Raggedy Ann & Andy: A Musical Adventure

Raggedy Ann & Andy: A Musical Adventure is a 1977 live-action/animated musical fantasy film based upon the 1941 short film Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy, produced by 20th Century Fox Cartoon Studios, in association with The Bobbs-Merrill Company and Richard Williams Productions, and distributed by 20th Century Fox. This film tells the story of the two popular dolls who go off to find a pretty French doll who has been stolen by pirates. The film was directed by Richard Williams from a produced by Richard Horner and Stanley Sills, and features the voices of Claire Williams, Didi Conn, Mark Baker and Allen Swift, Raggedy Ann & Andy: A Musical Adventure also features a song score of music and lyrics written by Joe Raposo, who had previously written music for Jim Henson/Children Television Workshop films and televisions like Sesame Street (1969–1989), The Frog Prince (1971), and The Electric Company (1971).

Plot
A little girl named Marcella returns home from school one day and immediately rushes upstairs to her nursery playroom to put away Raggedy Ann, her favorite doll. When Marcella leaves, the various toys in the playroom come to life, and Raggedy Ann tells them of the wonders of the outside world ("What Do I See?"). She then shares the news that it is Marcella's seventh birthday, and the toys notice a large package in the corner, presumably a present for her. Ann's brother Raggedy Andy is trapped under the package, and, after being freed, complains about the feminine nature of the nursery ("No Girl's Toy"). Marcella opens the present to reveal a beautiful bisque doll from France named Babette. Raggedy Ann leads the toys in welcoming Babette to their nursery ("Rag Dolly"), but she is too homesick for Paris to accept their greeting ("Poor Babette").

Trouble begins when Captain Contagious, a ceramic pirate who lives in a snow globe, notices Babette and immediately becomes smitten ("A Miracle"). After tricking Raggedy Ann into freeing him, he kidnaps the French doll and leaps out the nursery window with his crew ("The Abduction/Yo Ho!"). Raggedy Ann decides to rescue Babette, with Andy volunteering to accompany her. They leave the playroom and enter the woods, where they reaffirm their courage and love for one another while exploring ("Candy Hearts and Paper Flowers"). As the dolls travel, they come across the Camel with the Wrinkled Knees, a blue stuffed animal who has been abandoned by his previous owners ("Blue"). The Camel admits that he longs for a home of his own, and Raggedy Ann promises that once they find Babette, he may return with them. The prospect of a home sends the Camel into a trance, and he rushes off a cliff with the dolls in tow. They find themselves in the Taffy Pit, where an enormous, sentient blob of candy known only as the Greedy lives. The Greedy explains that, despite endlessly eating the various delicacies that compose his body, he never feels satisfied, as he lacks a "sweetheart" ("I Never Get Enough"). He thus attempts to take the candy heart sewn inside of Raggedy Ann, but the toys successfully escape his lair and continue their journey.

The trio next encounter the obnoxious Sir Leonard Looney, a knight with a penchant for mean-spirited practical jokes. Looney begins chasing after the toys to play more tricks on them ("I Love You") and ends up luring them into Looney Land, a surreal realm full of bizarre architecture and giggling, robotic inhabitants. While trying to avoid the knight, Ann, Andy, and the Camel wander into the throne room of King Koo Koo, Looney Land's extremely diminutive ruler. Koo Koo laments his tiny stature ("It's Not Easy Being King") and explains that the only way he can grow is by laughing at the misfortune and suffering of others. He thus intends to keep the toys his prisoners forever, so they can be subjected to nasty pranks and make him larger permanently. The dolls escape this fate by triggering a large fight with cream pies, then slipping away and fleeing Looney Land in a boat. The furious King Koo Koo follows them with the aid of an enormous sea monster named Gazooks.

