Playful Pan

There are Silly Symphonies that I absolutely love whether they are simple or not, The Old Mill, Ugly Duckling, Flowers and Trees, the Goddess of Spring and Water Babies. Playful Pan is one of them, exceedingly charming, while having no dialogue and being simple in plot. What makes this Silly Symphony is the animation, with solid backgrounds and convincing character features and the music from the charming, simple melodies played on the pipes to the more dramatic and stirring music as the fire started. The characters again are sweet, from the dancing flowers to the pipe-playing centaur. Overall, very charming with wonderful music especially. 10/10 Bethany Cox

I thought this a cut above the other Silly Symphonies. It starts out as the usual stuff. Pan is a musician, and as he plays, all the forest entities cavort along with him. Once he decides to relax in a tree, a thunder storm takes place and a huge tree is hit by lightning. What ensues is an anthropomorphic fire that attacks all the forest's creatures as well as the trees. Some of the animation is very sad and unsettling. Pan is called on to try to remedy things.

Disney's older, black and white Silly Symphonies were nothing short of weird. Here, a demigod dances in a forest with the creatures and forces of nature. But, the event is cut short when a fire breaks out and consumes everything in its path (this part really sways away from the meaning of the title).

It's somewhat dark and foreboding, which unconventional characters and lack of plot. It's not really something that is conventional for children.

Grade C+

THE STORY & GENRE -- The legendary faun has escapades. Disney.

THE VERDICT -- The Silly Symphoneys are a departure from the usual for Disney, more reminiscent of later FANTASIA than trying to establish any specific character. Solid 7.

FREE ONLINE -- Yes.

A Walt Disney SILLY SYMPHONY Cartoon Short.

Spring is in the air and PLAYFUL PAN is full of joy. The wild creatures romp to the music of his pipes, and even the flowers & trees join in - until a dreadful forest fire threatens to destroy all...

A simple plot and much action/reaction animation in this cartoon. That is unmistakably Walt voicing the cries of the bear cub.

The SILLY SYMPHONIES, which Walt Disney produced for a ten year period beginning in 1929, are among the most fascinating of all animated series. Unlike the Mickey Mouse cartoons in which action was paramount, with the Symphonies the action was made to fit the music. There was little plot in the early Symphonies, which featured lively inanimate objects and anthropomorphic plants & animals, all moving frantically to the soundtrack. Gradually, however, the Symphonies became the school where Walt's animators learned to work with color and began to experiment with plot, characterization & photographic special effects. The pages of Fable & Fairy Tale, Myth & Mother Goose were all mined to provide story lines and even Hollywood's musicals & celebrities were effectively spoofed. It was from this rich soil that Disney's feature-length animation was to spring. In 1939, with SNOW WHITE successfully behind him and PINOCCHIO & FANTASIA on the near horizon, Walt phased out the SILLY SYMPHONIES; they had run their course & served their purpose.