disney stuff they see all the time nowadays!!!!It has no swearing, violence or sex, so everyone under 10 can enjoy this classic underated movie!!!

A great movie for kids

[ralph-41 · 28 October 2000]

A simple fantasy tale, mostly animation with some live action at the beginning and end. Milo is a "latchkey kid" living a somewhat isolated life in an apartment block in the big city. While complaining on the phone to his friend that he is bored stiff, he is startled by the sudden arrival of a strange package which, when unwrapped, unfolds into a gateway into a magical world...

Like all of Chuck Jones' work, this movie is great for children and doesn't seem dated at all. My two kids aged five and six were enchanted by it just as I was when I first saw it at the age of ten.

The characters are colorful and entertaining. Milo is easy for any child who has ever been bored or lonely to identify with. The avuncular "Watch Dog" Tock will look fairly familiar to any regular viewer of Chuck's work on Warner Brothers' short cartoons. The Humbug and the Spelling Bee are reminiscent of Dr Seuss characters; Officer Short Shrift is somewhat more surreal but that only makes him stick in your mind all the more. The songs are lots of fun and you'll probably be humming them for a long time afterwards.

All in all a great movie for kids, and Mums and Dads too. Pass the popcorn!

"No journey is valid without a proper destination..."

[moonspinner55 · 6/10 · 24 March 2009]

A youngster from San Francisco, bored with school and with time to kill, is offered an educational round-trip from a Phantom Tollbooth; he turns animated and takes a journey to the Castle in the Sky, where Rhyme and Reason have been banished by Dictionopolis and Digitopolis, the feuding worlds of words and numbers who each believe they are most important. Uneven animated feature (with live-action prologue and epilogue featuring Butch Patrick) is an erratic but interesting adaptation of Norton Juster's book, punctuated with musical interludes (and some odd "Wizard of Oz"-isms). Veteran animator Chuck Jones co-wrote the script and co-directed the animated sequences (the first and final cartoon effort from MGM). Jones makes a mistake getting our young hero stuck in the Doldrums in the first act (there's no fascination in lethargy), but he picks up the pace soon after. Digitopolis has a nifty look (and lively Hans Conried as the MathemaGician), and there's a lovely "conducted" sunset and an exciting race to the castle. The animation is alternately crude, clumsy, expressive, colorful, and routine, and the songs are an equally mixed lot (they're pleasant, if not especially catchy). Patrick has a marvelous deep voice for a little kid, but he isn't given anything clever to say; better are Conried, June Foray and Mel Blanc in the voice-over department. Not too popular with child audiences at the time, this may have been a bit high-brow for the matinée crowds. If anything, the film has improved with age, and some of it is quite imaginative. **1/2 from ****

Expect everything and the unexpected never happens

[utgard14 · 7/10 · 30 November 2013]

Classic surrealistic Chuck Jones animated feature film (with some live action parts). It's an intelligent, entertaining movie. I would say educational as well but if your kid is able to learn from the fast-paced and often tongue-twisting wordage here then they are much smarter than I was as a tyke.

The plot is about a young boy named Milo (Butch Patrick) who enters a mysterious tollbooth and is transported to the Kingdom of Wisdom. Accompanied by Tock, a watchdog who literally has a watch in his body, he has a series of adventures traveling through the various enchanted lands.

It's a fun, smart, sophisticated movie that won't appeal to all. Sadly, I must cynically say it won't appeal to most kids of today. Another thing: the songs are nothing exceptional but not as bad as I've seen others say. Some of them are quite good. Don't let naysayers talk you out of trying this movie. If you love Chuck Jones or classic animation in general, it's definitely a must see.

A happy surprise!

[kzoofilm · 10/10 · 1 September 2000]

I hadn't seen this film since I was a child and it was a happy surprise to find it on Cinemax last week. The movie and the excellent book of the same name were big inspirations to me as a grade-schooler and helped me understand the importance of language and logic. The Chuck Jones-directed animation is terrific and although the music is very 1969 middle-of-the-road (dreamy choruses and faux-Herb Alpert trumpet), it doesn't get in the way of a clever adventure story that celebrates using your mind to solve problems. This picture deserves a much bigger cult following.

