Being the huge Disney fan that I am, I often get asked what my favorite Disney movie is. That’s like asking me to pick a favorite child. That is if I had children. It’s my Sophie’s Choice as I like so many of them for so many different reasons. On the other hand, if you were to ask me what my least favorite Disney movie was I now have a firm answer: 1947’s Fun and Fancy Free.
What’s strange about me not liking it is that this package film contains one of my favorite Mickey Mouse cartoons, Mickey and the Beanstalk. I get great nostalgic feels from this one, I remember it was always paired with Dumbo when it aired in syndication. It has some really great character moments with Mickey, Donald Duck, and Goofy, a fun villain in Willie the Giant, and tells a classic fairy tale. Telling the story of Jack and the Beanstalk, Mickey and pals are on a quest to rescue the Magic Harp from Willie and restore happiness and the harvest to Happy Valley. The Harp falls under the underrated Disney beauties list, she’s gorgeous! But what I didn’t know was that in the feature film, this short is bookended by a really creepy birthday party for a little girl that only attended by Edgar Bergen and his ventriloquist dummies Charlie McCarthy and Mortimer Snerd. While I appreciate the snarky comments made by McCarthy, the whole endeavor becomes really odd. Does this little girl have no friends her age? Where are her parents? The live sequence last too long and all you want them to do is get to the damned cartoon.
Preceding Mickey and the Beanstalk Jiminy Cricket sets the stage for the story of Bongo, a circus bear who longs to live in the wild and gets his wish by breaking free while traveling on a train. He meets a female bear by the name of Lulubelle and they both form an attraction to each other but he also has to win her hand from a rival male, Lumpjaw. Lulubelle chooses Bongo by slapping him. Yes, slapping him. Square in the face. Bongo misinterprets this bit of violence because in the bear community a slap is how one shows affection. We are treated to a marathon length song about smacking the one you love. Lulubelle accidently slaps Lumpjaw and he takes her away as her own. After Bongo realizes the slap means I Love You, he challenges Lumpjaw. Spoiler Alert: Bongo wins and can finally slap Lulubelle. This is all lovingly narrated by Dinah Shore. Not only is this whole slapping thing really weird and disturbing, but the short as a whole is a little boring. I think my head scratching from all the slapping is what kept my interest.
This is one jumble of a mess of a movie. Mostly, the package films of the 40’s work pretty well, but Fun and Fancy Free really feels disjointed. The connecting threads don’t make sense and the first half is a total snooze. Glad I saw it, but I probably won’t be watching it again for quite a while.
2 comments:
I suppose it's 'better the devil you know'! I've never even heard of this film, but somehow I don't think I'll be rushing to watch it now!
I take it you won't be slapping this movie. Or should you? My head hurts.
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