The Bird Store

This is another black & white Silly Symphony cartoon from Disney. Like the rest of the films in the series, it has characters dancing about to the music. The setting is, not surprisingly, a pet shop specializing in birds. And, I must agree with the other reviewer that found the first portion of the cartoon to be plot less, though I didn't mind this as much as they did--particularly because I actually liked some of the birds as they chirped. Plus, how can you hate when some of them look like the four Marx Brothers (yes, they had a Zeppo bird) and they chirp out a Marx trademark tune. Later, the plot turns out to involve an evil cat (aren't they all?) who invades the place--looking for an easy meal. The birds naturally run for cover until they can mount a counter-attack. Overall, it's one of the weaker films in the series but it still is watchable--particularly if you love old animation like me. Plus, it's a heck of a lot better than most of the cartoons the Disney competitors were releasing at the time.

I say this with a heavy heart, as I love the Disney Silly Symphonies in general. They are fun and charming with beautiful animation and music as well as some endearing characters. I found little of that evident with The Bird Store, as a matter of fact it ties with El Terrible Toreador as not only the worst Silly Symphony but also my least favourite also. The only good things are the unique character designs of the birds, the energetic music(and even that asset has been better before and since The Bird Store), the gag where the bird is chirping in love to another while another set has one chirping with its mate crying is decent if over too quick and the character of the parrot, the only character to really stand out.

The cat also showed promise to work, but in the end it was all wasted potential, what the character is made to do is nothing new or even fun. The birds are cute and look unique, especially the ones that look as though they had just come out of Cannibal Capers, but nothing is done beyond that. Apart from the character designs, the animation is a disappointment, the black and white lacks crispness and the backgrounds are really sparse-looking. Few of the gags worked also, a couple did so, but even they were only mildly amusing rather than hilarious. But the main problem is that aside from the lack of freshness the gags are over too soon and the ones that follow on and on become increasingly irrelevant from one another. Another big letdown was the story, now there were other cartoons that had little plot but the content showed more originality in those than here. The first half of The Bird Store is not just plot-less, it's also dull. The second half is a little better as we get some hint of a story, but the bland and unoriginal action hinders it.

So overall, really disappointing. While not irredeemable it is a big step down in quality compared to the usual standard of this generally fine series of cartoon shorts. 4/10 Bethany Cox

'The Bird Store' is a plotless, black and white Silly Symphony. The first half is just scenes of different animated birds squawking out a melody. It doesn't take long for that to get pretty annoying, you'll be scrambling for the mute button. The second half centers on what happens when a cat wanders in to the bird store. The only thing I really found enjoyable here was the unique designs of some of the bird characters. I especially enjoyed the four birds made to look like the Marx Brothers. It's certainly not required viewing.

We scan the bird store. The birds pair up and sing, using their given voices. Some are nice and some, parrots for instance, are hard to listen to. This goes on forever until a cat gets through the transom. He attacks a baby bird and something must be done. This is all a tiresome repetition of so many of these episodes. Not worth watching.

A Walt Disney SILLY SYMPHONY Cartoon Short.

There is much flit & flutter in THE BIRD SHOP, especially after a vicious black cat gets in and goes after a baby canary...

This is a fairly interesting little black & white cartoon, with lots of action/reaction animation. The pace really picks up with the arrival of the ferocious feline. Movie mavens will notice that four of the birds are spoofs of the Marx Brothers.

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.