Les bébés de l'océan

Merbabies (1938)

*** (out of 4)

This animated short was actually released by Disney but it was produced by Hugh Harmon and Rudolf Ising. Both men had previously worked at Disney but when Walt needed help finishing SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS this film was bought from them and released. The plot, well, there really isn't much plot but it deals with the title characters, baby mermaids, and their underwater adventures. The "adventures" aren't much either but what makes this film work isn't the plot but instead it's the wonderful and very well-detailed animation. There are some terrific footage underwater and I must admit that the look at the merbabies were rather cute and adorable.

Merbabies was a truly enchanting short. The animation is stunning, with beautiful underwater backgrounds, and fluid movements, and the music was a delight to the ears and was strongly reminiscent of a Tchaikovsky ballet score. And it was a delight hearing Gossec's Gavotte.

The characters, especially the adorable Merbabies, were completely likable and there are some truly entertaining bits, like the part when the seahorse tries to get through the hoop. I will admit, Merbabies is thin in terms of story, and I was saddened when the Merbabies turned to sea foam at the end.

Still, it is very beautiful, and I would definitely watch it again. 9/10 Bethany Cox

A Walt Disney SILLY SYMPHONY Cartoon Short.

The MERBABIES are frolicking beneath the salt waves - swimming & playing with various sea creatures. An elaborate underwater circus parade & performances fill much of their day, culminating in a rise to the surface in the expelled breath of a whale at sunset.

While the plot is virtually invisible in this little film, there's much to fill the eye as the colorful images cavort about the screen. The real significance of this cartoon is that it gave the folks in Disney Animation some excellent experience in working with the particular aspects of underwater scenes (bubble movement, light & shadow) which would be so important in the under seas sequence in PINOCCHIO.

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.

Disney was busy trying to lift the art of animation to new heights by having his artists do an "under the sea" type of thing, long before anyone would be seeing films like PINOCCHIO or THE LITTLE MERMAID.

MERBABIES is thin on plot but the art work is gorgeous and the visual elements are what make it worth watching. A dazzling array of sea creatures are having a circus-like parade that includes a number of sight gags with the creatures taking on the looks of elephants, donkeys, horses and other animals. Finally, just when the atmosphere couldn't be any cheerier, everyone scatters at the approach of a hard breathing whale (as in PINOCCHIO).

The merbabies ride to the surface surrounded by a sea of bubbles and emerge atop the water, safe from the monstrous whale.

Easy to see that Disney was doing experimental procedures for PINOCCHIO before its release two years later.

Visually stunning, if a bit too cute for some tastes. All of the art work is first rate and much more impressive than in the earlier Disney shorts from '33 and onward.

Merbabies can be found as a bonus feature on The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea DVD. This Silly Symphony short is a cute look at how half-babies, half-fish celebrate a circus under the sea. For me, it was almost too cute. I kind of want to see more depth into the story, which may be difficult to do for a 9-minute Silly Symphony cartoon, but I point to The Old Mill on how that can be done effectively. However, I will say that the ending to Merbabies was kind of neat. So overall, Merbabies is a cute little film with crisp, clean animation.

Side note: I found Ron Oliver's comments to be interesting on how this cartoon served as practice for certain scenes in Pinocchio. I didn't think about that at the time I watched Merbabies, but if I watch it again, I'll have to pay closer attention!

My IMDb Rating: 6/10