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Description
DAY 174

Fun & Fancy Free was Disney's 9th animated film, the 4th package film and possibly the 2nd weakest of the package films right under Saludos Amigos. I'll explain the main reason at the end.
The film starts with Jiminy Cricket, singing the title song in a live-action library. Cliff Edwards still does a great job, there's some decent blending of the 2 mediums and is does have a nice satisfying cheerful happy-go-lucky feel to it (fitting since WWII ended 2 years ago). Jiminy boats through a water plant, climbs through library book shelves, talks to a goldfish (not Cleo) and gets chased by a cat (not Figaro). He manages to escape as he finds himself now in a child's room, with 2 unhappy toys; a doll and a teddy bear. He decides to cheer up the toys with some music, so he searches for a record. Then he finds one and plays the first story.
Bongo, based off a story by Sinclair Lewis, told by Dinah Shore. The story is about a bear cub who lives an unhappy life in the circus. So one day he escapes and finds himself in the forest, only for it to be not as wonderful as he thought it'd be. Soon he finds himself caught in an unintentional love triangle, with a love interest Lulubelle and a villain black bear Lumpjaw. This one's a cute short. This can probably take place in Dumbo's universe (Bongo's even dressed sort of like Timothy). The story does go all over the place, but it's not jumbled or confused in anyway. The action scene at the end is also nicely done, with Bongo using his circus experience to save the day. The animation is good. The backgrounds have a real depth and large atmosphere, the character designs are simple but there's a lot of different designs with the bears and the fantasy sequences are also done sweetly. The characters in this are good, sort of similar to a Popeye character. Bongo's like Popeye himself (the usual everyman- er, cub, that we sympathize with, both with his plight and are satisfied to see him actually happy), Lulubelle 's like Olive Oil (the damsel in distress who cares for Bongo even through his fumblings), Lumpjaw's like Bluto (a gigantic brute with a giant jaw and easily prone to anger); they're not complete knock-offs, they're just child friendly equivalents of them. Dinah Shore is wonderful, with great energy to her narration and has a soothing silky voice for the songs. The songs are sort of short but they have some nice montages to them. The song when Bongo first arrives in the forest, Bongo and Lulubelle's falling in love and the bear slap falling-in-live song. It's a cute short that's good for kids.
After the record, Jiminy finds that it's worked and the toys are happy again. Only after that is where things get strange. Jiminy finds that the room he's in is the bedroom of child star, Luana Patten. How? By a party invitation left open, that's on that very night, at the house across the way, hosted by ventriloquist Edgar Bergen and his 2 dummies Charlie McCarthy and Mortimer Snerd. Boy, that was a type-full. So, Jiminy goes to the party himself. The party is pretty much just Edgar and Luana, nobody knowing of Jiminy's appearance. Edgar is doing his usual ventriloquism act and then he's prompted to tell a story, which is...
Jack & the Beanstalk... or MICKEY & the Beanstalk, which is the major highlight of the movie. This is the same famous fairytale, only reworked to be a Mickey, Donald & Goofy cartoon. . This one has some nice enhancements to the story. There's a reason for the Harp instead of being a random object at the giant's castle. She's the source of the valley being a crystal clear paradise, only when she vanishes, the valley is a desolated wasteland. MDG each play the role of Jack, only as starving farmers who, as the story goes, sell their cow for food, they get "magic beans" for the trade, a beanstalk grows to the heavens where a giant's castle is, which is where the harp's held captive and MDG attempt to make Happy Valley happy once again. The best thing about this short is the overall atmosphere. There's a lot of slow scenes that let the story speak for itself. You can put the short on mute without Edgar's narration and it's just as effective. Just look at the scene when MDG are rationing food. There's so much sorrow and dread that show how horrific this situation really is. Stuff like that, the beanstalk growing and the action chase at the end is what makes this short wonderful. It's also really funny in a lot of areas, from from the shenanigans the trio find themselves in and Luana, Charlie and Mortimer's interuptions. The animation is really good. The mood-setting colors are perfectly tinted. The backgrounds are greatly detailed, especially Willie's castle. The character