It is about Tubby, a tuba in an orchestra who is fed up with playing the same two notes all the time and follows his adventures as he goes in search of a real melody to play for once in his life. Sounds fun? Not really. Tubbys journey is full of sorrow, disappointment and yet more disappointment along the way. Just as soon as you think, OK enough now, whens the happy part coming? Something sad happens again. There is a token happy ending however which is quite unconvincing. On a more objective note, I personally felt the tempo of the story changed unnaturally at times. However, the directors did very well in creating real depth to the character of Tubby. He is very believable and we are led to feel genuine pity for him. It's a shame a lot of cartoon characters are so one-dimensional these days. Kids really do have an intuitive understanding of emotions and character depth. It is probably mainly for this reason that I never forgot the story since I saw it when I was 7 or 8 yrs old as it left such an impression. Disney's, The Incredibles is another great example of a good cartoon. Anyway, it is kind of a musical, and some of the songs are pleasant and hummable. The drawing of characters is alright for it's time I guess. It's good that it can encourage a simple interest in classical music in young children as well. Ya know what would be great, Dick van Dyke would play a great real life Tubby..wait a minute he does the voice! What a bonus!
8 Reviews
better than any other disney film!
andynortonuk14 September 2002
I you cannot stand the disney films, like me, there is a solution out there; Tubby the Tuba! This charming animated film has voices from the likes of Dick Van Dyke(Mary Poppins and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang fame). So it has to be good with the likes of his voices and his top-notch singing involved in this animated feature. It is very suitable for young kids, like when I watched it for the very first time, because of the very good songs throughout the feature, particulary "Om-pah,om-pah,om-pah-pah"! The animation isn't as "expensive" as the works of disney! I'm surprised the disney empire has not spoiled or thought of ruining the charming story of a tuba who attempts to find a melody. And if they did I'll be disgusted! This is a fine story as it is without their "modifications" involved!
So, like i said, it's a really good film, especially for children! Any other children's films will do just as well, but i personnally recommend you should invest in this unknown animated feature.
So, like i said, it's a really good film, especially for children! Any other children's films will do just as well, but i personnally recommend you should invest in this unknown animated feature.
Could be better
jennierosser3 December 2021
An inspiring piece of work
Mr Pants9 January 2001
I don't care who knows it: I love this movie. There, I've said it.
And since there is no plot summary here yet ... Tubby is indeed a tuba, who longs to find a melody he can play. But nobody writes music for tubas to play, they're only supposed to do that oom-pah thing. But Tubby, despite feeling he should maintain his life station of background instrument, cannot contain his desire to play leads.
The story unfolds with a lot of interesting characters, some of them other instruments, some "tunes" which seem to be something like orphaned sirens with musical noted-shaped heads. Yet it all makes sense when you watch it.
At any rate, it's a well-made cartoon. Kids will enjoy it and I think it has a lot to say on the subject of independence and finding the best way to live your life. Hey, Dick Van Dyke wouldn't attach his name to any old thing, right?
And since there is no plot summary here yet ... Tubby is indeed a tuba, who longs to find a melody he can play. But nobody writes music for tubas to play, they're only supposed to do that oom-pah thing. But Tubby, despite feeling he should maintain his life station of background instrument, cannot contain his desire to play leads.
The story unfolds with a lot of interesting characters, some of them other instruments, some "tunes" which seem to be something like orphaned sirens with musical noted-shaped heads. Yet it all makes sense when you watch it.
At any rate, it's a well-made cartoon. Kids will enjoy it and I think it has a lot to say on the subject of independence and finding the best way to live your life. Hey, Dick Van Dyke wouldn't attach his name to any old thing, right?
One of my favourite childhood movies!
mittenswiggum25 July 2014
Warning: Spoilers
Tubby the Tuba was always a favourite of mine, and I had a natural love for the beautiful classical music (very little is dissonant,Tubby plays out of time at the circus, I have perfect pitch)
The music is often times haunting, to fit the sadness of the story and uses many European traditional musical influences - of which all decent classical music does! As a child in the late 80's it taught me that bad things may happen, but you keep trying (Things could be bad) & to always be yourself (Be yourself) & come on it has Dick van Dyke in it NOT pretending to be English!
In the story, you see Tubby's conscience appears as a mini-tubby, sometimes advising him to do good things, other times bad things that get him in trouble, he leaves the orchestra who doesn't appreciate him - he causes chaos, nearly kills a music note, and insults thee violins, and then they are mean and laugh at him - He leaves and joins the circus and his little conscience comes into play, causes mayhem again and then a friendly elephant redeems him as they love his oompah to dance better than they ever have before.
