Review of “The Magic Pear Tree” (1968)
Jimmy T. Murakami (producer).
Seen in 2020.
Some sources, including IMDb as of 2020, say the plot is from the Chinese folktale, but the contents don’t seem to match, and Giovanni Boccaccio is co-credited with the story; it’s much more in his style.
The simple animation is lovely, particularly the opening’s free shifts in perspective. As a shortcut, the contour lines of characters’ large noses are drawn fully extended even in head-on shots where illusionism would require eliding them.