animation is solid and like the atmosphere, the gigantic scale of everything (giant's castle or not) is incredible. You feel mournful when Happy Valley becomes Gruesome Gulch. You'll be in awe and amazement when the beanstalk grows. You'll be drooling at all the tremendous foods. The characters are a ton of fun. Mickey's no strangers when it comes to defeating giants so this ain't his first rodeo. He still has his adventurous side and is really quick-witted. This is also the last time you'd hear Walt doing Mickey's voice before being replace by Jimmy MacDonald (even though Jimmy does supply one line). Speaking of Donald, he's got some regular unexpected pain and is one of the biggest examples of the sad atmosphere. That one scene where he snaps of starvation to the point of even WANTING TO KILL A LIFE FORM, it's horrifying both in a great way and in the actually terrifying way. The fact that he'd be thinking to kill someone so quickly is really unsettling. Goofy is probably the quietest in this short (strange how it's usual Mickey in MDG shorts). He still gives some presence/assistance, has a nice gag with the food and sings one of the songs. The Golden Harp is the big plot device for this story, being practically the true ruler of Happy Valley. Even as a regular girl with a harp taped to her back (dummer than advertised), she's not really a damsel in distress type and has a soothing singing voice. Willie's an interesting sort of villain. He's not really a complete villain like Chernabog or the Wicked Queen, he's just a sort of big bumbling dufus (and even now, that's what he's like now). It's interesting how they decided to change the character a bit and give him a shape-shifting ability. That sort of adds a Puss and Boots scenario with Mickey, which doesn't seem to bad and is an interesting addition. And the voice of Sneezy, Billy Gilbert, also adds the stupidity and makes him funnier. There aren't that many songs and when they appear, they're kinda short. This is a really grand short and another of Mickey's finest moments. Wouldn't know if I'd call it one of the best MDG shorts, since it sometimes slips under that radar. Either way, it's amazing.
Then after that story's over, the movie ends like this. Luana loves the story, Charlie is disinterested as usual but Mortimer is sad that Willie had to die. Edgar eases his spirits by saying the story was obviously imaginary and Willie never existed. Suddenly, Willie appears breaking the roof open searching for Mickey! Edgar passes out, Mortimer reasures Willie with the same message Edgar just gave him, Jiminy escapes and Willie's just... roaming Hollywood looking for Mickey. And it ends there.
Now, the only problem with this movie is the linking footage. The way it sort of meanders from Jiminy to Edgar is really... unusual. There's no real flow to it or a real understanding of how this even happened. This is one of the few package films that tries to have a linking story between them, but like the linking story in Saludos Amigos, it just doesn't work. I feel a way to fix it would be to make it like the Canterbury Tales. Have the entire film take place at Edgar's house, let it be a party, add in a few more guests, maybe another short or 2 and have it be a basic story-telling contest. That would sort of make a bit more sense and would make a much better plot. The shorts are really good and they're the best thing about this movie. I mean it! Unlike Saludos Amigos which had one good short, somewhat lackluster other shorts and a hit-&-miss story, both shorts in these are wonderful, but seeing them attached to this unusual plot makes them suffers (but only slightly). Even the animation blended with live-action isn't really that grand here. There's not that much shading or clever tricks compared to Song of the South and is more simplified. (OK, that scene where Jiminy sips an entire glass is neat). Apparently, Walt had the shorts in this film planned are entirely SEPARATE films. Bongo was planned as far back as 1930 (also almost planned as a sequel to Dumbo) and a lot of deleted scenes from Mickey & the Beanstalk were trimmed out (such as Mickey selling the cow to the queen, played by Minnie, which would've been her only appearance in a theatrical film by WDAS). Once WWII broke out, that's when changes had to be made, both from war effort and the invention of the package films, so they had to cut corners a bit and bring the 2 shorts together with a loosely tied story. Edgar Bergan, Dinah Shore and Jiminy don't do a terrible job, because they do have great talents. It just doesn't go much anywhere and should've had some clear adjustments plotwise. That's the only thing that's holding it back. It's just hard to say, because there's some great moments in this.

