User reviews

Fun and Fancy Free is for me one of Disney's lesser efforts, but is still very charming, simple and enjoyable. I did think the live action sequences were dated though, and the film is quite short. Out of all the characters, the only character I didn't care for that much was the puppet. Apart from the hilarious "well she used to be a good milker, but now... she is an udder failure" he didn't really make an impact on me. Maybe it was because the ventriloquism was rather substandard.

However, I really enjoyed this on the whole. The introduction with Jiminy Cricket- voiced by the one and only Cliff Edwards- in the library was very effective, as was a vast majority of the script. The animation is stunning, and by far the best aspect of the movie, and I hope I am not the only person who found the songs beautiful and memorable, my favourite being "My what a happy day".

There are two mini-classics here, Bongo and Mickey and the Beanstalk. Both are wonderful gems, but I will admit I do prefer the latter. Bongo tells the rather simple story of the adorable Bongo and his endeavour into a world he has never known before, after being the star attraction of a circus. It is very sweet and well meaning, and the narration isn't so bad either. Mickey and the Beanstalk is a favourite of mine. Wonderful voice acting, terrific animation especially for the beanstalk and nice music made this memorable for me.

Other things that impressed were one Jiminy Cricket of course, well how can he not impress, he is a classic character in the history of animation? Two, I thought Edgar Bergen was very entertaining in this film asides from the ventriloquism, and also child actress Luana Patten was impressive.

All in all, one of Disney's lesser efforts, but has undeniable charm due to the animated segments and Cricket himself. 7/10 Bethany Cox

This is a good combination of two animated stories/shorts: Bongo and Micky and the Beanstalk. while watching a mixture of stories and a mixture of animation and live action was a little awkward, Jiminy Cricket held it together. This film's latest release on video gives everyone the opportunity to see this tiny treasure for the first time. While, it doesn't rank up with the Best of Disney's animation, it is still worth seeing, if nothing else for Walt Disney's last film as the voice of Mickey.

After WWII, the Walt Disney company released a couple feature films that were actually nothing more than a few long cartoons strung together to feature length. The result were movies like this one as well as "Make Mine Music" and "The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad" which are essentially movies that seem a bit disjoint, as the theme that links the shorts is tenuous at best. Here, "Fun and Fancy Free" is a vague term and really has nothing to do with the cartoons. In addition, the quality of the two cartoons is quite different.

The first cartoon, "Bongo", frankly is awfully lame. Despite having some nice splashy colors, the story is weak and should have supported an 8-10 minute film--not a short running over a half hour. Plus, so much of the film seemed like filler--with LOTS and LOTS of singing from Dinah Shore and others. It's the story of a miserable circus bear who longs to be free. But, when a chance opportunity occurs and he escapes, life in the wild isn't as easy as he expected. Apart from a few cute characters (including a girl bear--you can tell because she has a flower growing out of her head), there isn't much to recommend it. I assume kids of the day really were bored by the cartoon and its watchability is not great. I'd score this one a 4---mostly because the animation is pretty good.

The final cartoon is the one kids will love, as it features Mickey, Donald and Goofy. Oddly, however, unlike the first cartoon, this one features a lot of live-action--with Edgar Bergen and his puppets entertaining a cute little girl with a Disney-fied version of "Jack and the Beanstalk". In this version, the three heroes take on the mean giant--wonderfully brought to life by the voice of Billy Gilbert. While it's clearly a variation of an earlier Disney film ("The Brave Little Tailor"), it still is very watchable and cute. Not a brilliant film, nevertheless it actually makes "Fun and Fancy Free" worth seeing. Plus, fans of Edgar Bergen will enjoy seeing him and his characters. I particularly enjoyed Charlie's 'Udder failure' comment. I'd give this one an 8.

Overall, it's a highly uneven and odd hodgepodge that, frankly, is not especially great viewing. However, the accompanying documentary about this, "The Story Behind Walt Disney's Fun & Fancy Free" is a lot more interesting than the film itself--so if you get the DVD, be sure to watch this in the special features.

The 9th animated Disney classic is something I have mixed feelings about, in similarity to what happens with "The Three Caballeros".

It's a curious cartoon with some to offer, yet not one of Disney's finest creations.

For one thing, I like its introduction. I was surprised when I heard a familiar singing voice. I thought «This voice sounds like Jiminy Cricket». And in the next moment, Jiminy Cricket appears, voiced by the same Cliff Edwards. Another interesting fact is that Jiminy Cricket is the narrator of the story in some parts. He introduces us the first of the two stories, "Bongo": it is the story of a little circus bear that runs away from the circus and discovers what it's like to be free.

