The Reluctant Dragon (1941)

So much average

Fresh and Exciting

it is finally so absorbing because it plays like a lyrical road odyssey that’s also a detective story.

Blistering performances.

This is a curious picture in that it's the one feature made during the "classic" Disney animated period (before/during/just after WW2) that might not be that appealing to children. I say 'might' since I can't say for certain for all kids; I think if I saw this when I was younger, it would be a delight, but then it's a movie made for people who may want to know all of THIS that Disney did was possible. It's a hybrid of documentary, ridiculous narrative with a man named Robert Benchley, and actual cartoons.It's actually a treat to watch for a number of reasons, the first being that it shows the process of a Disney animated movie, a short or feature or whatever. You get to see here the voice actors - as soon as Clarence Nash came on doing Donald Duck my face lit up - and then on to how all of the synchronized sound is out together for the audio effects (hint: there are a LOT of them), and then down to things that most of us take for granted like how paints are made and how the camera works (the multi-plane one that was in heavy use at the time). There's also some character demonstrations and even a clip for the sync-sound portion where we see a portion of Dumbo with the Casey Jr train, only it's much longer and may be its own short which is very charming on its own.The whole narrative thrust of the movie is so slight that I'm sure the director and whoever was behind this movie barely paid attention to it, where Benchley has an idea to give to Disney for The Reluctant Dragon, gets on to the Disney lot and tries to find good ol' Walt and then gets distracted by every single department. Any time the movie stops to give heed to Benchley it's unfunny and stops dead in its tracks. It might just be because I don't know about Benchley (was he popular at the time, probably, I see he has a list of acting credits), but it doesn't really matter and it kills the real momentum of the piece. I suppose the thought was if it was a straight documentary instead of this man as a 'travel guide' it would be more dry. I'm not sure it would've been since everything to do with how a cartoon gets made - including the storyboard segment on Baby Weens which is pure delight - is fascinating.Ironically by the time the movie gets to the full Reluctant Dragon cartoon (surprise/spoiler: Disney's one appearance is in the projection room about to screen the finished short, wop-wop), it's slightly a let-down. It's charming enough and has its moments, but it's too long at 20 minutes and as a short it starts to drag in the middle. I think if you're a kid coming to this today you should know the whole feature isn't a cartoon (oddly enough on the DVD release it just comes with the cartoon and a few other shorts so I guess that was forward thinking on Disney's part), but if you love the old process of animation, from drawing to paints to inking to character work (look at how they use that baby for inspiration!) it's a treat. I mean, where else will you get to see Donald Duck show us all how he walks!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).

The Reluctant Dragon (1941) *** 1/2 (out of 4)Robert Benchley and his wife are sitting around their pool when she suggests he pays Walt Disney a visit and talk him into making an animated short out of The Reluctant Dragon story. At first Benchley doesn't want to but after she forces him he finds himself on the Disnet lot where he gets a behind-the-scenes look at the company while trying to find Walt Disney.Those walking into this expecting a full-length Disney movie might be a tad bit disappointed but I think adults and fans of the company will really enjoy this part-documentary, part-animated short. What we've basically got here is a tour of the Walt Disney Studios with Benchley given access to various things that most common people wouldn't get to see. Along the way he interacts with Donald Duck, Goofy and a few other characters as well as getting to view the HOW TO RIDE A HORSE short (which would be released on its own in 1950).What I enjoyed the most about this documentary is the fact that you really get to learn how an animated movie is made. This might be more common knowledge today but back in 1941 I'm sure most people didn't know everything and this film does a great job at explaining it. Even better is the fact that we get to meet some of the actual people who worked on the films as either animators or even those doing sound effects or working around the office.The animation sequences are perhaps the least entertaining thing in the film. The Goofy short is good but it certainly isn't one of the studios best films. The Reluctant Dragon is mildly entertaining but it's certainly far from classic Disney. For his part in the film Benchley is good, warm and isn't as annoying as he was in some of his own personal shorts. I'm not sure kids will enjoy this but adults are bound to have a great time with this behind-the-scenes look at Disney and we even get a nice sequence with the man himself.

"The Reluctant Dragon" got a somewhat hostile response from critics when it first came out. To some degree, I can understand the negative reaction. For one thing, it often comes more like an advertisement for the Disney company instead of an original story. Also, while the movie promises to answer some questions to its audience about how cartoons are made, it doesn't go into that much depth about the subject. And some of what it presents is wrong, from hiring actors to play cartoon staff to suggesting that the audio for a cartoon is made after the animation is done. It also doesn't help that while Robert Benchley was a funny guy elsewhere, the material given to him as the movie's pseudo-host just isn't that funny. But if you are an animation buff and/or a Disney buff, the movie does have its rewards. There are occasional legitimate peeks into the Disney company at the time, and those peeks do have some interest. And while the live action footage is mostly disappointing, the animated sequences do deliver - not just the title cartoon, but also "Baby Weems" and the Goofy cartoon. I don't know if kids would sit still for the entire movie, but those certain adults I mentioned at the start of this paragraph should find the movie has its rewards.

The film stars Robert Benchley as a man whose wife encourages him to pitch an idea to Walt Disney about adapting a children's book into a movie. So Benchley goes to the Disney Studios, where he wanders around and gets a behind-the-scenes look at the animation process. He's treated to a brief bit of Donald Duck, Bambi, and the storyboarding of a cartoon in production called Baby Weems. He also gets to watch a new Goofy cartoon, How to Ride a Horse. Then he meets Walt Disney and gets to see a 20-minute cartoon based on the book Benchley wanted to be adapted, The Reluctant Dragon.The first 20 minutes or so of the live-action part of the movie is in black & white then it changes to beautiful Technicolor. It's a nice time capsule that shows us the goings-on at the Disney Studios back in the day and how they made cartoons. I found a lot of this fascinating. I absolutely loved the "paint mill" part! Robert Benchley is always funny. Walt Disney himself appears (wearing a groovy suit). Alan Ladd, Frances Gifford, and Frank Faylen all play Disney employees. The two major cartoons are the Goofy short and The Reluctant Dragon itself. The Goofy short is amusing. The Dragon cartoon, which is I imagine why most people went to see this, is about a boy who befriends a shy, poetry-spouting dragon that doesn't like to fight. Well, for some reason, the boy is intent on getting the dragon to fight elderly knight, Sir Giles. Even after Sir Giles and the dragon meet and realize they both have a love of poetry in common, the boy still pushes for the fight. Finally the fight takes place, sort of, with Sir Giles and the dragon putting on a show for the villagers. I have to admit I didn't get the point of most of this. Why was the boy so intent on getting the dragon, whom he seemed to genuinely like, to fight? Once Sir Giles proposes the idea of faking the fight, he seems okay with it. So what was the point of pushing for the fight in the first place? Just let the dragon be! I know I'm probably looking too closely at it but it just seemed weird to me. Anyway, it's easy to see why this story wasn't enough for its own feature. It's animated nicely and has a sweet charm and humor about it, but the story needed reworking for sure. The dragon is impossible to dislike. Love his "Ode to Upside-Down Cake." This movie was a flop at the time of its release, which is understandable. It was a very different kind of movie for Disney. Still, it's a joy to watch if you like little glimpses back in time as well as great old Technicolor and some nice cartoons. There are no hidden Pinocchios here or anything but they are pleasant with lovely animation. Robert Benchley is great fun. This probably isn't for everybody, and will especially turn off people expecting it to be a feature-length cartoon, but I liked it.