People are voting emotionally.

Admirable film.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Blistering performances.

"Ben and Me" is an animated short film from 1953, so this one will have its 65th anniversary next year and if you take a look at the cast, you will find really many writers for a 20-minute film. The director is Hamilton Luske, who won an Oscar a decade later and worked on pretty many films that are considered classics somehow these days. You can find the list in his body of work. This one we have here is about inventor Benjamin Franklin and the various impacts he had on American history. All this is told through the eyes of a mouse who is depicted as one of the driving forces behind Franklin's spirit. It is a bit of an odd idea admittedly, but it somewhat fits in nicely with Disney's fantasy take on things frequently. This one here is without a doubt among Disney's more educational films and it is fitting that it was nominated for an Oscar in the short reel category and not in the cartoon category. Maybe this is even a movie that was shown in schools at some point. By the way, it lost the Oscar o another Disney work. The story here is fine, even if I did not really develop any deep interest in Ben Franklin. Maybe the premise was a bit too odd for my liking. The voice acting is decent too, but that's really a given with Sterling Holloway in the cast. As a whole, a fairly good work I believe, but nothing near Disney's best in terms of animation or story-telling and the comedy aspect is really negligible here. Thumbs up.

If you are looking for this short, try the "Disney Timeless Treasures: Volume 3". It's there along with several other seldom-seen cartoon shorts.This is the story of a mouse that lived in the Colonies in the 18th century and was a friend to Benjamin Franklin. You'll immediately notice that the mice all look an awful lot like Gus and Jacques from "Cinderella"--which had debuted a few years earlier. Additionally, you'll no-doubt recognize the voice of the narrator. It's Sterling Holloway who was the voice for Winnie the Pooh--and he really did talk like Pooh in real life! Amos the Mouse is a nice fella and friend to Franklin. However, in this version of history, Ben isn't all that bright and it's actually Amos that gives him many of his best ideas--such as the Franklin stove, the volunteer fire department, improving his almanac, the kite experiment about electricity and so forth. However, Ben took advantage of their relationship--prompting Amos to leave. If you think about it, this really is the story that was later re-tooled into "Ratatouille"--about a rat who helped a hopeless aspiring chef to become famous in his craft. And, like in "Ratatouille", Amos does eventually return to help Ben when the Revolution approaches.All in all, a nice way to teach history to kids--albeit a tad inaccurately. However, as only stupid children will really believe a mouse was responsible for Franklin's successes, I guess there's no harm in it! Well animated, cute and clever--this is a pretty good cartoon that manages to make history fun.By the way, although you may not recognize them unless you are a fan of old films, the voice of Franklin was done by Charlies Ruggles and Thomas Jefferson was Hans Conreid (who also played Captain Hook in Disney's "Peter Pan").Oh, and by the way, although the film asserts that Amos helped Jefferson write the Declaration of Independence, it was actually George Mason--whose Virginia Declaration was liberally 'borrowed from' by Jefferson.

I have always loved films (animated and live action) and theatrical shorts based on books. This is one of my favorite literary shorts from my childhood, because I've watched it a bunch of times as a kid; I've even read the book too.This short has a great cast featuring Sterling Holloway as Amos Mouse/Narrator, Charles Ruggles as Benjamin Franklin; Hans Conried as Thomas Jefferson, I love the talents of Hans. I also love why they joined paintings and the animated characters in the backgrounds - excellent work! I recommended this short those who literary shorts and films like me.

A Walt Disney Cartoon.Amos the Philadelphia church mouse greatly influences Ben Franklin and the founding of the American Republic.Robert Lawson's classic 1939 story BEN AND ME comes to life in this delightful short film. Celebrated children's author Bill Peet penned the script and left in the original's sense of whimsy and good fun, featuring a slightly bumbling Ben and a remarkably astute Amos - whose ideas become some of Franklin's most famous inventions. The voice cast is perfect, with Sterling Holloway as Amos, Charles Ruggles as Ben & Hans Conried as Tom Jefferson.Walt Disney (1901-1966) was always intrigued by pictures & drawings. As a lad in Marceline, Missouri, he sketched farm animals on scraps of paper; later, as an ambulance driver in France during the First World War, he drew comic figures on the sides of his vehicle. Back in Kansas City, along with artist Ub Iwerks, Walt developed a primitive animation studio that provided animated commercials and tiny cartoons for the local movie theaters. Always the innovator, his ALICE IN CARTOONLAND series broke ground in placing a live figure in a cartoon universe. Business reversals sent Disney & Iwerks to Hollywood in 1923, where Walt's older brother Roy became his lifelong business manager & counselor. When a mildly successful series with Oswald The Lucky Rabbit was snatched away by the distributor, the character of Mickey Mouse sprung into Walt's imagination, ensuring Disney's immortality. The happy arrival of sound technology made Mickey's screen debut, STEAMBOAT WILLIE (1928), a tremendous audience success with its use of synchronized music. The SILLY SYMPHONIES soon appeared, and Walt's growing crew of marvelously talented animators were quickly conquering new territory with full color, illusions of depth and radical advancements in personality development, an arena in which Walt's genius was unbeatable. Mickey's feisty, naughty behavior had captured millions of fans, but he was soon to be joined by other animated companions: temperamental Donald Duck, intellectually-challenged Goofy and energetic Pluto. All this was in preparation for Walt's grandest dream - feature length animated films. Against a storm of naysayers, Walt persevered and over the next decades delighted children of all ages with the adventures of Snow White, Pinocchio, Dumbo, Bambi & Peter Pan. Walt never forgot that his fortunes were all started by a mouse, or that childlike simplicity of message and lots of hard work always pay off.