Disney Movie Challenge: Fun and Fancy Free (1947)

DISNEY MOVIE CHALLENGE

Fun and Fancy Free

WHAT IS THE DISNEY MOVIE CHALLENGE: With Disney+ making available almost all of their films from the vault I thought it was a good time to watch all the theatrically released feature length Disney Studio Animated films. That’s a lot of qualifications so what does it all mean? It must be a film developed and released under the Walt Disney Animation Studios (so no PIXAR or Tim Burton stop motion films). Must have been released in theaters (no direct to video releases). And feature length (no shorts that played prior to the features). Currently there are 58 films. Starting with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937 going to Frozen II in 2020. 

Continuing the trend of the late 40's Disney released it's 4th packaged film.  This time it consisted of 2 shorts that were originally going to be feature films but both were deemed not good enough to be released on their own.  The first short in the film is "Bongo" based on the story "Little Bear Bongo" by Sinclair Lewis.  The second is "Mickey and the Beanstalk" which is a Disney take on Jack and the Beanstalk story. Each short has their own introduction. "Bongo" is introduced by Jiminy Cricket and "Mickey and the Beanstalk" was introduced and narrated by Edgar Bergen (father of Candice Bergen) who was known at the time as a comedian and ventriloquist.  He appears in the film with two of his characters Charlie McCarthy and Mortimer Snead.  

"Little Bear Bongo" is about a circus bear named Bongo who dreams of escaping the circus and going to the wild.  When he finally makes it to the wild he has no idea how to survive but does find a female bear that he falls in love with.  But to make the relationship work he needs to figure out how things work in the wild.  For example getting slapped by a bear means they love you. The movie ends with them slapping each other and living happily ever after.  

"Mickey and the Beanstalk" has been repackaged a number of times and has had multiple edits including one in the 70's that has Shari Lewis and Lamb Chop narrating it.   The movie features Mickey, Donald, and Goofy as three farmers who end up planting a seed that takes them to a magic kingdom ruled by a giant.  They have to try to escape with a magic harp that will return their land back to a happy kingdom it once was.  

The two movies have nothing to do with each other and the live action stuff connecting them feels forced.  "Mickey and the Beanstalk" is the stand out here.  It's a fun story and probably could have been made into a descent feature film if more time and effort were able to be put into it.  May favorite part of the live action stuff was Edgar Bergen interacting with his dummy Charlie McCarthy who would always interrupt the story with sarcasm.  And more evidence that Jiminy Cricket is the worst.  After finding an invitation to a birthday party meant for someone else he just heads over uninvited.  He then proceeds to sit on a spoon, eats cake and drinks a cocktail (evidence below).  Who wants to eat from a spoon that a cricket was on? 

Overall: "Mickey and the Beanstalk" was a fun adventure short with three classic characters that had never been together on the big screen in a feature before. It must have been fun to see them together on the big screen.  "Bongo" was a mostly forgettable film and can't picture how that would have been a feature film.  

Random Facts:

One of the last times Walt Disney voiced Mickey Mouse. He would do the voice again for the original Mickey Mouse Clubhouse show. 

First introduction of Willie the Giant