OllieSuave-007 Great cartoon short featuring a herd of proud elephants marching through the jungle, along with a pint-sized outcast named Goliath II. He is frowned upon by the herd leader, his father Goliath I, for his small size. However, he is loved and nurtured by his mother. But, when he gets lost a couple of times, and nearly becoming a meal to a tiger and a crocodile, he gets disciplined by his mother and rebuffed by the herd. But, he might just redeem himself when he chooses to stand up to a pesky mouse while all the other adult elephants escape.This cartoon short is a nice throwback to the Disney films, featuring recognizable voice actors such as Sterling Holloway, Verna Felton, Barbara Jo Allen, J. Pat O'Malley and Paul Frees. The plot is solid and exciting and the story is full of humor and funny one-liners - loved how Goliath's mom talks back to Goliath I and calls him names.There are also some slapstick stuff too that will generate some laugh-out-loud moments, particularly courteous to the tiger, and there is a very upbeat and toe-tapping march music serving as the cartoon's score.The characters and animation serve as a precursor as some sort to the Disney full-length animated film, The Jungle Book, which was released the following year. Fun stuff here - definitely one of the best Disney cartoons out there and one I remember fondly from my childhood.Grade A

MisterWhiplash 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).

MartinHafer You are immediately struck by two things when this short begins. First, the animation style (particularly the backgrounds) are very splashy and 1960s-ish---and you can see the influence of the UPA-style of minimalism (i.e., cheap backgrounds). However, the actual characters look good--and a lot like the elephants from "The Jungle Book" that was made seven years later. In fact, a few of the scenes appear to have been re-used in this feature film--taken from this short and transferred to the Colonel Hathi's March sequence. Heck , you even see the Crocodile from "Peter Pan" in a brief scene! Second, you notice that Winnie the Pooh (really, his voice, Sterling Holloway) is narrating.The story is about a teeny, weeny elephant called 'Goliath II'--who is a big disappointment due to his size. Again and again, the absent-minded little elephant kept getting himself into trouble and his mother had to keep rescuing the dim little thing. However, the viewer knows that eventually the little squirt will prove himself to be invaluable! Overall, it's a decent but not especially remarkable short (other than the connections to the other films). The story is pretty good (if predictable) and the animation okay--but you can see much of the rough pencil work STILL in the final product, so it's a bit rough. Still, compared to other shorts of 1960, it's pretty good.By the way, elephants are NOT afraid of mice and in real life they'd just as likely step on it or ignore it completely.

Ron Oliver A Walt Disney Cartoon.Tiny GOLIATH II is a disgrace to the rest of the elephant herd - until he encounters a bullying mouse...This two-reeler was based on a story by the celebrated children's author Bill Peet. Various elements of the animation will invariably remind viewers of DUMBO (1941) and the forthcoming JUNGLE BOOK (1967). The film is helped immeasurably by the narration of Sterling Holloway.Walt Disney (1901-1966) was always intrigued by pictures & drawings. As a lad in Marceline, Missouri, he sketched farm animals on scraps of paper; later, as an ambulance driver in France during the First World War, he drew comic figures on the sides of his vehicle. Back in Kansas City, along with artist Ub Iwerks, Walt developed a primitive animation studio that provided animated commercials and tiny cartoons for the local movie theaters. Always the innovator, his ALICE IN CARTOONLAND series broke ground in placing a live figure in a cartoon universe. Business reversals sent Disney & Iwerks to Hollywood in 1923, where Walt's older brother Roy became his lifelong business manager & counselor. When a mildly successful series with Oswald The Lucky Rabbit was snatched away by the distributor, the character of Mickey Mouse sprung into Walt's imagination, ensuring Disney's immortality. The happy arrival of sound technology made Mickey's screen debut, STEAMBOAT WILLIE (1928), a tremendous audience success with its use of synchronized music. The SILLY SYMPHONIES soon appeared, and Walt's growing crew of marvelously talented animators were quickly conquering new territory with full color, illusions of depth and radical advancements in personality development, an arena in which Walt's genius was unbeatable. Mickey's feisty, naughty behavior had captured millions of fans, but he was soon to be joined by other animated companions: temperamental Donald Duck, intellectually-challenged Goofy and energetic Pluto. All this was in preparation for Walt's grandest dream - feature length animated films. Against a blizzard of doomsayers, Walt persevered and over the next decades delighted children of all ages with the adventures of Snow White, Pinocchio, Dumbo, Bambi & Peter Pan. Walt never forgot that his fortunes were all started by a mouse, or that childlike simplicity of message and lots of hard work always pay off.