While sailing, Ann, Andy and the Camel notice Contagious's pirate ship and eagerly board, only to discover that Babette has staged a mutiny and made herself the new captain to return to Paris ("Hooray for Me!") while imprisoning Contagious in the galley with only his pet parrot Queasy for company ("You're My Friend"). When Ann tries to tell Babette that she must go back to Marcella, the French doll becomes enraged and has the trio tied to the mast. Meanwhile, Queasy successfully unlocks Contagious's shackles, and he returns above deck, freeing the other dolls and pledging his love for Babette. Before she can respond, King Koo Koo and Gazooks attack the ship and seize all but Ann, Babette, and Queasy to subject them to tickle torture, making the monarch swell to mammoth proportions. Babette sees that her selfishness has endangered everyone and begs forgiveness, only for her and Ann to be captured as well. The dolls realize that King Koo Koo's literally-inflated ego is "full of hot air" and tell Queasy to pop him, which creates a massive explosion that sends them spiraling through space.

The next morning, Marcella discovers the dolls and toys lying among the leaves in her backyard, having been presumably blown back there by the force of Koo Koo's demise. She returns all but the Camel to the nursery, where Babette apologizes for her actions and accepts both Ann's offer of friendship and Contagious's affections. The heroes are happy to be back in the playroom ("Home"), and Ann notices the Camel gazing at them through the window. The dolls eagerly welcome him to their family and express joy at being together once more ("Candy Hearts and Paper Flowers Reprise"). The next day, Marcella finds the Camel among the dolls and, after a moment's confusion, hugs him tightly, accepting him as her newest friend.

Cast

 * Claire Williams as Marcella
 * Joe Raposo (uncredited) as the Bus Driver

Voices


 * Didi Conn as Raggedy Ann
 * Mark Baker as Raggedy Andy
 * Mason Adams as Grandpa
 * Allen Swift as Maxi-Fixit
 * Hetty Galen as Susie Pincushion
 * Sheldon Harnick as Barney Beanbag/Socko
 * Ardyth Kaiser as Topsy
 * Margery Gray and Lynne Stuart as the Twin Pennies
 * Niki Flacks as Babette
 * George S. Irving as Captain Contagious (The Captain)
 * Arnold Stang as Queasy
 * Fred Stuthman as the Camel with the Wrinkled Knees
 * Joe Silver as the Greedy
 * Alan Sues as Sir Leonard Loony (The Loony Knight)
 * Marty Brill as King Koo Koo
 * Paul Dooley as Gazooks

Production
The Bobbs-Merrill Company approached Richard Williams to produce a animated film based on Raggedy Ann. Williams pitched the idea to Universal Pictures and Warner Bros, but they declined. Williams pursued 20th Century Fox's in-house feature animation studio president Sean Elliot and Richard Hoffman to finance the film. Abe Levitow was originally attached to direct with Williams serving only as animation supervisor. However, when Levitow became ill and eventually died, Williams reluctantly decided to replace him as director. He clashed with the producers over many aspects, including the multitude of musical numbers and weak character development. Despite his misgivings the producers forbade him to cut a single scene. Eventually, like many of his other projects, the film went over time and budget, and Williams was removed at the end so the film could be released on time. His name remained on the finished product. Besides Williams, who by this time had already received a BAFTA award, an Emmy Award and an Oscar for his work in animation, other talented animators also were enlisted. Hal Ambro and Art Babbitt from Disney, and Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies animator Gerry Chiniquy also worked on the film. Animators worked remotely; there wasn't a central studio like most animated feature films. The music was composed by Joe Raposo, longtime musical director of Sesame Street and The Electric Company.

Tissa David became one of the first women to animate a leading character in a major film when she designed and animated Raggedy Ann for the project. In a 1976 interview, David told the New York Times that she designed the Raggedy Ann character as "a plain Jane with a heart of candy — and she's all female."

Drawings were used to test "videoCel", an early yet innovative CGI system developed by Computer Creations Corp.

Casting
In February 1976, it was reported that Didi Conn, Don Messick, and Mason Adams had signed on to provide the voices of Raggedy Ann, Raggedy Andy, and Grandpa. Writing in his autobiography, Williams and Richard Hoffman wrote that Messick had called him and said that he was willing to join the project even without being paid. Although Adams had completed all of his voicework, director Richard Williams wrote that "his readings just went flat, which surprised all of us. Don's delivery was a bit too sophisticated and his speaking was too operatic. He did not have enough of that raunchy feeling that the character required." Williams and Elliot felt Messick had to be replaced, and approached Mark Baker, who was voicing characters in A Doonesbury Special at the time, to do a reading. Baker was officially cast in the following summer, which was followed by Allen Swift, Hetty Galen, Sheldon Harnick and Ardyth Kaiser.

