...and trampled many a little girl's heart in doing so (assuming little girls were watching Siskel and Ebert when the film hit the theatres).I had vague recollections of Rainbow Brite. Most of them were of a corporate marketing creation, designed to garnish money through the promotion of toys, books, cards, a TV series, and, ultimately, a feature film.No, I did not see this in the theater, but I remember catching portions of it on cable a year or so later. I finally sat down to see why people (mostly parents) were giving Rainbow's motion picture debut a unanimous thumbs down. Fast forward twenty-years, and a DVD of that same film comes out. And after a viewing I have some observations.The bare bones of a good story are there, but the execution is horrid. The character design is standard stuff for offshore animation-big heads and over-sized eyes to accentuate "cuteness," but done with a western bent, presumably to make the character appeal to a North American and European audience (though I don't know if Rainbow ever emigrated across the Atlantic). But the actual animation, the movement and presentation of the story, is the absolute worst I've ever seen for an animated feature film.All the cutesy girlish overtones, inflections, vocals and themes aside, none of which bothered this viewer (however uninteresting I found them), the actual technical aspects of the film, the staccato motions, poorly drawn perspectives, inclusion of off-shore animation gags and other techniques, really make watching this film an ordeal. The basic story is fine, but the presentation is the absolute worst I've ever come across for a major animated film.To myself it's excessively clear that Halmark, and any companies holding hands with them, were out to mimic the Japanese media-toy marketing model. A model that they had fine tuned years before it was ever introduced into the United States, and ultimately, and deservedly, failed in the long run.Which is a real shame, because the character of Rainbow Brite is actually a very responsible, albeit naive (as children are apt to be), caring and ingenious little girl. She's a heartfelt character created for the sole desire to snatch a percentage of parents' pay-cheques, and the film's technical quality demonstrates that all too clearly.The film relies almost solely on what are called "key" animation frames, with practically no (or very few) "inbetweens"-the drawings created between the key segments to smooth out and sell the character's motion to the audience. In short, it ain't Disney.And this is a real shame, because there's room for improvement. To mothers and grandmothers across the land who remember Rainbow Bright, do yourselves a favor and watch Rainbow Brite, then watch a Disney feature of your choice. Then decide which one you prefer. And from that choice, decide which is best for your daughter.In the meantime, I'll go alone with Siskel and Ebert, and give this thing the obligatory thumbs down.*EDIT* Rescreen June 12th, 2013 Well, I got a pirated copy (which I did not know was going to be a pirate) in the mail, and all I can say is I now see why I donated my original DVD. A kids' film yes. A good one? No.

wow! this was a great movie! i just got it from the u.s. and it was worth all the money i gave for it! this movie is one of the best movies for children i have ever seen, maybe the best!!! all you who like rainbow brite, must see this 1 ! the first 7 minutes, you can not believe what you see! it's so great!!!scooter.

I watched this movie as a child and still enjoy viewing it every once in a while for the nostalgia factor. When I was younger I loved the movie because of the entertaining storyline and interesting characters. Today, I still love the characters. Additionally, I think of the plot with higher regard because I now see the morals and symbolism. Rainbow Brite is far from the worst film ever, and though out-dated, I'm sure I will show it to my children in the future, when I have children.

This movie is awesome due to the fact that it showed how good cartoons really looked in the 80s,the animators were not lazy like they are today,the cartoon had so much detail with very little resources they have with them compared with what we have today.If more people would request these cartoons to be rebroadcast then maybe all of the other 80s cartoons would be shown on television once again,therefore to finish my sentence i would just like to say that this was a cartoon that i grew up with and really would like it to be on tv once again.