The Water Babies

Water Babies is a Victorian tale about a very young chimney sweep named Thomas (Tommy Pender) who becomes a fugitive from justice after being falsely accused of stealing the silver. Fearing the gallows (the punishment in those days for thievery), he jumps into a river, drowns, becomes a water baby and embarks on a series of adventures. For many people, this film was very childish, farcical and generally not good. Admittedly, it is not a great film by any means. Director Lionel Jeffries did far better with "The Runaway Children," but this film has its charms.

To begin with, Lionel Jeffries depicts life in Victorian England far more effectively than Franco Zefferelli ever did in Jane Eyre. It is one thing to dress actors in Victorian costumes, create sumptuous looking sets and have everyone speak in aristocratic accents, but quite another to bring the spirit of the Victorian age to the screen. Lionel Jeffries has a gift for doing that, whether it is with the scene in the pub where Tom is subjected to physical abuse and then given hard liquor by Mr. Grimes (James Mason) and Mr. Masterman (Bernard Cribbins) or in Hartover Hall, where we see the supreme pomposity and confidence exhibited by Sir John Hartover (played very well by David Tomlinson). The surreal touches are also very interesting.

Now the bulk of the film is animation. Many reviewers have criticized the animated part for its poor graphics. No doubt, they are right. But this is my point -- who cares? Maybe I am old fashioned, but I did not care when they improved the graphics for the Nintendo games or when they combined computer animation with the older animation for the movie Alladin. That apparently matters to some people -- usually the kind of people who complain about the texture of food. But for me, as long as I can see the pictures on the screen, I am content. The bigger problem was with the songs, which children will find enchanting, but which I (and probably many adults) found childish and a waste of time.

But with that said, this film has enough charming, good natured and funny characters to delight even adults. Characters like the lobster, the sea horse, the sword fish, the Krakon (whose bark is worse than his bite), the walrus, the polar bear and even some of the water babies (when they are not singing). Elly (Samantha Gates), the niece of Sir John, is also a delightful sweetheart.

I absolutely LOVED this movie as a child. I can't seem to find it anywhere! I was mentioning it to some friends just the other day, and not a single one of them remembers it! Can anyone help me out? My older sister vaguely remembers it. There was also another movie I remember that was half live action and half animation, but I can't remember the name of it. The characters were animated and the background was real...I seem to remember it being about a kangaroo, and I believe the setting of the film was in Australia. I'm going out of my mind trying to obtain copies of these films that were such a memorable part of my very enjoyable childhood. Edit: I searched IMDb for this other movie and found out it's called Dot and the Kangaroo! All I had to do was type in "kangaroo" in the search bar under characters, and the name of the movie in the list was like a bell going off! MAN, I love IMDb! Thanks!

I read the above comment and cannot believe it! Of course its a children's movie, its an adaptation of a children's book!! This film IS easy to get a hold of, try play.com or amazon and its very easy to gain a copy! The jokes are hilarious for kids and adults alike, and the adventure is clean with no violence! Its completely suitable for children of all ages! The songs are fab, and yes, a little repetitive but thats what children need and whilst watching it my little ones were heard singing "hi hi cocalorum" all night! They loved it, a story of innocence and friendship! Very lovely and well worth watching for kids and adults of all ages!

How times have changed. When this film was made in 1978 its content was deemed perfectly acceptable for children.

Set in the Victorian age, it features a young child, Tom, who is beaten and forced into slavery by his two masters, most notably Bernard Cribbins as Masterman, and is often to be heard uttering exclamations such as the one above. His life is so horrific that as he passes through a town square (with a bare-knuckle fist-fight in full flow), his only escape is to drown himself. That's right, a children's film where suicide is seen as an acceptable form of salvation.

Once underwater things get a little less entertaining, as the voices of David Jason, Una Stubbs and Jon Pertwee combine with an unconvincing animation to tell the story of Tom's destiny as a "water baby". There are four or five songs throughout this segment, though they are chiefly forgettable, with only "Hicocalorum" managing - just - to remain in the cerebrum a day after viewing.

Tom emerges from the lake and it all comes to an end, with the revelation that a deformed old bag woman was his guardian angel. Well, at least it didn't adhere to traditional stereotypes and managed a PC characterisation ahead of its time. And the film? Hopelessly dated, and with vastly inappropriate elements for a family movie, it contains a perverse sort of enjoyment.

My childhood was never the same. He was but a simple chimney sweep and then these whistles kept going off & women kept winking at him until it all got to much for him & he jumped in a river & became a cartoon.& things got even more wavy.