I've been a fan of The Point since the album came out. The marker-drawn animation of the movie is a bit rough, some elements are somewhat clichéd, and there are a few differences between the movie and the album, but it's a good movie for kids and it teaches an important lesson about intolerance. I do prefer the album, however. I enjoyed Harry Nilsson's easy-going narration and the pace was more lively than the movie, with narration handling the story and the dialogue. I don't know why the sound track has stayed with me all these decades, but I still remember the lyrics to a number of the songs. I hadn't played the album since the mid 70's, but the story of Oblio stayed with me. When, as a graphic designer, I created a mascot for the company, it turned out to be inspired by Arrow. It is good these days to remind people that those who run around with points on their heads cannot overcome the forces of unity and oneness.

This is definitely a must see. I first saw it in the early 70s and loved it. Years later, when my kids were 4, 5 and 6 while at a video store I rented it for them. It brought great such joy to all of us - I wound up buying the video. When my son got his first dog, he named him "Arrow,". This movie has a wonderful message, and great songs. Now that it's on DVD, I will definitely buy it for my grandsons!!!!

I have a fragmentary recollection of seeing this film when I was a kid and liking it back in the 1970's when it played on network TV. I recently re-watched it with my nephew Max, who is in 2nd grade and will be 8 years old in two months.Probably the most important thing to say is that the movie held Max's attention very well, his eyes were riveted to the screen, and that he liked it very much, except for some of the musical interludes, which he thought were 'wierd,' especially the song where the whale dies and decomposes. (Of course, me being a sophisticated adult, I thought that song was probably the most profound and poetic, but I can see where Max was coming from.) Based on the fact that Max appears to be a fairly typical real kid, who plays games on the Wii, who normally watches Adventure Time, the Ninja Turtles, and Sponge Bob, I would say that it is likely that other real world kids of today are likely to enjoy this movie as well.As an adult, I find a number of reasons to recommend this movie for grown-ups and kids to watch together: 1. It's nice to find a kid-friendly film that isn't part of a mass merchandising campaign, which is now always the case regarding Disney and Pixar and Shreck movies, not to mention crap like GI Joe, Transformers, and My Little Pony. After watching this, it's unlikely your kid is going be asking for an Oblio action figure, and if he does ask, you won't find that action figure at the Target store.2. Animation: This film has full-animation as opposed to the cheap-looking 'limited' animation that you see in the Hanna Barberra stuff from this period. Also, the drawing and coloring appears to have been done all by hand, giving the moving images a hand-made kind of quality, which is endearing to adults, and which might serve to inspire kids to pursue their own artistic endeavors. All in all, it's a refreshing change from computer animation and the other super-perfect stuff made today.3. The narration and dialog is often clever and amusing, even insightful at times. The voice actors are all good, in particular, Mike Lookinland, who sounded so much like a real and natural kid, I did not recognize him as being one of the sickeningly saccharine Brady Bunch kids. A lot of the reviewers her on IMDb lament that Dustin Hoffman's original narration has been lost, and I of course always regret when a piece of art is not preserved intact, but Ringo Starr, besides being an old friend to the adults, tends to be popular with kids as well (hence his former gig as the narrator for Thomas the Tank Engine).4. I'm dubious that all of the songs will appeal to kids, but at least they didn't cause Max to walk out. As an adult, and being ambivalent about a lot of Harry Nilson's music, I can say that most of the musical numbers I quite enjoyed. At least with the musical numbers, that is a good time for the kid to go the bathroom or to put some fruit or Ritz Bitz on a little plate for him.5. The morals of the fable, regarding the somewhat arbitrary criteria we use to determine whether an activity has a 'point,' and regarding tolerance and acceptance of the differences between persons, are good morals for kids to learn.On the whole, I found this to be a fun, sincere, unique, surprising and heartfelt piece of video that grown-ups and kids can watch together.

My father would always talk about this movie growing up. He owns the record, which in time, found myself listening to his music. But I'd never seen the film. When I heard the DVD was available I quickly logged on, bought it and flew back home all the way from California to NY to surprise my dad. We made a night out of watching it, only for him to say that it was not the film he'd seen. But this wasn't because of the narration, as I've read from others reviews. He says it was animated differently. IS THIS TRUE?? Has anyone ever seen a different LOOKING version? I'm curious to see the "original" if that is the case.