The Phantom Tollbooth discussion

I loved this book--it was like a witty, timeless, and meaningful version of Alice in Wonderland.

Alice in Wonderland??? No they haven't made a movie out of The Phantom Tollbooth.

There was an animated version done in the 60's.

Okay, how about "culturally-based surrealism"? Surely that is a better comparison?

Oh, and I just read on Wikipedia that the 60's version was directed and produced by none other than Chuck Jones. They are also currently making another adaption, according to that site.

whatever you call it...just this past week, as the days drug on and I could barely keep my eyes open, I imagined I was in the Doldrums and needed to get things moving somehow...just like his little car.

Surprisingly there isn't a movie out of this yet. But it's probably only a matter of time lol

There was an animated movie by chuck Jones. I grew up with it as a kid. It is fantastic! You all should watch it. It's very entertaining and true to the book.

Oh cool! I'll try to find it. :) Thanks Audrey.

And the boy who plays Milo was Eddie Munster. :)

The movie is somewhat cheesy, and there are many characters from the book that are missing from the story. But, it's probably 70% true to the story -- but I always read it to my students prior to the movie . . .makes the movie more meaningful.

I used to show this to my students after reading, too! We'd also do a words vs. numbers debate, which was a huge hit.

I love the movie! It is hard to find. It was only on video - I don't know if it has been put on DVD. It starts out w/ a real person then the tollbooth shows up and when Milo drives in, he turns into a cartoon.

There sould be a movie.hopely if they make a moive its a good moive

There is an animated movie. It is incredibly creepy, IMHO. I watched it when I was a kid and it scared the snot out of me and kind of scarred me for life. LOL!

They also just funded a documentary project for it about Norman Juster that you can see here on Kickstarter: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/s...

they have annointed version(I saw it at the woodmont liabrary in kent, washington)fyi

Yes they made a movie of this

The animated movie is a must-see. It's fantastic!

Pretty awesome book read it in 5th grade and thinking of reading it again if i can find it . RATE 1000000000. !!

The Chuck Jones movie is on YouTube. I showed it in class after we read the book last year. You can try this link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AITFXf...

The movie is in 6 parts and has Spanish subtitles, but it's better than nothing.

Laura wrote: "There was an animated version done in the 60's."

I just watched the trailer for the animated version; and it looks NOTHING like the book was supposed to be. Not only did they change the character names, but the characters don't look a thing like the original illustrations or descriptions. I understand that drawing styles are different, but at least TRY!

Emmy wrote: "Laura wrote: "There was an animated version done in the 60's."

I just watched the trailer for the animated version; and it looks NOTHING like the book was supposed to be. Not only did they chan..."

Yes, I was put off by these changes too. I haven't seen the film (although I did give it to a nephew for Christmas as I thought the book might be too smart for him at present - I'll have to find out what he thought of it). I saw the same clips you did on YouTube and was not impressed by what I saw.

I adore the book - so far its the only childrens book I would include on my list of all-time favorites. It is precious to ne. I'd love to see a film of it, and indeed heard that Gary Ross was producing one - but that has been a few years ago now. All I know is that whoever makes the film will have to be a lot smarter than me to do the source material justice. I pray they do.

As a side note, I was looking at a list of Newberry Medal winners and nominees. Can you believe this book wasn't even in the running? Sad, but true. I guess Norton Juster has had the last laugh.

Ivan wrote: "Emmy wrote: "Laura wrote: "There was an animated version done in the 60's."

I just watched the trailer for the animated version; and it looks NOTHING like the book was supposed to be. Not only ..."

I'm shocked that this was not in the running for the Newberry Medal! That just seems like a literary crime :(

I agree.

To Kill a Mockingbird

THEY HAVE MADE A MOVIE OF THE PHANTOM TOLLBOOTH

My husband has not read the book, but he has told me over the years about a certain movie he and his brother always requested whenever they went to their Nana's and got to rent a movie. They would rent it on BETA (not even VHS!) and he said they probably drove their Nana crazy with never wanting anything else. Well, I had been telling my husband about how much I always loved this book as a kid, and I started to tell him the plot. He realized that the movie he and his brother loved so much was actually The Phantom Tollbooth! So there you go. It definitely must be pretty old - - especially if it was only on BETA - - but it was much loved by those two kids at least. :)

I agree that the book is fantastic. I have two young kids, and I am so excited to share it with them when they are old enough to appreciate it. One of my all-time favourites for sure!!

