This vague memory of one of my favorite movies as a child is making me caccaccrazy! This is what I remember: A small child, I think a little girl. Somehow this puppet-like fantasy animal crosses over into her world. She, or he possibly, befriends him. The little animal at one point is trying to hide from her mother and it crawls into the laundry basket. Then the mother throws the laundry in the WASHING MACHINE and the scene shows the little animal spinning in the washing machine. Somehow the animal takes the little girl to his world and all I remember is the two of them walking down a very long brick pathway. There is a very scary castle or something, and the villain is there. I don't remember much after that, BUT IF ANYONE KNOWS PLEASE HELP I WOULD LOVE TO FIND THIS MOVIE!! I know that it was made in Color and it is not a cartoon! Thanks You!!

It may be "Troll" from 1986

Could the movie be Labyrinth (1986)? It starred a very young Jennifer Connelly as the girl and David Bowie as the singing villain. Great movie.

There is a scene from "The Hugga Bunch" where this doll with pink hair gets put into a washer hiding from the parents. They then go trough a mirror into this fantasy world. I had the Hugga Bunch dolls when I was little.