Noah's Ark

And that's more to do with how truly unique it is rather than being one of their best, at the top of my head there is no other Disney short like Noah's Ark. And that is mainly down to the animation style and the creativity gone into the characters, in many ways Noah's Ark is very different for Disney but that's not a bad thing here. Noah's Ark doesn't have the most compelling of stories, the story itself is rather thin on the ground and the pacing lags at times. But the reason why Noah's Ark rates high personally is because, despite the story being unexceptional, everything else works brilliantly. The stop-motion animation immediately reminds one of Rankin'/Bass rather than the traditional hand-drawn animation usually seen with Disney at this time, but it does look very charming and beautiful with some clever stylised designs and some of the visuals are a huge amount of fun to watch, still holding up by today's standards. What helps Noah's Ark immensely is George Bruns' jazzy score, which is so energetic and wonderfully upbeat, Mrs. Hippo's song has some very witty lyrics too. The songs are all very sprightly and drive the short really well. Noah's Ark has a touch of weirdness, meant in a good way, and even more immense charm. Jerome Courtland's narration is effective in how simple it is and Jeanne Cayle does some great vocals too, but even better is Paul Frees, known as one of the best voice actors of the time and judging from his brilliant voice work here that's justified. It's the work done with the household items and the animals though where Noah's Ark really excels, it's a hard job making household items creative(using them to build the animals) and interesting but Noah's Ark does it and does so ingeniously. The cork hippos are especially delightful. Overall, a unique Disney short and a good one. 8/10 Bethany Cox