Beystiman It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

SpunkySelfTwitter It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.

Sameer Callahan It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

Jakoba True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

jfarms1956 Cricket on the Hearth is a good family movie or for those who love Christmas and are romantic at heart. The movie is fairly short. It can be seen by the children in the afternoon or with the family at night in early prime time. The musical numbers are delightful. The story is okay. Cricket on the Hearth should be a movie staple at Christmastime, like A Christmas Carol. It is a movie that is light hearted and there is little conflict within the movie. Popcorn and soda would be good with this movie. Stringing popcorn for the tree and decorating the house is a good activity while watching this movie. It does move along quickly, but the plot is not a difficult plot to follow so you don't need to see everything -- just listen to the story and the music. Enjoy

TheLittleSongbird Cricket on the Hearth oddly enough does have some things that are good. The stylised painting style visuals during the songs were quite nice, far more appealing than the animation style of the rest of the movie(though understandably some may find it jarring). Danny Thomas does an excellent job, the voices are done with professionalism and the moments with Bertha and her father are lovingly tender, which I did love. Unfortunately, the rest of Cricket on the Hearth I did find horrible. I found the songs unmemorable and with no sense of life at all and some even don't have anything to do with the story or what's going on in the scene. The writing has no charm and heart and the more humorous parts are very unfunny. The characters are shallow, the only character with some essence of likability is Bertha, the cricket is annoying and mean-spirited and the villain is similarly insipid. The animals also had no relevance to the story. The animation for much of the special has a lot of dull colours which make the already uninteresting backgrounds all the more drab. The character designs are equally unappealing with everybody drawn in a deflated way. But it was the story that fared worst. If I had not known that Cricket on the Hearth was a loose animated adaptation of A Christmas Carol I honestly would never have known it was to do with Christmas. Instead of warming my heart or amusing or moving me, it bored and depressed me with its often mean-spirited(murder, kidnapping), all-over-the-place and weird storytelling. Bertha and her father have some tender moments, but they are not enough to inject any kind of warmth. Those of her and Edward were the kind that we have seen so many times before and explored much more convincingly, it was all too bland and clichéd. All in all, horrible save a few things, one of the worst Rankin/Bass have ever done. 3/10 Bethany Cox

arnomation Like most people I'd never seen this special (though being a Rankin & Bass fan I knew of it) and as it was included in the collection I was finally able to see it. I have to say though, that it's not difficult to understand why it has rarely been seen since it's release. Unlike the rest of the Rankin & Bass specials, this one somehow looks dated and doesn't quite have the charm of the rest of their efforts. I don't think the character design was the best they'd ever done either. It was good up to a point and had some good music for the kids so I won't give it a zero but I didn't find it all that interesting and what happened next totally turned me off to it forever. ***SPOILER WARNING***The biggest shocker came about halfway through. There is a scene (which I can't understand why it wasn't cut or wasn't changed in some way) that I was very, very disappointed to see. At one point the cricket is kidnapped by the typical bad-guy henchman and delivered to a sea captain and when they ask to be paid the sea captain says "I have your payment right here' and pulls out a gun and murders them!!! Bang! Bang! Bang! Are you kidding me??? I couldn't believe what I was seeing!!! They don't actually show it but you see a long shot of the boat and the flashes from the gun muzzle. Unbelievable. I don't have to tell you how uncomfortable it is on Christmas Eve trying to explain what just happened to your two young children who were expecting to see a nice Christmas video with their parents. If you like that sort of thing then give it a look but we won't be watching 'The Cricket On The Hearth' in our house anytime soon.

IndLightBulbFilm I watched this the other day and found it to be a great animated film. If you have ever seen it you would know that it was based on the not so well known Charles Dickins novel of the same name. Truly a great film, with great animation for the time when it actually came out. This is a must have for any Christmas fanatic and for any film collector, but be warned, this is very hard to find...on DVD or VHS. I HAVE found this film on DVD and if you want it you better search fast because it is at Papa John's as a promotion for a limited time. They really did a good job on the film for 1967 and it will stay a staple in my traditions for films on Christmas for the rest of my life. A true masterpiece that all need to see.