You had me, you lost me (thanks Websnark)

[ScottyGage · 7/10 · 22 March 2005]

Don't get me wrong - the Phantom Tollbooth is a great movie... For kids. I consider myself a big kid, personally, and many a movie I watched in my childhood still holds a special place for me (Transformers, The Dark Crystal, Sword in the Stone, etc.) but unfortunately I've outgrown the Phantom Tollbooth at age 22. I watched it again for the first time in years this week, and could only think two things:

1) How it comes off as a poorly veiled Public Service Announcement (but still, a true one)

and 2) how much I'd rather be watching Bugs Bunny. Hell, I don't even know which Maestro bit came first; the one from this, or when Bugs is conducting the orchestra.

Either way, my point is that while the animation is great, it's still a Looney Tunes movie without the Looney Tunes, and while the message is a good one, it is far too heavy handed for many adults to take.

Highly recommended for the young, mildly recommended for the old. (Oh, and I've never read the book - yet. Yeah, I'm a heretic, or something)

Funny, funny movie with a twisted Sense of humor!

[battlebeast · 9/10 · 10 December 2005]

The Phantom Tollbooth is warped movie from the warped mind of the great Chuck Jones.

Milo, an ordinary boy, is bored with life. One day he receives a tollbooth as a present. This Tollbooth will supposedly take him out of his boredom.

Milo enters the Tollbooth and is instantly changed into a cartoon character. From here on in, he journeys to the "Whether" man, into the doldrums, meets tock, the watchdog, and onward to Dictionopolis and the Kingdom of Numbers in order to save Rhyme and Reason.

The movie is twisted in every which way; there are plenty of songs the make no sense but make you laugh out loud. The Animation is typical "Looney Tunes" style but works very well with the quirky plot.

The Phantom Tollbooth is a lost gem the deserves DVD treatment in the worst way. Lets hope one day soon that this diamond in the rough will find a new generation of children!

Wonderland's more scholastic cousin.

[GiraffeDoor · 7/10 · 22 June 2019]

Thoroughly enjoyable, Carrollian adventure full of rich story book type animations and whimsical concepts.

Not heavy going emotionally but full of wit, vigour and charm. Many cool episodes are strung along a main plot of...I forget but it's good fun.

Read the Book

[theshinepolice · 3/10 · 10 January 2011]

The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster is one of my favorite books. Unfortunately the movie does not do it justice. It does not come together in the same way the book did. I am not saying that all film adaptations should follow the book strictly, but the film should at least stand on it's own. I just feel like the movie was quite rushed and did not take time to explain things. The animation was also rushed too. The whole movie just seemed rushed. Weren't half baked ideas frowned upon in the movie? How ironic!

A lot of my favorite part of the book were also skipped, such as most of the forest of sight where Milo learns about perspective. Milo's adventure in the valley of sound was also skipped. Milo also did not meet the child from infinity. Tock was also far too patronizing and did not preach as much in the book, where his character was far less perfect and more believable. The order in which Milo hits his destinations, such as Chroma's place, and Dr. Dischord's van also made more sense in the book and probably should have been followed more strictly in the movie, for the sake of the story's flow. Even for children, the film is much too choppy.

The end was also very cheesy because it was sung. In fact, most of the songs were overkill.

Maybe this book just isn't meant to be made into a film. It isn't exactly subtle and is more of a concept or "how to" type of story where the metaphors are more obvious. Film translates ideas a bit more subtly, with dialog, action, etc. Bad guys being defeated by a pencil firing the words "truth" just doesn't make for a good film. Oh well, maybe another producer will pull off the Phantom Tollbooth in a better way, but for now, read the book; the story flows much more nicely when it is read.

