Candy Land (film)

***Candy Land*** (also known as ***Candy Land: The Movie*** in its movie poster and its home media release) is a 1986 American live-action/animated musical fantasy film produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions and distributed by Paramount Pictures, which based on the children's board game of the same name by Milton Bradley Company (now owned by Hasbro). The film was inspired by the game’s 1984 version, which was developed and revamped by Landmark Entertainment Group. The story follows two young kids named Brother and Sister who enter the fantasy world of Candy Land.

*Candy Land* was originally pitched as a television special, but in late production, the film was switched to be released in theaters instead. *Candy Land* was released on July 2, 1986 in United States, the same day as Disney's *The Great Mouse Detective*. Like 1985's *The Tales of Wind*, the film was received poor reviews and was a box-office disappointment. However, the film became even more successful through merchandising and subsequent home video releases in the 1990s and became into a cult classic.

## Cast

* Carl Steven as Brother
* Natalie Gregory as Sister
* Christopher Plummer as King Kandy
* Loni Anderson as Princess Frostine
	+ Linda Ronstadt also provides her singing voice
* Don Knotts as Mr. Mint
* Nehemiah Persoff as Plumpy
* Candy Candido as Gloppy
* Russi Taylor as Princess Lolly
* Edie McClurg as Gramma Nutt
* Henry Gibson as Jolly
* Pat Hingle as Brother and Sister's grandfather
* Vincent Price as Lord Licorice

## Release

### Home media

*Candy Land* was released on VHS and LaserDisc by Paramount Home Video on December 18, 1988. It was later re-released on VHS in 2001 for the film's 15th anniversary. It was later released on DVD on May 12, 2002 by Paramount Home Entertainment, on Blu-ray on July 29, 2008 and on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray on September 12, 2018.

## Reception

### Critical response

#### Modern response

Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports an approval rating of 28% based on reviews from 89 critics, with an average rating of 4.05/10. The site's critical consensus states: "It's only a major sweet tooth for the little kids, but *Candy Land*'s visually dazzling animation and lackluster plot makes this a sugar overload that eventually wares down to a simple sweet candy with no additional boosts of energy. It's so bad that not even Linda Ronstadt can save some life for the film." On Metacritic, *Candy Land* holds a weighted average score of 38 out of 100 based on 11 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film a one-and-a-half stars out of four, and wrote that: "*Candy Land* is an all-developing sweet tooth of a movie that barely brings any joy for older fans of the beloved classic board game." While he gave praise for the musical score and certain casting choices, he gave much criticism for the plot and pacing, calling the storyline "boring and meandering" and the pacing "slow as a snail".

### Box office

*Candy Land* opened on July 2, 1986 in 2,473 theatres. Grossing $19.2 million domestically and $16.4 million elsewhere for a worldwide total of $35.6 million, the film was a box office failure, with an estimated revenue loss of $129 million for Paramount Pictures.

## Transcripts

### Main

To see the main transcript of the film, click here.

### Trailers

To see the transcript for the trailers of the film, click here.