''The Puppetoon Movie'' is a 1987

animated film Animation is a method by which image, still figures are manipulated to appear as Motion picture, moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent cel, celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited ...

written, produced, and directed by

Arnold Leibovit Arnold Leibovit (born June 18, 1950) is an American director, producer, and screenwriter of feature films and musical productions. An acting member of the Producers Guild of America, he has produced, directed, and written several feature films. ...

. It is based on the

Puppetoons Puppetoons is a series of animated puppet films made in Europe (1930s) and in the United States (1940s) by George Pal. They were made using replacement animation: using a series of different hand-carved wooden puppets (or puppet heads or limbs) for ...

characters created by

George Pal George Pal (born György Pál Marczincsak; ; February 1, 1908 – May 2, 1980) was a Hungarian-American animator, film director and producer, principally associated with the fantasy and science-fiction genres. He became an American citizen after ...

in the 1930s and 1940s which feature the eponymous

Puppetoon Puppetoons is a series of animated puppet films made in Europe (1930s) and in the United States (1940s) by George Pal. They were made using replacement animation: using a series of different hand-carved wooden puppets (or puppet heads or limbs) f ...

animation, and features

Gumby ''Gumby'' is an American clay animation Media franchise, franchise, centered on the titular green clay humanoid character created and modeled by Art Clokey. Gumby stars in two television series, the feature-length ''Gumby: The Movie'', and oth ...

Pokey POKEY, an acronym for Pot Keyboard Integrated Circuit, is a digital I/O chip designed by Doug Neubauer at Atari, Inc. for the Atari 8-bit family of home computers. It was first released with the Atari 400 and Atari 800 in 1979 and is included i ...

and Arnie the Dinosaur, who host the framing story. Its framing story stars the voices of

Dick Beals Richard Beals (March 16, 1927 – May 29, 2012) was an American actor, who performed many voices in his career, which spanned the period from the early 1950s into the 21st century. Beals voiced both male and female children. Perhaps his most reco ...

Art Clokey Arthur "Art" Clokey (born Arthur Charles Farrington; October 12, 1921 – January 8, 2010) was an American pioneer in the popularization of stop-motion clay animation, best known as the creator of the character Gumby and the original voice o ...

Paul Frees Solomon Hersh "Paul" Frees (June 22, 1920November 2, 1986) was an American actor, comedian, impressionist, and vaudevillian. He is known for his work on Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Walter Lantz, Rankin/Bass, and Walt Disney theatrical cartoons during ...

and

Dallas McKennon Dallas Raymond McKennon (July 19, 1919 – July 14, 2009), sometimes credited as Dal McKennon, was an American film, television and voice actor, who had a career lasting over 50 years. During World War II he served in the Army Signal Corps and wa ...

as the main characters. The original 1987 release of ''The Puppetoon Movie'' contained 11 Puppetoons. The 2000 DVD release included 9 additional Puppetoons and the 2013 Blu-ray release added 7 more. In 2020, ''The Puppetoon Movie Volume 2'' was released on Blu-ray and DVD, featuring 17 shorts not included on any of the ''Puppetoon Movie'' releases and ''The Ship of the Ether''.

Plot

The film opens on a film set, where Gumby and his friends are filming a dinosaur movie. A ferocious

Tyrannosaurus rex ''Tyrannosaurus'' is a genus of large theropod dinosaur. The species ''Tyrannosaurus rex'' (''rex'' meaning "king" in Latin), often called ''T. rex'' or colloquially ''T-Rex'', is one of the best represented theropods. ''Tyrannosaurus'' live ...

named Arnie charges on set and is about to devour a young doe named Barbara when suddenly, he removes his false teeth and lets the doe go out of sympathy. Gumby as a director cuts the scene and questions Arnie on his hesitation to act ferocious. Although Arnie knows it is all just acting, he feels unfit for the part because it just isn't him. He explains that he once was ferocious, but thanks to the influence of George Pal, he has reformed and is now a vegetarian without a bad bone in his body. Gumby fails to understand the profound effect of George Pal on Arnie's persona, so Arnie and Pokey show Gumby a set of George Pal shorts to show him the significance of the artist, thus starting ''The Puppetoon Movie''. A number of George Pal's short films are featured in the film: *''The Little Broadcast'' *''Philips Broadcast of 1938'' *''Hoola Boola'' *''South Sea Sweethearts'' *''The Sleeping Beauty'' *''

Tulips Shall Grow ''Tulips Shall Grow'' is a 1942 American animated short film in the ''Puppetoons'' series, directed by George Pal and starring Rex Ingram and Victor Jory. It was released by Paramount Pictures and originally photographed in 3-strip Technicolor. ...

''° *''Together in the Weather'' *''

John Henry and the Inky-Poo ''John Henry and the Inky-Poo'' is a 1946 stop-motion animation film written and directed by George Pal using Pal's '' Puppetoons'' stop-motion style. The film is based on African American folk hero John Henry. ''John Henry and the Inky-Poo'' wa ...

