Le vilain petit canard

A Walt Disney SILLY SYMPHONY Cartoon Short.

A gawky UGLY DUCKLING, only moments after birth, is hectored & harried from the family of ducks he was born into. Will he ever find happiness & learn his true destiny?

This is a pleasant cartoon, with the plucky personality of the protagonist firmly front & center; the by-play between the duck parents is also amusing. Based on the Hans Christian Andersen classic, it is a remake of a 1931 black & white Symphony. The SILLY SYMPHONIES ended with this film, but they went out with a bang - like 6 of its predecessors, THE UGLY DUCKLING was awarded an Oscar for Best Animation.

The SILLY SYMPHONIES, which Walt Disney produced for a ten year period beginning in 1929, are among the most fascinating of all animated series. 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's track record for adaptations of works of literature is decidedly mixed. This version of Hans Christian Andersen's, "The Ugly Duckling" is one of the most successful ones and quite deservedly won another Oscar for Uncle Walt. It's a beautiful short on all counts-animation, backgrounds, artwork, scoring, eveything-Disney at it's best. When Disney was at their best, no one could touch them. This short does justice to one of the most well-known fairy tales of all time and almost makes up for what they did to Felix Salten's "Bambi". Almost. This one should be in-print and runs on The Ink and Paint Club. An absolute masterpiece and anyone who loves animation has got to see this one! Recommended.

Genre: Disney short, based on Hans Christian Anderson tale.

Main characters: The ugly duckling, the duck and the swan.

What happens: A father duck has managed to "dig" a ditch by walking around impatiently, waiting for his ducklings to hatch out of their eggs. Finally, this happens, but an unexpected egg also hatches, one with an "ugly duckling"…

Message: Often differences can be good.

My thoughts: Growing up with this short, this is a very cute Silly Symphony, one of many that Walt Disney created. This particular one I love dearly, as I do with most of the ones I have watched. It is very lovable and also very emotional (at points I nearly cry). You will understand this sadness whether you know the Hans Christian Anderson tale or not, it melts your heart (well mine anyway). I cannot understand people who are at least SLIGHTLY moved by something in this short. I like the character of the ugly duckling, he is lovable at first sight. If a family is watching this (and the children are between 0 and 7) you may want to be a little cautious so as not to upset the youngest. I was certainly upset when I was little, but thankfully that has changed, as sadness has also turned into love for this cartoon. I hope you are as warmed just as much as I was.

Recommended to: Children who like cartoons and adults who like cartoons. Enjoy! :-)

'Ugly Duckling (1939)' was the final film in Disney's "Silly Symphonies" series, and was also their only remake of a previous Symphony. Wilfred Jackson's 'The Ugly Duckling (1931)' was a rather primitive black-and-white adaptation of Hans Christian Anderson's famous tale, which drastically altered the original story to make (at least in my interpretation) a rather touching plea for racial tolerance. Jack Cutting's 1939 film is considerably more polished, animated in vivid Technicolor that speaks to the extraordinary degree of prestige that Walt Disney's company enjoyed throughout the 1930s. It is also considerably more faithful to Anderson's story, following the "ugly duckling" around the pond as he attempts to find his place in society. Unlike the 1931 duckling, which was somewhat grotesquely, Cutting's version is cute and likable, if a bit gawky compared to his ostensible siblings. Nevertheless, either bird, however handsomely they are drawn, will immediately capture your heart with their wide-eyed innocence, amplified tenfold by the persecution that they much endure for simply being "different."

The duckling's hatching causes much consternation at the adult ducks' nest, with the father understandably anxious that his wife has apparently given birth to a youngster that quite obviously didn't inherit his genes. After being unceremoniously banished from the duck family, the "ugly duckling" strikes out alone, desperate to find somewhere where he can be accepted for who he is. Glancing down into his reflection on the pond surface, in one of the short's most touching moments, the duckling sees his own reflection, hideously distorted by the water ripples, and breaks into tears. Fortunately, a happy ending is just around the corner, and the duckling's lonely honks of despair are answered in kind by a family of swans, who immediately take our hero under their wing, so to speak. Unfaultable in terms of animation, music and characterisation, 'Ugly Duckling' is a touching celebration of accepting and savouring one's own differences, and was justly awarded with an Oscar for Best Animated Short Film, Disney's seventh Silly Symphony to do so.

The Ugly Duckling, based on the story by Hans Christian Andersen, is a beautiful short, that not only has a wonderful message(being different can be good) but also has sentimental value. The animation, in Technicolour is truly lovely, and the music is one of the reasons why I have a soft spot for this short, it was so beautiful. The story of the short is simple, and sweet, and doesn't change the message of the original story. The ugly Duckling himself (which of course he isn't)is a really sweet and engaging title character, and when he cries, I can't help it, but so do I, because I really feel for him. He was created so beautiful, that it tugged at my heartstrings when he's sad. And when I saw the Ugly Duckling cuddling his newfound mother, I couldn't help cheering, seeing him so happy. The other characters are also well done. Overall, this is just beautiful, but I warn you, prepare for tears, when watching this, and this is for the title character alone. 10/10 Bethany Cox.