The Point! was the sixth studio album by Harry Nilsson, as well as this film, which was directed by Fred Wolf, who would go on to help make the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle cartoon and the TV special Free to Be You and Me.

Yes, the creative force behind Son of Dracula helped make a cartoon and it's exactly what you'd want it to be.

Originally airing as The ABC Movie of the Week on February 2, 1971, this film first featured Dustin Hoffman in a framing sequence. Hoffman would only allow his voice to be used for the initial airing, so his part is dubbed by Alan Barzman. On some releases, Ringo Starr and Alan Thicke did this part.

It tells the story of round-headed Oblio (Mike Lookinland from The Brady Bunch) who wears a pointed hat to fit in. However, once the king's son knocks his hat off after being bested in a game of Triangle Toss, Oblio is kicked out.

Our hero and his dog Arrow are sent to the Pointless Forrest, where they somehow learn that even things that don't have a point really have a point, in spite of themselves. They tell everyone this news and the king's son knocks off Oblio's hat to reveal that he now has a point at the very same time that everyone loses theirs.

In 1977, a stage version of The Point! played in London, with Monkees members and Nilsson friends Davy Jones and Micky Dolenz appearing.

It's worth watching and appreciating, perhaps even more today than it was in 1971.

I can remember back in 1971 when the film THE POINT first aired on TV. Featuring the music of acclaimed composer and singer Harry Nilsson it was an immediate hit. In addition to the show being popular on TV the soundtrack was a best seller featuring the single "Me and My Arrow" from the show. And then it sort of disappeared. I can't recall if it ever aired again but other versions popped up in various locales. It was released on VHS and disc but to no acclaim. Now it arrives from MVD with a new group of extras to enjoy.

For those who've never seen it the movie has a father reading the story to his young son, trying to encourage his imagination. That story revolves around a land where everything and everyone has a point, literally. The buildings have pointed roofs and everyone has a pointed head. And then a young boy named Oblio is born with a round head. Oblio is accepted to a point (pun intended). But when he beats a bully at school at a game called triangles, the boy's father the Count will settle for nothing less than banishing Oblio from the Land of Points.

Banished to the Pointless Forest along with his faithful dog Arrow, Oblio encounters numerous characters as he finds his way through the world. Among them is a rock man, a swarm of bees and throughout his journey a pointless man who points in every direction at once. Each of the characters lends themselves to helping him move forward and teaching him along the way that having no point is a point in itself.

The combination of story used to, well, make a point combined with the music of Nilsson was an enjoyable treat most watching TV wouldn't expect. The animation used was minimal and simplistic to some but fueled by pop art and the time and images that were twisted and mind warping as well. Just three years after the Beatles YELLOW SUBMARINE feature film, it's reminiscent of that.

The soundtrack was a hit for Nilsson and that single, "Me and My Arrow", has been heard not only on the radio but in commercials as well. It remains one of his most familiar tunes. Fortunately this wasn't the only song Nilsson brought the world and his passing in 1994 at age 52 was a loss to the music world.

Here's the kicker about this new release from MVD. The movie is presented with a 2K High Definition transfer presented in its original aspect ratio. While that might sound great the actual copy used leaves something to be desired, with scratches at various moments. But when that's all you have to work with you realize how important archiving movies being made is and how many like this deserve to be saved before they all fall to degradation.

Making up for that shortcoming the folks at MVD have added plenty of new extras to be enjoyed. Those include "The Kid's Got a Point: An Interview with Mike Lookinland" who did the voice of Oblio, "That Old Guy Wrote The Point" a conversation with screenwriter Norm Lenzer, "Everybody's Got A Point: Kiefo Nilsson and Bobby Halvorson on Adapting The Point", "Nilsson on Screen" a near feature length documentary about Nilsson including biographer Alyn Shipton and friends on his film projects and appearances, "The Making of The Point" a four part featurette and a collectible poster for the film.

If you remember and loved this from your childhood it's worth picking up. If you have you kids around it's worth adding to your collection. And if you simply enjoy animated films that are remarkable in a different sort of way, then by all means you need this film. It's well worth investing in.

I was not around to witness the time when this animated TV movie first hit the airwaves (that was about fifteen years before I was born),but can recall hearing the album, featuring musical artist Harry Nilsson (who wrote the fable) as the narrator, as well as the songs he contributed to the story, perhaps as far back as I can remember, or close to it. I don't recall seeing this cartoon until I was around seven/eight years old, but after that, it soon became a favourite of mine, and I watched it a number of times for a while. Yesterday, I rented it on DVD to watch for the first time in a while. About fourteen years ago, I would definitely have been able to give it a 10/10, which isn't quite the case now, but I still found merits in the film.

In a town where everyone has a point on the top of their head, and everything is also pointed, something happens that it seems has never happened in the community before. A child is born without a pointed head. He is named Oblio, and during his childhood, he gets a dog with a pointed snout named Arrow and turns out to be quite popular, but one kid who doesn't like him is the nasty son of the evil count! One day, the two compete in a popular game in the town called triangle toss, where the players try to catch a triangle with the point on their head. With the help of Arrow, who can catch it with his snout, Oblio wins. The count wants his son to rule someday, and after hearing about his defeat in the game, he is outraged! He realizes that Oblio is a threat to his son ever ruling, so he tells the king how this boy is an outlaw, due to the fact that he doesn't have a pointed head. Although the king is good, and likes Oblio, he is weak-kneed and gives in to the count's demands. After a trail, the boy and his dog are banished to the Pointless Forest. While there, they find themselves on a psychedelic adventure, encountering unusual creatures they've never seen before, and this journey turns out to be quite educational!

"The Point" is a rather bizarre story, and Nilsson made it clear that it was inspired by an acid trip, but it's also a clever story with a moral. I know I'm not the first to point this out, but it's lesson in tolerance, which I may not have quite understood as a kid, but do now. The animation in this 1971 TV special is sketchy, and not completely coloured, which could disappoint some people, but I think I've always liked it. The story may be touching a times (during the sad farewell scene as Oblio leaves for the Pointless Forest, for example). Oblio meets some very interesting and memorable characters in the Pointless Forest, such as the three-headed Pointed Man (who is ironically quite pointless, though maybe not when he says, "A point in every direction is the same as having no point at all."),the Rock Man, the Leaf Man, etc. There's also humour in the cartoon, especially during Leaf Man sequence, in my opinion, with the first words he says to Oblio and Arrow. I most certainly can't forget the bunch of songs from Nilsson featured in the film and on the album, which are a big part of the both, and ones I've enjoyed many times.

I really don't know what I would have thought if I had just seen "The Point" for the first time at my age. It may have left me confused, though it also may have grown on me with more viewings. It definitely seems more bizarre and a bit less entertaining to me now than it did when I watched it when I was eight years old, but I definitely understand it more now than I did before, and I've never been a stoner, in case you were wondering. Also, I used to always see the TV version, taped off TV, with Dustin Hoffman as the narrator. Renting it on DVD, I finally got to see the home video version for the first time, featuring Ringo Starr as the narrator instead. This was a little different, but Ringo also did a good job, so it was worth hearing his voice in the cartoon. I'm sure kids today could really enjoy this psychedelic cartoon just like I did, and I'm sure many adults can as well, and can have a better understanding of the message. Perhaps the same goes with adolescents. If you like psychedelic cartoons from this era, like, let's say, "Yellow Submarine", there's probably a good chance you'd like this one.