Watchin' Disney #09: Fun and Fancy Free

Today's Watchin' Disney, Fun and Fancy Free, is one of those not-really-a-movie movies. Unlike the previous not-really-movies movies, this one isn't a bunch of musical and/or Mexican shorts strung together, it is just two fairly long shorts strung together. And hey, Mickey Mouse is on the DVD cover, they don't just put Mickey on ANY piece of crap! *walks past a merchant selling an obscene amount of shoddy, inferior Mickey Mouse product* Haha, thought I'd spice up this intro with a joke from my Duckman spec script. Let's get into the movie!

Previous relationship with movie: You ever seen Mickey and the Beanstalk? I have! It was made as part of this movie, I didn't even know!

So I watched it: This is movie is two things, a pretty-long short Bongo, and a slightly shorter short Mickey and the Beanstalk. Jiminy Cricket kind of "hosts" the whole movie from a live-action house.

First, Bongo. It's about a bear who works for the circus where they are VERY cruel to him. One day he ends up in the forest. The forest is a tough time for a circus bear, but then he falls in love with a girl bear. According to my research this was originally going to be a feature-length prequel to Dumbo. I liked Dumbo so I liked this too!

Then, Mickey and the Beanstalk. It's Jack and the Beanstalk but with Mickey, Donald Duck and Goofy. This has its own live-action intro where Jiminy Cricket sneaks into a house where Edgar Bergen and his puppets are at some kid's birthday party. So Edgar Bergen and puppets tell the story as it happens. I think this might be on one of the Walt Disney Treasures so I won't talk about it much. It's good, sure, but I liked Bongo better!

Best part of the movie: The fantasy sequence in Bongo where EVERYTHING is shaped like a heart; the clouds, the water, I really wish I thought of it.

Most inexplicable part of the movie: In the opening credits, Donald Duck is credited over Mickey Mouse. Both are under both of Edgar Bergen's puppets.

Up next: Melody Time. Man I'm really looking forward to getting past these "collection" movies and onto the real ones. CINDERELLA IS SITTING ON MY DVD SHELF AND I AM QUITE LITERALLY DYING TO GET TO IT.