The Kids in the Shoe

Like Disney, the Fleischers took fairy tales and adapted them for cartoons. But the Fleischers added their own twists to these cartoons. They weren't Disney, never could be and their weakest work is when they tried to out-mouse the Mouse. The highlight here is a great rendition of the song, "Mama Don't 'Low" as essayed by Smiley Burnette, a character actor most associated with westerns, principally as Gene Autrey's sidekick. His voice is almost unmistakeable and the energy of the cartoon, which starts slowly, picks up considerably once he starts singing. Visually nice with a few other moments, notably the ending. This short can be found on the Somewhere In Dreamland DVD compilation in a separate section as one of four shorts considered too poor in condition to fully restore. While not as beautiful as the restored shorts, it is most certainly watchable. Well worth seeing. Recommended.

The Kids in the Shoe (1935)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Mildly charming animated short from Dave Fleischer deals with a group of children who live inside a giant shoe with the elderly woman who takes care of them. What we basically see is that the children are well taken care of but they still want to have a little more fun so when their keeper goes to bed the kids break out a guitar and piano for some swing music. The Fleischer boys made so many cartoons that many of them were pretty middle-ground stuff that might have been seen as being much higher quality to a regular artist. When you have the name Fleischer you just expect high quality all the time so something in the middle like this can be overlooked. For the most part this short was cute enough and it certainly didn't overstay its 7-minute running time. The characters for the most part were entertaining but the highlight was certainly the song that gets played at the end. It was very catchy and you'll be tapping your feet to it just like the characters in the film.

Fleischer Studios made a lot of great cartoons, some of them among my favourites, with a good mix of cute, funny and emotional as well as some innovative touches. The Kids in the Shoe is very likable and entertaining but it is not among the best they have done. The cartoon is narratively is thin on the ground and does get off to a slow and rather cutesy start(things are set up nicely though admittedly). The animation is not as colourful(or as innovative) as in other cartoons from Fleischer Studios and lacks smoothness in places at the beginning but there is a certain charm to it, and the animation on the moving shoe is funny and clever. The Kids in the Shoe is quite adorable(especially with the children, in appearance and personality) and a lot of fun, the cartoon really picks up the pace during the big number Mama Don't Low and the rest is a toe-tapping delight. The mother is a good character and Mae Questel voices her well but the children are much more memorable and are brilliantly voiced by Smiley Burnette. The score has the right amount of whimsy and rhythmic energy, have always loved how the Fleischer cartoons' music is orchestrated as well, but the highlight of The Kids in the Shoe is definitely Mama Don't Low, which is one of the catchiest, toe-tapping songs for any cartoon seen recently by me, the lyrics are also hilarious. All in all, starts slowly but from Mama Down Low it's great entertainment. 7/10 Bethany Cox