'' ° *'' Philips Cavalcade'' *''

Jasper in a Jam ''Jasper in a Jam'' is a 1946 short film in the ''Puppetoons'' series produced and originated by George Pal. It starred the voice of singer Peggy Lee, and was directed by Duke Goldstone and released by Paramount Pictures. It is included in ''The ...

'' *'' Tubby the Tuba''° °Oscar nominated film After all the shorts, Gumby and the others meet other characters who George Pal animated, such as the

Pillsbury Doughboy Poppin' Fresh, more widely known as the Pillsbury Doughboy, is an advertising mascot for the Pillsbury Company, appearing in many of their commercials. Many commercials from 1965 until 2005 (together with some for GEICO between 2009 and 2017) en ...

and the

Alka-Seltzer Alka-Seltzer is an effervescent antacid and pain reliever first marketed by the Dr. Miles Medicine Company of Elkhart, Indiana, United States. Alka-Seltzer contains three active ingredients: aspirin (acetylsalicylic acid) (ASA), sodium bicarbonate ...

mascot Speedy. Gumby then thanks George Pal for making all this possible, and everybody cheers. The screen pans out and shows a

gremlin A gremlin is a mischievous folkloric creature invented at the beginning of the 20th century to originally explain malfunctions in aircraft and later in other machinery and processes and their operators. Depictions of these creatures vary widely ...

, from the 1984 film ''

Gremlins ''Gremlins'' is a 1984 American black comedy horror film directed by Joe Dante, written by Chris Columbus, and starring Zach Galligan, Phoebe Cates, Hoyt Axton, Polly Holliday, and Frances Lee McCain, with Howie Mandel providing the voice of ...

'' who looks at the audience, says "George Pal!" in a raspy voice, then climbs up a support beam while laughing hysterically.

Home Video

In addition to the film shorts listed above, the following Pal film shorts are also included in the 2000 DVD edition from Image Entertainment and the 2013 Blu-ray edition from B2MP: ''What Ho She Bumps'', ''Mr. Strauss Takes a Walk'', ''Olio for Jasper'', ''Jasper's Derby'', ''Ether Symphony'', ''

Aladdin and the Magic Lamp Aladdin ( ; ar, علاء الدين, ', , ATU 561, ‘Aladdin') is a Middle-Eastern folk tale. It is one of the best-known tales associated with ''The Book of One Thousand and One Nights'' (''The Arabian Nights''), despite not being part of ...

'', ''The Magic Atlas'', ''

Jasper and the Haunted House ''Jasper and the Haunted House'' is a 1942 American animated short film in the '' Madcap Model'' series by George Pal. It is an early entry that features the popular yet controversial Paramount Puppetoons characters Jasper and his friend/nemesis Pr ...

'', and ''The Ship of the Ether''. The 2013 Blu-ray also includes the following short films previously unavailable on home video (all of which sublicensed by Puppetoons' original distributor

Paramount Paramount (from the word ''paramount'' meaning "above all others") may refer to: Entertainment and music companies * Paramount Global, also known simply as Paramount, an American mass media company formerly known as ViacomCBS. The following busin ...

): The Oscar-nominated ''

And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street ''And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street'' is Theodor Seuss Geisel's first Children's literature, children's book published under the pen name Dr. Seuss. First published by Vanguard Press in 1937, the story follows a boy named Marco, who ...

'', ''

The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins ''The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins'' is a children's book, written and illustrated by Theodor Geisel under the pen name Dr. Seuss and published by Vanguard Press in 1938. Unlike the majority of Geisel's books, it is written in prose rather ...

'', ''Sky Princess'', ''Rhapsody in Wood'', ''Date with Duke'', ''Jasper and the Beanstalk'', and ''Rhythm in the Ranks''. In addition, the Blu-ray also includes ''

The Great Rupert ''The Great Rupert'' is a 1950 comedy family film starring Jimmy Durante, Tom Drake and Terry Moore, produced by George Pal and directed by Irving Pichel. It is based on a story written by Ted Allan that has also been published as a children's ...

'' which was produced by George Pal and the documentary ''

The Fantasy Film Worlds of George Pal ''The Fantasy Film Worlds of George Pal'' is a 1985 American documentary film about Academy Award-winning producer/director George Pal. It was written, directed, and produced by Arnold Leibovit. Summary The film follows Pal's career, beginning w ...

''. A DVD edition from B2MP was released in 2013.

Reception

The film received mixed to positive reviews.

Awards

George Pal's Puppetoon body of work was recognized by a Special Oscar at the 16th Academy Awards in 1944. Pal received the Special Oscar "for the development of novel methods and techniques in the production of short subjects known as Puppetoons."

References

External links

* *
Arnold Leibovit on THE PUPPETOON MOVIEThe Puppetoon Movie Volume 2 60 Second TrailerThe Puppetoon Movie Volume 2 Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Puppetoon Movie, The 1987 films 1987 animated films 1980s American animated films American fantasy comedy films Films directed by Arnold Leibovit Puppet films Animated anthology films 1980s stop-motion animated films Animated films about dinosaurs Puppetoons Short films directed by George Pal 1987 fantasy films Films scored by Buddy Baker (composer) 1980s English-language films