Short Synopsis
Something strange has been spotted above the treetops of the forest where Charlie Strapp, a little man in a tailcoat, and his friend Froggy Ball, a frog, live. Their friend Tin-Can Harry, a robot made from a tin can, builds a pair of binoculars and sees that it is an emergency signal. Charlie, Froggy, Harry and Polly the parrot set out to find whoever is sending it, and meet the pine-cone people of the forest: King Cone, Queen Cone and the impulsive Princess Cone Green. The cones sent the signal. From the treetops, the friends watch three crooked businessmen from the company Tonto-Turbo land in a helicopter: they plan to cut down a huge part of the forest. When the businessmen leave, the princess is accidentally carried off with them. Charlie and Froggy cling to the helicopter's skids and fall over a lake, but Charlie's tailcoat works as a parachute, and they land on a steamboat that takes them to Mariefred. There they discover the businessmen's full plan: to move Gripsholm Castle to the cleared forest and turn it into a glass-walled luxury hotel, by hacking the authorities' computers. The friends set out to rescue the princess and stop them.
Why It Matters
- The film combines a gentle children's adventure with real Swedish places, the steamboats of Lake Mälaren, the town of Mariefred and Gripsholm Castle, and a pointed environmental message about developers and greed, unusual specificity for a children's cartoon.
- Charlie Strapp and Froggy Ball were created by Thomas Funck, who had voiced them alone on Swedish radio and records since the 1950s. This feature, directed by Jan Gissberg, was the first time other actors voiced characters in a Kalle Stropp production, and it is one of the best-known Swedish animated features of its era.
Notes and Trivia
- It followed a shorter film by the same team, Kalle Stropp och Grodan Boll räddar Hönan (1987).
- An English dub was released on video in Canada as Charlie and Froggy, with most character names changed and four minutes cut.
- See also: Thumbelina (1964).