Bedknobs and Broomsticks

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 Directed by
 Produced by
 Screenplay by
 Based on
*Bonfires and Broomsticks*
 Starring
* David Tomlinson
* John Ericson
* Ian Weighill
* Cindy O'Callaghan
 Music by
 Cinematography
 Edited by
 Production
company
 Distributed by
 Release date
 Running time
 Country
 Budget

***Bedknobs and Broomsticks*** is a 1971 musical fantasy film directed by Robert Stevenson and songs written by the Sherman Brothers. It was produced by Bill Walsh for Walt Disney Productions. It is based upon the books *The Magic Bedknob; or, How to Become a Witch in Ten Easy Lessons* (1943) and *Bonfires and Broomsticks* (1947) by English children's author Mary Norton. The film, which combines live action and animation, stars Angela Lansbury, David Tomlinson, John Ericson, and introducing Ian Wheighill, Cindy O'Callaghan, and Roy Snart.

During the early 1960s, *Bedknobs and Broomsticks* entered development when the negotiations for the film rights to *Mary Poppins* (1964) were placed on hold. When the rights were acquired, the film was shelved repeatedly due to the similarities with *Mary Poppins* until it was revived in 1969. Originally at a length of 139 minutes, *Bedknobs and Broomsticks* was edited down to almost two hours prior to its premiere at the Radio City Music Hall.

The film was released on December 13, 1971, to mixed reviews from film critics, some of whom praised the live-action/animated sequence. The film received five Academy Awards nominations winning one for Best Special Visual Effects. This was the last film released prior to the death of Walt Disney's surviving brother, Roy O. Disney, who died one week later. It is also the last theatrical film Reginald Owen appeared in before his death next year in 1972; his last two acting credits were for television.

In 1996, the film was restored with most of the deleted material re-inserted back into the film. A stage musical adaptation is in production which is set to debut in 2021.

## Contents

* 1Plot
* 2Cast
	+ 2.1Voices
* 3Production
	+ 3.1Casting
	+ 3.2Filming
* 4Release
	+ 4.11996 restoration
	+ 4.2Home media
* 5Reception
	+ 5.1Box office
	+ 5.2Critical reaction
	+ 5.3Accolades
* 6Soundtrack
* 7Stage musical adaptation
* 8Cultural influence
* 9See also
* 10References
* 11Bibliography
* 12External links

## Plot[edit]

In August 1940, during the Blitz, three orphaned children named Charlie, Carrie, and Paul Rawlins are evacuated from London to Pepperinge Eye near the Dorset coast where they are placed in the reluctant care of Miss Eglantine Price, who agrees to the arrangement temporarily. The children attempt to run back to London, but after observing Miss Price attempting to fly on a broomstick, they change their minds. Miss Price reveals she is learning witchcraft through a correspondence school with hopes of using her spells in the British war effort against the Nazis, and offers the children a transportation spell in exchange for their silence. She casts the spell on a bedknob, and adds only Paul can work the spell, as he is the one who handed the bedknob to her. Later, Miss Price receives a letter from her school announcing its closure, thus preventing her from learning the final spell. She convinces Paul to use the enchanted bed to return the group to London, and locate Professor Emelius Browne.

Browne turns out to be a charismatic showman who created the course from an old book, and is shocked to learn the spells actually work. He gives the book to Miss Price, who is distraught to discover the final spell, "Substitutiary Locomotion", is missing. The group travels to Portobello Road to locate the rest of the book. After an exchange with an old bookseller, Miss Price learns that the spell is engraved on the Star of Astaroth, a medallion that belonged to a sorcerer of that name. The bookseller explains that the medallion was taken by a pack of wild animals, given anthropomorphism by Astaroth, to a remote island called Naboombu. A 17th century lascar had claimed to have seen Naboombu, but the bookseller never found it. Paul confirms its existence by revealing a storybook he found in Mr. Browne's playroom.

The group travels to Naboombu and land in a lagoon; there, the bed goes underwater, where Mr. Browne and Miss Price enter a dance contest and win first prize. Just then, the bed is fished out of the sea by a bear, who informs the group that no human is allowed on the island by royal decree. They are brought before the island's ruler King Leonidas, who is wearing the Star of Astaroth. Leonidas invites Mr. Browne to act as a referee in a football match. The chaotic match ends in Leonidas' self-proclaimed victory, but Mr. Browne swaps the medallion with his referee whistle as he leaves, and the group escapes.