I liked the story of Bongo and the character itself. He's a cute and adorable little bear. This is, without a doubt, the best segment of this motion picture. It is, however, narrated by Dinah Shore.

As for the second and final segment, "Mickey and the Beanstalk", it is narrated by Edgar Bergen, but before that there are a few live-action scenes where Edgar Bergen is working as a ventriloquist and tells the tale to child actress Luana Patten. After the end of the story, there are a few more live-action scenes like this and Jiminy Cricket appears in both.

As for the segment itself, needless to say it is based on "Jack and the Beanstalk". It's not a bad segment, but honestly I found it nothing special. It features, however, well known cartoons like Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and Goofy. It also features Willie, the famous temperamental giant from some Disney tales. Mickey Mouse is voiced by Walt Disney himself, while Donald Duck is voiced by the inimitable Clarence Nash.

This "Fun and Fancy Free" DVD (cheerfully brought to you by Disney Studios) contains two, enjoyable, 35-minute animated films from 1947.

Hosted by everyone's favourite insect - Jiminy Cricket - These 2 tales of fun-fun-fun and fancy-free adventure also feature several musical numbers as an added bonus.

Story #1 is all about Bongo, the circus bear, who desperately wants to get himself back to the forest, like, pronto.

Story #2 has Mickey Mouse (taking the place of Jack), along with Donald Duck and Goofy, climbing the beanstalk all the way up to the nasty giant's fantastic castle in the sky - "Fee-Fye-Foe-Fum!"

*Note* - Mickey Mouse was voiced by Walt Disney, himself.

Fun Disney picture with two stories. The first is Bongo, a cute story about a little bear falling in love and having to fight a bigger bear for his lady. Flimsy story but it moves along quickly enough. It's over a half-hour long but I didn't even really think about how long it was until after it was over so I certainly can't complain about the pacing. This story was narrated by Dinah Shore, who also sings. Lovely voice. Modern viewers, particularly those with a dark sense of humor, might see a domestic violence message in this one. Bongo was something of a 'gangsta.'

The second story is the Mickey Mouse version of Jack and the Beanstalk. I know I saw this one many times as a kid but, for the life of me, I don't remember seeing Bongo before today. So perhaps this was released on a VHS collection or something back in the day, separate from this film. This one is narrated by ventriloquist Edgar Bergen, who also appears in a live action segment doing his puppet routine in what appears to be a private birthday party for a little girl who I hoped was his daughter but turns out it was Disney child star Luana Patten. A little creepy but different times.

Jiminy Cricket also appears in the beginning and in a linking segment from the first story to the second. As always with classic Disney, the animation is excellent, with beautiful drawings and rich colors. Love the music, as well. This is far from my favorite Disney movie, even limited to the compilation ones. But I do enjoy it a lot and I can't imagine most Disney fans not liking it.

The duo of Disney and RKO continue the magic onto 1947 with this flick, "Fun and Fancy Free." In it are a couple of wonderful and terrific stories: "Bongo," and "Mickey and the Beanstalk." Again, this movie has everything that you would expect in a Disney classic. Also, look out for more great Disney friends, like Jiminy Cricket!!!!!

One interesting fact: did you know that Walt Disney, the man who created Mickey, was the voice of Mickey Mouse? In "Mickey and the Beanstalk," Walt Disney himself voiced as Mickey Mouse, and that would end up being his last cartoon to do so.

So, this shows that movies like this just aren't made anymore. (sniff) But still, watch this movie with your children, enjoy it, and have a whole lot of fun with "Fun and Fancy Free!!!!!" 10 out of 10 stars.

Fun&Fancy Free features the combining of two mixed live action and animated tales. The story of Bongo features Dinah Shore as it tells the bear love triangle story of Bongo the circus bear who did not mix much with his fellow bears of the wild. But he hears the call of nature and there's female bear Lily and a rough tough bear named Lumpjaw who is interested too.

All I'll say is that Bongo's education has been sadly neglected. But it all works out to the songs that Dinah Shore sings to help the story along.

The second half has Edgar Bergen and his wooden friends telling Luana Patten the story of Mickey and the Beanstalk with Mickey Mouse taking over the role of Jack. Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and Goofy do the beanstalk climb with the familiar encounter with the giant voiced Billy Gilbert.

Fun&Fancy Free is a charming Disney creation absolutely timeless.

