Milo is a bored kid. He goes home and finds a box which unfolds into one genuine turnpike tollbooth. It presents a fantastical world beyond. As he drives the given car through the tollbooth, he turns into a cartoon character in an animated world.From the mind of Chuck Jones based on a children's book, this is a wild and imaginative road trip. It's got the charms of the Chuck Jones animation. The Doldrums are a little tiring. My sympathetic yawns almost put me to sleep. A bored kid is not the most compelling protagonist. It would be nice to have an ultimate goal or destination. The Castle in the Air sounds cool but meaningless. It would be better if he has a reason to get there. If the aimless Milo gets a goal from the start, he can learn to be proactive and curious from the quest. There is the central theme of not wasting time but I don't completely agree with the whole premise. It can get scattered with the weird wacky numerous characters. It rambles around and around. For Chuck Jones fans, this lesser known movie is a must. For everybody else, this may be an exercise in animation only.

SPOILER ALERT!!! I haven't watched the movie, but if it is anything like the book, then it is really a waste of your time. Milo hates his life and then he magically gets imported to a magical land of metaphors, not wisdom. And in the end, after his self-changing journey, he goes back to Earth and of course, classically, only one hour has passed. And then he looks at the world differently. He notices small things; he loves school and everything much more. It's definitely different from Modern Movies. I would rate this as a very bad book. Especially because about every one to three chapters, a bunch of characters are jumping from one place to the next ("Jumping to Conclusions") and there are about 50 characters in the whole book, and I lost track after Milo, Tock, Tick, The Mathemagician, King Azaz, Rhyme, Reason, The Humbug and the Which. Also, if you are looking for a realistic read, never read this book. It's very fantasy, except it's not actually a "fantasy", because there is nothing good that happens in it! If you are going to read it, get it from the library. Don't waste your money.

I remember this film I was always fondly attached to, mainly because its just such an enjoyable little film. It encompasses that nostalgic feel of animations together with a lovely and quite innocent little story. When I was younger, I didn't exactly pay much attention to the plot, but the idea of being able to get into a car that builds itself in your room and somehow become animated was just exhilarating to my young imagination and it probably will be to other children of that age.The film begins with Milo, a young boy with way too much time on his hands. Spending another bored afternoon in his apartment, he comes across a strange present in his living room. Opening it up, a tollbooth and car magically form. On the tollbooth, a megaphone gives Milo instructions to get in the car and enter the tollbooth, taking him into another world of mad fun. This world has every strange creature that was ever conceived going around at once. It has the sludge like dull-drums which feed off the exhaustion of those who are unfortunate to travel within their swamp like surroundings and a Police Officer on one wheel who enjoys branding people Guilty until proved innocent on some of the most moronic charges. After a while, he comes across Tock the Dog, a Guard Dog with an Alarm Clock ticking inside him. Together, he and Milo travel to the Kingdom of Words where they meet the Humbug (a sarcastic charlatan who is rather simple minded) and the King of Words, who is in a feud with his brother, the King of Maths after the pair disagreed on whether Maths or Words were more important. Soon Milo finds himself on a quest with Tock and the Humbug to find the Princesses locked in the Castle in the Air, who hope to restore order and peace to the world. After stopping off at the King of Maths, the trio are now armed with the tools needed to face the various ghouls and demons that await them on their journey ahead. Can Milo and his friends make it to the Castle? Can they successfully defeat the dangerous monsters that await them? Only the movie can tell you...

Not a great movie. I was only 5 when it came out and don't remember if my parents took me to see it. I have watched it as an adult and found it to be boring. The plot about a boy who finds life meaningless and dull - discovers a box in his room that takes him to an animated world of words and numbers and to me just plain gibberish which most small kids will find boring and not understand the puns or jokes. They may enjoy the animation and the live action sequences with Butch "Eddie Munster"Patrick but everything else will be over their heads and boring.One thing I did notice was that the character of Milo is supposed to be 10, Butch Patrick was going on 15 when this movie was filmed - however he does look like a much younger kid than 15. The dialog Milo spouts at the beginning is very adult for a kid of that age too -Like "What's the point of it all "" There's no rhyme or reason to life"? What 10 y/o would say things like that and where are his parents ? They never show any adults in his life. Simply that he needs to love life more ,the theme songs and such are really weird. Like this kid needs to see a shrink or something .Then at the end of the movie the box flys off and his friend whom he is talking to sees it in his bedroom. So we are to believe that every bored kid gets a Phantom Tollbooth to improve his outlook on life. Definitely not for kids unless you want to put them to sleep and yourself to sleep as well. I noticed that it was shelved for 2 yrs before being released, not a good sign and not promoted either, I don't think it would have mattered - banking on kids wanting to go see it again and again -no way and of course it bombed at the box office. 2/10 stars - Not worth watching except maybe for die hard Chuck Jones animation fans.