Fun and Fancy Free

Starring: Edgar Bergen, Dinah Shore (voice), Luana Patten, Anita Gordon (voice), Cliff Edwards (voice), Billy Gilbert (voice), Pinto Colvig (voice), Walt Disney (voice)
Directed by: Jack Kinney, Hamilton Luske, William Morgan, Bill Roberts
Rating: Approved
Genre: Animation, Adventure, Comedy
1947

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: Jiminy Cricket shares two stories- one about a bear named Bongo, and the other a retelling of "Jack and the Beanstalk" with Mickey Mouse and friends.

Review:
Tim: It's been interesting to watch these older Disney movies (thanks, Disney+). It's not surprising that eventually, Disney would move away from formats like this. These package films were apparently done to save money during World War II. I understand that, but it doesn't result in a particularly strong film. Fun and Fancy Free is an odd movie- it's split into two shorter stories, neither of which has any connection to the other. Jiminy Cricket serves as the host, which frames the stories. So you get Jiminy Cricket, then "Bongo", then Jiminy Cricket connects you to Edgar Bergen who tells the story "Mickey and the Beanstalk", then back to Bergen and Jiminy to end the film. And, the whole thing is only 1 hour, 13 minutes long. It's not all that compelling and jumping back and forth is a waste of time.

The scenes with Jiminy Cricket aren't very interesting. Sure, they serve to introduce both stories, but they're irrelevant. The film could have easily launched into both stories without those scenes and would have lost absolutely nothing. They take up some time, which feels like the main reason for doing it.

"Bongo" was actually a decent story (thanks to its source material), but it hasn't aged well. The story follows a circus bear who wants to escape and live freely in the woods. He manages to achieve this, struggles with the transition to outdoor life, and then falls in love. That brings him into conflict with the other bears, which sets up the story's main conflict. At that level, everything I described makes sense and you can see how it would be a worthwhile story for kids and adults alike. It's almost that, besides a few troubling aspects. Bongo is a cute protagonist, and it's easy to identify with him. We like him as a character and we want him to succeed.

The problem with "Bongo" is the too long song about how bears in love show their affection by slapping each other. This is where the film hasn't aged well. I know the movie is from 1947, but it's disturbing to think about the culture and what was socially appropriate for a children's film. The movie is literally connecting domestic abuse to affection. These bears slap each other in the face, but it's okay- that just means they love each other. This is so disturbing and potentially damaging for children. I cringed through the entire sequence (which makes up a large part of the story). I let my five year-old son watch the film, which may have been a mistake. I felt like I was doing a lot of explaining and downplaying. It's really quite terrible, and it shows you how far we've come as a society (domestic abuse still happens, sadly, but at least we're not promoting it in children's films).

After "Bongo", we get an odd sequence where Jiminy goes to a party, where Edgar Bergen is there with his frightening ventriloquist dummies. It's funny, you see a lot fewer ventriloquists in 2020. That's probably because they aren't all that funny, and are inherently creepy. My son hated the dummies in Toy Story 4, so it wasn't much fun to revisit those feelings here. He wasn't a fan of the dummies at all. It's a little frustrating because they aren't all that funny. Sure, Bergen cracks a few humorous lines, but many of them are eye rollers. There's again no point to this sequence, except to feature Bergen and creep out children. He just tells a little girl a story (doesn't seem like it's his daughter, so you kind of wonder where her parents are and why they left her alone with this strange man).

"Mickey and the Beanstalk" is a retelling of that famous story, but with Mickey, Donald, and Goofy. This story is appealing just because it's fun to see those three together. It feels like their personalities disappeared in the middle of telling this story, but it was still fun to see them all together. The story plays out exactly as the source material suggests. There wasn't any real innovative or Disney magic here. It felt like the focus was on getting it done, verses trying to create something remarkable. The story is fine. The giant isn't as scary as a I feared. There's nothing wrong with it, but it doesn't do a single special thing.

I think it's important to examine this movie in the larger context of the social, political, and historical time frame in which it was created. Even doing that, it's obvious that this is a lesser effort, a forgettable footnote in Disney's storied history. I tried to account for all that in my review and my rating, but however you look at it, this isn't a good movie. I suppose it's okay taking everything into consideration, but this isn't a film I have any desire to revisit.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 6



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