Back home, Miss Price exercises the spell, which imbues inanimate objects with life. When Miss Price is informed that the children can be moved to another home, she decides to let them stay, realizing she has come to love them and vice versa. The children declare they want Mr. Browne to be their father, but Mr. Browne, wary of commitment, bids goodbye to the group and attempts to take a train back to London. A platoon of Nazi German commandos land on the coast via U-boat as part of an exercise and invade Miss Price's house, imprisoning her and the children in the local museum. At the train station, Mr. Browne fends off two Germans cutting phone lines and heads back to Miss Price's house where he uses the white rabbit spell that he taught Miss Price so he can disguise himself to avoid the Germans. He finds Miss Price and the children at the museum and inspires Miss Price to use the spell to enchant the museum's exhibits into an army. The army of knights' armor and military uniforms chases the Germans away, but as they retreat, they destroy Miss Price's workshop, ending her career as a witch. Though disappointed her career is over, she is happy she played a small part in the war effort.

Shortly afterwards, Miss Price has officially adopted and committed herself to raising the children, Mr. Browne also made a commitment to becoming the father of children and moved in with them. Mr. Browne enlists in the army and departs with the local Home Guard escorting him, promising the children he will return soon. Paul reveals he still has the enchanted bedknob, hinting they can continue on with their adventures.

## Cast[edit]

* Angela Lansbury as Miss Eglantine Price. Miss Price is initially a somewhat reclusive woman, reluctant to take in children from London as she believes they will get in the way of her witchcraft, which she prefers to keep secret but hopes to use to bring the nascent World War II to an end. However, she bonds with the children and falls in love with Mr. Browne during their journey.
* David Tomlinson as Mr. Emelius Browne. Introduced as "Professor Browne," the title by which Miss Price knows him, he is running a Correspondence College of Witchcraft based on what he believes to be "nonsense words" found in an old book. When Miss Price and the children find him in London, he is revealed to be a street performer and con artist, and not a very good one. He is, however, a smooth talker, which proves useful on the group's adventures, and believes in doing everything "with a flair." As the adventures unfold, he finds himself developing an attachment to Miss Price and the children, a feeling he struggles with.
* Ian Weighill as Charles "Charlie" Rawlins. Charlie is the eldest of the orphaned Rawlins children; eleven, going on twelve, according to Carrie, an age which Miss Price calls "The Age of Not Believing." Accordingly, he is initially cynical and disbelieving of Miss Price's magical efforts, but comes around as time goes on; it is at his initial suggestion that Ms. Price uses the Substitutiary Locomotion spell on the museum artifacts.
* Cindy O'Callaghan as Carrie Rawlins. Slightly younger than Charlie, she takes on a motherly attitude toward her brothers, especially Paul. She is the first to encourage a friendly relationship between Miss Price and the children.
* Roy Snart as Paul Rawlins. Paul is about six; his possession of the bedknob and the Isle of Naboombu children's book lead to the group's adventures as well as the eventual solution to the quest for the Substitutiary Locomotion spell. Paul is prone to blurting out whatever is on his mind, which occasionally leads to trouble.
* Roddy McDowall as Mr. Rowan Jelk, the local clergyman. Deleted scenes reveal Mr. Jelk to be interested in marrying Miss Price, largely for her property.
* Sam Jaffe as the Bookman, a mysterious criminal also in pursuit of the Substitutiary Locomotion spell. It is implied that there is some history and bad blood between him and Mr. Browne.
* Bruce Forsyth as Swinburne, a spiv and associate of the Bookman's who acts as his muscle.
* Tessie O'Shea as Mrs. Jessica "Jessie" Hobday, the local postmistress of Pepperinge Eye and chairwoman of the War Activities Committee.
* John Ericson as Colonel Heller, leader of the German raiding party which comes ashore at Pepperinge Eye.
* Reginald Owen as Major General Sir Brian Teagler, commander of the local Home Guard.
* Arthur Gould-Porter as Captain Ainsley Greer, a British Army captain who comes from HQ in London to inspect the Home Guard and becomes lost in the area. He is constantly running into locals who suspect him of being a Nazi in disguise.
* Hank Worden as Old Home Guard Soldier (uncredited)
* Cyril Delevanti as Elderly farmer
* Alan Hewitt as a Soldier

### Voices[edit]

* Lennie Weinrib as King Leonidas, a lion who is the ruler of the Isle of Naboombu. He is a devoted soccer player with a fearsome temper, as well as a notorious cheat who is known to make up the rules as he goes along – according to Paul's book.
	+ Lennie Weinrib also voices the Secretary Bird, a prim and proper type who often bears the brunt of King Leonidas' temper.
* Dallas McKennon as Fisherman Bear. a brown bear who is a sailor and fisherman on the Isle of Naboombu. He is the one who pulls the bed, with Miss Price's group on it, out of the lagoon with his fishing pole, and takes them to see the King after warning them of his temper.
* Bob Holt as Codfish, a denizen of the Naboombu lagoon who judges the underwater dance contest.

