A Cricket in Times Square (NR, 1973)

Chester, a Connecticut field cricket, accidentally hitches a ride in a picnic basket to New York City, where a boy named Mario gives him a home at a failing Times Square newsstand. There Chester meets Tucker the mouse and his sophisticated cat friend Harry, who convince the homesick cricket to stop pining for the country and give the city a try. Chester stays, and learns that he has a special talent. By rubbing his wings together like a bow to a violin, he can play back any tune he hears on the radio. Subway patrons stop to listen, awed by his perfect pitch. Soon the little newsstand is thriving, but fame can't silence the voice within that calls Chester back to the fields of home.

Because George Selden's classic children's book is so warm and endearing, one would expect that Chuck Jones, the master behind How the Grinch Stole Christmas as well as some of the truly great Warner Brothers cartoons, would work magic on the story. Sadly, he didn't. A CRICKET IN TIMES SQUARE lacks visual flair -- surprising, considering the source. The whole thing feels rushed, and unreasonable sacrifices are made in story and character development in order to squeeze it into a too-tight half-hour timeframe.

The animated characters are far less engaging than they are in their original literary form. The cat, Harry, serves no purpose at all, and Chester the cricket is an altogether bland creation, with a weak voice and a face made up of two dots and a curved line. With no one in the story to really care about, hardly any action to propel them, and very little humor to distract from its other failings, this program doesn't offer children much to get excited about. Even the altruistic gesture it all leads up to falls flat.