Film

The Point

A 1971 animated fable where a pointless boy is exiled from a kingdom obsessed with points, then discovers that meaning isn't about fitting in. Ringo Starr narrates with folksy warmth. It's a weird, psychedelic fever-dream wrapped around a gentle coming-of-age parable—strange enough to mesmerize kids, sincere enough to move adults.

TMDb rating3.4

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you love odd, handmade whimsy where a fable's logic is a joke and a sung ballad can land a gag, the kind of gentle absurdism that treats a pointless boy as a hero.

Skip it if you need a plot that tightens, since this is loose, episodic and stuffed with songs that can feel like they're stalling a slight story at just over an hour.

What it asks of you: Seventy-four minutes of bright, storybook-paced cartoon, with a narrator doing most of the steering and little more required than letting its odd logic wash over you.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Yellow Submarine1968

Another Beatles-adjacent animated odyssey through surreal logic and colour-drunk visuals. A group of misfits journey toward something better and discover themselves along the way. The whimsy and gentle philosophy land the same way.

But The plot barely holds together. If you need narrative momentum or character arcs that track, the psychedelic wandering might frustrate you.

Yellow Submarine poster

Watership Down1978

A fable about outsiders seeking refuge, animated with real texture and consequence. Dark, moving, and unafraid to let its adventure carry genuine weight. The exile-and-discovery structure mirrors Oblio's journey perfectly.

But It's bleak in places and doesn't pull punches about mortality or violence. The animation is deliberately unflinching—some find it slower than it deserves.

Watership Down poster

The Secret of NIMH1982

A lonely creature embarks on a desperate quest and finds unexpected strength. Beautiful hand-drawn animation, genuine stakes, and a protagonist who doesn't fit the world they're born into. Earnest without being saccharine.

But Darker and more overtly dramatic than whimsical. If you're after pure lightness, this has shadows you might not want.

The Secret of NIMH poster

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from The Point

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Allegro non troppo1976

Both are wordless fables told through animation and music, using fantastical worlds to explore loneliness and belonging. Both trust the audience to find meaning without being told.

An Italian animator riffs on Fantasia with live-action wraparound and anarchic comedy. Segments of pure visual storytelling set to classical music, absurdist and tender. It's what The Point might become if it had no dialogue and infinite imagination. Beautiful, funny, occasionally devastating.

But Deliberately loose and digressive. There's no plot to hang onto—you're just watching someone think in images. If you need structure, this is a prank.

Allegro non troppo poster
More like this (8)

Fantastic Planet1973

A visual masterpiece about a small creature navigating a world designed against him. Surreal stop-motion, bold political metaphor, and a strange beauty that rewards attention. Same era, same dream-logic atmosphere as The Point.

But Deliberately slow and meditative. The dialogue is sparse. Some find it more art installation than story—rewarding if you meet it halfway, alienating if you need plot to carry you.

Fantastic Planet poster

Here Comes the Grump1969

A boy and a talking dog search for a cure to make the world happy again. Trippy colour-saturated animation, a quest through impossible landscapes, and genuine heart buried in the weirdness. Saturday morning TV at its most imaginative.

But Episodic pacing can feel repetitive across a series. The animation has that dated TV look—not everyone loves hand-drawn seventies Saturday fare.

Here Comes the Grump poster

The Last Unicorn1982

A misfit on a quest to find belonging. Rotoscope animation, folk-ballad sensibility, and genuine melancholy about what it means to be alone in your own difference. Jeff Bridges and Mia Farrow are your guides.

But Slow, deliberately artificial in places. The voice acting is mannered. If you expect conventional pacing or contemporary animation, this will feel arch.

The Last Unicorn poster

The Wind in the Willows1983

Cosy, sincere adaptation of Kenneth Grahame's fable about friendship and accepting others' strangeness. Beautiful hand-drawn animation with real warmth. The same gentle philosophy about what matters in life.

But Quieter and more domestic than adventurous. Some find it slow or precious. Depends entirely on your tolerance for coziness.

The Wind in the Willows poster

Charlotte's Web1973

A pig learns he belongs when someone unexpected cares for him. Hand-drawn animation, genuine emotion, and a story about acceptance that doesn't feel preachy. Ringo narrates this too, so there's a thematic echo.

But Very much a children's film—earnest to the point of simplicity. If you're drawn to The Point for its weirdness rather than its heart, this might feel too straightforward.

Charlotte's Web poster

The Phantom Tollbooth1970

A bored boy travels through a symbolic landscape where words and numbers are tangible. Clever, colourful, full of wordplay and whimsy. Similar blend of fable logic and hand-animated adventure about finding purpose.

But Packed with puns and conceptual jokes that land unevenly. The voice acting is broad. Some of the wit feels dated; others find it charming.

The Phantom Tollbooth poster

The Holly and the Ivy1952

Both are deeply compassionate stories about outsiders finding their place. The Point is fable; this is realism—but they're asking the same question: what does a pointless person owe to a pointed world?

A postwar British family film about belonging, difference, and acceptance. Understated, beautifully acted in black and white. Finds profound warmth in the idea that families can hold space for people who don't fit the mould. Moving without sentimentality.

But Not animated. Slow, very British, and deliberately modest in scale. If you expected pure fantasy, this grounds itself in real life and domestic drama.

The Holly and the Ivy poster

Heavy Metal1981

Both use animation to create dream-logic worlds where character matters more than narrative. Both trust visuals to carry meaning. Heavy Metal is what happens when The Point's strange world gets cynical and explicit.

Rotoscope animation, science-fiction violence, sexual surrealism, and psychedelic rock. It's aggressively weird, adult, and committed to visual excess. The form itself is the story—animated sequences strung together by style and tone rather than plot. The aesthetic grandchild of The Point's visual language.

But Graphic and deliberately provocative. Sexualised imagery, gore, nihilism. It swings for the fences in ways The Point never does. If wholesome-weird is what you want, this is corrupted-weird.

Heavy Metal poster

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Recommended by

Rock-A-Doodle, Rain, The Phantom Tollbooth, Skidoo, H.R. Pufnstuf