SpunkySelfTwitter
It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.
Gary
The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.
Kayden
This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama
Christmas-Reviewer
BEWARE OF FALSE REVIEWS & REVIEWERS. SOME REVIEWERS HAVE ONLY ONE REVIEW TO THEIR NAME. NOW WHEN ITS A POSITIVE REVIEW THAT TELLS ME THEY WERE INVOLVED WITH THE MOVIE. IF ITS A NEGATIVE REVIEW THEN THEY MIGHT HAVE A GRUDGE AGAINST THE FILM . NOW I HAVE REVIEWED OVER 200 HOLIDAY FILMS. I HAVE NO AGENDA. I AM HONEST. Somewhere in Dreamland is a 1936 animated short. This film was part of Max Fleischer's Color Classics series. The film was produced by Max Fleischer, directed by Dave Fleischer, and was animated by Fleischer veterans Seymour Kneitel and Roland Crandall. A young brother and sister carry a wagon through town, gathering wood for their home stove. They pass by several merchants' shops and stop for a moment, to admire the confectioneries in a bakery. As he sees the children, a friendly baker goes inside, and comes back with ice cream for them, but the children have already left. The merchants gather to make a plan, because they want to help the poor children. The children reach home and sit down for supper: hard bread and flat water. The children eat quickly, with the boy saying he's still hungry. Unable to provide enough food for her children, Mother begins to cry. The boy tries to make her feel better by assuring "I was only fooling'." and their mother kisses them goodnight. They get in their pajamas, and they each sing a part of the song, as they fall asleep beneath their tattered sheets.Made during the depression this film still strikes a nerve and your heart goes out to these children. They are niche children that are poor and hungry. They have a mother that is doing the best that she can.This is available on DVD. You can stream it. It is in Public Domain.
Foreverisacastironmess
The titular song was old-fashioned, but so beautifully heartwarming. This Fleischer short seemed to be a bit of an oddity in that it's completely normal.. A positive and cute little tale of starvation, woe and a dream come true, with no monsters or crazy mayhem whatsoever. I liked the way the elaborately detailed animation reflected the different moods, with the visuals of the first half being very stark and freezing, capturing the desperate poverty of the children's lives. And it stays that way until they go to sleep and escape grim reality and drift away into sweet Dreamland, a sugar-coated fantasy paradise that offers all the limitless cakes, candies and toys they long for in the real world, but really know they can never have. The colouring and richness of the animation at that point becomes much more brighter and cheerful, almost festive in a way. The entire short has a definite Christmassy feel about it, and there's not so much as a Christmas tree. The revolving 3-D-like effects, while looking a bit weird and surreal, are still impressive today and give the short a touch more depth and magic. However, the animation and design of some of the characters was a bit spotty and rough in places, such as in the facial details of the perhaps sickeningly adorable little siblings who have strange plain black dots where expressive eyes should be, and the mother's spaghetti arms looked very poorly done. And sometimes the stubby characters looked almost out of place amidst such gorgeously detailed surroundings. The mother sounded and looked somewhat like an aged Olive Oyl! Not surprising since she was voiced by Mae Questel in a rare softer and more maternal voice role for a change. I found it extraordinarily moving when the boy tells his mother that he's still hungry and her face just crumbles and she cries helplessly. That scene really touched me, I love the way they know why she's upset and tell her that it's okay and that they're not that hungry to comfort her, reassuring her of their love. It even made me tear up a bit the first time I saw it. It's very sad and poignant and makes you feel something a little deeper, as the best kinds of cartoon often do. You feel a little sad, but the more distressing parts of it do set up the ending very well. There's such a warm sense of charity and kindness at the end when the urchins awaken from their idealistic happy dream of satisfied hunger to find a real feast waiting for them. The message is fairly simple but very true and endearing. Be grateful for what you have, appreciate the little things, empathise with the less fortunate... Never stop dreaming, and boy am I hungry!
lizsheridannj
I grew up in Northern NJ. Each Thanksgiving, after the Macy's parade was finished, WPIX (channel 11) showed "March of the Wooden Soldiers" with Laurel & Hardy. As long as I could remember, my sister and I watched this until I was 16, and they stopped the tradition.Invariably, after the movie, there was filler time. They showed "Somewhere in Dreamland" as well as another classic Christmas cartoon that showed Santa's workshop (I REALLY wish I could remember the name of this cartoon.) These cartoons initiated the Christmas season for my sister and I as much as the parade or "Soldiers" did.Recently, at my holiday party, someone won "Santa Conquers the Martians" as a gift. The DVD included Fleischer's "Somewhere in Dreamland." As we watched the cartoon, I felt as if I was 7 years old. What a great cartoon!
Mary-18
Somewhere in Dreamland is very typical of the style of Dave Fleischer--two angelic kewpie-like children live in terrible poverty but dream of a world of limitless candy and toys. In spite of the overly cute premise and the fact that these children are interchangeable with the children in every other Fleischer cartoon, Somewhere in Dreamland is an adorable film, which excellent animation, especially in the dream sequence. For such an early cartoon, the level of detail is quite impressive--when the kids go to bed, both their pajamas and their blankets are shabby and ridden with holes. It's a shame that cartoons like this are no longer very popular--it's hard for kids today to relate to a cartoon where every body behaves incredibly saintly, and the only villain they have to face is the ever-looming Depression. But Somewhere in Dreamland is a lovely gem that remains a tribute to the inspiring optimism of the 1930's.
