This is an old favourite which I watched so many times as a child, but I think this was my first time revisiting it since I've grown up.
It's an eerie fantasy about a little chimney sweep who, after being accused of a crime he didn't commit, jumps into a river where he finds he can survive underwater and then befriends an Orcadian lobster, a French swordfish and a delightfully camp seahorse.
Throughout the film it continually switches between entirely live action and entirely animated scenes and I think this works really well in differentiating between the real world and the magical underwater one. The animation is so charming. I love the style and the character design.
The pacing is amazing with the 90 minute runtime just flying by. It's helped by some simple but catchy little songs that have stuck with me all my life. They'll often pop into my head even though I hadn't watched this in years.
This movie contains many elements that may remind you of an aquatic Wizard of Oz, but while it was made after The Wizard of Oz movie, the original book actually predates L. Frank Baum's famous work by almost forty years.
While I may be biased due to nostalgia I still think this strange but very fun movie is worth checking out if you're into animation and/or children's movies with an unsettling edge to them.
It's an eerie fantasy about a little chimney sweep who, after being accused of a crime he didn't commit, jumps into a river where he finds he can survive underwater and then befriends an Orcadian lobster, a French swordfish and a delightfully camp seahorse.
Throughout the film it continually switches between entirely live action and entirely animated scenes and I think this works really well in differentiating between the real world and the magical underwater one. The animation is so charming. I love the style and the character design.
The pacing is amazing with the 90 minute runtime just flying by. It's helped by some simple but catchy little songs that have stuck with me all my life. They'll often pop into my head even though I hadn't watched this in years.
This movie contains many elements that may remind you of an aquatic Wizard of Oz, but while it was made after The Wizard of Oz movie, the original book actually predates L. Frank Baum's famous work by almost forty years.
While I may be biased due to nostalgia I still think this strange but very fun movie is worth checking out if you're into animation and/or children's movies with an unsettling edge to them.