Release
Raggedy Ann & Andy: A Musical Adventure was originally slated to be released during November 1976, but by October 1975, its release was pushed back to April 1977. The film premiered at the Radio City Music Hall on March 23, 1977, which was followed with its general release on April 1, 1973, by 20th Century Fox in the United States. It was also released in Germany on April 29, 1977, as well as September 9 in Sweden, September 30 in Japan, and October 7 in Australia. Raggdy Ann & Andy: A Musical Advnture was recorded in 1976 and released on March 25, 1977, to moderate critical and commercial success.

The film was first released on VHS in 1980, followed by four more re-releases in 1989 (through Playhouse Video imprints), 1991, 1994, and 1997. It made its DVD debut in 2002 as part of Fox Animation Collection. A second DVD release of the film was released in 2007.

Reception
Despite its successful, Raggedy Ann & Andy: A Musical Adventure received mixed reviews. Many critics found it hard to watch, criticizing that the plot moved too slowly, had little focus, and was burdened by too many musical numbers. Many characters were considered too disturbing for children, but the settings and rest of the film's concepts was praised. There is also some adult humor and subtext, mainly in Captain Contagious, as his moustache grows erect and he performs pelvic thrusts when he first sees the character of Babette. Raggedy Ann and Andy have very little character development; they move from place to place meeting strange characters, but the focus is always on the new character, and they essentially just move the plot forward. Some viewers were also confused over whether Ann and Andy were supposed to be siblings or romantic partners, especially after Andy sings what is basically a love song to Ann. (Other works such as the 1941 short film, however, the pair are clearly depicted as sweethearts, and even marry at the end.) According to Halliwell's Film Guide, "In this attractive fully animated cartoon feature... only the central story is lacking in pace and humor."

The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported that it has a 79% approval rating based on 25 reviews, with an average score of 5.7/10. Among retrospective reviews, Jim Harwood of Variety criticized the animation and the musical score, but called it a faithful adaptation, noting that "no attempt has been made to soften the existential sadness at the story's core". Henry Herx criticized the songs and the "Saturday morning cartoon quality" of the animation, but also says that Horner "retains just enough of Gruelle’s elegant prose in the dialogue and narration to keep the film from being simply a painfully well-intended experiment." Vincent Canby of The New York Times stated that the animation is sometimes "downright bad", but that Gruelle's classic fable needs little to make it come to life. The Guardian reviewed the film with generally positive remarks, stating that "The voices of Conn, Baker, Adams, and all the rest are perfectly cast, and the scores by Joe Raposo are solid, although none of them became hits like those they wrote for such children's shows like SESAME STREET." When it was reissued on DVD, it was also nominated an Best Screenplay: Adapted in BAFTA Awards.

Johnny Gruelle's reaction
Despite assisting in helping keep parts of the story, White was still very displeased with the adaptation. According to Richard Williams, Gruelle wrote the following words in a 1981 letter, "We have never ceased to regret that your version of 'Raggedy Ann & Andy' never got made. The Richard Williams version has never pleased either of us ... a travesty ..." White himself wrote of the film, "The story is interrupted every few minutes so that somebody can sing a jolly song. I don't care much for jolly songs. The Looney Land, which I tried to report faithfully in the film, has become a Disneyland, with less giggling. But that's what you get for getting embroiled in Hollywood." White had previously turned down Disney when they offered to make a film based on his book. According to the film's produce, Richard Horner, Gruelle's wife — who sometimes offered advice and suggestions to the filmmakers — would have preferred the music of the Sherman Brothers in the film, rather than the music of Joe Raposo.

Legacy
The film has developed a devoted following over the following years due to television and VHS; in 1995 it surprised the marketplace by becoming one of the best-selling titles of the year, 18 years after its first premiere. No other non-Disney musical animated film has enjoyed such a comeback in popularity.

The film is recognized by American Film Institute in these lists:

2008: AFI's 10 Top 10:

Nominated Animation Film

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