Phantom Tollbooth, The

Story

Milo (played and voiced by Butch Patrick) is a bored young boy who struggles at school. One day, a magic tollbooth arrives at his home. He drives through the tollbooth in his toy car and finds himself in a magical but confusing animated world – the Kingdom of Wisdom in the Lands Beyond.

Milo travels through the many lands. These include the lazy forest of the Doldrums and the feuding kingdoms, Digitopolis (Kingdom of Mathematics) and Dictionopolis (Kingdom of Words), where the people argue about whether numbers or words are more important. As Milo travels through these lands, he makes new friends. These include Tock (voiced by Larry Thor) the ‘watchdog’ with a pocket watch in his body. Tock teaches Milo many lessons about taking action and being responsible.

Milo’s mission is to save Princess Sweet Rhyme and Princess Pure Reason from the Castle in the Air. In the end, Milo frees the princesses, leaves the Kingdom of Wisdom and returns to the real world.

Themes

Conflict; magic; prejudice; education

Violence

The Phantom Tollbooth has some violence. For example:

There’s a roadrunner-style fight between the Spelling Bee and the Humbug, but no major injuries are shown.
Some of the villains are ‘attacked’ with the words ‘humility’ and ‘kindness’, which causes them to explode or disappear.
Tock the watchdog fights a monster. He’s injured and ‘stops ticking’, but he’s OK in the end.

Sexual references

There are no sexual references in The Phantom Tollbooth.

Alcohol, drugs and other substances

There’s no use of substances in The Phantom Tollbooth.

Nudity and sexual activity

There’s no nudity and sexual activity in The Phantom Tollbooth.

Product placement

There’s no product placement in The Phantom Tollbooth.

Coarse language

The Phantom Tollbooth has some name-calling, including ‘odious wasp’, ‘didactic drone’, ‘fool’ and ‘verbose vermin’.

Also, the movie’s language is sometimes confusing and convoluted, and modern audiences might have difficulty understanding the 1970s vocabulary. It includes words like ‘dyne’, ‘doff’, ‘hubbub’, ‘doldrums’, ‘ragamuffin’ and ‘rigmarole’.

Ideas to discuss with your children

The Phantom Tollbooth is a 1970s comic action adventure that combines live-action and animation. Based on the highly regarded 1961 book of the same name by Norman Juster, this movie is likely to appeal to a family audience. It’s entertaining and includes funny wordplay and adventures that children and parents are sure to enjoy.

The Phantom Tollbooth has mild violence and scary imagery, so we recommend parental guidance for children aged 4-7 years.

The main messages from The Phantom Tollbooth are about the importance of thinking, seeking knowledge, learning new things and trying your best.

Values in The Phantom Tollbooth that you could reinforce with your children include responsibility, education, friendship, cooperation, conflict resolution and perseverance.