BEWARE OF FALSE REVIEWS & REVIEWERS. SOME REVIEWERS HAVE ONLY ONE REVIEW TO THEIR NAME. NOW WHEN ITS A POSITIVE REVIEW THAT TELLS ME THEY WERE INVOLVED WITH THE MOVIE. IF ITS A NEGATIVE REVIEW THEN THEY MIGHT HAVE A GRUDGE AGAINST THE FILM . NOW I HAVE REVIEWED OVER 300 HOLIDAY FILMS. I HAVE NO AGENDA.Cricket on the Hearth is a Christmas special produced by Rankin/Bass, and based on the story of the same title by Charles Dickens..A talking cricket helps an impoverished toy maker and his daughter, who has been blinded after hearing her beloved is lost at sea. It is book-ended by live-action segments hosted by Danny Thomas.Not a bad special but this 1967 Television special has too many songs and none of them are very good. What does work is Television Icons Marlo Thomas and Danny Thomas bring life into an otherwise lifeless script.

Cricket on the Hearth oddly enough does have some things that are good. The stylised painting style visuals during the songs were quite nice, far more appealing than the animation style of the rest of the movie(though understandably some may find it jarring). Danny Thomas does an excellent job, the voices are done with professionalism and the moments with Bertha and her father are lovingly tender, which I did love. Unfortunately, the rest of Cricket on the Hearth I did find horrible. I found the songs unmemorable and with no sense of life at all and some even don't have anything to do with the story or what's going on in the scene. The writing has no charm and heart and the more humorous parts are very unfunny. The characters are shallow, the only character with some essence of likability is Bertha, the cricket is annoying and mean-spirited and the villain is similarly insipid. The animals also had no relevance to the story. The animation for much of the special has a lot of dull colours which make the already uninteresting backgrounds all the more drab. The character designs are equally unappealing with everybody drawn in a deflated way. But it was the story that fared worst. If I had not known that Cricket on the Hearth was a loose animated adaptation of A Christmas Carol I honestly would never have known it was to do with Christmas. Instead of warming my heart or amusing or moving me, it bored and depressed me with its often mean-spirited(murder, kidnapping), all-over-the-place and weird storytelling. Bertha and her father have some tender moments, but they are not enough to inject any kind of warmth. Those of her and Edward were the kind that we have seen so many times before and explored much more convincingly, it was all too bland and clichéd. All in all, horrible save a few things, one of the worst Rankin/Bass have ever done. 3/10 Bethany Cox

I watched this the other day and found it to be a great animated film. If you have ever seen it you would know that it was based on the not so well known Charles Dickins novel of the same name. Truly a great film, with great animation for the time when it actually came out. This is a must have for any Christmas fanatic and for any film collector, but be warned, this is very hard to find...on DVD or VHS. I HAVE found this film on DVD and if you want it you better search fast because it is at Papa John's as a promotion for a limited time. They really did a good job on the film for 1967 and it will stay a staple in my traditions for films on Christmas for the rest of my life. A true masterpiece that all need to see.

The next time you see a cricket chirping around your house, LEAVE HIM BE! It is well known that cricket's bring good luck. And if you are lucky enough to have a cricket on your hearth, so much the better. In fact, if you are lucky enough to have seen "The Cricket on the Hearth" you're luckier than most.This cell-animated special was released by Rankin/Bass right after their first big hit "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" and, I think anyway, it's almost as good. It's a great shame that it's so hard to come by. Look for it on ABCFamily's "25 Days of Christmas."Based on the Charles Dickens story (no, not THAT Dickens story) Roddy MacDowall plays the Cricket, who decides to grace the home of Caleb and his daughter, blinded after suffering tremendous grief. The highlight of this special is the wonderful vocal performance of Danny Thomas (joined by real life daughter, Marlo) and the wonderful song he sings.I like this special, and if you aren't convinced, this entry didn't even EXIST on the database until I suggested it a few weeks ago. Merry Christmas one and all and may you be as lucky as a Cricket on the Hearth.