He becomes famous in the circus and then fame goes to his head and he gets mean and dangerous himself and forgets how kind the elephants had been to him. He is even rude to his best friend Peewee the piccolo after he becomes the circus' main star. He needed to be knocked down a peg or two as he was becoming arrogant, and cruel as a character - his cockiness gets him in a lion pen and they bite off his trousers revealing his pants so he gets embarrassed, and realises that he should leave - and Peewee is still there as his friend and he apologises.
He leaves with Peewee and the orchestra to go to the Singing City to find his melody - his dream from the start to find something other than Oompah - yes, some of the orchestra characters are mean and laugh at Tubby, but come on, in real life you get mean people, especially kids, who laugh at each other - builds a thicker skin useful in later life!
When they get to Singing City more 'mild peril' (as Disney likes to call it) appears for Tubby.The singing cart owners (Buy an Orange!) are reminiscent of Oliver's street sellers (Who will buy?) in the Singing City. The orchestra are given a tour - Prince Cello specifically - to hold a ball to choose the most beautiful tune of all. Even the orphan melodies are allowed to attend.
Celeste - an orphan melody - captures Tubby's heart & a Miss Hannigan/Cinderella's stepmother- character runs the orphanage and refuses to let Celeste go to the ball. Tubby to the rescue!!!
I was more disturbed by the Miss H giving away the female child melodies to the adult male instruments... obviously as a child you don't notice this, but it looks a bit more sinister as an adult.
Then the Prince must judge 'the most beautiful of all...' whilst Tubby rescues Celeste - so he can 'choose her' as HIS melody.... more patriarchal nonsense!
As in real life, things don't go to plan,Thankfully, Celeste seems to be about 18 - the other melodies are half her size, making them look younger - and Prince Cello and Celeste seem to be perfect.... then poor Tubby makes a faux-pas and declares she is 'his' - shocking the orchestra but whilst dancing, it's clear Celeste's melody sounds depressing and un-tuba-like. Tubby realises that "She BELONGS to" Prince Cello... - sure she does..grr!
Cinders - sorry Celeste - & Prince Cello dance and Tubby leaves the city sadly. He sits by the river, singing "Alone am I..."Beautiful dark melody... love it.
Cue friendly neighbourhood melody composing bullfrog singing "Lovely evening!" He offers his composition to Tubby to take home to his orchestra.Tubby introduces his new melody - during rehearsal for the world renowned conductor Senor Pizzicato, cue panicking from orchestra that Tubby will disgrace them again like in Singing City. However, being a progressive, Senor Pizzicato encourages him to keep going and the orchestra decide it is beautiful and all join in, asking Tubby's permission of course, Mrs Elephant, The Bullfrog and Tubby's tiny conscience all come & see Tubby starring in the full concert hall playing his melody with the orchestra now being his friends again.
The music is fantastic throughout - the songs created for this film as good as the original ones (Danny Kaye sings the original) and they are so catchy... I re watched the DVD 25 years on from when I saw it and I still know all the words and love it as much as I did then, and I am sure it contributed to my love of music, and choosing to play clarinet in an orchestra - and my hatred of violins... ;) A great movie for all ages, it's nice to have something that isn't focusing on the 'princess waiting to be saved' it's about someone who tries his hardest to get what he wants, and then overcomes being laughed at and teased and he still gets up, keeps going and he finally gets his dream - because he kept believing, being himself, being optimistic and trying. Excellent message for kids.
I still have this in my head whenever anything goes wrong: "Things could be bad, things could be better, things could be bad and they could be worse, feeling so low, can't get any lower, no place to climb, but up to the sky, cheer up! I think it's worth a try!" If you like a movie with a bit of peril along the way, and a happy ending with good music, give it a go!
The music is often times haunting, to fit the sadness of the story and uses many European traditional musical influences - of which all decent classical music does! As a child in the late 80's it taught me that bad things may happen, but you keep trying (Things could be bad) & to always be yourself (Be yourself) & come on it has Dick van Dyke in it NOT pretending to be English!
In the story, you see Tubby's conscience appears as a mini-tubby, sometimes advising him to do good things, other times bad things that get him in trouble, he leaves the orchestra who doesn't appreciate him - he causes chaos, nearly kills a music note, and insults thee violins, and then they are mean and laugh at him - He leaves and joins the circus and his little conscience comes into play, causes mayhem again and then a friendly elephant redeems him as they love his oompah to dance better than they ever have before.
He becomes famous in the circus and then fame goes to his head and he gets mean and dangerous himself and forgets how kind the elephants had been to him. He is even rude to his best friend Peewee the piccolo after he becomes the circus' main star. He needed to be knocked down a peg or two as he was becoming arrogant, and cruel as a character - his cockiness gets him in a lion pen and they bite off his trousers revealing his pants so he gets embarrassed, and realises that he should leave - and Peewee is still there as his friend and he apologises.
