Cannon Movie Tales version of the Rumpelstiltskin story. I enjoy quite a few of these movies, despite their low budgets and high cheese factor, but this one is not good. Amy Irving plays the woman who, when forced to spin straw into gold, turns to the magical dwarf Rumpelstiltskin for help. In her thirties by this point, Irving is too old for a part that seems to be written with a woman in her late teens or early twenties in mind. This movie is a family affair for Irving. Her brother David wrote and directed it (his first of three Cannon Movie Tales films) and her mother, Priscilla Pointer, plays the nasty Queen. Even her stepfather, Robert Symonds, gets in on the act and plays her father here. Billy Barty plays the title character and clearly is having a good time, which goes a long way towards making this work as much as it does. His constant rhyming gets old quickly, though. Clive Revill plays the gold-hungry King and appears to be having quite a good time himself. John Moulder-Brown, with his ridiculous wig and all-kinds-of-wrong mustache, is the weakest part of the cast. As with all these Cannon fairy tale films, they take a short story and stretch it to the breaking point. This has some truly putrid songs that will test your will to live. The production values are not good and the film looks drab and cheap at all times. The cheapness is never more evident than the gold straw that is obviously just Christmas tinsel. It's really a stinker and I wouldn't recommend you start with this one if you are wanting to try out the Cannon Movie Tales series.

Billy Barty is Rumplestilskin. good enough for me. any movie that showcases Barty's acting talent is watchable for that alone. this also happens to be a Cannon Farietale family musical, and i'm partial to those, so that makes for double enjoyment here.this also has Amy Irving. cool. she was in 'Carrie' and 'The Fury'. cool. i love those horror flicks. she's good in this movie and does a decent job of singing and is often pretty funny too. can't say Irving is one of my favorite actresses or anything, but i've always liked her and been aware of her even though i don't seem to know anything about her. she's always seemed a likable enough presence in film.the songs here are nice although i doubt they'll stop any show sometime soon. but i guess if forgettable tripe like 'The Fantastiks' can go on to become one of the longest running musical plays in theater history, than i suppose the music here will more than suffice. compare this musical score with say 'Stop the World' or the musical version of 'Lost Horizon' and you might rethink the music score here as fresh and breezy in contrast with that muck.i liked this. i like Cannon Farie Tale musicals and i like fairy tale films in general. as long as they are the authentic thing and not just a bunch of revisionist hogwash. that's what is so often good about the Cannon Farie Tales, they don't attempt to rewrite the Fairy tales and usually present them as straight forward as possible.personally, i liked Shelley Duvall's 'Rumplestilskin' better. probably because i think that Herve Villechaize is a more interesting actor than Barty. with due respect to Barty of course. i just don't think that Barty's career had the same cutting edge to it that Villechaize's did.it's pretty easy to recommend Cannon Farie Tales to families. they are wholesome and unoffensive and pretty good for kids in terms of quality and intellect. they are definitely smarter property than what is usually sold to kids and families. with the recent trend and interest in fairy tales, Cannon also offers the more genuine thing without a bunch of big studio marketing rewrite.

"Rumpelstiltskin" is another Cannon Movie Tale that does a fine job with it's classic material. Few film versions of "Rumpelstiltskin" have been made, so it's lucky they did right by the story. Amy Irving as Katie, the miller's daughter is lovely, and sings well, too. Billy Barty is a suitably creepy Rumpelstiltskin. The true stars, however, are Clive Revill as the greedy King,and Priscilla Pointer (Amy Irving's real-life mother) as the snobbish Queen. Both give intentionally hammy performances which are delightful to watch. The supporting cast includes John Moulder Brown as the Prince, Director David Irving's wife Susan Berlin as the cook's wife (star Amy Irving is his sister) and Robert Symonds, husband of Pointer, and Irving's stepfather as the Miller. Good songs, good period atmosphere, good movie.

Not really *LOL* but I do like her opening song. The rest kind've stink, and only Billy Barty is really good in it... but he's good in everything! Definately for children. They'll love it! If you have children, and you aren't sure whether the story is too scary for them or not, just sit with them in your arms and let them bury their face in your shoulder. They'll never need you to sit with them again!