Directed by Jack Kinney, Hamilton Luske, Bill Roberts & William Morgan. Starring Edgar Bergen, voices of Dinah Shore, Cliff Edwards, Walt Disney, Clarence Nash, Billy Gilbert, Pinto Colvig, Anita Gordon.

One of the Disney package films assembled between "Bambi" (1942) and "Cinderella" (1950) (when the company was low on funds due to the war effort), largely forgotten today. Features two individual stories linked together by filler material featuring Jiminy Cricket (still voiced wonderfully by Edwards, but not nearly as enchanting here as he was in "Pinnochio"), as well as Edgar Bergen in live-action cutaways that will test the patience of anyone who isn't utterly enamored with ventriloquism. The first segment is innocuous and inconsequential and a bit of a bore, featuring a circus bear named Bongo who escapes into the wild, meets a cute girl bear, and learns that nothing says, "I love you," quite as well as giving your sweetie a rough slap to the kisser (you read that right). The second is a loose retelling of "Jack and the Beanstalk" with Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and Goofy; it's a treat to see the three of them together, but too much time is spent with Willie the giant, a big galoot who is neither amusing nor menacing. Not much to recommend here to anyone who isn't a "treasures from the Disney vault" buff, but the traditional, painstaking hand-drawn animation is always nice to look at, even if it's not quite up to the level of the bigger-budget productions of the early '40s.

48/100

Yet another Disney film that tried to hold them aloft after the war years. A short film collection, like all the rest, though this time we only get a two segments and a framing story featuring Jiminy Cricket.

Of these two segment, Bongo, the first one, is pure boredom. It's nothing but this circus bear escaping his confinement and gallivanting around in the forest. And you already know how it goes. At first he's thrilled, then the actual, you know, nature rears its ugly head, he meets other animals, gets into trouble, rinse and repeat ad nauseam. Granted, the animation is pretty good, some of physical stunts are pretty humorous and the music could be worse, but it's simply so uninteresting. Nothing of value happens, the main character barely has a personality and... boring!

Mickey and the Beanstalk, on the other hand, is a born classic. This is an incredible segment, featuring Mickey Mouse, Goofy and Donald Duck as medieval farmers living in an enchanted valley, ruled by a magic harp (it's not as weird as you think), who unfortunately has now gone missing and thus everyone hungers. And you know the story. Mickey goes to sell their cow, buys some "magic" beans, and the rest is story telling history. It's action-packed, the three make for a hilarious comedic trio, the animation is impressive, the story thrilling and it's just a great deal of fun.

I also have to mention that the framing story is beyond creepy, especially the ending. Jiminy Cricket is fine, he's one of Disney's finest as always, but they decided to hire a famous ventriloquist Edgar Bergen to play himself in the framing story, and his puppets are simply put pure horror. Who decided this was appropriate for little kids?

So yeah, Mickey and the Beanstalk is a really good segment, but it has since been re-released on its own so many times that there's really no reason to see its actual origins film. Watch this if you want to say you've seen them all.

"Bambi" (1942) was the last REAL animated feature the Disney studio released in the 1940s. Until 1950, there would only be shorts - which in general weren't as good either as the innovative ones made in the 1930s, or Jack Hannah's comic masterpieces of the 1950s - and compilation features: "The Reluctant Dragon" (1941), "Saludos Amigos" (1943), "The Three Caballeros" (1945), "Make Mine Music" (1946), "Fun and Fancy Free" (1947), "Melody Time" (1948), "The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad" (1949). You're unlikely to have seen ANY of these. All of them were stripped apart into their component pieces long ago, largely because, with the exception of "The Three Caballeros", there's no reason to keep any of them in one piece. ("Fantasia" is another exception, so much so that I've left it off the list altogether - it's a completely different kind of endeavour.)

I say this even though "The Three Caballeros" is the only one I'VE seen. I have seen most of the material that went into these movies, though, and trust me: it's uneven, and there's no coherent way of gluing most of it together. -"Fun and Fancy Free", in any event, consists of just two extended shorts: "Bongo" and "Mickey and the Beanstalk". I'm writing mainly to defend the latter. People are much too hard on it. There's a marked similarity between it and the winning short cartoon "The Brave Little Tailor" (1938), another fairytale with Disney characters taking the lead roles, and while "Beanstalk" lacks the earlier short's freshness, it has the advantage of having Donald and Goofy in it, two terribly under-rated cartoon stars who, although capable of sustaining shorts on their own, play off well against one another. (That's why it's impossible to make a Mickey/Donald/Goofy cartoon that's a TOTAL failure.) "Mickey and the Beanstalk" is one of the few post-war cartoons to recapture the spirit of Disney's depression-era stuff.

