Bedknobs and Broomsticks
Directed by Robert Stevenson
- family
- animation
- fantasy
The story
Three children evacuated from London during World War II are forced to stay with an eccentric spinster. The children's initial fears disappear when they find out she is in fact a trainee witch.
What it’s like
Warm Technicolor interiors of a rambling English village house, lamplit and cluttered, give way to sunny hand-drawn animated sequences where fields, undersea grottos and a parade of animated animals burst into saturated color. The live-action world has the soft, slightly faded look of a 1940s countryside: overcast greens, mud and wool, blackout curtains, and a wartime unease kept at a distance. Sound leans on bright brass, playful orchestral numbers and a few big musical set pieces that feel like a stage revue, with easy pacing that lingers on comic bickering and small domestic moments. The vibe is cozy and whimsical with a gentle undercurrent of wartime worry, the kind of picture that suits a rainy Sunday afternoon, a family movie night, or a comfort rewatch. Its relationships build slowly from wary distrust to affection: a prickly woman learning to trust three evacuated children, who in turn learn to trust her. Intensity is low: some mild peril, a brief air-raid scare and a few threatening Nazi soldiers, but no real gore and little violence. It suits families and anyone who wants a gentle, old-fashioned musical fantasy with a bit of heart.
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