## Production[edit]

English author Mary Norton published her first children's book, *The Magic Bed-Knob*, in 1943. In August 1945, *Variety* reported that Walt Disney had purchased the film rights to the book. Norton then published *Bonfires and Broomsticks* in 1947, and the two children's books were then combined into *Bed-Knob and Broomsticks* in 1957. During the negotiations for the film rights to *Mary Poppins* with P.L. Travers in 1961, a film adaptation of *Bedknobs and Broomsticks* was suggested as an alternative project. When the negotiations stalled, Disney instructed the Sherman brothers to begin working on the project.[5] During a story conference with producer Bill Walsh and writer Don DaGradi, as the Sherman brothers were singing the song "Eglantine", Walt fell asleep in his chair.[6] When Disney purchased the rights to *Mary Poppins*, the project was shelved.[5][7]

In spring 1966, the Sherman brothers resumed their work on *Bedknobs and Broomsticks*, but the project was shelved again due to the similarities with *Mary Poppins* (1964). As the Sherman brothers' contract with the Disney studios was set to expire in 1968, they were contacted by Bill Walsh in their office to start work on the film. Then, Walsh, DaGradi, and the Sherman brothers re-assembled to work on the storyline for several months. Although there was no plan to put the film into production at the time, Walsh promised the Shermans that he would call them back to the studio and finish the project, which he eventually did in November 1969.[7] Throughout 1970 and 1971, the Sherman brothers reworked their musical compositions for the film. The song, "The Beautiful Briny" was originally written for *Mary Poppins* for when Mary spins a compass sending the Banks children into several exotic locations, but it was later used for *Bedknobs and Broomsticks*.[8][9]

### Casting[edit]

Leslie Caron, Lynn Redgrave, Judy Carne, and Julie Andrews were all considered for the role of Eglantine Price.[10] Andrews was initially offered the part, but hesitated. Walsh later contacted Angela Lansbury, who signed onto the role on October 31, 1969. Shortly after, Andrews contacted Walsh again only to learn that Lansbury had been cast.[11][12] Although Peter Ustinov was considered,[12] Ron Moody was originally slated as Emelius Brown, but he refused to star in the film unless he received top billing which the studio would not allow. He was ultimately replaced with David Tomlinson.[10]

The three Rawlins children—Charlie, Carrie, and Paul—were played by Ian Weighill, Cindy O'Callaghan, and Roy Snart respectively. Weighill had previously dropped out of school and began his acting career in an uncredited role as a schoolboy in *David Copperfield* (1969). He auditioned before Disney talent scouts for one of the child roles in *Bedknobs and Broomsticks* in London, and was cast as Charlie. Prior to *Bedknobs*, Snart was a child actor appearing in numerous commercials, and was cast as Paul for his "impish, cheeky look". For the part of Carrie, O'Callaghan had previously acted in television commercials and later made her stage debut in a production of *Peter Pan* at the Scala Theatre. There, she caught the attention of Disney's talent scouts.[13]

### Filming[edit]

Filming took place at the Disney studios in Burbank, California from early March to June 10, 1970.[14] The coastal scenes featuring German soldiers were shot on location at a nearby California beach. Additional scenes were shot on location in Corfe Castle in Dorset, England.[12] Filming lasted fifty-seven days while the animation and special effects required five months each to complete.[15]

For the Naboombu soccer sequence, the sodium vapor process was used, which was developed by Petro Vlahos in the 1960s.[16] Animator and director Ward Kimball served as the animation director over the sequence.[17] Directing animator Milt Kahl had designed the characters, but he was angered over the inconsistencies in the character animation. This prompted Kimball to send a memo dated on September 17, 1970 to adhere to animation cohesiveness to the animation staff.[18] Because of the heavy special effects, the entire film had to be storyboarded in advance, shot for shot, in which Lansbury noted her acting was "very by the numbers".[19]

## Release[edit]

*Bedknobs and Broomsticks* had an original runtime of 141 minutes, and was scheduled to premiere at the Radio City Music Hall. However, in order to accommodate for the theater's elaborate stage show, the film had to be trimmed down to two hours, in which 23 minutes were ultimately removed from the film. The removed scenes included a minor subplot involving Roddy McDowall's character (which was reduced to one minute) and three entire musical sequences titled "A Step in the Right Direction", "With a Flair", and "Nobody's Problems".[20] The "Portobello Road" sequence was reduced from about ten minutes down to three.[21][22]

The movie was reissued theatrically on April 13, 1979, with an additional twenty minutes deleted from the film.[22]

### 1996 restoration[edit]

Intrigued with Lansbury's song, "A Step in the Right Direction" on the original soundtrack album, Scott MacQueen, then-senior manager of Disney's library restoration, set out to restore the film in conjunction with the film's 25th anniversary.[12] Most of the deleted film material was found, but some segments of "Portobello Road" had to be reconstructed from work prints with digital re-coloration to match the film quality of the main content.[22] The footage for "A Step in the Right Direction" was unrecoverable,[22] but the sequence was reconstructed by linking the original music track up to existing production stills. The edit included several newly discovered songs, including "Nobody's Problems", performed by Lansbury. The number had been cut before the premiere of the film. Lansbury had only made a demo recording, singing with a solo piano because the orchestrations would have been added when the picture was scored. When the song was cut, the orchestrations had not yet been added; therefore, it was finally orchestrated and put together when it was placed back into the film.

