Truly Dreadful Film

An Exercise In Nonsense

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

Blistering performances.

Originally part of Fun & Fancy Free, this cartoon was released on its own later. It's arguably the best animated version of the Jack and the Beanstalk story, and some might even say it's better than the film versions. It's narrated by Sterling Holloway, replacing the narration from Fun & Fancy Free by ventriloquist Edgar Bergen. I'm not sure the reason for the change but I would never complain about hearing Holloway's distinctive voice. Nice animation and voice work. Really just a fun cartoon all around.

This is one of the longest 1940's animated short films by Disney and in general (including also the other companies like Warner Bros). Usually they're around 6-7 minutes, but this one stands at a whooping 28 minutes to do the story justice. It switches occasionally back to the narrator who also, as an introduction, tells us a bit on crucial characters from previous Disney feature films such as Pinocchio and Snow White.When the real story begins, we see a harp-lady with a beautiful voice being kidnapped and thus the happy valley she used to sing for sinks into despair. Action switches to our heroes Mickey, Goofy and Donald who show the possibly best portrayal of starvation ever put in an animated movie. When Micky exchanged their proper meal for a handful of magic beanstalks, they, all of a sudden, end up on a distant world in the sky where they pretty much have the size like midges and butterflies.They approach a large castle and not only find lots of delicious food (Goofy in the jelly is a highlight), but also the abducted harp and the magically skilled, but daft, ginger giant who kidnapped her. Their initial plan of tricking the giant into turning himself into a fly and kill him with a swatter fails, but the harp-lady can manage to sing him to sleep, so the trio and her successfully escape the castle and revive Happy Valley. It's a thoroughly recommendable short film and certainly not only to children.

When I first viewed Mickey and the Beanstalk with my toddler son approximately 16 years ago, I saw it as more than a retelling of an old fairy tale. Later, while watching a documentary about the devastation wrought upon a real life "Happy Valley", the Owens River Valley, I was reminded of my initial impression of the back story of this short film - the drought and desolation in Happy Valley caused by the theft of the harp as a veiled metaphor for the appropriation of water resources by the GIANT burgeoning metropolis of Los Angeles under the direction of "Willie" Mulholland. Streams and brooks sing or are musical in their own way. Diversion of riparian resources can cause calamity. A giant municipality that diverts water for its own use can leave the former beneficiaries of those resources woefully lacking the wherewithal to prosper or even survive.If the writers used the foundation for the plot of this short animated film as an opportunity for political protest or commentary, they may have done so secretly, fearing that their theme might be edited from the film or that they might suffer reprisal. I'd like to believe that Walt Disney, whom I believe had a social conscience, left the metaphor in the film but didn't publicize it so as not to cause undue controversy around a film that was intended as children's entertainment. I'd appreciate comments about this subject, especially from anyone who has knowledge of the intentions of the writers, directors, or producer.

I absolutely love this mini-classic. The animation is really beautiful with colourful backgrounds, especially the opening part with Happy Valley and vibrant too. I also want to say that I thought the animation for the beanstalk was fantastic. As for the music, it was absolutely stunning, full of playfulness and lyricalism. The song "My What a Happy Day" I have always considered a great song, it is just so joyful and makes you want to sing along. All the characters were great too, I have always loved Mickey, Goofy and Donald, and I don't know about you but Willie the Giant was quite lovable here. The voice acting was spot on, with Clarence Nash, Pinto Colvig, Billy Gilbert and Walt Disney himself. The narration was satisfying, from Professor Von Drake in the version I am most familiar with, but also the one with Sterling Holloway narrating and Edgar Bergen in the underrated Fun and Fancy Free were nicely done too. Can I say that I think the singing harp has a beautiful singing voice? All in all, a real pleasure to watch. 10/10 Bethany Cox