Le roi Midas

A Walt Disney SILLY SYMPHONY Cartoon Short.

Jolly monarch King Midas is gold mad and nothing seems to satisfy his avarice. Then one day a strange little elf grants him THE GOLDEN TOUCH...

An enjoyable retelling of the tale from Greek Mythology, competently animated.

The SILLY SYMPHONIES, which Walt Disney produced for a ten year period beginning in 1929, are among the most interesting of series in the field of animation. Unlike the Mickey Mouse cartoons in which action was paramount, with the Symphonies the action was made to fit the music. There was little plot in the early Symphonies, which featured lively inanimate objects and anthropomorphic plants & animals, all moving frantically to the soundtrack. Gradually, however, the Symphonies became the school where Walt's animators learned to work with color and began to experiment with plot, characterization & photographic special effects. The pages of Fable & Fairy Tale, Myth & Mother Goose were all mined to provide story lines and even Hollywood's musicals & celebrities were effectively spoofed. It was from this rich soil that Disney's feature-length animation was to spring. In 1939, with SNOW WHITE successfully behind him and PINOCCHIO & FANTASIA on the near horizon, Walt phased out the SILLY SYMPHONIES; they had run their course & served their purpose.

King Midas cares for nothing but gold. One day, he's visited by the diminutive magical Goldie. Despite Goldie's warning, Midas demands and is granted the golden touch. At first, he is overjoyed but eventually, he discovers that it is really a curse. He turns everything including his food into gold. In the end, he pleads to Goldie to have a hamburger sandwich in exchange for his entire kingdom.

This is a Walt Disney Silly Symphony cartoon. There are none of the iconic Disney characters. It's strictly the classic tale told in a silly cartoon form. The tale still works and it works well in this short bite size. Goldie is a little creepy but Midas is a fun looking design. It's all very good.

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 Silly Symphony short is, as is ALWAYS the case with these shorts, brilliantly animated--with terrific backgrounds and ultra-vivid colors. It's the story of King Midas and his Golden Touch. But, unfortunately, the Disney folks decided to insert some sappy music--and the King singing "The Golden Touch, The Golden Touch" was pretty annoying. Once this stopped, however, the story was pretty decent and quite watchable. My only reservation about the story is the ending--as the original story told by the ancient Greeks was much darker (and therefore, cool).

A nice version of the story of King Midas and his wish-turned-curse. I chuckled when I noticed the 18K that appeared on the cat when it was turned to gold. I also loved his giddy little dance for joy upon using his new talent for the first time. His first realization for the curse of the golden touch occurs with him being squirted in the eye with gold coins by his grapefruit, which continues with a series of problems resulting in his whining about the possibility of the richest king starving to death. The fact that he is deemed wise because he asked for a hamburger (with onions) is one of those details laced with a little bit of absurdity that you don't notice at first but make you crack up later during a little afterthought. The song at the beginning is nice; my favorite verse would have to be: "I've never cared for women / I've never cared for wine / But when I count / A large amount / Of money - Ha Ha / It's Divine!" It has something for everyone and is short enough so that the gags don't go stale. Enjoy.

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-