The soundtrack for some of the spoken tracks was unrecoverable. Therefore, Lansbury and McDowall re-dubbed their parts, while other actors made ADR dubs for those who were unavailable. Even though David Tomlinson was still alive when the film was being reconstructed, he was in ill-health, and unavailable to provide ADR for Emelius Browne,[22] so he was replaced by Jeff Bennett.

The restored version of the film premiered on September 27, 1996 at the Motion Picture Academy of Arts and Sciences in Beverly Hills, California where it was attended by Lansbury, the Sherman Brothers, Ward Kimball, and special effects artist Danny Lee.[12] It was later broadcast on Disney Channel on August 9, 1998.[22]

### Home media[edit]

In 1980, Disney partnered with Fotomat Corporation on a trial distribution deal,[23] in which *Bedknobs and Broomsticks* was released on VHS and LaserDisc on March 4, 1980. In October 1982, Disney announced it had partnered with RCA to release nine of their films on the CED videodisc format[24] of which *Bedknobs and Broomsticks* was re-released later that same year. The film was re-issued on VHS on October 23, 1989, (with closed-captioning provided by Captions, Inc., Los Angeles).[25] The film was released on VHS as an installment in the Walt Disney Masterpiece Collection on October 28, 1994.[26]

The restored version of the film was released on VHS and DVD on March 20, 2001 as part of the Walt Disney Gold Classic Collection, to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the film.[27] The reconstruction additionally marked the first time the film was presented in stereophonic sound. Along with the film, the DVD included a twenty-minute making-of featurette with the Sherman brothers, a recording session with David Tomlinson singing the ending of "Portebello Road", a scrapbook containing thirteen pages of concept art, publicity, and merchandising stills, and a Film Facts supplement of the film's production history.[28]

A new edition called *Bedknobs and Broomsticks: Enchanted Musical Edition* was released on DVD on September 8, 2009. This new single-disc edition retained the restored version of the film and most of the bonus features from the 2001 DVD release.[29] The movie was released on Special Edition Blu-ray, DVD, and Digital HD on August 12, 2014, in its original 117-minute version, with the deleted scenes used in the previous reconstructed version presented in a separate section on the Blu-ray disc.

## Reception[edit]

### Box office[edit]

By January 1974, the film had grossed $8.25 million in box office rentals from the United States and Canada,[30] with its final domestic rentals totaling $8.5 million.[31] The 1979 re-release increased its North American rentals to $11.4 million.[32]

### Critical reaction[edit]

Vincent Canby of *The New York Times* wrote that the film is a "tricky, cheerful, aggressively friendly Walt Disney fantasy for children who still find enchantment for pop-up books, plush animals by Steiff and dreams of independent flight." He further highlighted the Naboombu live-action/animated sequence as "the best of Disney, going back all the way to the first Silly Symphonies."[33] *Variety* wrote that "what it may lack in the charm of [*Mary Poppins*] it more than measures in inventiveness. Indeed, it is doubtful if special effects or animation have been ever bettered or used to greater advantage. Alone they are a reason for seeing the film" in which the reviewer praised the Naboombu sequence as "not only sheer delights but technical masterpieces."[34] Roger Ebert of the *Chicago Sun-Times* awarded the film two-and-a-half stars out of four, and claimed while the film has the "same technical skill and professional polish" as *Mary Poppins*, "[i]t doesn't have much of a heart, though, and toward the end you wonder why the *Poppins* team thought kids would like it much."[35] Gene Siskel of the *Chicago Tribune* gave it two stars out of four calling the film "a mishmash of story ideas and film styles." He further added that the live action/animated sequence was "one bright spot in the story", but felt "the difference between scenes of sea horses and storm troopers is so great that probably no story could manage it. 'Bedknobs' tries and fails."[36]

Pauline Kael, reviewing for *The New Yorker*, panned the film writing it has "no logic in the style of the movie, and the story dribbles on for so long that it exhausts the viewer before that final magical battle begins." She concluded her review claiming "This whole production is a mixture of wizardry and ineptitude; the picture has enjoyable moments but it's as uncertain of itself as the title indicates."[37] Charles Champlin of the *Los Angeles Times* wrote the film was "pleasant enough and harmless enough. It is also long (almost two hours) and slow. The songs are perfunctory (nothing supercalifragi-whatever) and the visual trickeries, splendid as they are, are sputtery to get the picture truly airborne. By the standards Disney has set for itself, it's a disappointing endeavor."[38] The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported that the film has an approval rating of 66% with an average rating of 6.15/10 out of 35 reviews. The website's consensus reads: "*Bedknobs and Broomsticks* often feels like a pale imitation of a certain magical guardian and her wards, but a spoonful of Angela Lansbury's witty star power helps the derivativeness go down."[39] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 59 out of 100 based on 11 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[40]

