Today's post is inspired by the ladies over at The Hollow Tree, which is a great blog dealing with all things young adult fantasy. If you haven't been there already I highly suggest you check it out. This morning they were talking about the movie Hocus Pocus from 1993 which is one of my all-time-favorite Halloween movies. Which should come as no surprise since I clearly am kind of a wuss when it comes to horror (see my comments on Rick Yancey's The Monstrumologist). Their post got me thinking about other great Halloween movies which are kid-friendly but also evoke the spirit of the holiday, and although generally most teens I know have moved on to the horror fright fests as their movie of choice for Halloween, I was never one of those. So in honor of those teens out there like me, I give you.
Bradbury, Ray. The Halloween Tree. (1993)
This is the cartoon movie version of Ray Bradbury's short-story of the same name. Directed by Mario Piluso who helped bring many of the best comics of the 1980s it tells the story of four friends who race through time to save their friend Pip's soul on Halloween night. The movie doesn't stray very far from Bradbury's original short story, so if you've read it there won't be very many surprises. What the movie does well is evoke the spookiness and sense of anything-is-possible that comes from the night when children roam the streets trick or treating and the spirits of the dead might just be out there alongside them.
The best parts of the movie are Ray Bradbury's narration and the fact that Leonard Nimoy does the voice of Moundshround. Unfortunately this movie is not available to buy on DVD and hard to find on VHS. You can, however, watch it on YouTube.
Bradbury, Ray. The Halloween Tree. (1993)
This is the cartoon movie version of Ray Bradbury's short-story of the same name. Directed by Mario Piluso who helped bring many of the best comics of the 1980s it tells the story of four friends who race through time to save their friend Pip's soul on Halloween night. The movie doesn't stray very far from Bradbury's original short story, so if you've read it there won't be very many surprises. What the movie does well is evoke the spookiness and sense of anything-is-possible that comes from the night when children roam the streets trick or treating and the spirits of the dead might just be out there alongside them.
The best parts of the movie are Ray Bradbury's narration and the fact that Leonard Nimoy does the voice of Moundshround. Unfortunately this movie is not available to buy on DVD and hard to find on VHS. You can, however, watch it on YouTube.
Of course, you could always just read the short-story. :)
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