Le roi Midas

King Midas already has billions of dollars in gold, but he lusts after more. Along comes an elf who offers him the golden touch. At first he enjoys greatly, running around, touching everything. However, he soon comes to the obvious conclusion that he needs sustenance and must beg for freedom from his own foolishness. This is a well drawn and quickly paced cartoon.

I seem to be the only reviewer on here who really dislikes THE GOLDEN TOUCH. Watching it for the first time in years after marathoning several other Silly Symphonies, I was stunned by how pedestrian and unpleasant this was.

I get why Walt Disney was embarrassed by this short. Midas is an absolutely unappealing protagonist-- too unsympathetic to earn pathos and not funny enough to be entertaining in spite of that. The music is unmemorable, the lyrics witless. The gags aren't much good either-- they mostly feel lame and obvious-- and the horror of Midas' situation isn't played up much either (BABES IN THE WOODS is a great Silly Symphony that does a much better job at blending humor with horror). Overall, just a misfire.

There was only one thing really that I didn't like about The Golden Touch was the ending, the whole idea that King Midas lost everything for a hamburger didn't convince me and came across as absurd instead. Then again, that's just me having one of my personal thoughts. Otherwise it is a great cartoon, that sadly gets a lot of hate(even from Walt Disney himself!) for some reason which I'd love to find out, especially when there are far worse Silly Symphonies out there(El Terrible Toreador for instance). Why did I love this cartoon? The animation is absolutely great, colourful and fluid throughout, with the standouts being how things turn to gold and the chilling part where Midas sees the skeleton through the mirror in his own robes, and complete with one of the catchiest beginning songs of any Silly Symphony the music is energetic and really sets the tone of the story well. The jokes are very clever, and while it is a tad predictable once Goldie offers Midas the golden touch the story is crisply paced and charming with a great message about how self-destructive greed is, though I have always wondered what happened to the cat once he's turned to gold. What is remarkable about The Golden Touch, other than the sprightly character of Goldie was the portrayal of Midas, who is so much more than the one-dimensional figure he could've been, instead he is greedy, but also subtle, pretty likable and you do feel sorry for him at the end. All in all, not a masterpiece but a great cartoon. 9/10 Bethany Cox

This cartoon is based on the tale of King Midas, the greedy king who turns anything he touches into gold.

This cartoon short wasn't bad, following along with the tale well. The animation was pretty good and the story was a little exciting; makes you want to see how the king would get himself out of his gold fever.

The elf, who granted Midas the golden touch, didn't really give the king strong advice about the touch, only saying it would be a curse. The king, though, was a little too sappy.

The cartoon does give off a good moral, telling you not to be greedy but be grateful of what you have, and be careful in what you wish for.

Grade B-

Uma das melhores curtas da Disney, muito bom, recomendo muito.