Stephanie, I can one up the Beta. I watched this movie as a kid on the old record sized discs that were in a case. My parents used to rent a machine and a movie once and while.

I loved the movie, but at the time I had no idea a book even existed.

no i heard they were going to but it never happened i guess :(

they did make a movie of this, i've seen it, both on tv and years ago on vhs...

The Phantom Tollbooth is a 1970 American live-action/animated film based on Norton Juster's 1961 children's book The Phantom Tollbooth. This film was produced by Chuck Jones at MGM Animation/Visual Arts. Jones also directed the film, save for the live action bookends directed by fellow Warner Bros. Cartoons alum Dave Monahan. The film was released to theaters by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer on November 7, 1970, and was the last MGM feature film release to include animated segments. MGM's United Artists subsidiary would release its first fully animated film The Secret of NIMH in 1982.

Completed by 1969, the film was held up for release by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer until late 1970 due to internal problems. The animation studio closed soon after the film's release, with MGM leaving the animation business for good. Juster had no input into the film adaptation, and has stated that he is not particularly fond of it.[1] from wikipedia

imdb also states there is a new version coming out next year, but it is still in development and other information is not available at this time...

you can watch the 1970 version free online according to a google search, but i haven't tried to do it yet..

Ms. Risch wrote: "The Chuck Jones movie is on YouTube. I showed it in class after we read the book last year. You can try this link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AITFXf...

The movie is in 6 parts and has Spanis..."

try this version, i can't access it from work but here's the info the google search turned up

Watch The Phantom Tollbooth (1970) Free Online
www.ovguide.com/the-phantom-tollbooth-...
Block all www.ovguide.com results
Watch full length The Phantom Tollbooth Movie for Free Online. ... The Phantom Tollbooth is a 1970 American live-action/animated film based on Norton Justers ...

Brian wrote: "I loved this book--it was like a witty, timeless, and meaningful version of Alice in Wonderland."

Yes, they have. We watched it in school after we read the book. It begins and ends with real people, but the entire middle of the movie after he has been swept away in the booth is done in animation. For an old film, it is excellent, but probably very difficult to find now.

I loved the movie. I saw it before I ever read the book.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Llg5VO... - this is YouTube link to the full film 1 hour and 29 minutes in length - the 1970s version by Chuck Jones. It works in the UK not sure if it will work if you are in US.

I love the movie. It was so good, wish I still had a copy of it.

Yes I think that they did make a movie out of the book. The book was very good and I will have to check out the movie. =)

This is one of those books that I hope NEVER gets turned into a movie!! The movie industry is just going to leave out my favorite parts (like the City of Ember movie), change the message of the whole thing (like countless Romeo and Juliet movies or like Matilda), or cast the characters so that everyone's opinion of the best characters changes from 'awesome' to 'seriously creepy'(like Mathilda or Charlie and the Chocolate Factory). Keep Phantom Tollbooth in print only, please!

Yes there is a movie! TCM has it.

yes, there is a movie. It's old, but fun. I used to show it to my sixth grade boys after we read and studied it.

I hate to be a sour note in the choir of praise for the movie version, but I really thought the film was awful. The book, magnificent.

The movie would be a good introduction to the book but I agree that the book is uncomparable. The Phantom Tollbooth really sparked my imagination as a kid, especially the idea of the sunset and sunset being composed each day by an orchestra and a composer at the helm of it

Brien wrote: "I hate to be a sour note in the choir of praise for the movie version, but I really thought the film was awful. The book, magnificent."
THe book is magnificent, it really is.
Holly wrote: "yes, there is a movie. It's old, but fun. I used to show it to my sixth grade boys after we read and studied it."

1970 it is partially live action, but mostly animated. I haven't seen it BUT 1970 HAPPENS TO BE A VERY GOOD YEAR AND DOES NOT MAKE IT OLD AT ALL!!! Good day to you all!

I don't know if a movie was made, but, I love this book and think it should be a class book for grade-schoolers.

It actually is a movie. It was made in 1969. It's fun, but the book is better. I taught it to my sixth grade boys for years. They loved it and so do I.

I didn’t know if was a movie at all! Whoa!

They're supposedly thinking about making a new live-action version, but it's always hit or miss--"Potter" and "Fantastic Beasts" of course did well, but "The Golden Compass" "Percy Jackson" "A Wrinkle in Time" and others haven't done very well. ("The Chronicles of Narnia" were abandoned after "Dawn Treader.") They'd need a very special writer-director (Steve Kloves, who handled the majority of the "Potter" adaptations, would be great).