A113Animation: Make Mine Music

Wednesday, 6 March 2013

Munir's Disney Retrospective -- Animated Classic #8: Make Mine Music (1946)

By Munir Abedrabbo.

Last Week's: Munir's Disney Retrospective -- Animated Classic #7: The Three Caballeros (1945)

With the War over but the financial difficulties not, Walt continued with the anthology films for the remainder of the 40s. The first non-Latin American anthology film was Make Mine Music, and unfortunately it's one of the weakest of the six. Narrating the shorts with different musical rhythms and popular singers of the time, Make Mine Music is a mixed bag of good shorts (The Whale Who Wanted to Sing at the Met, Peter and the Wolf, All the Cats Join In) and dull ones (Without You, Casey at the Bat) that ultimately fails to impress and creates an unsatisfying experience for the viewer. It doesn't help that an entire segment (The Martins and the Coys) was completely removed from later home video releases. Rating: 3/5.

Next Week: Animated Classic #9 Review: Fun and Fancy Free (1947)

Tuesday, 19 February 2013

Munir's Disney Retrospective -- War Period Introduction

By Munir Abedrabbo.

War Period: The Anthology Films (1943-1949)

Overview

After a far too short period of developing and innovating animation techniques and completely changing the animation industry with ambitious projects, World War II took its toll on the Disney Studio. Pinocchio, Fantasia and Bambi weren't as successful as Walt had hoped and, out of a need to keep the studio afloat during and after the War, he had to cut expense. Disney then released a series of inexpensive shorts, encompassed in various feature films. Universally known as the Anthology Films nowadays, this period is rather obscure for the casual Disney fan that tends to jump from the end of the Golden Age with Bambi to the Silver Age with Cinderella. Nonetheless, even if these films aren't widely known, and even if many of them offer uneven experiences to the audience, they are certainly worth a look and they’re an important part of the studio’s history during that difficult time.