"The Daydreamer" is a full-length film by Rankin-Bass, the same folks who brought us Christmas classics such as "Santa Claus in Coming to Town" and "Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer". The pair were very prolific and made a bunch more...though today most, aside from the Christmas specials, has been forgotten.
The story seems to be set in some difficult to determine time in Europe long ago. The cobbler's son, Chris, is a dreamer who has many adventures after he meets the Sandman. With the Sandman's urging, he goes off on some dreamy adventures...all of which are based on the stories of Hans Christian Andersen. During the course of the film, Chris dreams of The Little Mermaid, Thumbelina, The Emperor's New Clothes and the Garden of Paradise (which is essentially a retelling of the Garden of Eden from GENESIS). And, in most of them, Chris is kind of a selfish jerk!
So is it any good? Well, the animation is exactly what you'd expect from Rankin-Bass...very cute and a bit old fashioned. There's also the obligatory singing...most of which seemed like padding, though I liked "Does Anyone Have Some Luck to Sell?". Overall, a good film with tons of interesting voice actors but also one that I am afraid today's kids might not enjoy as much as we did long ago. Worth seeing...and on YouTube.
The story seems to be set in some difficult to determine time in Europe long ago. The cobbler's son, Chris, is a dreamer who has many adventures after he meets the Sandman. With the Sandman's urging, he goes off on some dreamy adventures...all of which are based on the stories of Hans Christian Andersen. During the course of the film, Chris dreams of The Little Mermaid, Thumbelina, The Emperor's New Clothes and the Garden of Paradise (which is essentially a retelling of the Garden of Eden from GENESIS). And, in most of them, Chris is kind of a selfish jerk!
So is it any good? Well, the animation is exactly what you'd expect from Rankin-Bass...very cute and a bit old fashioned. There's also the obligatory singing...most of which seemed like padding, though I liked "Does Anyone Have Some Luck to Sell?". Overall, a good film with tons of interesting voice actors but also one that I am afraid today's kids might not enjoy as much as we did long ago. Worth seeing...and on YouTube.