### Accolades[edit]

For the 44th Academy Awards, the film was nominated for five Academy Award nominations for Best Art Direction, Best Scoring, Best Costume Design, Best Original Song, and Best Visual Effects, in which the film won the latter award.[21]

## Soundtrack[edit]

 Released
 Label
 Producer

The musical score for *Bedknobs and Broomsticks* was composed by Irwin Kostal, with all songs written by Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman. A soundtrack album was released by Buena Vista Records in 1971. While the film was released in mono sound, the musical score was recorded in stereo and the soundtrack album was released in stereo. An expanded soundtrack album was later released on CD on August 13, 2002.

These songs include:

* "The Old Home Guard"
* "The Age of Not Believing" (received an Oscar nomination for Best Original Song)
* "With a Flair" (only in the reconstruction)
* "Eglantine"
* "Don't Let Me Down" (only in the reconstruction)
* "Portobello Road"
* "The Beautiful Briny"
* "Substitutiary Locomotion"
* "A Step in the Right Direction"
* "Nobody's Problems" (only in the reconstruction)
* "Solid Citizen" (replaced by the soccer match)
* "Fundamental Element" (sections were incorporated into "Don't Let Me Down")

## Stage musical adaptation[edit]

Main article: Bedknobs and Broomsticks (musical)

A stage musical adaptation of *Bedknobs and Broomsticks* will feature the songs from the film by The Sherman Brothers with additional music and lyrics by Neil Bartram and a book by Brian Hill. The production will be directed by Candice Edmunds and Jamie Harrison and will open at the Theatre Royal, Newcastle in August 2021 before touring the UK and Ireland. It will be produced by Michael Harrison, by special arrangement with Disney Theatrical Productions.

## Cultural influence[edit]

In the 1974 book *William and Mary*, by Penelope Farmer, the two title child characters experience a number of fantasy adventures. In Chapter 4, they go to a theater for a Disney film combining live action and animation, including an underwater sequence very similar to that in *Bedknobs and Broomsticks*. Afterwards they have an underwater adventure with cartoon fish which turn menacing.[*citation needed*]

## See also[edit]

* List of American films of 1971
* List of films with live action and animation

## External links[edit]

* Official website
* *Bedknobs and Broomsticks* at IMDb
* *Bedknobs and Broomsticks* at AllMovie
* *Bedknobs and Broomsticks* at The Big Cartoon DataBase
* *Bedknobs and Broomsticks* at the TCM Movie Database
* *Bedknobs and Broomsticks* at Rotten Tomatoes

* v
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* Disney portal
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Categories:

* 1971 films
* English-language films
* 1971 musical films
* 1970s fantasy adventure films
* 1970s musical fantasy films
* American fantasy adventure films
* American films
* American musical fantasy films
* American children's fantasy films
* Animated films based on children's books
* Animated films about lions
* Animated films about bears
* Battle of Britain films
* Films about orphans
* Films about shapeshifting
* Films about witchcraft
* Films based on British novels
* Films based on children's books
* Films based on multiple works
* Films directed by Robert Stevenson
* Films produced by Bill Walsh (producer)
* Films scored by Irwin Kostal
* Films set in 1940
* Films set in England
* Films set in London
* Films shot in Dorset
* Films that won the Best Visual Effects Academy Award
* Films with live action and animation
* Films about magic
* Musicals about World War II
* Musicals by the Sherman Brothers
* Films about Nazis
* Walt Disney Pictures films
* 1970s children's animated films

**Script error: No such module "Category handler".**

### **Produced by**

Margit Friesacher
Phil Nibbelink

### **Based on**

**Script error: No such module "Based on".**

### **Starring**

Daniel Trippett
Patricia Trippett
Chip Albers
Sam Gold
Michael Toland
Stephen Goldberg
Phil Nibbelink
Chanelle Nibbelink

### **Music by**

Christopher Page
Tommy Carter
Stephen Bashaw
Jack Waldenmaier
Steven Wenger
Bill Holloman
Curt Macdonald
Kirk Cirillo

### **Production company(s)**

Phil Nibbelink Productions
Corus Entertainment
BBC Films
BBC Bristol
BBC Scotland
BBC Worldwide
RTÉ
TG4

### **Release date(s)**

* March 2, 2004 (2004-03-02) (Canada)
* May 7, 2004 (2004-05-07) (United kingdom)
* July 9, 2004 (2004-07-09) (Ireland)
* September 2, 2004 (2004-09-02) (United States)

### **Country**

Canada
Ireland
United Kingdom
United States

### **Box office**

$463,002

***Romeo & Juliet: Sealed with a Kiss*** is a 2004 American animated romantic fantasy comedy-drama film loosely following the play *Romeo and Juliet* by William Shakespeare. The film is about two star-crossed seals, Romeo and Juliet (voiced by Daniel and Patricia Trippet respectively), who fall in love against the wishes of their warring families. It was released in Europe in mid-2004 and on March 2 in the Canada.

