AboveDeepBuggy Some things I liked some I did not.

Stoutor It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.

Afouotos Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

Orla Zuniga It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review

mark-571-109642 My friend invited me over for an end-of-year Christmas DVD party. We had just finished watching "Frosty, the Snowman" and were about to watch another of the more well-known shows when I noticed the title for this. I talked my friend into at least watching the first few minutes to see what it was like. When we saw the cast, we were suitably impressed and settled in for the duration. After a few minutes, though, our jaws were hitting the floor - we could not BELIEVE how terrible it was! I was rendered speechless for a while. Then, we, like another reviewer, found ourselves laughing ourselves silly at how bad it was. It is truly a train-wreck - so awful you can't look away. You can, however, fast forward through some of the dismal songs. Too bad one can't give it negative stars.

raysond Who would have thought that the father and daughter team of Danny Thomas and Marlo Thomas would starred together in this holiday special based on the Charles Dickens novel of the same title. Not only does Danny Thomas hosted this but also stars in this animated special that was produced by Rankin-Bass Productions,the same company that brings us each season joyous holiday specials like "Rudolph,The Red Nosed Reindeer","Frosty The Snowman","Santa Claus Is Coming To Town",and many,many more.Based on the classic story by Charles Dickens,and produced by Arthur Rankin and Jules Bass and executive produced by Aaron Spelling and Danny Thomas under their production company Thomas-Spelling Productions,the holiday special "The Cricket On The Hearth" originally aired as a special presentation in color for ABC-TV on December 18,1967. This is the only animated special that Thomas and Spelling ever did,since their production company was known for there live-action shows.This hour-long special,based on the Charles Dickens story which by the way is animated(with the storyline by Romeo Muller and Arthur Rankin,Jr.)concerns a cricket(voiced by Roddy McDowell)who decides to grace the home of Caleb(Danny Thomas),and his daughter Bertha(Marlo Thomas)at Christmas time. The good luck this cricket brings seems to have nothing but ill will to the happiness it brings. Then the elements kicked in when Celeb is suddenly blind and he and his daughter face bankruptcy and are forced to move to new surroundings. Along the way,Bertha almost ends up marrying Celeb ruthless and cunning not to mention creepy old miser,but she has her heart set on the man whom she loves,Edward whom she thought was lost at sea. The songs are really boring,and for a hour long special for its time in 1967 is very disturbing and quite depressing in all aspects,and about halfway through there are some scenes that may be too disturbing for children under the age of 12. There are some tender moments where Bertha finally finds out that Edward is alive and towards the end get married. As for the songs here,they're depressing with the singing talents of not only Danny Thomas but also from Ed Ames and Abbe Lane featuring The Norman Luboff Choir. With the additional talents of Hans Conreid,and former Rankin-Bass stockplayer Paul Frees."The Cricket On The Hearth" has been aired by ABC numerous times. The last time this special was seen on a major television network was back in 1972,when the network stop running this special. Reason? You won't see this among the regular Rankin and Bass specials that aired annually. ABC Family aired it during the late 1990's. The last time it was ever shown was when Public Television pick it up and basically did a restoration of this with some scenes that were deleted out during its original broadcast. Not the best of the Rankin-Bass specials,but it is worth taking a look at the ONLY animated production Danny Thomas and Aaron Spelling ever did.

kmklein2010 This movie is horrific and just poorly made.Don't let your children watch this. Don't. It's boring, disturbing, long, and hardly about Christmas. I can't believe people are giving this more than 2 stars, it honestly does not deserve that much!All the songs are boring ballads and completely unnecessary (so hard to sit through), there is a murder of animals (say whaaaat?!), and it is just plain depressing (a girl goes blind because her love is lost at sea, a creepy, fat, old man wants to marry her against her father's will, and many, many more disturbing, depressing moments). Don't let your kids watch this unless you want to ruin your Christmas mood, because it really will. However, this movie is so bad that my sister and I make it a tradition to watch it, but in fast mode. It makes all the songs sound like tango songs and it makes it a little easier to sit through and we just make fun of it. Honestly, I don't even know how we sat through it once at normal speed! Please stay away from this film unless you want to make fun of it for how un-child friendly it is. When you see the name "Cricket on the Hearth" on a box set, logically consider why you have never seen or heard of this special before.After all, what kid doesn't love to listen to 30 irrelevant ballads and see their furry friends get shot on a boat by some creepy guy?! That just screams Merry Christmas to me!

evening1 This wisp of a Christmas tale can't compare to Dickens's "Christmas Carol" but it was probably worth the 45 minutes or so my 8-year-old and I devoted to it on Christmas Eve.My little guy wasn't thrilled about having to sit through this old chestnut -- this 1967 piece seemed far too old-fashioned with its smarmy song interludes, shallow characters, and annoying cricket narrator. But I found this trifle a relatively pleasant retreat to the type of entertainment I knew when I was 11.This is a fairy tale for sure -- we had to rewind to actually get how the heroine went blind -- yep, it was really from shock that her beau had been lost at sea. Yet it's a fairy tale that seemingly ends on a saddish note. She doesn't regain her vision after her love miraculously returns -- or does she? (We didn't care enough to rewind to see if we somehow had missed that information.)The daughter's offer of love and inclusion to a crochety old miser ends this story on a charitable note that seems a faint echo of Dickens's far more worthy yuletide work.Not exactly a Bah Hum-BUG here, but close -- ho, ho, ho!