One Of The Most Entertaining Things You Will Ever See

[MartynGryphon · 10/10 · 11 February 2008]

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!

Chuck Jones animation

[SnoopyStyle · 6/10 · 30 December 2017]

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.

Let's see...

[benovite · 1/10 · 31 March 2009]

1)The animation is bad, especially by Chuck Jones' standards. If you've seen any amount of his work with Bugs Bunny or Tom & Jerry then you will see why. Things suddenly have or change color, some things skip a few frames of animation, and at some points it looks like a 2nd grade class animated it with markers.

2)There is no story, or at least none that I could find. It's basically one long experimental movie mixing live action with animation. There are very little live action scenes in the beginning to establish anything such as - where are Milo's parents? The kid doesn't live by himself does he? It's as if Chuck wanted to get to the animation as fast as possible.

3) When we get to this animated world, it's very mundane and not very imaginative, ESPECIALLY the opening scenes involving the doldrums.

Do we really need to see the main character yawning while other snot-like creates yawn too? This is movie-making rule #1: Don't have too much yawning in your movie or else the audience will be yawning right along with it! The part with the doldrums was torture.

3) It's hard to make out a lot of the dialogue because of the sound effects and what they tried to do with the voices.

It looks like crap and sounds like crap.

I take it that this was supposed to be a sort of Alice in Wonderland experience, but it's not very fun or imaginative. I mean the police officer with one long leg that's a wheel(?) should tell you how lacking this movie is.

When I saw this on TCM the other day Robert Osbourne said that this was made in 1968 but released in 1970, mostly due to MGM having a constant change of guard and because they didn't know how to sell this movie. I believe it! No one beyond the age of 1 should watch this.

Actually, I can't imagine audiences going to see this in a movie theater. I barely was able to pay attention at home- and I didn't for a long stretch, deciding to do something else while it was on.

Something more fun.

What's not to like?

[sngbrd39 · 13 May 2000]

I still don't get why so many people who have seen it dislike it so much. I first saw it when it was playing on Cartoon Network. I liked it so much that I had to get it on videotape. Granted, the moralizing was a bit heavy-handed, but all the same, I loved it when I was young and still find it entertaining now.

BTW: Those of you who did not like the movie may want to read the book. It is just as good, maybe better, but has things put better into perspective.

Good, But Needs a Little Something More

[gavin6942 · 6/10 · 14 June 2012]

Milo (Butch Patrick) is a boy who is bored with life. One day he comes home to find a toll booth in his room. Having nothing better to do, he gets in his toy car and drives through, only to emerge in a world full of adventure.

This film is pretty good, and the animation is quite well-done. Fans of Chuck Jones will appreciate it, as will fans of the book. Some of it (especially the music) is a bit dated, but it can be excused. And how can a young Eddie Munster be a bad thing?

I strongly recommend reading the book before watching this. The film jumps from one scene to the next very quickly, and sometimes not even in the same order. Some parts are left out entirely (though I did not mind the exclusion of Alec, whom I found quite annoying). I think those who read the book will better appreciate the film.

Would I like to see a remake of this? Perhaps. But I think it would hold up fine if touched up. I watched a very old VHS copy. Perhaps the DVD is better, but my guess is they did not put much into it.

Over 50 years old and still awsome.

[Dodge-Zombie · 7/10 · 3 July 2022]

I really do love this movie. I can't score it any higher because it has aged but not as badly as other things of the time.

There are some uniquely funny moments in this that probably weren't meant to be as they've changed meaning somewhat over the years.

Watch it and enjoy it.

Recommended for giggles.

I would love to see this on UK telly more often.

[johnoliver40 · 8/10 · 21 November 2007]

I remember seeing this on TV probably about 1973, possibly slightly later. I was 8 in 1973. Oh the memories!! They should show it more often!! I think it has only been on UK television twice in my lifetime and I am now 42.

