Fluentiama Perfect cast and a good story

Exoticalot People are voting emotionally.

Baseshment I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

Megamind To all those who have watched it: I hope you enjoyed it as much as I do.

Leofwine_draca BEDKNOBS AND BROOMSTICKS is a lively children's film that goes out of its way to recapture the magic of MARY POPPINS and does so in a semi-successful way. David Tomlinson is back, this time playing a street magician who gets involved in an adventure with a kindly witch and a couple of kids as they search for magic spell ingredients. The main problem I have with this film is that there are way too many ingredients which makes for a confused viewing experienced. There's a Nazi threat, magical adventures through animated worlds, ample comedy, human villains straight out of Dickens, and more hustle and bustle than you can shake a stick at. The good news is that Angela Lansbury is a solid lead and much better than Julie Andrews and there's enough colour and life to ensure that this is never dull, even if it does feel rather shallow and superficial and episodic in nature.

SnoopyStyle It's 1940 England. Rawlins siblings Charlie, Carrie, and Paul join the mass evacuation of London children to the countryside. Miss Eglantine Price (Angela Lansbury) reluctantly agrees to take in the kids temporarily. She lives in a remote farm. She's overjoyed to receive a broom and become an apprentice witch from the Emelius Browne Correspondence College of Witchcraft. She casts a spell on a bedknob for Paul to make the bed transport vast distances. The school announces its closure and Miss Price takes the kids to London to find Emelius (David Tomlinson). He's surprised that his adaptation of an old spell book actually worked for her. It's high adventure to the animated animal island of Naboombu and then a fight against the Nazis.This is sorta like Mary Poppins but not quite as good. Angela Lansbury is good but she's no Julie Andrews. The songs are not quite as catchy. It's even got the similar animated world for the actors to play with. I can do without the Nazis in a kids movie. This is certainly not too soon but it's still questionable to have a Nazi battle, no matter how comedic, in a family film.

OllieSuave-007 This movie has been compared to Mary Poppins as it features a nanny of some sorts who possesses magical powers and is assigned to babysit some children. However, I think it stands well on its own and it is somewhat more entertaining that Mary Poppins was. The plot is set in World War II England, where apprentice witch Eglantine Price (Angela Lansbury) journey, with orphans Charlie, Carrie and Paul, to meet Emelius Browne (David Tomlinson), headmaster of the Correspondence College of Witchcraft. There, Miss Price tells Mr. Browne of a plan to find the magic words for a spell known as Substitutiary Locomotion, which brings inanimate objects to life.There are tons of songs in this movie, and my favorites include the solemn but meaningful "Age of Not Believing," the mysterious "Portebello Road," the whimsical and fun "Beautiful Briny Sea" and the catchy "Substitutiary Locomotion." Angela Lansbury sang a large number of the songs and her beautiful singing voice made the music that much more enjoyable. I also enjoyed the combination of live action with animated sequences - cleverly done special effects, especially the under the ocean sequence.Unlike Mary Poppins, I thought the overall movie was somewhat more entertaining. While the film is saturated with songs, there are a lot more adventurous scenes such as the flying bed, royal court, the under the sea and climatic soldier battle sequences. The acting was more believable and less childishly annoying compared to Dick Van Dyle's character in Mary Poppins. And, Miss Price (Lansbury) took on a more nurturing role than Julie Andrews did with her Mary Poppins character and seemed to care for the children more. However, I do find the bratty Charlie character very teeth-cringing.Overall, this is a song-saturated movie and has its boring moments, but kept mostly pretty entertaining with the many uses of magic, good vs. evil aspects and imagination.Grade B-

Foux_du_Fafa Though far from perfect, "Bedknobs and Broomsticks" has always been a favourite of mine since childhood. The plot may be a bit muddled in places, but the sheer joy and fun of the fantasy material makes up for it. The animated sequences in particular are a real joy, as is the comedy-action climax to the film. Some of the songs are underrated classics, in particular "The Age of Not Believing" and "The Beautiful Briny". Also, the elaborate opening credit sequence is gorgeous to look at.That said, you may want to be careful which version of the film you see. The film premiered at around 135 minutes, but was cut down for general release to 117 minutes. This 117 minute version was the one I first saw as a child. In 1996, Disney restored the film to a length comparable to the premiere version, and this is what was released onto DVD. Ironically, I think the film does run better at a shorter length. Much of what is added are new or extended musical numbers, as well as the extension of a rather superfluous subplot involving a somewhat saucy vicar. I don't particularly find the new musical numbers that engaging, and the numbers that are extended aren't that great. Though there are some interesting extra verses in the extended "Portobello Road" number, the several dance scenes added to it renders it seemingly unending. "Eglantine" also goes on a bit too much for my liking. In addition some re-dubbing was required for some of the new scenes as the original mastertracks were not found. Angela Lansbury was able to come back and sounds fine, but many of the other actors weren't and the results are mixed.It would be nice if an inevitable Blu-Ray showed the film in either two of its versions, or if at least the original dialogue tapes were found for the extended scenes. I do believe that there are still ways to get hold of the 117 minute version. I have the first UK DVD release from around 2002, but I have read on Amazon that a later UK release has the film run at 117 minutes in order to align itself with some old European dubs on the disc, and I've also read online that TCM in the US sometimes shows the shorter version. In any case, "Bedknobs and Broomsticks" is a fun, family classic and easily worthy of my recommendation.