Raggedy Ann & Andy: A Musical Adventure (1977) was a masterpiece made by Richard Williams that used each element in classic cartoons at its fullest. The film came out as a typical classic cartoon yet very fresh and entertaining to watch.
Almost every character in this film had a unique voice that matched their character, especially the main characters, Raggedy Ann (Didi Conn) and Raggedy Andy (Mark Baker), two dolls that were actually made by Johnny Gruelle in 1920. As silly dolls, both of them have innocent voice that resonates with their character. Just like stories that were made for children, Raggedy Ann & Andy: A Musical Adventure became an adventure filled with fantasy and wonder.
The story follows Ann, a doll that loves her owner, Marcella (Claire Williams). After Marcella’s new doll got kidnapped by a pirate doll, Ann and Andy decided to rescued her by got out of their warm house into a wild world filled with the unknown.
Even though this film seems like it was meant especially for children, the animation and characterization make it seem like there are a lot that can be discussed and paid attention to. Let’s talk first about the visual.
Since the beginning of the film, it is very clear that Richard Williams put a lot of love to the work.
The most powerful thing that this film has is that they realize the power of 2D stop-motion cartoon, which is motions and infinite visual imagination. Every character in this film is very doll-like. The film can capture how soft, plump, and lovable they are through the character designs and the character’s motions.
Starting from the opening scene, they made every name appear clearly with fun animations while showing the characters. Then throughout the film, it can be spotted how this film puts a lot of attention to details and plays with the visuals to make every scene very interesting to watch.
As well as the illustrations. Every scene filled the screen with such detail and colors that are full of symbols. For example, in the beginning of the film, the color tone are warm which make the house feel warm, just like how Raggedy Ann and the other dolls felt. Then when they meet The Camel (Fred Stuthman) that is filled with loneliness and causes hallucination, the world seems blue yet beautiful like one of Vincent van Gogh’s paintings titled Starry Night (1889).
Not just the visual, the audio plays a very important role to build up the situation of the characters. For example, when Ann, Andy, and The Camel, got plunged in The Greedy’s pool, the pig-bubbly effect sound plays a significant role to show how disgusting the character is. Also in the scene when The Camel is hallucinating, the sound of people singing were so fantasy-and-heavenly-like, which helped to make the audience understand how weird yet wonderful The Camel imagination is.
The most interesting thing about this film is how the concept of the film is similar with one of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s best selling book, The Little Prince (1943).
The world in the stories are actually very child-like, filled with fantasy, unrealistic characters, and simple dialogues. But looking back at the characters, it is clear that this film is actually filled with meaningful characterization. Every character that Ann and Andy meet actually symbolizes specific types of people in a implisit way. For example, the first The Camel symbolize lonely people, The Greedy symbolize greedy people, and The Loonie King symbolize bully. The interesting thing is how the film really dive deep into the characters’ psychology. Throughout the film, each character started to show the reason why they became who they are. Just like in The Little Prince story, each character have reason, feeling, and mindset that build their character.
Overall, Raggedy Ann & Andy: A Musical Adventure is a really wonderful cartoon film. Even though at the surface, it seems like this film was made for children, the audio-visual experience, the characterization, and its stories are really enjoyable and worth watching for every age. Each of the film’s elements are made with so much care that made this film very heart warming yet full of reflection. In short, it is a catharsis in a form of children’s film.
Our Score: 9/10
Title: Raggedy Ann & Andy: A Musical Adventure
Director: Richard Williams
Writer: Johnny Gruelle, Patricia Thackray, Max Wilk
Producer: Richard Horner, Stanley Sills
Production House: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Lester Osterman Productions, Richard Williams Productions
Casts: Didi Conn, Mark Baker, Claire Williams