I still love some animated films, especially PIXAR movies as I appreciate the shading and rendering needed to make parts like the water in Ratatouille so amazingly realistic.

Back to the Phantom Tolbooth, I think Disney or/and Pixar should re-make this film but I still love the original.

Will buy it on DVD if ever it is released.

OK, but would have been better not as a musical

[lee_eisenberg · 6/10 · 2 July 2007]

I've never read the book "The Phantom Tollbooth". The movie version has some fascinating visuals, but the singing doesn't add anything. I understand that Chuck Jones and Mel Blanc had to find something to do now that they were no longer creating Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies cartoons, but a musical doesn't seem like the right thing. Still, I should affirm that the movie portrays some neat things happening (especially when Milo first drives through the tollbooth).

So, it's the sort of movie that you watch if there's nothing else. I now notice that Milo was played by Eddie Munster himself, Butch Patrick. Also featuring the voices of Daws Butler, Candy Candido, June Foray (best known as Rocky the Squirrel) and Hans Conried.

Trippy

[seras-2 · 10/10 · 24 June 2006]

This movie is amazing. I'm 24 and I have just seen it for the first time. I've watched it now with a 29 year old and a 34 year old and they both adored it.

Not only does it give a message that every person needs to here at many different stages in their life *not just childhood*, but it's fun and entertaining.

The songs are well worded and fun, the script is amazing. The art is trippy. The characters have incredible voices that take you back to Saturday morning cartoons.

It's a movie that parents can enjoy with their kids, teenagers can enjoy with friends, and all people should agree it's like a tiny mind trip without the drugs.

Anyone that can't find joy somewhere in this movie is stuck in the Doldrums!

meandering and imperfect but still impressive

[jonathan-577 · 6/10 · 27 March 2009]

This rendering of Norton Juster's one-of-a-kind celebration of words and ideas is honorable and absolutely gorgeous - the Grinchy anachronism of the Jones style (not to mention the 50s Kodachrome anachronism of the live-action framing scenes) renders the cascading psychedelic backgrounds even more impressive for their added displacement value. And the morals are as useful as morals get. But I don't think Jones was made for morals, not on this evidence: in the big climax a monster labelled 'hate' is felled by an arrow labelled 'truth' and it has all the kinetic power of a mediocre editorial cartoon. Nor does he seem to have a grip on feature-length structure - it meanders. And since "Chuck Amuck" was fresh in my mind, I thought back to the parable of the cat and the half-grapefruit: "character is difference." There are no sharp edges to Butch Patrick's generic Everykid, nor even to the dog Tock, who is half sitcom dad; there's too much plot-chat, not enough mayhem. And is that the Billy Vaughan Chorale furnishing the insipid, forgettable songs? Nonetheless, it's cute enough and dazzling enough to be forgiven for its shortcomings.

Like 90 minutes of Grammar Rock

[Varlaam · 5/10 · 14 December 1998]

I'm all for pedagogy, but this is so tiresome. I was attending kids' movies in 1969. Cartoons, especially. It does not surprise me now that I've never heard of this film.

The execution by Chuck Jones is often quite clever, but the hidden agenda isn't hidden. It's non-stop moralizing without a hint of subtlety.

I suspect that the book on which the film is based may be fairly effective after a fashion, a sub-Alice fashion.

Fascinating fun

[morrisonhimself · 9/10 · 26 March 2009]

Turner Classic Movies presented this during a tribute to the legendary Chuck Jones.

It is not regular Jones fare. But it is intriguing.

"Phantom Tollbooth" is apparently somewhat of an educational film, but it is not -- how could it be, coming from Jones? -- stuffy.

Instead, it is whimsical, with some subtle humor for people not in need of education, for example the "senses taker."

Part of the joy is in the performers. Hans Conried, for example, so often played a character who could be stuffy, who was so insistent on words and their correct pronunciation. To hear him as the MathemaGician and harping on the superiority of numbers -- How could there be Tea for Two without the Two? -- was funny-bone jarring.