The film was written, animated, and directed entirely by one man, former Disney animator Phil Nibbelink. The film, created on an estimated budget of $2 million, took 4½ years to complete and required 112,000 frames, all drawn by Nibbelink on a Wacom tablet directly into Flash 4 in combination with Moho software. Despite the film's negative reviews, it won an award in Best in Show at the Southwest Film Festival.

## Plot

Warring Capulets herd (Michael Toland) and Montagues herd (Stephen Goldberg), portrayed as Steller sea lions and California sea lions and animals and sea monster alike animals and monsters and dragon hybrids and aliens and demon dragons and dinosaurs and sea monsters and extinct animals and demon animals and dragons and dinosaurs hybrids and demon monsters and animal hybrids and monster like animals respectively, have their feud watched in horror and astonishment by Capulet's only daughter, Juliet (Patricia Trippett). A fight on the shore and jungle is ended when the prince (Phil Nibbelink), a large and monstrous elephant seal/bison/dragon/lion/t-rex/elephant/dog/cow-alike creature, appears and warns the two groups that, if there is any more disturbance, the seal who caused it shall be exiled to Shark Island where his henchman Sharky the Great White Shark/hellhound/tiger/bear/wildebeest alike monster and prince scare animals and sea monster alike animals and monsters and dragon hybrids and aliens and demon dragons and dinosaurs and sea monsters and extinct animals and demon animals and dragons and dinosaurs hybrids and demon monsters and animal hybrids and imaginary animals and monster like animals and seals and animals and sea monster alike animals and monsters and dragon hybrids and aliens and demon dragons and dinosaurs and sea monsters and extinct animals and demon animals and dragons and dinosaurs hybrids and demon monsters and animal hybrids and imaginary animals and monster like animals stampede and running away lives. Romeo (Daniel Tripett), Montague's only son, is depressed, wishing to fall in love with someone. His humorous friend, Mercutio (Chip Albers), urges him and another of his friends, Benvolio (Sam Gold), to go to a Capulet party later that evening. They attend the party, covered in white sand to look like Capulets, and Romeo falls in love with Juliet at first sight. Juliet, however, was promised by her father to marry the Prince, who attends the party. Romeo and his friends manage to wreak havoc, and are revealed to be Montagues. Later that evening, the play's balcony scene is recreated on a cliff on the beach where a tree grows. Romeo promises Juliet that they shall marry the next morning, and she will not have to marry the Prince.

Romeo begs Friar Lawrence, a sea otter, to wed them. After some thought, the friar believes their marriage will end the feud between their families, and agrees. Romeo and Juliet are wed that morning and traverse the sea in their happiness. However, even the other sea and land animals strongly oppose their being together. A kissing fish named Kissy finds them a lovely couple, but warns them that they will be in big trouble if the Prince finds out. Back on the beach, Mercutio is telling many jokes, which leads to him making insulting jokes against the Capulets, and the Prince is headed in that direction. When he arrives, Mercutio mocks him as well. Romeo rushes to aid his friend, but after a struggle Mercutio falls off the cliff where Juliet met Romeo the previous evening, and everyone thinks that he is dead. The Prince, jealous of Juliet's affection for Romeo, exiles Romeo to Shark Island. In despair, Juliet seeks the Friar's help, and he gives her a potion to put her in a deathlike state. Mercutio is revealed to be alive and sees the whole thing, remarking, "What a tangled web we weave."

Lawrence shows the Capulet seals that Juliet is "dead", right as they were celebrating the marriage. But Benvolio sees her as well, and swims to Shark Island to tell Romeo. The Friar chases him to stop him, but is attacked by Sharky. After receiving the terrible news from Benvolio, Romeo heads to the shore to see if Juliet is truly dead. Friar Lawrence arrives too late and tries to follow Romeo, only to have his tail maimed by Sharky. After an undersea chase and some help from Kissy, the fish Romeo and Juliet met earlier, Lawrence escapes and heads to the beach. A heartbroken Romeo walks past the mourning Capulets and tries to kiss Juliet, only to have some of the potion slip into his own mouth, putting him in a deathlike state as well. Two groups of seals begin to weep for their loss, and Lawrence, who has just arrived, teaches them a lesson about where hatred leads them to evil. Suddenly, Romeo and Juliet awaken, and all is well. and greyhound mighty roar and seals cry and Mercutio returns, and the prince finds a new mate, all the animals of the world a large elephant seal like himself. The movie ends with the two families at peace, and Romeo and Juliet remaining together.

