Animation Celebration Saturday - Raggedy Ann & Andy: A Musical Adventure

20th Century Fox, 1977
Voices of Didi Conn, Mark Baker, George S. Irving, and Fred Stuthman
Directed by Richard Williams
Music and Lyrics by Joe Raposo

Richard Williams was an animator with a major ambition - to complete his own magnum opus away from studio interference, The Thief and the Cobbler. In order to fund his constant and complicated work on this project, he did other cartoons and movies on the side like this one. The beloved doll and book character Raggedy Ann appeared in a few Paramount cartoons in the 1940's, but this would be the first time she and her brother Andy headlined a feature film. How does this early musical toy story look today? Let's start as the dolls' owner Marcella (Claire Williams) gets off the school bus with her favorite rag doll and find out...

The Story: Ann (Conn) is happy to live in the nursery with the other dolls and her pugnacious brother Andy (Baker), and she adores Marcella. On her seventh birthday, Marcella opens a beautiful new French doll named Babette (Niki Flacks). Spoiled Babette not only doesn't believe she's a toy, but she desperately wants to return to Paris. Snow globe resident Captain Contagious (Irving) is smitten and kidnaps her after he convinces Ann and the others to let him and his boat out of the ball. Ann and Andy venture into the Deep Dark Woods to find them and run into the Camel With the Wrinkled Knees (Stuthman), who is looking for a home. Even with his help, they have to make their way past some pretty bizarre characters to track the pirate and the French doll down.

The Animation: Pretty darn good for the time. The second half, when the characters are trying to out-run the Greedy, the Loonies, and the pirates, look downright amazing at times. The sequence in Loonieland with Ann, Andy, and the Camel sliding down an endless staircase is well-done enough to make people who are prone to motion sickness feel queasy.

The Song and Dance: "Song" is the operative word. Raposo's tunes and the quality animation carry the day, even when the story and characters go off the rails. There's always something neat to look at, from the unique designs of Ann's friends in the nursery to the Greedy's flowing, sticky home, to the wild geometric aesthetic in Loonieland. Some of the music is quite lovely, too. "Blue" turned up on The Muppet Show in 1978, and Didi Conn reprised "Home" in Shining Time Station in the 90's.

Favorite Number: Ann tells the other dolls about her adventures outside with Marcella in the sunshiny "I Look, and What Do I See?" Andy, tired of being squashed and tossed around, defiantly insists that he's "No Girl's Toy" in his acrobatic routine. The catchy "Rag Dolly" has Ann and the other nursery residents explaining their home and who they are to an unimpressed Babette.  Ann and Andy declare their affectionate feelings for each other (maybe a tad too affectionate for a brother and sister) in the sweet ballad "Candy Hearts and Paper Flowers." The Camel With the Wrinkled Knees laments about his homeless status in the country-flavored "Blue." The Greedy eats himself and everything around him, even as he tells the doll trio that "I Can Never Get Enough."

Trivia: This appeared twice on the stage in the early 80's. The first version has never made Broadway, but can occasionally be seen on community stages. The second was much darker (it apparently involved the dolls trying to help a dying Marcella) and barely lasted five performances on Broadway in 1986. Neither used much of the original story or songs.

What I Don't Like: I remember seeing this on The Disney Channel in the late 80's and thinking it was pretty darn weird, especially for something involving rag dolls and wrinkled stuffed camels. I still think it's one of the strangest animated musicals out there. The characters are either dull (the Raggedys), obnoxious (Babette, the Loonies), or too bizarre for words (the Greedy, those creepy twin dolls with the squeaky voices in the nursery). The first half of the film has some charm, but as soon as the Raggedys head into the woods, it feels like they're barely in their own vehicle. They're more reacting to the weirdness than actively doing anything. They don't even save everyone in the end - that honor goes to the Captain's parrot. The ending is less an ending and more "we're running out of time, let's just throw the dolls back into live action and wrap this up quickly."

The Big Finale: It's too strange to be for everyone, but those who love Raggedy Ann or Williams or Raposo's work may want to check it out.

Home Media: For some reason, it was never released on DVD. The only place you can currently see it is VHS and on YouTube.

YouTube