Back in the 60s and early 70s, the Rankin-Bass company made some of the best and most iconic Christmas specials ever, such as "Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer" and "Santa Claus is Coming to Town". If these films are the only Rankin-Bass films you've seen, then films like "Willy McBean and His Magic Machine" will come as a surprise for several reasons. First, the company didn't just make Christmas or other holiday specials. Second, the quality of their productions varied tremendously...and some, like this film, look a tad shabby by comparison. I am not completely sure why, but it may be because the Rankin-Bass folks farmed the animation out to studios in Japan...and which Japanese company made them changed several times. All I know is that this feature-length movie just isn't the same quality of the great Christmas shows. Now I am not saying it's bad...but it certainly isn't great.
The story begins with the evil Professor Von Rotten building a time machine and planning to go back in history to make himself one of the most important figures ever. But his monkey, Pablo, steals the blueprints and brings them to Willy McBean, who is sort of like a Dexter or Jimmy Neutron...a brilliant kid with super-special scientific skills. So Willy makes his own time machine and takes Pablo with him through history to stop the wicked Professor!
On the plus side, one or two of the songs are catchy...one in particularly got stuck in my head. And, I am sure it took a lot of work to create this stop-motion film...I do appreciate that. But the story and characters are pretty forgettable and I have a hard time imagining kids today sitting through this film. Interesting for nostalgia sake but otherwise a film that is, at best, a time-passer. If you are curious, it's currently posted on YouTube....along with several other Rankin-Bass full-length films and specials you probably never saw before or have long forgotten.
