Goliath II

The big "Goliath" can only thinly disguise his disappointment when his son is born and is barely knee high to a grasshopper. Luckily, little "Goliath" is the apple of his mother's eye, and she has faith in him! That faith is well tested, though, as the scrawny looking tiger "Raja" eyes himself a little snack! This titchy elephant is quite literally bite size, and almost every other hungry critter in the forest has an eye on him too! When the little one gets lost, mum goes mad but the others sense dinner... Everyone knows that the one thing a pachyderm is scared of is a mouse - and when one terrifies the bejesus out of his giant family, it's only little Goliath who stays to face the dangers - and an acrobatic combat ensues. It's not really very original, this - with shades of "Jungle Book" meets "Winnie the Pooh" and "Dumbo" threading through it, it has a certain familiarity. It's got a friendly enough narration from the instantly recognisable tones of Sterling Holloway and the score is very typically George Bruns so it's easy to watch, just probably as easy to forget, too. (PS - I don't think there's a film called "Goliath I")

A Walt Disney Cartoon.

Tiny GOLIATH II is a disgrace to the rest of the elephant herd - until he encounters a bullying mouse...

This two-reeler was based on a story by the celebrated children's author Bill Peet. Various elements of the animation will invariably remind viewers of DUMBO (1941) and the forthcoming JUNGLE BOOK (1967). The film is helped immeasurably by the narration of Sterling Holloway.

Walt Disney (1901-1966) was always intrigued by pictures & drawings. As a lad in Marceline, Missouri, he sketched farm animals on scraps of paper; later, as an ambulance driver in France during the First World War, he drew comic figures on the sides of his vehicle. Back in Kansas City, along with artist Ub Iwerks, Walt developed a primitive animation studio that provided animated commercials and tiny cartoons for the local movie theaters. Always the innovator, his ALICE IN CARTOONLAND series broke ground in placing a live figure in a cartoon universe. Business reversals sent Disney & Iwerks to Hollywood in 1923, where Walt's older brother Roy became his lifelong business manager & counselor. When a mildly successful series with Oswald The Lucky Rabbit was snatched away by the distributor, the character of Mickey Mouse sprung into Walt's imagination, ensuring Disney's immortality. The happy arrival of sound technology made Mickey's screen debut, STEAMBOAT WILLIE (1928), a tremendous audience success with its use of synchronized music. The SILLY SYMPHONIES soon appeared, and Walt's growing crew of marvelously talented animators were quickly conquering new territory with full color, illusions of depth and radical advancements in personality development, an arena in which Walt's genius was unbeatable. Mickey's feisty, naughty behavior had captured millions of fans, but he was soon to be joined by other animated companions: temperamental Donald Duck, intellectually-challenged Goofy and energetic Pluto. All this was in preparation for Walt's grandest dream - feature length animated films. Against a blizzard of doomsayers, Walt persevered and over the next decades delighted children of all ages with the adventures of Snow White, Pinocchio, Dumbo, Bambi & Peter Pan. Walt never forgot that his fortunes were all started by a mouse, or that childlike simplicity of message and lots of hard work always pay off.

Of course, Disney animation is always quite good. Good color. Well drawn characters. The problem here is the rather dull, repetitive story of the tiny elephant trying to make his way in herd of giants. Only his mother cares about him, but he constantly disobeys her. It just seemed like the same old stuff.

The notable thing about this short cartoon directed by Wolfgang "Woolie" Reitherman (who would go to direct many of the notable Disney movies of the 60's and 70's and was part of the "9 Old Men"), is that it features a few pieces of key animation from The Jungle Book several years before the film while *also* featuring some shots which are clearly taken from older Disney movies (I counted Dumbo and Peter Pan, though I'm sure there are bits from others I missed).

It may be that I notice such things after a lifetime of seeing these things, but I think even if you're only somewhat familiar with the animation it will come up as 'hey, wait a minute, that's Dumbo and his mom, isn't it?' All the same it's a cute short - not much more, but the story, about a tiny elephant who is looked on as a pain in the butt for the other larger elephants and gets into mishaps with a tiger (only to later save them all by, again the Dumbo connection, fighting a mouse that they adults are all scared of), is a charming and substantive story of standing up for yourself against odds even if you're smaller or weaker or whatnot.

It is slight, it is silly, and it feels like an early trial run for The Jungle Book long before Balloo and Bagheera and when Khan looked like a rag-doll version of a tiger. It's fine, it's just not anything highly memorable, aside from its cribbing of shots from other Disney movies (perhaps, no, surely, as a way of cutting corners costwise).

A very nice animated short in many ways, not one of the best Disney shorts but one of the more underrated ones. The animation style is not going to please everyone, with me it was a case of parts being good and others not so much. The colours are vibrant, mostly though with some flat spots, and the characters are mostly very well drawn, but the backgrounds are rather rough-around-the-edges. The story is a fairly familiar one and can be a touch predictable in places, though that was inevitable really. For all that though, the story still has an immense amount of charm and sweetness without being overly so and it is very touching as well. You can hardly call it dull either. The music has energy and enhances the action and emotions, and it also is beautifully orchestrated, lush and characterful but not syrupy. Kids and adults alike will be taken with the splashes of humour that Goliath II has and will easily be moved and be able to relate to Goliath II and his situation. The narration is well-humoured and sympathetic with little of it explaining too much without need to. Sterling Holloway's voice is immediately recognisable and he delivers the narration perfectly, quirky and sensitive at the same time. Goliath II is adorable and brings poignancy to the story with ease. His situation and conflicts are those that are easy to identify with and in the short done in a way that doesn't talk down to you. Overall, a very charmingly and well done short, the animation has its limits but much of everything else is fine. 8/10 Bethany Cox