He leaves with Peewee and the orchestra to go to the Singing City to find his melody - his dream from the start to find something other than Oompah - yes, some of the orchestra characters are mean and laugh at Tubby, but come on, in real life you get mean people, especially kids, who laugh at each other - builds a thicker skin useful in later life!
When they get to Singing City more 'mild peril' (as Disney likes to call it) appears for Tubby.The singing cart owners (Buy an Orange!) are reminiscent of Oliver's street sellers (Who will buy?) in the Singing City. The orchestra are given a tour - Prince Cello specifically - to hold a ball to choose the most beautiful tune of all. Even the orphan melodies are allowed to attend.
Celeste - an orphan melody - captures Tubby's heart & a Miss Hannigan/Cinderella's stepmother- character runs the orphanage and refuses to let Celeste go to the ball. Tubby to the rescue!!!
I was more disturbed by the Miss H giving away the female child melodies to the adult male instruments... obviously as a child you don't notice this, but it looks a bit more sinister as an adult.
Then the Prince must judge 'the most beautiful of all...' whilst Tubby rescues Celeste - so he can 'choose her' as HIS melody.... more patriarchal nonsense!
As in real life, things don't go to plan,Thankfully, Celeste seems to be about 18 - the other melodies are half her size, making them look younger - and Prince Cello and Celeste seem to be perfect.... then poor Tubby makes a faux-pas and declares she is 'his' - shocking the orchestra but whilst dancing, it's clear Celeste's melody sounds depressing and un-tuba-like. Tubby realises that "She BELONGS to" Prince Cello... - sure she does..grr!
Cinders - sorry Celeste - & Prince Cello dance and Tubby leaves the city sadly. He sits by the river, singing "Alone am I..."Beautiful dark melody... love it.
Cue friendly neighbourhood melody composing bullfrog singing "Lovely evening!" He offers his composition to Tubby to take home to his orchestra.Tubby introduces his new melody - during rehearsal for the world renowned conductor Senor Pizzicato, cue panicking from orchestra that Tubby will disgrace them again like in Singing City. However, being a progressive, Senor Pizzicato encourages him to keep going and the orchestra decide it is beautiful and all join in, asking Tubby's permission of course, Mrs Elephant, The Bullfrog and Tubby's tiny conscience all come & see Tubby starring in the full concert hall playing his melody with the orchestra now being his friends again.
The music is fantastic throughout - the songs created for this film as good as the original ones (Danny Kaye sings the original) and they are so catchy... I re watched the DVD 25 years on from when I saw it and I still know all the words and love it as much as I did then, and I am sure it contributed to my love of music, and choosing to play clarinet in an orchestra - and my hatred of violins... ;) A great movie for all ages, it's nice to have something that isn't focusing on the 'princess waiting to be saved' it's about someone who tries his hardest to get what he wants, and then overcomes being laughed at and teased and he still gets up, keeps going and he finally gets his dream - because he kept believing, being himself, being optimistic and trying. Excellent message for kids.
I still have this in my head whenever anything goes wrong: "Things could be bad, things could be better, things could be bad and they could be worse, feeling so low, can't get any lower, no place to climb, but up to the sky, cheer up! I think it's worth a try!" If you like a movie with a bit of peril along the way, and a happy ending with good music, give it a go!
Simple, charming and delightful
TheLittleSongbird5 October 2011
I love animation, and being fond of some of the actors involved and of the puppetoon I naturally wanted to see Tubby the Tuba. Five years I got the DVD and watched it over and over. After my last viewing, only a couple of days ago, I think this movie has held up really well.
It is still the simple, charming and delightful movie I fell in love with. The sound on the DVD(probably from the repeat viewings) is occasionally rather muffled, and the movie itself could have been about 2 or 3 minutes longer.
That said, while kept simple, the animation is vibrant and colourful, with fluid backgrounds, lively colours and character designs that move well and are not overly-cute. The music is wonderful, and one of the main reasons why I love Tubby the Tuba so much. The incidental music is wholly memorable, and as for the songs- my favourite being Oom-Pah- the melodies often have me humming all day long after watching and the lyrics are clever and droll.
Very good dialogue and a simple yet delightful story are also definite things to like about Tubby the Tuba. The dialogue has many amusing and touching moments without being too complex or over-simplistic. The story as I've said is a simple, which is not a bad thing at all, yet delightful one with lots of charm and heart, is well paced, doesn't feel over-stretched and entertains and educates without preaching.
Even the characters' names are of interest. They are very fitting and sometimes funny too. Haughty Violin and Pee-Wee the Piccolo are prime examples. Tubby is one of my favourite title characters in an animated film. Throughout the film, I feel for him and I identify with him, and what's even impressive is that I don't feel as though I am forced to do so. The voice acting is terrific, Paul Tripp's narration is droll and evokes sympathy, and Pearl Bailey, Jane Powell and David Wayne's voice-overs are in tune to their fittingly named characters.
