Goliath II (1960)

If you read the title "Goliath II", then you may think that this is a sequel, but nope. The title is the name of the protagonist in here and his father is Goliath or Goliath I. The central characters are elephants and our hero is too tiny and too insignificant to follow into his majestic Dad's footsteps. The consequence is lots of conflict and Goliath keeps running away from his "people". But in the end there is an interesting solution with a mouse that somewhat symbolizes David in the old tale. And a happy end as usual for Disney. Yep, these slightly under 15 minutes are a Disney cartoon from 1960, so already over 55 years old. And at almost a quarter of an hour, they are about twice as long as the standards 7 minutes. This one here was nominated for an Oscar, but no win for Walt during the later stages of his career this time. This nomination also turned it into one of the biggest successes for German director Wolfgang Reitherman whose career spanned over many decades. So yeah I think you should watch it. The story reminded me a bit of How to Train Your Dragon in the Jungle Book universe. There are several antagonists here, but it's still a really harmless little movie, also suitable for the very young ones. Nobody gets killed, nobody gets hurt and the most "extreme" scene is perhaps Mother Elephant spanking her son. Go check it out. Final note: In here you will also find Mel Blanc in a Disney film, a combination that did not happen too often I believe. Sadly he does not have too much material really. But with what he has he shines like everybody else from the experienced voice cast.

The notable thing about this short cartoon directed by Wolfgang "Woolie" Reitherman (who would go to direct many of the notable Disney movies of the 60's and 70's and was part of the "9 Old Men"), is that it features a few pieces of key animation from The Jungle Book several years before the film while *also* featuring some shots which are clearly taken from older Disney movies (I counted Dumbo and Peter Pan, though I'm sure there are bits from others I missed).It may be that I notice such things after a lifetime of seeing these things, but I think even if you're only somewhat familiar with the animation it will come up as 'hey, wait a minute, that's Dumbo and his mom, isn't it?' All the same it's a cute short - not much more, but the story, about a tiny elephant who is looked on as a pain in the butt for the other larger elephants and gets into mishaps with a tiger (only to later save them all by, again the Dumbo connection, fighting a mouse that they adults are all scared of), is a charming and substantive story of standing up for yourself against odds even if you're smaller or weaker or whatnot.It is slight, it is silly, and it feels like an early trial run for The Jungle Book long before Balloo and Bagheera and when Khan looked like a rag-doll version of a tiger. It's fine, it's just not anything highly memorable, aside from its cribbing of shots from other Disney movies (perhaps, no, surely, as a way of cutting corners costwise).

You are immediately struck by two things when this short begins. First, the animation style (particularly the backgrounds) are very splashy and 1960s-ish---and you can see the influence of the UPA-style of minimalism (i.e., cheap backgrounds). However, the actual characters look good--and a lot like the elephants from "The Jungle Book" that was made seven years later. In fact, a few of the scenes appear to have been re-used in this feature film--taken from this short and transferred to the Colonel Hathi's March sequence. Heck , you even see the Crocodile from "Peter Pan" in a brief scene! Second, you notice that Winnie the Pooh (really, his voice, Sterling Holloway) is narrating.The story is about a teeny, weeny elephant called 'Goliath II'--who is a big disappointment due to his size. Again and again, the absent-minded little elephant kept getting himself into trouble and his mother had to keep rescuing the dim little thing. However, the viewer knows that eventually the little squirt will prove himself to be invaluable! Overall, it's a decent but not especially remarkable short (other than the connections to the other films). The story is pretty good (if predictable) and the animation okay--but you can see much of the rough pencil work STILL in the final product, so it's a bit rough. Still, compared to other shorts of 1960, it's pretty good.By the way, elephants are NOT afraid of mice and in real life they'd just as likely step on it or ignore it completely.

A Walt Disney Cartoon.Tiny GOLIATH II is a disgrace to the rest of the elephant herd - until he encounters a bullying mouse...This two-reeler was based on a story by the celebrated children's author Bill Peet. Various elements of the animation will invariably remind viewers of DUMBO (1941) and the forthcoming JUNGLE BOOK (1967). The film is helped immeasurably by the narration of Sterling Holloway.Walt Disney (1901-1966) was always intrigued by pictures & 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 comic 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 childlike simplicity of message and lots of hard work always pay off.