Jolly Little Elves

. . . together like shelves and glue shakers. And, as any good carpenter well knows, you cannot have sturdy shelves without lots of glue. Released as a corporate promo for Dunking Donuts in Quincy, MA, JOLLY LITTLE ELVES insured that this fritter franchise would soon overtake White Castle as an American fast food institution, 12,900 to 345. Why are there 35 Dunking Donuts for every White Castle? Compared to doughnuts, sliders are truly Health Food, featuring steamed vegetables such as onions, the B vitamins and 100% of the daily minimum requirement of mustard. Conversely, Dunking Donuts are one of the top three American artery clogging factors. The shoemaker and his wife in this story are in their late 20's, but they look like centurions after consuming so many donuts.

Not so long ago, maybe less than 2 years ago, I watched a very similar cartoon, same story, only the art (drawings) was much better, the colors richer and no annoying non-stop music and singing.

This here is breaking my ears UGH! And the faces are badly drawn, bloated and there appears to be only 3 colors: tomato red and dull green with brown, besides the standard black and white. So I guess that's 5 colors. Anyway, they mixed the green with brown & red and all the colors look uniform even when there's lighter and darker shades.

All this to say, the visuals are terrible, the singing is horrible. The story is good and it has a distinct Xmas feel. Muh better watched as a kid. The old man looks much better in his tux.

The story and the other cartoon were 10/10. Can't get past the amateurish look and feel of this one, plus the music is absolute torture. Then again, I hate musicals, so there you have it: 4/10 from me.

This short, nominated for an Academy Award, is an adaptation of the fairy tale about the shoemaker and the elves. It's one of Lantz studios musical shorts and features a lot of the basic sight gags that have become so familiar if you've watched any of the adaptations of this particular story before. Good cartoon, well animated and entertaining, especially for those who really like doughnuts! Worth watching. Recommended.