"Bongo" is of almost no interest - a vapid, directionless account of a circus bear who must adapt to life in the wild, complete with songs. People interested in the history of animation should see every Disney production they can get their eyes on; there's no other reason to see this one. The sheer POINTLESSNESS of pairing "Bongo" with "Mickey and the Beanstalk" makes this Disney's most bizarre compilation feature of the decade. -I wish I'd seen the linking segments. They can't possibly JUSTIFY the film's arbitrary nature, but it might be entertaining to see them try.

Jiminy Cricket hosts this Disney animated movie with two short stories. "Bongo" is an unhappy circus bear. The lock on his train car comes undone and he manages to escape into a forest where he encounters other bears. Edgar Bergen does his ventriloquism with Charlie McCarthy and Mortimer Snerd. The second story is "Mickey and the Beanstalk" which is a new take on the classic fairy tale.

Little Bear Bongo didn't get much traction. I don't see him as that charismatic. He's a bit of a sad sack. Quite frankly, I've never heard of him before this movie. The songs aren't that catchy. Bongo defeating the mean bear is expected although I expect the battle to be more imaginative. It's not much. I have similar feelings about Charlie McCarthy. He may be a childhood classic for a generation but that generation isn't my generation. On the other hand, Mickey Beanstalk is a classic. It is iconic. It's not as bright or sharp as I remember and it's also chopped up by going back to Edgar Bergen. I would be giving a ten to Mickey but the rest pulls it down.

Cute, like every Disney movie, I loved the little girl Luana and the ventriloquist puppets, the best of the movie, adorable... Cute, like every Disney movie, I loved the little girl Luana and the ventriloquist puppets, the best of the movie, adorable...

"Fun and Fancy Free" perfectly encapsulates Disney's post-war animation era-a time when the studio, struggling financially, leaned into anthology-style films to keep production going. This approach led to movies that, while nowhere near the impact of classics like "Snow White" or "Pinocchio," still carry their own charm and undeniable historical value. In this case, we get two very different stories loosely tied together: "Bongo," a musical fable about a little circus bear searching for freedom, and "Mickey and the Beanstalk," Disney's take on the classic tale, with Mickey, Donald, and Goofy facing off against a bumbling giant. The result is a pleasant enough film, but like many Disney anthologies from this period, it struggles with weak narrative cohesion and a rhythm that fluctuates between engaging and sluggish.

The first story, "Bongo," has all the ingredients of a typical Disney animated tale, with a simple, straightforward narrative. The titular character is a bear who, tired of life in the circus, escapes into the wild and falls for Lulubelle-only to find himself up against the brute Lumpjaw. The animation is fluid and colorful, maintaining the studio's high standards, and there's an attempt to inject humor and charm, like the oddly specific tradition of wild bears showing affection by slapping each other. But the story itself doesn't bring anything particularly new or memorable. It feels like a rehash of themes Disney had already explored in its shorts, without any standout characters or scenes. Even Bongo, while likable, lacks the charisma needed to carry the story, making it feel a bit underwhelming despite the solid narration and pleasant songs.

"Mickey and the Beanstalk," on the other hand, is easily the stronger half of the film. Beyond having much more iconic characters, this adaptation of the classic fairy tale is handled in a creative and engaging way. The opening, showing a Happy Valley turned bleak after the magical harp is stolen, sets an unexpectedly melancholic tone for the time, giving real weight to Mickey, Donald, and Goofy's journey. The dinner scene, where a starving Donald completely snaps and tries to chop up their cow with an axe, is one of the film's most intense and well-executed moments, perfectly balancing humor and desperation. Once the story shifts to the giant's castle in the clouds, the animation reaches another level, with grand set pieces and a great sense of scale emphasizing how tiny the protagonists are in this colossal world. Speaking of which, Willie the Giant is a fun, expressive villain, but his random magical abilities-like flying and shape-shifting-feel a bit out of nowhere since they don't really play a role in the climax. Still, his goofy and endearing personality makes him a memorable antagonist within the segment.

The connection between the two stories is handled by Jiminy Cricket, who serves as a friendly but mostly forgettable narrator. His introduction is charming enough, and the live-action sequence featuring Edgar Bergen and his ventriloquist dummies-where "Mickey and the Beanstalk" is told as a bedtime story to young Luana Patten-adds an interesting touch, but ultimately slows the pacing down. Bergen's banter with his puppets is witty and genuinely funny at times, but in the end, the framing device is just there to serve its purpose without really adding much to the overall experience.

