The Water Babies (1978)

Memorable, crazy movie

It's funny watching the elements come together in this complicated scam. On one hand, the set-up isn't quite as complex as it seems, but there's an easy sense of fun in every exchange.

The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

Films brings back childhood memories as I was at least 6 when this came out at HBO. With my older siblings we saw this dozens of times.Tom is an orphaned young chimney sweep of 12-years old abused by his two masters that want to rob a very rich house. It is there that he is accused of theft and escapes with only a girl of his age, as the only one that saw what truthfully and actually took place. As she tries to clear his name.He then being chased to a dangerous river, he and his dog make a jump for it for he has no other choice as he and his dog, Toby go to cartoon as he learns to swim, makes friends, also some enemies, sings songs, as well as wants to prove he is a decent young kid. By rescuing the water babies.After he gets his wish and returns back to human form. He must resume to clear his name and turn in the real culprits, which are the two abused masters lead by the late James Mason. As they go back to the mansion to rob some more.Really good film and a great child's film. Full of innocence and full of heart. Wished that they made more films like that. Now all you have is junk!

Very resistible but ultimately harmless film version of the children's literary classic which incorporates an animated portion in the style of MARY POPPINS (1964) and BEDKNOBS AND BROOMSTICKS (1971). The human cast is very distinguished - James Mason, Billie Whitelaw, David Tomlinson, Joan Greenwood, Bernard Cribbins - but their roles range from the miscast (a 69 year-old Mason as a thieving chimney-sweep!) to the inconsequential (Greenwood as a befuddled aristocrat) to the bizarre (Whitelaw plays several 'exotic' characters - including a circus performer, an old hag, a maid and a fairy - for no apparent reason).The animated segment of the film, handled by a group of East-European animators, is hardly inspired but mildly enjoyable in itself and, as usual, with this type of thing, there is an assortment of songs one has to put up with, one of which in particular is reprised far too often for its own good. The film was directed by noted character actor Jeffries who had previously directed (far more successfully) other children's films namely THE RAILWAY CHILDREN (1970) and THE AMAZING MR. BLUNDEN (1972; which I've yet to watch myself but which was released some time ago on R2 DVD by Anchor Bay UK).

I first saw this film when I was about 6 ish - my grandma thought it'd be a nice kiddies film to entertain me and keep me occupied....however, every time I watched it I had nightmares the same night. Yes it masquerades as a kids' film, but even now I find it really dark in places, particularly the haunting music that is played each time the guardian angel woman is on the screen, and her rather hypnotic eyes and voice. The actual "baddies" of the film, ie the sharks, Mr Grimes etc didn't scare me at all, I just always found the whole film rather creepy and dark. This is obviously something I can appreciate now that I'm 21 years old, but speaking from experience there is no way I would show it to my kids!

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.