## Cast and characters

* Daniel Trippett as Romeo, a brave, kind, and handsome Montague and Juliet's love interest, later husband.
* Patricia Trippett as Juliet, a Capulet and Romeo's love interest, later wife.
* Chip Albers as Mercutio, Romeo's trouble-making best friend.
* Michael Toland as Capulet, Juliet's father/Friar Lawrence, a sea otter and a good friend of Romeo, he knows that Romeo and Juliet shouldn't be married, but realizes that the wedding will stop the rivalry of the two families.
* Stephen Goldberg as Montague, Romeo's father.
* Phil Nibbelink as The Prince, an elephant seal who has rancid breath and a quick temper.
* Chanelle Nibbelink as Kissy the Kissing Fish, a small goldfish who acts as a comic relief.
* Sam Gold as Benvolio, a good friend of Romeo.

## Production

### Background

Nibbelink, a former Disney animator, founded an independent company with his wife, Margit Friesacher, called Phillip Nibbelink Productions, in 1998. He stated that he grew tired of the "big industry merry-go-round" and wanted to make films himself. He had independently created two feature-length animated films before *Romeo & Juliet: Sealed with a Kiss*—*Puss in Boots* & *Leif Ericson: The Boy Who Discovered America*. Nibbelink decided to make *Romeo and Juliet* in 2000, when he was finishing *Leif Ericson*, and began work on it in early 2003. Nibbelink wanted the film to be a family-friendly version of Shakespeare's original tale, because of the few appropriate family films available at the time.

### Animation

 File:Phil Nibbelink in his studio.JPG
The film took 4½ years of animating and required 112,000 frames, each of which were completed in under 2 minutes and drawn on a Wacom tablet directly into Flash 4, in combination with Moho software. All the frames together were done in a month, by Nibbelink's estimation. The Moho software was used for the "over-the-shoulder" or the "listening" characters, or crowd scene characters. The film was a half-year in post-production. Nibbelink used Flash 4 because when he tried to migrate to Flash 5, it created forward-compatibility problems. Even cut-and-paste work using Flash 4 and Flash 5 launched at the same time created RAM issues and crashed.

### Audio

Most actors of the film were Nibbelink's friends and children, whose voices he recorded in a studio in his basement. The film's Spanish dub was originally done in Madrid. Nibbelink said his daughter's voice-over was completely unscripted. "I would take these silly improvs that my little daughter would do. I mean, lines like, she would say, ‘Babies – p-ew! I hate stinky babies!’ I said, ‘That's hilarious!’ So I would use it."

The film had no official composer. Nibbelink bought melodies from royalty-free music compositions, and wrote the lyrics for the music. These royalty free music companies were Intents Creative Music, British Audio Publishing, Crank City Music, Jack Waldenmaier Music Productions in association with The Music Bakery, River City Sound Productions, Bejoodle Music, Fresh Music, and Music 2 Hues. Three songs are included in the film: a version of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star", performed by Chanelle Nibbelink and arranged by Elva Nibbelink, "Bite My Tail", performed by Michael Toland and arranged by Nibbelink, and "Singing Starfish", performed by Jennifer, Russell, and Gigi Nibbelink.

## Release

### Theatrical release

 File:Phil Nibbelink with poster.JPG
Nibbelink tried to sell the film to 800 people, and it was picked up by distributors MarVista Entertainment for release in foreign territories and Indican Pictures for a domestic release.
A preview of the film was screened at Sony Pictures Entertainment in Los Angeles, California on November 17, 2004, and the movie was later showcased at the 2005 Asia Television Forum in Singapore. It was released as *Fofita, una foquita la mar de salada* to 32 theaters in Madrid and Seville on June 23, 2006.

*Sealed with a Kiss* was rated "G" by the Motion Picture Association of America. The film had a domestic total of $463,002 in its 34-week (238-day) box office run. On opening weekend in 2006, the film, which debuted in Los Angeles, California, grossed $80,938, with an average of $4,220. That same week, it grossed a total $109,720. The film closed its box office run on July 19, 2007, having grossed just $895 that same week. Despite being a minor box office bomb, as of June 2013, the film is the third most profitable film released by Indican Pictures.

### Home media

The film was released to DVD on June 12, 2007. Animatedviews.com's Ben Simon, in his review of the DVD, gave it an overall 7 out of 10, praising the large bonus content for a low-budget film, but criticizing the glitchy sound and audio of the feature. A giveaway was previously held in 2005 by Abbey Home Media and Courier Kids, and the prize was a DVD copy of the film and a toy seal. Ten copies were given. Reissuing this movie on DVD and a Blu-ray release of it have yet to be scheduled.