Visually, "Fun and Fancy Free" maintains Disney's usual high standards of the era, with smooth animation, detailed backgrounds, and expressive characters. There's a clear contrast between the two stories-while "Bongo" leans into a more romantic, vibrant forest aesthetic, "Mickey and the Beanstalk" goes for a grander, more adventurous look, reinforcing why the latter stands out as the superior segment. The soundtrack does its job, with some catchy tunes and others more forgettable, but overall, nothing that sticks the way Disney's greatest hits do.

"Fun and Fancy Free" is a charming little film, but it's also clearly a product of Disney's transitional phase. It lacks the narrative and emotional impact of the studio's greatest works, but it's not something you'd completely write off either. It's worth watching for its historical relevance and the sheer fun of "Mickey and the Beanstalk," though it's unlikely to rank among Disney's best. If nothing else, it serves as a glimpse into what Disney was capable of even in tough times-a reminder that, at its core, animation has always been about telling good stories, even when they come in slightly uneven packages.

'Fun and Fancy Free (1947)' is a package film that ties its two main shorts - 'Bongo (1947)' and 'Mickey and the Beanstalk (1947)' - together with footage featuring Jiminy Cricket. The anthropomorphised insect gets his own song but ultimately serves as a way to transition between the mini movies that most people came to see. Interestingly, the version of the adaptation of 'Jack and the Beanstalk' that appears here is interspersed with, frankly, odd live-action footage of the ventriloquist who's telling the tale to a young girl with the help of his two seemingly magic dummies. When the short was later released as its own thing, the live-action stuff was cut completely. I suppose that may remove some of its charm, as the version that appears here is somewhat endearing even if it is unexpected. In any case, it certainly stands out amongst Disney's other work. As one should expect from a package piece, there isn't much of a holistic narrative. The picture is very much a vehicle for its smaller stories, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. The two shorts that appear here are both fairly entertaining. They're animated with a lively verve and have their share of enjoyable moments. Ultimately, the flick is a decent attempt at conserving resources during wartime (which is why it exists in the form it does). It's decent enough, but I wouldn't recommend it above most of the studio's 'full' features or, indeed, its isolated shorts. 6/10

This package film from the Disney studio is simple but just irresistible as it features two colorful and cute cartoons interwoven with Edger Bergen and his famous dummies Charlie McCarthy and Mortimer Snerd.

The first segment is "Bongo" based on a short story by Sinclair Lewis. With the exception of narrator Dinah Shore, the whole thing is dialog free and although it moves along at a leisurely pace, it is good enough for the kids but adults will most certainly squirm.

The next segment is "Mickey and the Beanstalk" which has Bergan doing the narration of the classic fairy tale starring Mickey, Donald and Goofy as they face Willie the Giant (voiced amusingly by Billy Gilbert). Although the cartoon is cute and amusing, Bergen and his dummies along with the adorable Luana Patten provide the bulk of the laughs. I can't help but compare the approach in this segment to "Mystery Science Theater 3000" because of the good-natured riffing done by Charlie and Mortimer. It makes you wish that Walt Disney had used this formula for other films like "Alice in Wonderland" or "Cinderella." It goes without saying that Charlie's riffing on Bergen's storytelling is a particular highlight.

I say see this film. It'll warm your heart and keep you amused. Plus, it doesn't have the blatant pop culture jokes you get in contemporary animated films.

Two shorts strung together with material involving Jiminy Cricket and Edgar Bergen and his dummies. The two stories are--"Bongo" about a circus bear escaping and his "comic" misadventures in the wilderness and "Mickey and the Beanstalk" with Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and Goofy recreating "Jack and the Beanstalk". The animation is great (that's why this gets three stars) but the stories are trite, padded and downright boring! They're also full of songs so unmemorable, bland and sweet that you'll be thinking cutting off your ears! To make matters unendurable Edgar Bergen has got to be the world's worst ventriloquist! His lips are plainly moving when his dummies "talk". A sleep-inducing mess. VERY patient young kids might go for it.

Jiminy Cricket (Cliff Edwards) leads us through two stories: one about a circus bear named Bongo who runs way to the woods and find love and later attending a party hosted by Edgar Bergen (himself), Luana Patten (herself), and his two ventriloquist dummies snide and acerbic Charlie McCarthy, and slowwitted simpleton Mortimer Snerd where Bergin tells the story of Three Farmers (Donald Duck, Mickey Mouse, and Goofy) who ascend a beanstalk to rescue a magic harp from a shapeshifting giant.

