Melody Time (1948)

Pretty Good

Perfect cast and a good story

Highly Overrated But Still Good

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

I don't know about you - But (for me) - When it comes to pre-CGI cartoons - It's the "Golden Age" of animation (Hollywood 1940s & 50s) that absolutely fascinates me with the incredible work and attention to detail that went into many of these Technicolour gems.Of course, it was the innovative animators at Disney Studios who were the ones at the absolute top-of-the-line in their field. And, this "Melody Time" DVD proves that beyond a shadow of a doubt.Featuring the vocal talents of such performers as Roy Rogers, The Andrews Sisters, and Bob Nolan (to name but a few) - 1948's "Melody Time" is a superb collection of 7 enjoyable, animated shorts whose stories are all told through song.Even though some of the story-lines of these cartoons may not appeal to some people - There can be no denying the absolute wonder and marvel of the fantastic animation-techniques that went into these works.3 of my favourites here are - Little Toot, Casey Bats Again, and Pecos Bill.

Disney made a whole lot of these short film collections after the war years as a way to bide time until they got an actual feature film together. They're a mixed pack, but this one is arguably the best, if only because it contains the smallest amount of bad or boring segments.Though there certainly are a few of those here as well. Once again the segments are a gamut of musical segments mixed with actual stories. And once again the musical segments are usually the weaker ones. Like Bumble Boogie and Trees, which are mainly mood pieces. The music and poetry is nice in both, but they're as good as Fantasia's similar pieces and are there mainly for padding.Not that the story segments are all great either. Little Toot, the story about a tugboat child, is just as predictable and pandering as the story about an airplane child in Saludos Amigos. And speaking of Saludos Amigos, we get reacquainted with José in Blame It on the Samba, which is all of the worst parts of Saludos Amigos done with slightly different songs and images.But luckily we have Once Upon a Wintertime, the opening segment, a nice, soothing winter pastoral with nice animation style, cute characters and good use of music.And of course we have both The Legend of Johnny Appleseed and Pecos Bill, two of the most famous short films Disney has ever made. And they've both earned their legend. They're animated perfectly, the characters are amazing, the humour topnotch and as a whole they're just immensely entertaining.And that's Melody Time. Most segments are at the very least average, with some of them earning the moniker of classic. If you want to check out Disney's early package films, see at least this one.

In the years following Fantasia, Disney came up with some animated films which are a collection of shorts. Melody Time is one them. It contains seven unrelated musical vignettes.1. Once Upon a Winter Time: A lovey-dovey young couple go ice-skating and there they have a cutesy misunderstanding but make up cutesy-ly in the end. As though this doesn't ooze enough icky cuteness, there is a rabbit couple imitating the human couple. A poor beginning.2. Bumble Boogie: The movie starts getting good. This is Disney's take on Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's "Flight of the Bumblebee" and a very interesting one too. If anything it ends too soon.3. Johnny Appleseed: A romanticized story of Johnny Appleseed, a real- life, pioneer apple-cultivator, this short has some of the best animation in any Disney movie. 4. Little Toot: The good run continues with the story of a naughty little tugboat who eventually learns to be responsible.5. Trees: A short, totally forgettable song on how trees shelter animals and birds.6. Blame it on the Samba: Donald Duck and Jose Carioca dance to some Samba music played on piano by Ethel. It has some interesting animation but nothing special.7. Pecos Bill: This is the longest feature and has a live-action sequence. It tells the tale of the folklore hero, Pecos Bill and it is really enjoyable.Watch the better shorts separately rather than the entire movie.

I have seen this movie dozens of times and can't get tired of watching it. It's a great movie for small children, like my son and nephew, who are just 9 and 20 months, respectively. They're great entertainment, beautiful songs, nice stories of love, respect for others and nature and fun. For me the best are Pecos Bill and Little Toot. You just have to admire Disney's cartoonist for all the wonderful work they did as you cannot forget that this was made in 1948 thus all hand drawn! This is a great way of introducing kids into cartoon and animation movies, as other Disney movies, such as Lion King, Finding Nemo etc are for when they're a bit grown up. Once again, thumbs up for this, just as The three caballeros, Fantasia and Make mine music. There's just way too much violence and sex on TV for small kids to watch it, so stick to this magical movies and keep their innocence and imagination alive.