Im Land der Kuscheltiere

A little girl -- I should write "widdle gir-rl" because that's how she would say it -- reads the end of a story, then goes to sleep. Whereupon all toys come to life and do cute things while singers sing cute songs.

Whoopee. Clearly this was the effect that Harman and Ising were trying for -- cuteness, I mean. They certainly do a fine job of color design with their two-strip Technicolor effects, where everything looks like calico, cheap decorated cotton fabric. It got that name because it used to be imported for Calcutta in Indian.

Anyway, if you have a taste for this sort of thing, or need a good purgative, this is a cartoon for you.

I am a huge fan of Hollywood films from the 1930s. I simply adore the movies and shorts and can't get enough of them. There is, however, an exception--most cartoons of the 30s were pretty insipid. Sure, there are some notable exceptions (such as SNOW WHITE), but Disney, Warner Brothers and MGM (among others) insisted on cranking out a huge number of terrible musical films that were just awful. Please understand I am NOT knocking Mickey Mouse or Donald--but the musicals referred to as "Silly Symphonies" (Disney), "Merry Melodies" (Warner) or "Happy Harmonies" (MGM). These cutesy films were pure drivel with practically no humor and no edge--just lots of awful singing and characters so treacly sweet that they are just about unwatchable. The edgy Bugs Bunny or Tex Avery cartoons we know and love today were produced in the following decades. You know it was a bad decade for toons when Popeye and Betty Boop were among the BETTER toons of the age!!! Despite these films being so bad, I recently forced myself to watch a trio of Happy Harmonies shorts. Part of this must be because I am a masochist, but part of it is because I love reviewing the more obscure films--as there is a real scarcity of reviews for older and seldom-seen movies and shorts.

This was the third Happy Harmony short shown on TCM. And, while not a particularly good cartoon, it was light-years better than the two other offerings that day! That's because although it's filled with terrible music, it is creative and the calico dragon and the other characters who look like homemade stuffed animals are pretty creative and it was a clever idea rather reminiscent of Raggedy Ann. Decent animation make this worth seeing if there's really nothing better on TV.

Love animation, it was a big part of my life as a child, particularly Disney, Looney Tunes, Hanna Barbera, Studio Ghibli and Tom and Jerry, and still love it whether it's film, television or cartoons. With significantly broader knowledge of different directors, animation styles and studios, actually appreciate and love it even more now.

'The Calico Dragon' is fairly typical of Rudolf Ising, leaning towards the cute kind of cartoon with a lot of sentiment in alternative to the laugh a minute and hilarious kind, the latter being the one that a lot seem to prefer (understandably, though am hardly biased against the former). This approach has varied with Ising. In some instances it has been very sweet and charming, in others it can be cloying and too cutesy. Generally 'The Calico Dragon' belongs in the former category, despite the danger of falling into the latter with the premise.

'The Calico Dragon' has a lot to like and far from undeserving of a nomination and deserving of more attention.

Yes it gets a bit too saccharine in places, like with the lyrics of the narration, and it is best perhaps to not talk about the story because there really isn't much of one.

What 'The Calico Dragon' does so well however eclipses these problems. The animation is rich in detail for design and backgrounds, vibrant in colour and crisp. Composer for the prime-era 'Tom and Jerry' cartoons and regular Tex Avery composer Scott Bradley provides a lush and atmospheric music score.

It is hard not to fall in love with the irresistibly adorable dragon, and it has enough likeability and personality to not be dull. 'The Calico Dragon' is rich in natural sweet charm and some very imaginative ideas and visuals. There is not much hilarious and the cartoon's hardly laugh a minute, but a good deal of it does raise a smile. The pace avoids being draggy.

Overall, lovely cartoon. 8/10 Bethany Cox

A young girl is regaling her toys with stories of a legendary and fearsome dragon when she dozes off to sleep. That gives her brave rag doll and his trusty steed just the opportunity that they need, and so together with their terrier they set off to find and confront this menacing creature. When they finally get to it's castle, after a little mischief along the way, they discover it has three heads! What hope they can defeat it? It's all obviously set amidst the chintzy world of the girl's patchwork bedding with some musical proof that it wasn't just Col. Sanders who could rhyme chicken with lickin'. The animation is a bit muted, but it's still quite a fun illustration of just how our imagination could be left to do a lot of the work if we had a good book to set the scene for us. Not great, but still quite charming.

This cartoon's use of color and background detail is excellent. Sometimes, the story and the action is just too cute for my tastes, but it more than makes up for this visually. The dragon is great! Nominated for an Academy Award for Animated Short, this runs on Cartoon Network occasionally and, when TCM does its annual "Salute to the Oscars" in March, this has been used as filler between features in years past as have other shorts, both animated and live-action. Recommended.