RAGGEDY ANN AND ANDY: A MUSICAL ADVENTURE (1977)

An Exercise In Inner Child Care

I’m not afraid to admit that I’m a creature of comfort who has held on to all of their childhood interests. The one that’s served me most in my adult life has been my affinity for obsessing over the productions of my favorite movies and shows. My preference towards animation in particular has always been rooted in how versatile the medium is. There’s nothing it can’t do-- so long as there’s someone capable of conjuring the image in their mind, it can be recreated using the art form. Lately, I’ve been utterly enamored with the animated classic RAGGEDY ANN & ANDY: A MUSICAL ADVENTURE (1977). I stumbled upon this film by pure coincidence and, honestly, it’s the closest I’ve come to believing in fate. This movie’s one of those projects that was clearly a labor of love for everyone involved and it was a joy to watch again and again (…and again).

RAGGEDY ANN & ANDY: A MUSICAL ADVENTURE is a children’s animated film directed by Richard Williams who some may know from WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT (1988). A young girl, Marcella, has a nursery filled with beloved toys that come to life when left alone. On her seventh birthday she’s gifted a beautiful French doll named Babette who the toys in the nursery all greet with open arms. However, trouble arises when another one of the toys becomes infatuated with Babette and kidnaps her, running off into the Deep Deep Woods. Raggedy Ann bravely vows to bring their new friend home and Andy, being the loyal, brotherly type, agrees to come and protect his sister.

The majority of the film is spent following the duo as they encounter a cast of zany and fantastical characters; from a fellow toy lost in the Woods that they befriend, to a primordial pit of taffy that seems to constantly be eating itself like some kind of sugar-encrusted ouroboros. The plot is packed and there is never a lull in the narrative which makes the whole experience feel like a fever dream in a good way. Now, imagine my shock and horror when I found that most critiques for RAGGEDY ANN & ANDY are about the story being borderline, nonsensical. Granted, I understand how some folks could come to that conclusion; based on some of the sequences and musical numbers it’s clear that this whole film chooses to relish in its abstraction, much like Disney’s ALICE IN WONDERLAND (1951).

Of course, it’d be impossible not to mention The Mouse when talking about animated movies for children. One of Williams’ main objectives during the film’s production was to make sure it didn’t look like yet another Disney movie. Careful consideration and detail were put into the frames that make up this flick, which is to say the project went way over time and budget. Financially, RAGGEDY ANN & ANDY was a money pit, but who cares when unbridled artistic expression is on the line! I think all viewers can appreciate how the artists were given ample resources to create the film they all had in mind, rather than being forced to cut corners and rush their process in order to meet a deadline. Each character and their animator are displayed front-and-center in the opening credits, a seemingly small gesture until you’re aware of how little animators are properly revered in their industry. Looking through the film’s cels tells a lot about how detail oriented the whole team was while working on this project. Every aesthetic aspect was meticulously mulled over from the painstaking painted backgrounds to certain scenes drawn a single frame at a time for as smooth a sequence as humanly possible.

The movement of each character is completely unique to the kind of toy they are animators working diligently to display the nuances of their material. Wooden dolls, like the Twin Pennies, have much more weighted, clunkier movements than lighter, cloth dolls like Raggedy Ann who seems to almost float at times. Both Ann and Andy move as though they’re being played with, arms and legs seemingly having a mind of their own as they dance around their environment. These nuances are best showcased during more dynamic sequences like Ann and Andy dancing together or the duo running around to avoid obstacles and adversaries. Other characters like Gazooks highlight how determined the animators were to create fluid visuals. A massive sea monster, he waves and sways under water making it genuinely difficult to gauge his scale and resting shape. From the animation and throughout production, the love and care poured into RAGGEDY ANN & ANDY makes it the kind of homey movie that sounds as personable as it looks.