DAY 176

Comment & enjoy!

Description
DAY 174

Fun & Fancy Free was Disney's 9th animated film, the 4th package film and possibly the 2nd weakest of the package films right under Saludos Amigos. I'll explain the main reason at the end.
The film starts with Jiminy Cricket, singing the title song in a live-action library. Cliff Edwards still does a great job, there's some decent blending of the 2 mediums and is does have a nice satisfying cheerful happy-go-lucky feel to it (fitting since WWII ended 2 years ago). Jiminy boats through a water plant, climbs through library book shelves, talks to a goldfish (not Cleo) and gets chased by a cat (not Figaro). He manages to escape as he finds himself now in a child's room, with 2 unhappy toys; a doll and a teddy bear. He decides to cheer up the toys with some music, so he searches for a record. Then he finds one and plays the first story.
Bongo, based off a story by Sinclair Lewis, told by Dinah Shore. The story is about a bear cub who lives an unhappy life in the circus. So one day he escapes and finds himself in the forest, only for it to be not as wonderful as he thought it'd be. Soon he finds himself caught in an unintentional love triangle, with a love interest Lulubelle and a villain black bear Lumpjaw. This one's a cute short. This can probably take place in Dumbo's universe (Bongo's even dressed sort of like Timothy). The story does go all over the place, but it's not jumbled or confused in anyway. The action scene at the end is also nicely done, with Bongo using his circus experience to save the day. The animation is good. The backgrounds have a real depth and large atmosphere, the character designs are simple but there's a lot of different designs with the bears and the fantasy sequences are also done sweetly. The characters in this are good, sort of similar to a Popeye character. Bongo's like Popeye himself (the usual everyman- er, cub, that we sympathize with, both with his plight and are satisfied to see him actually happy), Lulubelle 's like Olive Oil (the damsel in distress who cares for Bongo even through his fumblings), Lumpjaw's like Bluto (a gigantic brute with a giant jaw and easily prone to anger); they're not complete knock-offs, they're just child friendly equivalents of them. Dinah Shore is wonderful, with great energy to her narration and has a soothing silky voice for the songs. The songs are sort of short but they have some nice montages to them. The song when Bongo first arrives in the forest, Bongo and Lulubelle's falling in love and the bear slap falling-in-live song. It's a cute short that's good for kids.
After the record, Jiminy finds that it's worked and the toys are happy again. Only after that is where things get strange. Jiminy finds that the room he's in is the bedroom of child star, Luana Patten. How? By a party invitation left open, that's on that very night, at the house across the way, hosted by ventriloquist Edgar Bergen and his 2 dummies Charlie McCarthy and Mortimer Snerd. Boy, that was a type-full. So, Jiminy goes to the party himself. The party is pretty much just Edgar and Luana, nobody knowing of Jiminy's appearance. Edgar is doing his usual ventriloquism act and then he's prompted to tell a story, which is...
Jack & the Beanstalk... or MICKEY & the Beanstalk, which is the major highlight of the movie. This is the same famous fairytale, only reworked to be a Mickey, Donald & Goofy cartoon. . This one has some nice enhancements to the story. There's a reason for the Harp instead of being a random object at the giant's castle. She's the source of the valley being a crystal clear paradise, only when she vanishes, the valley is a desolated wasteland. MDG each play the role of Jack, only as starving farmers who, as the story goes, sell their cow for food, they get "magic beans" for the trade, a beanstalk grows to the heavens where a giant's castle is, which is where the harp's held captive and MDG attempt to make Happy Valley happy once again. The best thing about this short is the overall atmosphere. There's a lot of slow scenes that let the story speak for itself. You can put the short on mute without Edgar's narration and it's just as effective. Just look at the scene when MDG are rationing food. There's so much sorrow and dread that show how horrific this situation really is. Stuff like that, the beanstalk growing and the action chase at the end is what makes this short wonderful. It's also really funny in a lot of areas, from from the shenanigans the trio find themselves in and Luana, Charlie and Mortimer's interuptions. The animation is really good. The mood-setting colors are perfectly tinted. The backgrounds are greatly detailed, especially Willie's castle. The character animation is solid and like