Limerculer A waste of 90 minutes of my life

ChicRawIdol A brilliant film that helped define a genre

Ariella Broughton It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

Marva-nova Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.

John Downes I loved Lionel Jeffries as an actor from when I was a young teenager. As CPO Sidney Kraut in Two Way Stretch he was nothing short of brilliant, stealing every scene from no less than Peter Sellers, Quite simply, he was a talent of surprising versatility best known for comedy but also with a a portfolio of character roles.His directing career started off like that of Orson Welles.... The Railway Children is simply in a class of its own, an outstanding film that appeals to the whole family but without patronising in any way.The Amazing Mister Blunden was not as good but it's still worth a look.So how the blazes did he end up directing dross like this? Did he need the money? I would like to think that, beyond directing the film, he didn't play much of a part in the production. The original idea, the (dreadful) script, the pitching of it to the investors.... please tell me it was all done by somebody else. Because this film is a crock. And just look at the cast. James Mason, Billie Whitelaw, Bernard Cribbins and the voices that you never get to see are pretty much a Who's Who of British acting talent of the time. Quite extraordinary.Anyway, to the film. I really didn't like the child actor in the lead role. He's an ugly little brat with too much hair and a nasty voice. And he's in every scene for the whole 105 minutes (and, believe me, it seems a lot longer). And, much as I admire James Mason and Bernard Cribbins neither of them are going to be pointing at this as a piece of work that they are proud of. The animation is poor, and the less said about the quality of the musical score the better for everybody.All in all, it's pretty damn poor, and a blot on the CV of the great Lionel Jeffries.

TheLittleSongbird The 1978 adaptation had all the ingredients of a potentially wonderful film. It is based on an absolutely charming book by Charles Kingsley. It has a truly talented cast from the likes of James Mason, Bernard Cribbons and David Tomblinson, not to mention the vocal talents of David Jason and Jon Pertwee. There is also Lionel Jeffries, the director of wonderful classics such as The Railway Children and the Amazing Mr Blunden, and while the film is good on the most part, it was also a little disappointing. I had no problem with the performances, particularly those of Mason and Tomblinson as Grimes and Sir John Harriet respectively, and Tommy Pender and Samantha Gates are believable as Tom and Ellie. Billie Whitelaw is also intriguing in numerous roles, even if one or two of them are quite bizarre. The voice cast is also commendable, especially Jon Pertwee, voicing charming characters in their own right. I also liked the incidental music it is so haunting and beautiful, and the script was fairly faithful and in general well-written, particularly at the beginning. The characters, especially the Water Babies are very charming, and the villains are sinister and funny at the same time, I loved the part when Tom and his friends help the Water Babies escape, seeing the shark chasing the electric eel with an axe was very funny. However, I will say the film does look dated, especially the animation sequences, the live action parts weren't so bad, if you forgive the rather dark camera-work. The character animation was rather flat, and the backgrounds sometimes were a little dull, though there were some nice moments, like the scene with the Krakon and of course the first meeting with the Water Babies. I also had mixed feelings about the songs, the Water Babies's song was beautiful, but I found the first song forgettable, when Tom ends up underwater. Hi-Cockallorum is an example of a song, that is like marmite, you either love it or hate it. I personally don't know what to make of this song, it was fun to listen to at first, but once it's in your head, it is perhaps annoying. As much as I like Lionel Jeffries and his films, his direction just lacked the wonder and the magic it usually does. All in all, certainly not a terrible film, but could have been better artistically. 7/10 Bethany Cox.

cinema-louise I was 12 when this film was released and adored it. The song's were inspiring and it made me feel good, watching it several time's at the cinema. I actually had the soundtrack album and played the song's over and over.26 years later...I'm ashamed. Just sat and watched it with my 2 daughters who enjoyed it lot's but my cynical older grown up eyes hated it. It's very poorly directed in many places and considering it was Lionel Jeffries directing I really wanted to enjoy it. The character animation was so rough yet the backgrounds were quite good. I remember the critics at the time saying that it was a poor film and was horrified but now I agree.It is an old film yes, compared to what can be achieved now, maybe that's why I thought it was good then. But that does not excuse it for it's poor acting, directing and sloppiness. The main child actor's voice seem's dubbed which is very distracting too. Can't quite see what they were trying achieve when it was being made, all that it become was a weak film.

tahota49 This movie really is not what it would appear to be. A delightful children's animated fun-time is what you'd expect. This is not what is delivered. No one should watch this movie at a young age, because it will freak you out as much as 35 years later. I watched it at an early age, and now...roughly 16 years later or so....still freaked out a bit. You go from feeling very sorry for this kid who always has dirt on his face, to being scared of Mr Grimes, to receiving mental scars from the image and sound of the scary woman whispering "run boy" as her face is imposed over the normal footage, to thinking that maybe it's a good idea that we go animated from now on, to wondering what's up with that weird crab, and finally to trying to de-code the message on the cake at the end. It's all very odd. Maybe it's not really that scary. Maybe I was in a weird phase of my life at age 6, and this phase tainted the wonder of The WaterBabies. I guess you can judge for yourself, but only if you're over 18. Thank You.