IMDb RATING
6.3/10
9.8K
YOUR RATING
Jiminy Cricket hosts two Disney animated shorts: "Bongo," about a circus bear escaping to the wild, and "Mickey and the Beanstalk," a take on the famous fairy tale.Jiminy Cricket hosts two Disney animated shorts: "Bongo," about a circus bear escaping to the wild, and "Mickey and the Beanstalk," a take on the famous fairy tale.Jiminy Cricket hosts two Disney animated shorts: "Bongo," about a circus bear escaping to the wild, and "Mickey and the Beanstalk," a take on the famous fairy tale.
Anita Gordon
- Singing Harp
- (voice)
Cliff Edwards
- Jiminy Cricket
- (voice)
Clarence Nash
- Donald Duck
- (voice)
- …
The King's Men
- Singers
- (as The Kings Men)
Pinto Colvig
- Goofy
- (voice)
- (uncredited)
Walt Disney
- Mickey Mouse
- (voice)
- (uncredited)
James MacDonald
- Lumpjaw
- (uncredited)
- …
Thurl Ravenscroft
- Horse
- (uncredited)
- …
Betty Romaine
- Singer
- (uncredited)
Lee Sweetland
- Singing Narrator
- (uncredited)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaEdgar Bergen was one of the most popular ventriloquists of the 1940s even having his own radio show featuring Charlie McCarthy and Mortimer Snerd. After seeing this film he said he was dismayed to see how much he moved his lips, blaming it on the fact that on radio he did not have to not move his lips and had become spoiled.
- GoofsDuring the bear chorus line with bears arm in arm (31 minutes into the feature), which arm is in front changes a few times.
- Quotes
Edgar Bergen: Once upon a time, long long ago...
Charlie McCarthy: Funny, nothing ever happens nowadays.
- Crazy creditsCharlie McCarthy, Mortimer Snerd, Mickey Mouse, Jiminy Cricket, and Donald Duck are billed as if they were actors, when they are fictional characters.
- ConnectionsEdited into Bongo (1947)
- SoundtracksI'm A Happy-Go-Lucky Fellow
(1947) (uncredited)
Written by Ned Washington and Eliot Daniel
Sung by Cliff Edwards
Featured review
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 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.
- planktonrules
- Jan 7, 2011
- Permalink
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Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Official site
- Language
- Also known as
- Fun and Fancy Free, Featuring Mickey and the Beanstalk
- Filming locations
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime1 hour 13 minutes
- Aspect ratio
- 1.37 : 1
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