"Maria d'Oro und Bello Blue" or "Maria d'oro" or "Once Upon a Time" or "Der Zauberstein" is a West German movie from 1973, so this one is already very old, will have its 45th anniversary next year. The title already suggests that it is an Italian co-production as well, but the main language is of course German. The voice acting cast does not really include any names that sound familiar to me I must admit, even for a huge German film buff like myself with the exception of Tilly Lauenstein who I have come across in other projects I think. Animated films from Germany are still a rarity these days and certainly things weren't looking much different back half a century ago. This is probably also true globally as the Golden Age of Animation ended a while ago and the material just wasn't there anymore, neither in terms of quantity nor quality. This film here does not break the streak. It is the only effort as writer and director by Rolf Kauka and for a rookie effort, it is really not that bad, but honestly the good moments were mostly thanks to the quality fairy tales this film is based. That is also why it is not really a convincingly creative achievement in my opinion. Also I am not big on the animation style, which only looked in its very best moments a bit like the Asterix films. The perception of this component is entirely subjective though. The voice acting was still one of the better aspects I guess, but also not on a superb level. I cannot say I am sad Kauka's filmmaking career turned out this short. Instead I am glad this movie turned out pretty short. Not a failure, but an underwhelming watch. I give it a thumbs-down.

Like many a poster to these boards, I also remember seeing this film sometime in the late '70s-early '80s on a lazy Sunday afternoon on KTLA's Family Film Festival, hosted by the legendary Tom Hatten. The movie can be had at deepdiscountdvd.com for about 12 bucks.Certain images and elements of the film have always stuck in my head (possible spoilers here, but really more remembrances than anything else): the evil stepsister Mary Lou demanding the garnet stone from Maria by clapping her hands twice and holding out an outstretched hand, the totally surreal scene with all the babies being fed by Maria and Mary Lou, when they break out into song in praise of Maria (something like, "MARIA, MARIA, YEAH YEAH YEAH YEAH YEAH!!!!), the equally bizarre loaves of bread begging to be taken out of the oven before they burn (still gives me chills), and Maria's drunk dad, always looking for his bottle. There were also some apple trees, as I recall, that needed Maria and Mary Lou to pick their apples, and then there was something or other about dancing milk jugs going to someone called Mrs. Holly or something like that. I'm going to order it for my daughters.

I always used to watch this cartoon when I was about 5 or 6 yrs old and I still think about that cartoon. I really wish that it was out on video and if it was I'd buy 10 of them... seriously I would. And what I think, the video is 10 stars.

I last saw this movie on video when I was no older than 6. That was 13 years ago, but I still remember much of it very clearly. I hope I can see it again soon, it will bring back a lot of memories. I'm sure it was not the most well-made movie-at 6 I was pretty easy to please-but at least it was fun.