In the TV listings, the only stars mentioned were Butch Patrick and June Foray. Butch Patrick is still very busy but I bet he will always be best known for his "Munsters" portrayal.

And that's really too bad, since he is, in fact, and without the garish make-up, a very handsome young man in this movie.

June Foray, on the other hand, is known almost entirely as a voice (especially as -- Hokie Smokie -- Rocket J. Squirrel), even though she is and was a beautiful and funny and creative person, even without someone else's script -- and utterly charming.

Her friends in Los Angeles loved to phone her home and hope she wouldn't be there ... so they could listen to her hilarious answering machine messages.

Other voices included the extraordinary Mel Blanc and Daws Butler, the great radio star (who also did a few movies, though not enough to suit me) Les Tremayne, and others whom we've all heard even if we didn't realize it at the time.

Purely as a theatrical experience, "Phantom Tollbooth" might not be for everyone, but surely every person who frequents IMDb will want to see it.

I recommend it.

Worth seeing, but not without flaws

[lemon_magic · 6/10 · 15 September 2009]

I am a big fan of Chuck Jones, and I had heard of "The Phantom Tollbooth" in various contexts as an animated feature, so when I saw it on the cable schedule, I made sure to reserve the time to watch it.

Hmmmm. I decided that this wasn't bad for an first foray into feature length territory, and that if Jones had a chance to learn from his mistakes and try a couple more times, he would have probably come up with a real classic. But "Phantom Tollbooth" wasn't it, and deserves its place in semi-obscurity.

Problem: Too much heavy handed moralizing. I was surprised that people as sneakily funny and subversive as Jones and his crew would be satisfied with the "tone" of the dialog and the exposition here. No matter that the target audience was young; Even Disney in the early years was never this blunt and cheesy in their subtexts and allegories. (From what I've read, the original text wasn't this unsubtle either. Or else what works in a 20 word blurb on the page doesn't always work at length in a live medium).

More problems: About half of the songs are, um, pretty lame, at least to my sensibilities. The ones that yammer away about the virtues of earnestness, duty, hard work, etc. And Butch Patrick was a pretty good kid actor, but he was no singer - all he ever does is pipe along with the lyrics as if they were the musical version of The Pledge Of Allegiance.

Worse yet, some of the animation is 2nd rate. Oh, sure, the main characters - the Watch Dog, the Humbug, Milo, the Mathemagician - are done as well as you expect from a Jones flick, and some of the backgrounds are suitably trippy, but most of the monsters and supporting cast (including Rhyme and Reason) are slapdash and badly conceived and look like another crew of 2nd unit apprentices did them.

Still, the movie has its moments. The scene in the Doldrums had a nice sinister edge to it. It was nice to hear Blanc and Foray and Tremayne and the rest do what they do so well, even if they had trouble selling some of the dialog. And I am sure that the kid I was back in 1970 would have enjoyed more than I do now - although not as much as One Hundred and One Dalmations, or "The Sword In The Stone".

I really wanted to like this movie as much as I do those two (which sport a similar style of character animation) and I want to overlook its faults, because it has a good heart. But as I said, it is undercooked enough that it really doesn't match up to the classics from that era.

Ad nauseum

[johntrlhkr · 1/10 · 1 June 2013]

If we are to make the most of every second of life and explore the big beautiful world then skip this waste of time. I saw this movie as a child in 1970 and I remember over half the audience walking out before it was over because it was so boring. I watched it recently as a middle age adult and realized that it was so boring to so many children at that time because it is mostly mindless drivel and meaningless tripe. Chuck Jones does a fair job at animation especially given the limitations of technology when this was released in 1970. Many of the characters are reminiscent of the classic Warner Brothers cartoons which may have added to the confusion and boredom experienced by many of the children at that time. If you see expressions and vocalizations that are similar to Bugs Bunny or Yosemite Sam you naturally expect similar actions in the movie.