Yet another of the "package" films produced by Disney studios when the studio was contracted by the U. S. Government to produced propaganda and training films and a chunk of Disney's animation staff was drafted, Fun & Fancy Free was salvaged from two ideas intended to be feature films that were not completable as features due to mitigating circumstances instead released as segments in this movie. With the segments this time around significantly longer than the segments of Saludos Amigos or Three Caballeros there's more weight given to them than previous package films, but it's also pretty clear these were intended to be larger scale productions at some point.

Bongo is probably the most fully realized of the two shorts and if I didn't know about its history as a proposed feature sequel to Dumbo, I'd probably assume it was intended to be shown this way. There's nothing too much to say about Bongo. It's a very simple story about a popular circus bear where fed up with his casual abuse and neglect in circus life escapes to live in the wild, where he goes against the elements and wins the affections of another bear named Lulubelle against a hulking brute named Lumpjaw and finds himself heartbroken after misinterpreting Lulubelle smacking him in the face is a sign of love. It's a simple story told without dialogue with the plot and interactions narrated and sung by Dinah Shore and it's a simple and cute short with some likable characters and fairly well timed slapstick. I could honestly see this being expanded to feature length, but as is it works pretty well.

Mickey and the Beanstalk unfortunately isn't as lucky as Bongo. While the segment boasts some great animation with the beanstalk growing segment being beautifully animated and featuring several clever visual gags with our three characters blissfully unaware as the sleep through being toss and slid around on the beanstalk, it's pretty clear that this was intended to be a larger scale feature because there are noticeable "jumps" or omitted scenes where character reactions are missing or scenes either don't have proper pay off or resolution. This is probably why the short is frequently interrupted by the party scenes with Luana Patten and Edgar Bergen and his dummies, because often the scenes will make abrupt stops to cut back to the party and Bergen will tell us scenes we really should've been shown. The biggest tell tale sign this wasn't intended as a short is we don't even get a proper ending to the short with no final scene of Donald, Mickey, and Goofy returning the Harp to its proper place instead ending on a rather head scratching fourth wall break.

Fun and Fancy Free has more substance and more theatrical ambitions than certain other Disney package films from this era, but at the same time it feels like you have fractions of a movie that are crudely held together with sticky tape rather than coming together as a cohesive whole I did enjoy the animation in Mickey and the Beanstalk and there's a simple charm to Bongo that makes it an endearing silly yarn, but I really can't recommend Fun and Fancy Free beyond the level of historical curiosity and if you have the option watch the individual shorts of Bongo and Mickey and the Beanstalk rather than see them in package form.

While Fun & Fancy Free wasn't terrible, I think it is the weakest of the package movies from the war time era of Disney.

It's a collection of two segments joined together by Jiminy Cricket taking us to two different locations which are a bedroom and a livingroom. The first one being the place where the story of Bongo the circus bear begins. A simple story about Bongo longing to be in the wild after serving his entire life in a circus. He doesn't know the wild so he goes through some trials to learn how to be in the wild while he finds love. I may be among the few people who put this much though into a cartoon, but the way the bears show affection was a little disturbing to me. Judge it for yourself, though.

The latter is in a livingroom where Jiminy watches this birthday party or something where the vetriloquist tells Mickey and the Beanstalk which is pretty much Jack and the Beanstalk without much change put into it. The animated part was good, but the one puppet, Charlie, gets annoying very quickly when constantly interrupts the narration to make stupid comments. Again, the animated parts are really nice in both segments, but the live action parts are kind of dated. The end is pretty funny, though, and was the part that made me laugh the most.

Fun & Fabcy Free is among the weaker Disney efforts, but can be a delight for the little ones. Not a recommendation from me, but isn't one to be left out.

Another watchable Disney package film, consisting of only two segments this time.

While the Bongo episode is quite cuddly in its own right, its thin narrative feels rather overstretched and Dinah Shore's syrupy narration and singing add too much schmaltz to the mix.

So it's up to Mickey, Donald and Goofy to save the day in the beanstalk segment, which is narrated by Edgar Bergen and his ventriloquist's puppets in a wonderfully ironic tone. The episode itself is effectively paced, with funny, somber and thrilling moments in perfect balance and some catchy tunes thrown in for good measure. It's one of the three cartoon stars' best teamings. (And the final joke is nice.)

7 out of 10 harp loving giants