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Everybody’s familiar with the big power hitters in the Walt Disney animated features oeuvre, your Snow Whites and your Cinderellas and your Little Mermaids, but Fun and Fancy Free, the ninth official Disney animated feature, is largely overlooked. It’s one of the so-called “package features,” meaning it, along with movies like The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad and Make Mine Music, primarily consists of unrelated short subjects jammed together and called a movie. That may be the reason it’s been somewhat forgotten over the years; to be honest, I’ve never seen it until now. But with a running time of just seventy-five minutes, it’s definitely my kind of movie, so let’s take a look.

The premise the whole movie hangs on is that Jiminy Cricket, the friendly insect from Pinocchio, is going around having an absolutely splendid time. He’s fun and fancy free, you see, and it totally pisses him off when other people aren’t. Quit worrying, that’s Jiminy’s philosophy. This is somewhat contrary to his role as Pinocchio’s conscience, but apparently he’s a changed bug.

Jiminy hops from place to place singing songs and smiling so big his skull is surely in danger of being rent in twain and generally being one happy sumbitch. When he finds a newspaper with troublesome headlines like “Human Race Going Crazy” and, even worse, sees a doll and a stuffed bear who don’t look like they’re mindlessly carefree idiots, he makes it his mission to convert these Grumpy Guses into Happy…Herberts? He decides right then and there that they should hear the story of Bongo.

Just what’s Bongo, you ask? And rightfully so. Bongo is a bear, born and raised in the circus. He rides a unicycle and juggles and jumps off a high dive, which in the circus world means he’s pretty much bigger than Jesus. Sure, Jesus walked on water, but when’s the last time you saw him walk on a tightrope? In spite of all Bongo’s fame and attention and, we can only assume, underage circus groupies, he’s unsatisfied. Some primal instinct in him yearns for life in the forest where he’d be free to run o’er hill and dale and get honey pots stuck on his nose. And so…he escapes!

Off to the forest he hustles, pedaling his little unicycle with all his might. Before long he discovers that he’s totally unsuited to life in the wild. There’s so much noise at night he can barely sleep, he trips over unexpected rocks and roots all the time, and other forest animals point and laugh at him. The dumb bastard can’t even climb a tree! It looks as though poor Bongo will truly be miserable outside of the big top.

Until, that is, he catches sight of a ladybear. From there the story becomes a tender tale of blossoming romance and an exciting story of a sexually charged love triangle. Also, there’s some spousal abuse thrown in for good measure. But I’ll leave you to discover the ending for yourself, just like a professional movie reviewer! In any case, the animation here is of the same high quality we’ve come to expect from the Walt Disney company, and the story’s cute enough to hold the attention of rowdy young viewers who might otherwise prefer to jump on the bed while screaming. Further, there are some good Looney Tunes style gags that will help to keep the older people in the audience interested as well, so it’s definitely fun for everybody

Bongo Discussion Question: Since Bongo wears a shirt but his little girlfriend does not (she’s bear naked, ha ha ha!), does that mean she’s indecent?

After hearing that heartwarming tale, Jiminy Cricket decides it’s time for him to go across the street and crash a party hosted by the famously terrible ventriloquist Edgar Bergen. It’s not much of a party, given that it’s just Edgar, his two puppets and one little girl, but it sounds just about aces to our cricket friend. He arrives just in time hear Edgar regale everyone with the story of Jack and the Beanstalk. But it’s not ordinary jackoff of a Jack in this story, no sir, it’s Mickey Mouse! And Donald Duck and Goofy to boot.

It’s a pretty straightforward telling of the well-known fairy tale, albeit with plenty of extra visual gags and interruptions by the loudmouthed puppet Charlie McCarthy thrown in. The only aspect featured here that I’ve never heard in any other version of the story is the giant’s transfiguration abilities. He can change into anything at will, although he prefers to change into a fluffy pink bunny. This talent is used basically to show off; it never really becomes important in the course of the narrative. Unless you think seeing a giant, pink, anthropomorphic rabbit is important. And I do. Oh, also there’s a part where Donald’s tenuous hold on sanity is completely lost and he runs about wielding an axe attempting to slaughter a cow. This is followed by a lengthy discussion between the little girl, Edgar Bergen and his various puppetfriends about whether or not it’s cool for Donald to murder the unsuspecting bovine. Charlie McCarthy says yes; everyone else says no. Sorry, Charlie.

And that’s Fun and Fancy Free, the little cartoon you probably never saw. It’s an entertaining and enjoyable picture, that much is certain. It’s not up there on the same level as Fantasia or Beauty and the Beast, but nor is it trying to be. This movie and the other package features were placeholders between the original golden age of Disney animation and the second run of classics that began with Cinderella in 1950. But this, like everything Disney did in those days, was executed with unsurpassed skill and creativity, which makes even these lesser entries in the canon worthwhile.

If you don’t like Fun and Fancy Free, you will also totally hate:

If You Hated This, You Will Also Totally Hate:

• Cricket on the Hearth
• Make Mine Music
• Mickey’s Christmas Carol
• Mickey’s Once Upon a Christmas
• Wednesday Top Ten: Disney Animated Features