Does anyone know what this book and these films are?

June 19, 2006 2:55 AM

Does anyone know what this book and these films are?

Okay, the book is a kid's book, it might only be British. It was a collection of short stories, one of which had a little girl who sent her parents all around everywhere because she was so fussy about eating, and then some kind of witch brought her some baked beans (I think they were beans). Another one of the stories involved a dog who got all its hair removed by some kind of cursed rock thing. No I wasn't on drugs when I read it. Oh, I think another story was a princess who was really snobby about men, and then she ended up getting eaten by a giant snake? Yeah..... just wondering if anybody has a clue what book this was.

Also I was trying to track down a movie, again for children, where a little girl goes on a hunt around Australia to find a baby kangaroo, who I think was called Joey (original!). But the movie started in real-life and then changed to a cartoon/animated style when she went on the adventure. It was kind of Aboriginal.

Then there was another movie which was in the EXACT same style as that 'Dark Crystal' film (the Jim Henson one) but it was actually about what I think was 'The Little Matchstick Girl'. But I've searched that on Google a lot and haven't found anything. It might not even be that story.

Thanks for trying to help, I know my descriptions are quite vague!!

posted by angryjellybean to media & arts (9 comments total)

Could your kangaroo movie be this one?
posted by b33j at 3:12 AM on June 19, 2006

Haha, yeah, that's it! You're very wonderful, thanks. Now if I can just find that damn book..............
posted by angryjellybean at 4:34 AM on June 19, 2006

the movie is definitely the one b33j linked to. I remember watching it on HBO as a little kid.
posted by Lucinda at 4:35 AM on June 19, 2006

Then there was another movie which was in the EXACT same style as that 'Dark Crystal' film (the Jim Henson one) but it was actually about what I think was 'The Little Matchstick Girl'.

Do you remember seeing this in a theater, or might it have been an episode of Henson's Storyteller? Doesn't look like they did the Little Match Girl, but maybe it was just a similar story?
posted by PinkStainlessTail at 6:56 AM on June 19, 2006

I forgot all about Dot and the Kangaroo... but we definitely had that on VHS when I was a kid. Now that it's been brought up again, I can remember all kinds of stuff about it. Thanks for the reminder!
posted by mdbell79 at 7:37 AM on June 19, 2006

Oh, I think another story was a princess who was really snobby about men, and then she ended up getting eaten by a giant snake?

It's a tiger, not a snake, but could this be "Ladies First" by Shel Silverstein?
posted by lemuria at 10:51 AM on June 19, 2006

By the way, Dot and the Kangaroo was the subject of an earlier AskMe question, in January 2005. (And I have no idea why I remembered this, since I've never even seen the movie, nor heard of it before that question!)
posted by llamateur at 11:01 AM on June 19, 2006

It's a longshot, but Labyrinth is another henson film that's very similar to to the Dark Crystal.
posted by samsara at 11:42 AM on June 19, 2006

Didn't close my tags properly :( Labyrinth is another henson film that has the same style of puppetry.
posted by samsara at 11:46 AM on June 19, 2006