The output of Walt Disney Animation Studios–currently totaling 54 full-length films–has been cherished by audiences young and old for almost 80 years. In this weekly online feature, arts and entertainment editor Nathan Tucker will review and rank each of them.  

Sprinkled among the lower echelons of the Disney canon are the “package films.” Stretching from 1941’s Saludos Amigos to 1949’s The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad, they are tough to review as films–mainly because they are more loose confederations of cartoon shorts than coherent cinematic statements. No where is this incoherence more felt than in the three releases Disney put out immediately after World War II: Make Mine Music, Fun and Fancy Free, and Melody Time.

Make Mine Music is an attempt to do for pop music what Fantasia accomplished with classical. By that rubric, it is a complete and total failure. Stuffed to the brim with schmaltzy light muzak (the kind of stuff your great-grandpa listened to) the defining feature of Make Mine Music is its utter blandness. Only two of the film’s ten pieces, a boldwerised staging of “Peter and the Wolf” and a bizarre closing number about a whale that sings opera, rise even slightly above mediocrity. But they come too late in the film to save the audience’s spirits, already crushed by rotoscoped shadows, a love story between two hats, and a tonally curdled take on “Casey at Bat.” Make Mine Music may be less offensive to the senses than The Three Caballeros, but make no mistake: it is just as terrible.

Fun and Fancy Free lives up to its name, if nothing else. The two half-hour stories contained within are entertaining enough, but are also told with unflattering carelessness. The first, about a circus bear struck by the call of the wild, is equally enjoyable and forgettable. The second, a perfectly charming Mickey Mouse feature, is ruined by the obnoxious narration and interjections of a creepy ventriloquist and his grating puppets. Stitched together by some Jiminy Cricket song-and-dance narration, Fun and Fancy Free has the elements of a good film, but frustratingly fails to scrap them together into a watchable whole.

The only one of these three films that holds up in any way is Melody Time. Sure, the back half, which features the moronic story of a little tugboat, a sappy poem about trees, a reprise of Caballeros, and silly retelling of Pecos Bill, is underwhelming. But the first half-hour of the film might be Disney at its most underated. Bridged by a clever jazz take on “Flight of the Bumblebee” are two shorts guided by the unmistakable hand of Disney concept artist Mary Blair. Blair’s work, familiar to most from the “It’s a Small World” ride at Disneyland, is bright, minimalist, and eye-catching. Here, she uses that style to craft a story of wintry New England courtship and retell the legend of Johnny Appleseed. The later is the film’s highlight: the story is cute without becoming cloying, the songs have energy, and Blair’s backdrops are simply gorgeous. Melody Time is worth sitting through for “Johnny Appleseed” alone.

Despite the occasional highlights, these all-but-forgotten films generally deserve their fates. They represent a dead end for a studio that, mere years ago, had been at the forefront of technical and artistic innovation.

The List:

1. Bambi
2. Fantasia
3. Pinocchio
4. Dumbo
5. Melody Time
6. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
7. Fun and Fancy Free
8. Saludos Amigos
9. Make Mine Music
10. The Three Caballeros