the atmosphere, the gigantic scale of everything (giant's castle or not) is incredible. You feel mournful when Happy Valley becomes Gruesome Gulch. You'll be in awe and amazement when the beanstalk grows. You'll be drooling at all the tremendous foods. The characters are a ton of fun. Mickey's no strangers when it comes to defeating giants so this ain't his first rodeo. He still has his adventurous side and is really quick-witted. This is also the last time you'd hear Walt doing Mickey's voice before being replace by Jimmy MacDonald (even though Jimmy does supply one line). Speaking of Donald, he's got some regular unexpected pain and is one of the biggest examples of the sad atmosphere. That one scene where he snaps of starvation to the point of even WANTING TO KILL A LIFE FORM, it's horrifying both in a great way and in the actually terrifying way. The fact that he'd be thinking to kill someone so quickly is really unsettling. Goofy is probably the quietest in this short (strange how it's usual Mickey in MDG shorts). He still gives some presence/assistance, has a nice gag with the food and sings one of the songs. The Golden Harp is the big plot device for this story, being practically the true ruler of Happy Valley. Even as a regular girl with a harp taped to her back (dummer than advertised), she's not really a damsel in distress type and has a soothing singing voice. Willie's an interesting sort of villain. He's not really a complete villain like Chernabog or the Wicked Queen, he's just a sort of big bumbling dufus (and even now, that's what he's like now). It's interesting how they decided to change the character a bit and give him a shape-shifting ability. That sort of adds a Puss and Boots scenario with Mickey, which doesn't seem to bad and is an interesting addition. And the voice of Sneezy, Billy Gilbert, also adds the stupidity and makes him funnier. There aren't that many songs and when they appear, they're kinda short. This is a really grand short and another of Mickey's finest moments. Wouldn't know if I'd call it one of the best MDG shorts, since it sometimes slips under that radar. Either way, it's amazing.
Then after that story's over, the movie ends like this. Luana loves the story, Charlie is disinterested as usual but Mortimer is sad that Willie had to die. Edgar eases his spirits by saying the story was obviously imaginary and Willie never existed. Suddenly, Willie appears breaking the roof open searching for Mickey! Edgar passes out, Mortimer reasures Willie with the same message Edgar just gave him, Jiminy escapes and Willie's just... roaming Hollywood looking for Mickey. And it ends there.
Now, the only problem with this movie is the linking footage. The way it sort of meanders from Jiminy to Edgar is really... unusual. There's no real flow to it or a real understanding of how this even happened. This is one of the few package films that tries to have a linking story between them, but like the linking story in Saludos Amigos, it just doesn't work. I feel a way to fix it would be to make it like the Canterbury Tales. Have the entire film take place at Edgar's house, let it be a party, add in a few more guests, maybe another short or 2 and have it be a basic story-telling contest. That would sort of make a bit more sense and would make a much better plot. The shorts are really good and they're the best thing about this movie. I mean it! Unlike Saludos Amigos which had one good short, somewhat lackluster other shorts and a hit-&-miss story, both shorts in these are wonderful, but seeing them attached to this unusual plot makes them suffers (but only slightly). Even the animation blended with live-action isn't really that grand here. There's not that much shading or clever tricks compared to Song of the South and is more simplified. (OK, that scene where Jiminy sips an entire glass is neat). Apparently, Walt had the shorts in this film planned are entirely SEPARATE films. Bongo was planned as far back as 1930 (also almost planned as a sequel to Dumbo) and a lot of deleted scenes from Mickey & the Beanstalk were trimmed out (such as Mickey selling the cow to the queen, played by Minnie, which would've been her only appearance in a theatrical film by WDAS). Once WWII broke out, that's when changes had to be made, both from war effort and the invention of the package films, so they had to cut corners a bit and bring the 2 shorts together with a loosely tied story. Edgar Bergan, Dinah Shore and Jiminy don't do a terrible job, because they do have great talents. It just doesn't go much anywhere and should've had some clear adjustments plotwise. That's the only thing that's holding it back. It's just hard to say, because there's some great moments in this.

DAY 176

Comment & enjoy!