Fun and Fancy Free

Much like the rest of the package films, Fun and Fancy Free contains a lot of sections that many people might recognize from other sources, yet may not realize that those parts are actually from a film. This film, much like Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad, focuses on two stories and feels much more smooth than the other package features.

The first half of the film tells the story of a circus bear named Bongo who longs to be free. He soon gets his wish and manages to escape the dreary circus life and is soon wild and free in the outdoors. This is when Bongo soon learns it's not all fun and games as a thunderstorm rolls in at night, startling the poor bear. Of course this is soon forgotten as he winds up falling in love with a female bear, though must outwit a rival suitor for her affection. As a whole this short is actually rather charming, and it does feel like it could have been a full length film if they expanded upon the first half of the sequence. One fun piece is the love song, it's visually entertaining and the little cupid bears are rather adorable.

Our second half of the film is likely the much more familiar story of Mickey and the Beanstalk. This story is your basic retelling of Jack and the Beanstalk, though given the usual Disney twist. In addition to Mickey, we also have Donald and Goofy joining him much like how they teamed up during some of the various shorts over the years. The entire short is a lot of fun, especially with the addition of Willie the Giant who would later appear again in the retelling of "A Christmas Carol." There are actually two different versions of this sequence floating about. On the dvd we get the Edgar Bergen version, where the famous ventriloquist entertains Luana Patten with his puppets, Charlie and Mortimer. The second version is animated and makes use of Ludwig Von Drake and a small bug named Herman.

Fun and Fancy Free is a lot more entertaining than the previous package films largely because there is a much larger storyline feeling instead of a hodgepodge of shorts put together. Both segments are a lot of fun to watch, though the filler with Edgar Bergen does give it a dated feeling, yet on the plus side can be a source of nostalgia for others.

As a small bonus, here is a link to part one of Mickey and the Beanstalk with the Ludwig filler.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Zfwku9OgEM

3/5