I was not around to witness the time when this animated TV movie first hit the airwaves (that was about fifteen years before I was born), but can recall hearing the album, featuring musical artist Harry Nilsson (who wrote the fable) as the narrator, as well as the songs he contributed to the story, perhaps as far back as I can remember, or close to it. I don't recall seeing this cartoon until I was around seven/eight years old, but after that, it soon became a favourite of mine, and I watched it a number of times for a while. Yesterday, I rented it on DVD to watch for the first time in a while. About fourteen years ago, I would definitely have been able to give it a 10/10, which isn't quite the case now, but I still found merits in the film.
In a town where everyone has a point on the top of their head, and everything is also pointed, something happens that it seems has never happened in the community before. A child is born without a pointed head. He is named Oblio, and during his childhood, he gets a dog with a pointed snout named Arrow and turns out to be quite popular, but one kid who doesn't like him is the nasty son of the evil count! One day, the two compete in a popular game in the town called triangle toss, where the players try to catch a triangle with the point on their head. With the help of Arrow, who can catch it with his snout, Oblio wins. The count wants his son to rule someday, and after hearing about his defeat in the game, he is outraged! He realizes that Oblio is a threat to his son ever ruling, so he tells the king how this boy is an outlaw, due to the fact that he doesn't have a pointed head. Although the king is good, and likes Oblio, he is weak-kneed and gives in to the count's demands. After a trail, the boy and his dog are banished to the Pointless Forest. While there, they find themselves on a psychedelic adventure, encountering unusual creatures they've never seen before, and this journey turns out to be quite educational!
"The Point" is a rather bizarre story, and Nilsson made it clear that it was inspired by an acid trip, but it's also a clever story with a moral. I know I'm not the first to point this out, but it's lesson in tolerance, which I may not have quite understood as a kid, but do now. The animation in this 1971 TV special is sketchy, and not completely coloured, which could disappoint some people, but I think I've always liked it. The story may be touching a times (during the sad farewell scene as Oblio leaves for the Pointless Forest, for example). Oblio meets some very interesting and memorable characters in the Pointless Forest, such as the three-headed Pointed Man (who is ironically quite pointless, though maybe not when he says, "A point in every direction is the same as having no point at all."), the Rock Man, the Leaf Man, etc. There's also humour in the cartoon, especially during Leaf Man sequence, in my opinion, with the first words he says to Oblio and Arrow. I most certainly can't forget the bunch of songs from Nilsson featured in the film and on the album, which are a big part of the both, and ones I've enjoyed many times.
I really don't know what I would have thought if I had just seen "The Point" for the first time at my age. It may have left me confused, though it also may have grown on me with more viewings. It definitely seems more bizarre and a bit less entertaining to me now than it did when I watched it when I was eight years old, but I definitely understand it more now than I did before, and I've never been a stoner, in case you were wondering. Also, I used to always see the TV version, taped off TV, with Dustin Hoffman as the narrator. Renting it on DVD, I finally got to see the home video version for the first time, featuring Ringo Starr as the narrator instead. This was a little different, but Ringo also did a good job, so it was worth hearing his voice in the cartoon. I'm sure kids today could really enjoy this psychedelic cartoon just like I did, and I'm sure many adults can as well, and can have a better understanding of the message. Perhaps the same goes with adolescents. If you like psychedelic cartoons from this era, like, let's say, "Yellow Submarine", there's probably a good chance you'd like this one.
In a town where everyone has a point on the top of their head, and everything is also pointed, something happens that it seems has never happened in the community before. A child is born without a pointed head. He is named Oblio, and during his childhood, he gets a dog with a pointed snout named Arrow and turns out to be quite popular, but one kid who doesn't like him is the nasty son of the evil count! One day, the two compete in a popular game in the town called triangle toss, where the players try to catch a triangle with the point on their head. With the help of Arrow, who can catch it with his snout, Oblio wins. The count wants his son to rule someday, and after hearing about his defeat in the game, he is outraged! He realizes that Oblio is a threat to his son ever ruling, so he tells the king how this boy is an outlaw, due to the fact that he doesn't have a pointed head. Although the king is good, and likes Oblio, he is weak-kneed and gives in to the count's demands. After a trail, the boy and his dog are banished to the Pointless Forest. While there, they find themselves on a psychedelic adventure, encountering unusual creatures they've never seen before, and this journey turns out to be quite educational!
"The Point" is a rather bizarre story, and Nilsson made it clear that it was inspired by an acid trip, but it's also a clever story with a moral. I know I'm not the first to point this out, but it's lesson in tolerance, which I may not have quite understood as a kid, but do now. The animation in this 1971 TV special is sketchy, and not completely coloured, which could disappoint some people, but I think I've always liked it. The story may be touching a times (during the sad farewell scene as Oblio leaves for the Pointless Forest, for example). Oblio meets some very interesting and memorable characters in the Pointless Forest, such as the three-headed Pointed Man (who is ironically quite pointless, though maybe not when he says, "A point in every direction is the same as having no point at all."), the Rock Man, the Leaf Man, etc. There's also humour in the cartoon, especially during Leaf Man sequence, in my opinion, with the first words he says to Oblio and Arrow. I most certainly can't forget the bunch of songs from Nilsson featured in the film and on the album, which are a big part of the both, and ones I've enjoyed many times.
I really don't know what I would have thought if I had just seen "The Point" for the first time at my age. It may have left me confused, though it also may have grown on me with more viewings. It definitely seems more bizarre and a bit less entertaining to me now than it did when I watched it when I was eight years old, but I definitely understand it more now than I did before, and I've never been a stoner, in case you were wondering. Also, I used to always see the TV version, taped off TV, with Dustin Hoffman as the narrator. Renting it on DVD, I finally got to see the home video version for the first time, featuring Ringo Starr as the narrator instead. This was a little different, but Ringo also did a good job, so it was worth hearing his voice in the cartoon. I'm sure kids today could really enjoy this psychedelic cartoon just like I did, and I'm sure many adults can as well, and can have a better understanding of the message. Perhaps the same goes with adolescents. If you like psychedelic cartoons from this era, like, let's say, "Yellow Submarine", there's probably a good chance you'd like this one.