Mary's Little Lamb

There's a funny thing about this cartoon-not that it's funny (it really isn't) but the characters all tend to look familiar. The teacher is the character Iwerks used as everything from a landlady to Flip's wife (!) in Flip the Frog, the kids all resemble each other like a B-grade horror flick (Village of the Damned Stepford Children perhaps?) and apart from good technical aspects, it would bore a five year old inside thirty seconds. Like some actresses I won't name-all looks and no substance. Worth a look or two, but don't expect much. Iwerks was just playing out the string here. For completists only.

Mary's Little Lamb (1935)

*** (out of 4)

Ub Iwerks directed this cute animated film about a small lamb who follows Mary to school. Even though Mary doesn't like him following her it turns into a fun school day when the lamb goes up against the mean teacher. Once again this Iwerks short benefits from his wonderful animation as well as some very good Technicolor. The animation is always wonderful looking but a lot of times the director wasn't really working with very good stories. That's not the case here because the lamb character is rather cute and funny and this helps make for a much more entertaining movie.

"Mary's Little Lamb" seems to illustrate why Ub Iwerks didn't succeed when he left Disney. He is an animation legend and is one of the key figures in the early days of Disney, but somehow he couldn't translate that success in his own venture.

This short does not stand out in any way. It's not funny, unique, or even that well drawn, which is a surprise because Mr. Iwerks was a genius when it came to drawing at Disney. Like Robert Reynolds noted, all the children seemed to be drawn the same, like they all came from one creepy village. The title character, Mary, also was awkwardly drawn and had an odd, badly timed walking style.

Mary, along with the teacher, was also drawn sort of rubbery. At the time this cartoon was made, animators were still having trouble drawing realistic-looking humans. This was evident at Disney when they did "Goddess of Spring," but they were constantly improving to make the beautiful "Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs," whereas Mr. Iwerks seemed to be stuck in this poor animation style.

And I haven't said anything about the songs. Most were absolutely horrible, especially the one "Good Morning" song sung by the teacher and the students. However, they were able to rhyme the song between Mary and the lamb, so I guess that's something. I don't mean to bash on Mr. Iwerks so much, but this was definitely not his best. He was a revolutionary animator in the early Mickey Mouse cartoons and would dabble in more innovative projects when he returned to Disney. He is definitely a legend, but for some reason, he just couldn't make it on his own.

My IMDb Rating: 2/10

Ub Iwerks was a Disney employee and helped Walt come up with Mickey Mouse. So, it wasn't surprising that eventually Ub decided he wanted more control and went out on his own making cartoons. However, crap like "Mary's Little Lamb" doomed Ub and eventually his studio folded and he returned to Disney.

The animation and color in this cartoon are excellent--about as good as the stuff being done by the Fleischer Brothers and nearly as nice as Disney's work. However, this alone do not make up a cartoon and like the very worst Uwerks films, it's full of god-awful singing throughout and goes for cutesy instead of watchability or funny. The overall film looks good but is so saccharine and terrible I would only show this to children if I hated them and wanted to punish them.

While not one of my favourites, Ub Iwerks was responsible for a lot of interesting work. Especially when working with Walt Disney, his oldest friend and one of his best, and co-creating one of animation's most famous characters in Mickey Mouse. His career since opening his own studio had interest value but the quality was variable, often being successful in the animation and music but wanting in the story and variable in gags, lead characters and tone.

1933 to 1936 saw twenty five cartoons, mostly based on famous fairytales and familiar stories, as part of Iwerks's "ComiColor" series. The "ComiColor" series is very much worth watching and interesting, as is the case with many series some cartoons are better than others but there are no real animation nadirs. 1935's 'Mary's Little Lamb' is watchable enough but it is a little disappointing.

'Mary's Little Lamb' is very slight, pretty plot-less, and is too saccharine, like at the beginning. There is just not enough content to the poem to fill the cartoon's length and the middle especially is where one feels the over-stretching.

Its characters should have been much more interesting, their personalities are bland and most look too similar. There is far more imagination and humour in other cartoons in the series before and since, it did feel bland somewhat. Much of it is not very funny, could have had a sharper kick pace-wise, has very little conflict or enough urgency and tries too hard to be cute that it goes too far the other way.

However, 'Mary's Little Lamb' has enough interest to stop it from being completely dull. There are a few amusing moments that aren't too repetitive or corny, though this is sporadic, and there is a genuine likeability and charm. The lamb is adorably endearing and Mary charms enough.

Furthermore, the animation is great apart from an awkwardly animated Mary. Meticulously detailed, fluid in drawing, vibrant in colour and often rich in imagination and visual wit. The music is cleverly and lushly orchestrated, is infectiously catchy and adds a lot to the cartoon.

Overall, another example of a worth a look once but not repeat viewings cartoon. 5/10 Bethany Cox