Little Toot

This cartoon was originally part of Melody Time, an animated anthology of musical cartoons made by Disney. It's probably my favorite cartoon from that film. It's the absolutely adorable story of a little tugboat who wants to be like his father. He causes an accident in the harbor but gets the chance to redeem himself and make his papa proud. Great animation and wonderful singing from the Andrews Sisters. I just love their sound. I always have. Try to see Melody Time but if you don't have that much time, definitely watch this one. It's a few minutes out of your life and you'll get a big smile on your face in return. Little Toot is too cute!

Little Toot is my all time favorite character from Melody Time & he is very cute. This segment served as the basis for a show called Tugs, which happens to be the criminally underrated sister show of Thomas & friends that was made in 1989 by the former maker of Thomas, David Mitton. The series Tugs, involves two fleets known as the Star tugs & the Z stacks. Sadly the series lastest with only 13 episodes & a single season, due to bankruptcy of it's distributor, Television South. I believe that Little Toot looks very similar to the protagonist of Tugs, Ten Cents, due to his hat, color & whistle.

Memorable (for me) simply because it was the first time my parents had taken me to a major London Theater - the Odeon, Leicester Square, if I remember correctly.

Little Toot was a baby tugboat, a strong-willed if not pesky little guy who just plain refused to listen to his dad and ended up causing all sorts of maritime mayhem before being grounded. The thrill of that day, looking up seeing Little Toot battling the waves in pursuit of glory, circumstances causing him to be the last hope of rescue for an adrift liner in "the perfect storm," was seared on my mind for all time. I remember less about THE MATRIX!

I fell in love with movies that day. Grab a child and start the cycle again!

A Walt Disney Cartoon.

The tiny tugboat, LITTLE TOOT, just can't seem to get serious about the important work to be done with the big ships in the harbor. In fact, he's become quite a pest...

Hardie Gramatky's classic children's book comes beautifully to life in this little cartoon. The humorous animation is excellent and completely appropriate to the original illustrations. The Andrews Sisters were the perfect choice to be the singing narrators. LITTLE TOOT was originally one segment in the musical compilation film MELODY TIME (1948).

Walt Disney (1901-1966) was always intrigued by drawings. As a lad in Marceline, Missouri, he sketched farm animals on scraps of paper; later, as an ambulance driver in France during the First World War, he drew figures on the sides of his vehicle. Back in Kansas City, along with artist Ub Iwerks, Walt developed a primitive animation studio that provided animated commercials and tiny cartoons for the local movie theaters. Always the innovator, his ALICE IN CARTOONLAND series broke ground in placing a live figure in a cartoon universe. Business reversals sent Disney & Iwerks to Hollywood in 1923, where Walt's older brother Roy became his lifelong business manager & counselor. When a mildly successful series with Oswald The Lucky Rabbit was snatched away by the distributor, the character of Mickey Mouse sprung into Walt's imagination, ensuring Disney's immortality. The happy arrival of sound technology made Mickey's screen debut, STEAMBOAT WILLIE (1928), a tremendous audience success with its use of synchronized music. The SILLY SYMPHONIES soon appeared, and Walt's growing crew of marvelously talented animators were quickly conquering new territory with full color, illusions of depth and radical advancements in personality development, an arena in which Walt's genius was unbeatable. Mickey's feisty, naughty behavior had captured millions of fans, but he was soon to be joined by other animated companions: temperamental Donald Duck, intellectually-challenged Goofy and energetic Pluto. All this was in preparation for Walt's grandest dream - feature length animated films. Against a blizzard of doomsayers, Walt persevered and over the next decades delighted children of all ages with the adventures of Snow White, Pinocchio, Dumbo, Bambi & Peter Pan. Walt never forgot that his fortunes were all started by a mouse, or that simplicity of message and lots of hard work always pay off.

One of the shorter segments from the film "Melody Time" "Little Toot" is a nice simple little cartoon. While a tad too slow and thin in paces, it is more than compensated by the lovely animation and the cute little songs. And of course Little Toot the tiny tugboat is adorable and endearing, definitely one of the more likable characters in "Melody Time" along with Johnny Appleseed and the little bumblebee. The Andrews Sisters, I must say did a terrific job, what amazing voices.

Overall, I really liked this cute little cartoon. While not perfect, it is a really pleasant watch, and reminds me why I love Disney so much. 8/10 Bethany Cox