Disney Era Analysis – Fun and Fancy Free

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As mentioned in the first blog post in this series, I’ll be writing analysis content on all 60+ Disney animated feature films and their film making eras.

The second era is the Wartime Era, which ran from 1943 to 1949 and started with Saludos Amigos. As mentioned in a previous blog post, the Wartime Era is also known as the “package era” as the films during this era were famous for consisting of multiple segments or short films with varying plots (or sometimes no plots at all) that were put together, as opposed to being a film focusing on or telling one concrete story. This era was also known for combining live action with animation. This era was also known for showing how World War II affected the Walt Disney Animation Studios.

So how well did Fun and Fancy Free measure up to these famous features?

Consisting of multiple segments or short films with varying plots (or sometimes no plots at all) that were put together:

Fun and Fancy Free consisted of just two segments or as described on Disney Plus, “animated featurettes,” Bongo and Mickey and the Beanstalk. The featurettes are broken up with an intro of a singing Jiminy Cricket inside a house plant, and then finding toys and a record player. He finds the Bongo record, which kicks off that featurette.

When Bongo comes to an end, he finds an invitation for Luanna Patten for a birthday party across the way. Jiminy makes his way to the birthday party where Edgar Bergen and his puppets, Charlie McCarthy and Mortimer Snerd are also attending. Edgar then proceeds to tell Luanna, Charlie, and Mortimer the story of Mickey and the Beanstalk.

When Mickey and the Beanstalk ends, Edgar reassures an upset Mortimer that Willie was a fictional character. However, Willie shows up moments later, lifting the roof off the house, causing Edgar to faint. Willie is looking for Mickey, but once told Mickey isn’t there, he goes through Hollywood looking for him, bringing the film to a close.

Bongo:

Bongo tells the story of a circus bear by the same name, who was raised in captivity and becomes a beloved circus bear by the audience, but is mistreated by the circus owners and handlers.

Whilst travelling to each stop on the circus train, Bongo starts hearing the call of the wild urging him to break free. He tries numerous times, eventually managing to free himself through a carriage door that breaks away from its lock. While he initially experiences an idealistic first day, it doesn’t take long for the harsh conditions of the wild to wear him down.

One day as he is chasing after a fish, he meets a female bear, Lulubelle. They fall in love immediately, however a romantic rival, Lumpjaw, ends their burgeoning romance, as he takes Lulubelle’s accidental slap of him as a romantic gesture, and Bongo is unaware that a slap is how bears express their love. Once Bongo realises this, he challenges Lumpjaw and he manages to outwit him throughout the fight, thanks to the unicycle he would ride as part of his circus act. Bongo eventually wins the fight as the two of them presumably fall off a cliff and into the river, only for Bongo to be saved from falling down by his hat whereas Lumpjaw falls into the river and is swept away. Bongo and Lulubelle are then able to finally live happily ever after.

Mickey and the Beanstalk:

A parody of Jack and the Beanstalk, this featurette tells the story of a countryside land, Happy Valley, being kept alive by a singing golden harp. However, during a storm, the harp is stolen by a mysterious figure, which leads to Happy Valley going into a severe drought.

After some time passes, only three peasants remain in Happy Valley: Goofy, Donald Duck, and Mickey Mouse. With only one loaf of bread and a singular bean left to eat, and driven insane by hunger, Donald tries to kill their pet cow. Mickey manages to stop him and decides to sell the cow for money to buy food.

The next day, Goofy and Donald are excited over the thought of being able to eat a lot of food again, however Mickey comes home to tell them that he sold the cow for magic beans. Believing that Mickey has been conned, Donald throws the magic beans down a hole in their house floor. However, it turns out the beans are magical, with a giant beanstalk growing as high as the sky, as the three of them sleep later that night.

The next morning, Goofy, Donald, and Mickey wake up to find themselves at the top of the beanstalk, and tiny compared to their surroundings. They manage to make their way to a castle, where they stumble across a feast and help themselves. They eventually come across the singing golden harp locked in a chest. The harp tells them that she was stolen by a wicked giant. The giant, Willie, then appears, revealing that he has many magical powers.

Goofy, Donald, and Mickey try to hide from Willie, but he finds Mickey hiding in his sandwich as he goes to eat it. Mickey gains Willie’s trust by claiming to be a palm reader and tries to get him to transform himself into a fly, however Willie asks if they would prefer a pink bunny. When Willie catches Goofy, Donald and Mickey with a fly swatter, he angrily captures them and locks them in the chest with the harp.

The harp manages to sing Willie to sleep whilst Mickey frees himself, Goofy and Donald. However, Willie wakes up and goes after them. Goofy, Mickey and Donald manage to beat Willie to the bottom of the beanstalk and they saw it down, leading to Willie presumably falling to his death.

Combining live action with animation:

The only parts of the film where live action is combined with animation is between the two featurettes and the film’s ending, when Luanna Platten attends a birthday party being held at Edgar Bergen’s house with Charlie and Mortimer. Jiminy can be seen quietly attending the party.

Showing how World War II affected the Walt Disney Animation Studios:

According to IMDb, both featurettes/segments were initially being produced independently as full length animated feature films, but were turned into shorts due to wartime shortages leading to the loss of studio resources, time, and animators. The animation was completed in 1941 but the release of the film was delayed due to the War, and the Bongo script was finalised on the day that Pearl Harbor was attacked (December 7, 1941).

My overall thoughts:

Overall, I didn’t enjoy Fun and Fancy Free, not because it was bad, but because I don’t feel that these segments go well together.

While I appreciated that I only had to follow two segments, as opposed to four (Saludos Amigos), seven (The Three Caballeros), and ten (Make Mine Music), these segments couldn’t have been more different and they were too different. I personally enjoyed Bongo, as it was mostly light-hearted and reminded me of Dumbo and I could see its appeal as a feature film if it did become that as originally intended. However, I found Mickey and the Beanstalk too dark in comparison and while I know it was a retelling of Jack and the Beanstalk, I think it was too close to the original to be unique Disney.

I also felt that Jiminy Cricket was underused, especially towards the second half of the film, and the inclusion of the birthday party to be unnecessary (and the puppets were creepy). It would have been better to have had Jiminy Cricket stay in the bedroom and find a Mickey and the Beanstalk book on the shelf as it would have resolved both issues at the same time, and provided the breaks between the segments with consistency.

The next part of the Disney Era Analysis series will focus on Melody Time.

Fun Facts and Trivia:

  • According to IMDb, this is one of the first Walt Disney animated feature films to list the voice credits for the animated characters, and the first to list Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and Goofy as if they were actors in a live action film.
  • According to IMDb, unlike many of the Walt Disney films, Fun and Fancy Free has not been re-released repeatedly. However, both of the animated segments have been shown separately on television.
  • It’s never explained where the magic beans came from in Mickey and the Beanstalk.
  • One of the headlines in the newspaper Jiminy Cricket dances across reads, “Oceans Will Gobble Earth Scientists Forecast,” foreshadowing climate change and its effects.
  • According to IMDb, Fun and Fancy Free was the first Disney film to be dubbed into Norwegian.

References:

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