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In this third volume of the Timeless Tales series, we get a healthy dose of Americana with the stories "Casey At The Bat", "Ben And Me" and "Little Hiawatha". Things take a look abroad and a little further back in history for the inspiration for "The Golden Touch" and "The Wise Little Hen", and we get a great example of the power of storytelling that the Walt Disney Studio has always possessed...defying the myth that every idea of theirs is lifted from elsewhere...with the original tale of "Morris The Midget Moose".
"The Wise Little Hen" holds its origins in the folk tales of Russia and imparts the story of a mother hen and her many chicks as they attempt to find help in harvesting a field of corn. Each and every time she approaches the animals in the barnyard (including the debut of a certain Donald Duck!) for assistance, they reply that they are not feeling well and unfortunately cannot help. Of course, the second she turns her back, they begin their dancing and playing all over again; happy to be out of a hard day's labor. But they don't call this hen "wise" for nothing and once she gets that corn harvested, baked into bread, made into soup, and boiled up right...well, let's just say she isn't so eager to share with the other animals who seem to have had a miraculous "recovery".
"Ben And Me" takes an alternate history turn as we discover that the historical politician/inventor Benjamin Franklin may just have been influenced in all of his now famous discoveries and publications by a small mouse named Amos. Based on the Robert Lawson children's book of the same name, published in 1939, this tale shows us how we just might not have the bifocal, the wood burning stove, or those early experiments with harnessing electricity without the aid of this tiny rodent. Even Thomas Jefferson gets a nudge in the right direction from Amos by the end of this animated short.
"Morris The Midget Moose" is a heartwarming story about a very diminutive moose who has some seriously large antlers and a seriously large heart. So much, in fact, that when the biggest moose in the forest decides to invite challengers to his reign, Morris is all too eager to have a go! Things don't turn out so well in the end, but when Morris comes across a full size moose that has a "midget" set of antlers...well, it is a match made in Heaven. And as for that challenge...well things go a little better the next time around!
The stories contained here are not the most exciting Disney fare, nor are they the most flashy or hilariously funny. But what they are, is classic. This sort of animated filmmaking just isn't pursued any longer and it is refreshing to know that while it may be a dying art, it isn't going to be allowed to fade away. The Timeless Tales series is perfect for the family who wants something that will still capture the kids attention for an hour or so, but won't fill their heads solely with images of nonsense. Hmm, moral values and decent life lessons passed along via storytelling...what will they think of next?!
-aaron-
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The Timeless Tales DVD releases are the Walt Disney
company's vehicles for delivering some of the most beloved and poignant
animated stories of the studio's long and cherished history direct to your living
room and to brand new audiences the world over. But more than
that, they are a way to share some of the most respected and time
honored stories, fables, legends and children's tales of many cultures
in a dynamic, visual way...an endeavor that is all but abandoned in
today's world of Spongebob Squarepants and Aqua Teen Hunger
Force pointless silliness (two of my favorite shows, btw, so don't
start your hate emails yet!).
In 1888, a
writer/journalist by the name of Ernest Thayer turned in his final piece
for the San Francisco Examiner's humor column...a poem by the
name of "Casey At The Bat". In it, a story is told of the final
inning of a baseball game; a game in which one teams hopes of winning
are all but sealed as long as they can get their powerhouse hitter up to
the plate. You see, once Casey has bat in hand, big things
happen...each and every time. The moral, you see, comes when Casey
is so confident in himself and so bolstered by the chanting and cheering
of the crowd that he allows the first two pitches to pass him by on
purpose...needing only the last to send over the fence. Even if
you didn't already know the ending to this one, it is very easy to see
where it is headed...Casey takes his swing at that last ball and tallies
his third strike, losing the game for the home team!
The ancient Greek myth of King Midas gets a little reworking in
"The Golden Touch", when a king who has a bit of a problem with greed is
tempted magical elf. The offer? That everything the King
touches will be turned to gold! Sounds like a pretty sweet deal if
you ask me...and apparently it did to the king too; and he took it.
But when he finds that everything he wants to eat turns to inedible gold
and everything he wants to drink turns to a solid chunk of the precious
metal...well, he needs to do some rethinking pretty quick or he isn't
going to be king, much less alive and kicking, for much longer! An
interesting side note to this animated short is that it is Walt Disney's
last credit as director save for a few war effort hygiene films. 
A
young American-Indian boy sets off to prove that he is ready to become a
man by completing a successful hunt, but finds out that the animals just
be a little too wily for his meager skills. Eventually he finds a
defenseless little bunny who he is sure he can take with his bow and
arrow, but decides that he simply can't do it seeing as how the bunny is
SO cute. When little Hiawatha comes across a bear who is meaning
to do him some serious harm, the woodland animals take pity on him and,
remembering his kindness to the bunny, help him escape safely.
"Little Hiawatha" has an extremely loose connection to Henry
Longfellow's poem "The Song Of Hiawatha" in name only, but is all Disney
charm.