### Online streaming

This adaptation was available to stream on Netflix, but is eventually taken down in 2016. It was also available to purchase on iTunes and Amazon Prime, but removed from the sites in 2018. As of today, Lionsgate holds the film's streaming rights via their purchase of Starz in 2016.

## Critical reception

The film was negatively received by critics. Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes reports that only 20% of critics gave the film a positive review, with an average rating of 3/10, based on 5 reviews. Movies.com's Dave White compared what he considered the film's poor animation to the animation of *The Wild*, and criticized some dialogue of the film judged "vaguely Shakespearean", satirizing the fact that "children like English pronouns 15th century." Sam Adams of the *Los Angeles Times* called the film a "genuine tragedy, although not in the Shakespearean sense" and wrote that a "comprehensive list of what's wrong with *Romeo & Juliet: Sealed With a Kiss* would stretch farther than the unabridged works of William S." *LA Weekly*'s Luke Y. Thompson said that the film "should find its primary audience among college potheads who like to watch '70s Hanna-Barbera creations on the Cartoon Network late at night." Common Sense Media writer Renee Schonfeld said in his 2012 review that it was "an amateurish effort with a grating villain, tired jokes, and sub-par music". He gave it 2 out of 5 stars.

Despite the mostly negative reviews, most critics did commend Nibbelink for animating the entire movie by himself.

In contrast, Reel.com's Pam Grady gave the film a 2.5 out of 4, saying that, "surprisingly, it's not terrible". Animatedviews.com's Ben Simon defended the film, saying it was "a charming little movie" that "remains faithful to Shakespeare's text." The film won two awards at the Southwest Film Festival, in the animation and Best in Show category.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Romeo And Juliet: Sealed With A Kiss Production Information. The Big Cartoon Database. Accessed on May 25, 2013.
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Romeo & Juliet: Sealed with a Kiss. Box Office Mojo. Retrieved August 3, 2012.
3. ↑ 3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 3.10 3.11 **Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".**
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 **Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".**
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 One Man, One Movie, 112,000 Drawings. October 17, 2006. Cold Hard Flash.
6. ↑ Romeo And Juliet: Sealed With A Kiss Cast & Crew List. Big Cartoon Database. Accessed on May 26, 2013.
7. ↑ Phillips, Julian (November 22, 2004). Classic 2-D Animator Phil Nibbelink talks about new project: Shakespeare for children. *Skwigly*. Accessed on May 25, 2013.
8. ↑ Globo TV, Marvista's bonanza at ATF. Indian Television. November 26, 2005. Accessed on July 27, 2013.
9. ↑ Aniort, Carmen (June 23, 2006). Un romance con personajes de peso (in Spanish). *ABC*. Accessed on May 25, 2013.
10. ↑ ABC Seville (in Spanish). *ABC*. June 24, 2006. Accessed on 25 May 2013.
11. ↑ Search results for "Romeo & Juliet: Sealed With A Kiss. filmratings.com. Retrieved August 24, 2013.
12. ↑ Romeo and Juliet: Sealed with a Kiss. Box Office Mojo. Accessed on August 3, 2012.
13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Romeo and Juliet: Sealed with a Kiss - Weekly Box Office Results. Box Office Mojo. Accessed on August 3, 2012.
14. ↑ Indican. Box Office Mojo. Accessed on May 25, 2013.
15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 Simon, Ben (August 10, 2007). Romeo & Juliet: Sealed With A Kiss - DVD. Animated Views. Accessed on May 26, 2013.
16. ↑ A classic tale... sealed with a kiss. Halifax Courier. October 27, 2005. Accessed on July 27, 2013.
17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 Romeo & Juliet: Sealed with a Kiss. Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved August 3, 2012.
18. ↑ White, Dave. Romeo and Juliet: Sealed with a Kiss Review. Movies.com. Accessed on May 26, 2013.
19. ↑ Romeo & Juliet: Sealed with a Kiss. Metacritic. Accessed on May 25, 2013.
20. ↑ Y. Thompson, Luke. **Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".**. Retrieved August 24, 2013.
21. ↑ Schonfeld, Renee (April 14, 2012). Romeo & Juliet: Sealed with a Kiss - Movie Review. Common Sense Media. Accessed on May 25, 2013.
22. ↑ **Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".**

## External links

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* ***Script error: No such module "String".*** at IMDb**Script error: No such module "EditAtWikidata".**
* ***Script error: No such module "String".*** at The Big Cartoon DataBase**Script error: No such module "EditAtWikidata".**
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* ***Script error: No such module "String".*** at Box Office Mojo
* **Script error: No such module "String".** at Rotten Tomatoes
* ***Script error: No such module "String".** **Script error: No such module "String".*** at Metacritic**Script error: No such module "EditAtWikidata".**
* Official trailer on Vimeo

Template:Romeo and Juliet film adaptations
Template:Phil Nibbelink