C'est pas drôle d'être un oiseau

This film won the Oscar for Best Animated Short in 1970. It was up against EN MARCHANT and OF MEN AND DEMONS. I saw EN MARCHANT and didn't particularly love it but cannot locate a copy of OF MEN AND DEMONS--so I cannot say how this particular film matches up with IT'S TOUGH TO BE A BIRD.

As far as IT'S TOUGH TO BE A BIRD goes, it's the sort of film Disney loved to make in the 1960s. Instead of continuing with the wonderful character cartoons of the 30s, 40s and 50s, the 1960s saw a decrease in Disney's output of shorts and many of the ones they did make were very educational--the very sort of cartoons that most kids hated. We wanted to see Mickey, Donald and a non-educational Goofy! I remember on Sunday nights tuning in to "The Wonderful World of Disney"--hoping they'd show some of these wonderful older films but mostly the studio gave us films like this, True Life Adventures and "wacky" live action films. Egad, I hated these films!

Now that I am a lot older, I don't hate IT'S TOUGH TO BE A BIRD like I used to, but I still think it's drier than dust through most of this all-too-educational film. The history of birds and human interactions with them is nice enough, but I wanted to see more bonking on the head and violence (in other words, a real cartoon!). I must admit that for 1969 the animation is relatively good--in fact, much better than the typical low frame-rate product of Hanna-Barbera and the like--though still noticeably less well animated than the classic Disney, MGM and Looney Tunes films. The problem isn't so much with the animation but with all the live action footage and the pretty limp final couple minutes. This ending is supposed to be kooky, but to me it just seemed kind of forced.

This starts off quite entertainingly with a comedy-poetic narration accompanying an animated look at the many ways humanity tries to do away with our flying friends. Everything from cages to arrows and bullets. Then we pose the question. How did the planet even get birds in the first place? Well, now we are taken on a quirky chronology through the history of ornithology from fish to feathers. Then mankind (and videotape) arrives and when we discover we can't quite emulate their natural skills in the air, we do everything from venerate them to roast them. Did you know the origins of the expression "chicken out"? "Twitchers" love to spend hours watching them and ultimately, more and more of their species are going the way of the dodo so we need to start being kinder to these crucial species that are essential to the survival of all around us. The first five minutes is well paced and good fun, thereafter it's becomes a bit of a stock footage fest that stretches the wit of the writer just a bit too far. Condensed to half it's length, it would have been punchier and probably more effective at delivering it's ultimate message about conservation and the beauty of these creatures (even the buzzards!). Watchable but forgettable, sorry.

This is one of Disney's better efforts (which is quite a compliment!) This shows up occasionally on The Ink and Paint Club, but I think that Disney (and the public) would be well-served if this and some of their other shorts were released in a compilation. This is an excellent example of combining animation with live-action to create at one and the same time a cartoon and a documentary about birds that is informative and entertaining for adults and children. In fact, I have noticed more than a few cartoons that should be in-print that aren't, many of them Disney, but others as well. Highly recommended.

I'm just glad to know that this thing really existed, and I wasn't just imagining things at the age of seven!! I'd love for this to go to home video; it's an imaginative and totally skewered animated documentary which seems to borrow a lot of its style from the animated MONTY PYTHON. The bird who narrates is continually bandaged and casted, and even the 60's NBC peacock arrives in a 2-second cameo to sneeze his feathers completely off!!

Ward Kimball was truly a one of a kind artist. His sensibility, on the surface, looked at odds with the Disney sensibility. Yet, Walt really valued him throughout the course of their lives. Kimball contributed a sense if comic flair and wackiness that no one else did. And it really came out after Disney's death.

Kimball had directed Disney cartoons before and they were highly successful, despite Disney himself not being a fan of the aesthetics. This title, similar to the educational featurettes that were put out earlier in the decade blends satire and irreverent humor. The animation looks like a mesh between the Sesame Street characters and Monty Python (both shows coincidentally premiered the same year). All these elements combined feel like a film produced by a studio other than Disney. The template is still there though. And at the same time, Kimball honors his Disney roots by juxtaposing a few clips from some classic Disney cartoons, with birds, with the absurdism.

Not suprisingly, few Disney executives and veterans were not crazy about this film, but the critics praised it and it won an Oscar. Despite the success, this film has fallen into obscurity, never having seen an official media release of any kind. Perhaps the Disney execs are still put off by it? Or perhaps it's too much a product of the late 60s?

A highly unusual Disney film, but one of Kimball's greatest achievements.