But Tubby the Tuba will always be Dick Van Dyke's film, a born entertainer who participated in many of my childhood favourites, including Mary Poppins and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Van Dyke's voice is very distinctive throughout, and entertaining anybody or making anyone identify with him comes naturally to him.
Overall, a delightful film and deserves to be better known. 8/10 Bethany Cox
It is still the simple, charming and delightful movie I fell in love with. The sound on the DVD(probably from the repeat viewings) is occasionally rather muffled, and the movie itself could have been about 2 or 3 minutes longer.
That said, while kept simple, the animation is vibrant and colourful, with fluid backgrounds, lively colours and character designs that move well and are not overly-cute. The music is wonderful, and one of the main reasons why I love Tubby the Tuba so much. The incidental music is wholly memorable, and as for the songs- my favourite being Oom-Pah- the melodies often have me humming all day long after watching and the lyrics are clever and droll.
Very good dialogue and a simple yet delightful story are also definite things to like about Tubby the Tuba. The dialogue has many amusing and touching moments without being too complex or over-simplistic. The story as I've said is a simple, which is not a bad thing at all, yet delightful one with lots of charm and heart, is well paced, doesn't feel over-stretched and entertains and educates without preaching.
Even the characters' names are of interest. They are very fitting and sometimes funny too. Haughty Violin and Pee-Wee the Piccolo are prime examples. Tubby is one of my favourite title characters in an animated film. Throughout the film, I feel for him and I identify with him, and what's even impressive is that I don't feel as though I am forced to do so. The voice acting is terrific, Paul Tripp's narration is droll and evokes sympathy, and Pearl Bailey, Jane Powell and David Wayne's voice-overs are in tune to their fittingly named characters.
But Tubby the Tuba will always be Dick Van Dyke's film, a born entertainer who participated in many of my childhood favourites, including Mary Poppins and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Van Dyke's voice is very distinctive throughout, and entertaining anybody or making anyone identify with him comes naturally to him.
Overall, a delightful film and deserves to be better known. 8/10 Bethany Cox
The first computer-animated feature?
RodMorgan3 February 2009
According to the David A. Price book, "The Pixar Touch," this production may lay claim to being the first computer-animated feature.
Developed largely by technicians without previous animation experience, even many of the people who worked on it were dismayed at how bad the animation quality was. It took a few more years before computer animation actually was recognized as the powerful tool it has become in features by Pixar and others, not to mention special effects work in many other "live action" films.
However, I note with interest that some comments dislike the story itself and don't speak to the production quality, so maybe the piece holds up after all.
PS - Fans of animation will find the Price Pixar history fascinating.
Developed largely by technicians without previous animation experience, even many of the people who worked on it were dismayed at how bad the animation quality was. It took a few more years before computer animation actually was recognized as the powerful tool it has become in features by Pixar and others, not to mention special effects work in many other "live action" films.
However, I note with interest that some comments dislike the story itself and don't speak to the production quality, so maybe the piece holds up after all.
PS - Fans of animation will find the Price Pixar history fascinating.
My kids (6 & 3) love this movie, but...
grantk15 November 2002
I really don't like it myself. Now, the grandparents got it for the kids, and they like it, so I suppose that was a success. I have two reasons for not liking this movie. First, I don't care for 20th century classical music, specifically dissonant music. There is a lot of that in this film. If the music is older, then it is older dissonant music.
Also, most of the character interaction in this movie is negative. The instruments make fun of Tubby, and drive him away. He finally catches on with the circus, but they eventually throw him out. He hooks up with an orphan melody, who herself is treated badly by other orphan melodies. There is just so much negative in this movie. Yes, there is the obligatory happy ending, but for me it is a painful journey. The overall message is keep trying, but the intermediate message is that you are going to get dumped on a lot before the good happens. To me, it also reinforces being mean, since so many characters are mean to Tubby.
However, with only 8 votes, I'm betting this movie doesn't get a lot of viewing anyway. I will admit, just about any way you can sneak classical music in front of a child is probably a good thing. But I think this story could have been better.
Also, most of the character interaction in this movie is negative. The instruments make fun of Tubby, and drive him away. He finally catches on with the circus, but they eventually throw him out. He hooks up with an orphan melody, who herself is treated badly by other orphan melodies. There is just so much negative in this movie. Yes, there is the obligatory happy ending, but for me it is a painful journey. The overall message is keep trying, but the intermediate message is that you are going to get dumped on a lot before the good happens. To me, it also reinforces being mean, since so many characters are mean to Tubby.
However, with only 8 votes, I'm betting this movie doesn't get a lot of viewing anyway. I will admit, just about any way you can sneak classical music in front of a child is probably a good thing. But I think this story could have been better.
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