Joe Raposo (of Sesame Street fame) composed the music of RAGGEDY ANN & ANDY and its subsequent stage productions. Whimsical and catchy, the soundtrack alone is worth investing in. I personally adore all the songs, but the cream of the crop has to be “Candy Hearts and Paper Flowers”—a dreamy tune following Ann and Andy as they first enter the Deep Deep Woods on their quest to save Babette. Ann confides her fears in Andy who, in return, presents her with a paper flower she’d made him, affirming that this keepsake helped him through hard times. Together they soothe one another as they begin to traverse their unfamiliar surroundings. Raposo did an incredible job using music to set the tone of the film as a whole. Similarly, the voice acting throughout RAGGEDY ANN & ANDY is unforgettable as each character is given a unique voice that perfectly matches their personality. Folks like Didi Conn and Fred Stuthman, who voice Raggedy Ann and the Camel with the Wrinkled Knees respectively, go above and beyond with their roles and make the voices a hallmark of their character’s personas. The soundtrack is a testament to the fact that not every person singing has to have the voice of an angel in order to make music that is memorable and lovely. So many of the songs have a fanciful quality to them that make the whole movie feel as though it’s from a child’s daydream. The film embodies the sentiment of being a kid and what it means to be unabashedly imaginative and curious about the world around you.

There’s an all too common misconception about RAGGEDY ANN & ANDY being muddy and all over the place, but so are kids! In my opinion, the preposterous plot perfectly reflects how young children play and navigate a world they know so little about. Sometimes there are natural conclusions that lead to other scenes and other times Ann and Andy are thrust into the next part of their adventure by the invisible hand of the narrative itself. The ending shows this best; After escaping King Koo Koo (the malicious tyrant of Loony Land hellbent on imprisoning the main characters to serve as his jesters) Ann, Andy, and the Camel with the Wrinkled Knees make their getaway in the midst of a chaotic, pie-throwing fight. Afterwards, the trio manage to finally find Babette, only to be stopped from heading back home by Koo Koo and Gazooks. Through an ambush of tickles, it appears as though our heroes just barely made it back to the playroom, only for the next sequence to suddenly switch into live-action with Marcella finding her dolls in a shallow pond revealing that Gazooks was actually a mostly-deflated pool floatie. After returning home safe and sound the dolls express how happy they are to be back, and the movie ends with Marcella adopting the Camel with the Wrinkled Knees into her nursery to live and play with the rest of the toys. I absolutely adore this conclusion and how vague some of the implications are. Whether this was all a fantastical version of Marcella’s birthday party, or if TOY STORY (1995) rules apply and these characters were actually running around the Deep Deep Woods, any conclusion that the audience could come to are equally plausible.

There are also many critiques about the lack of character development throughout the runtime in regards to Ann and Andy. Not to be overly combative, but I believe this is another misunderstanding of what the movie was trying to convey. Raggedy Ann doesn’t have to grow because she is already the embodiment of positivity and personified sunshine. The whole movie she’s caring, understanding, and always willing to do what’s right. Beside her is Andy, who cherishes his sister and is quick to offer a helping hand. It’s also important to keep in mind how prevalent and popular Raggedy Ann was in the ‘70s, everyone knew her, kids adored her, there was no purpose in giving a mascot who seeps altruism a gritty arc or major character flaw.

In a word I would say RAGGEDY ANN & ANDY is sweet. It’s cemented its place on my list of comfort watches, and I’ve been humming the song “Rag Dolly” under my breath for over a week now. It’s an easy watch, with talented animation and music consistently throughout. Seeing the love all the toys have for one another throughout the movie coupled with the clear passion and labor that was put into this film is heartwarming (even for a jaded cretin like me). The kind of movie where the stakes are never too high, and everyone has a soft disposition. RAGGEDY ANN & ANDY is a stellar flick for anyone who just wants to slow down and enjoy something beautiful made with love and care by people who put their all into it. When the crushing weight of living on this floating rock becomes unbearable, y’all can always find me in the playroom with Raggedy Ann.