Christmas-Reviewer BEWARE OF FALSE REVIEWS & REVIEWERS. SOME REVIEWERS HAVE ONLY ONE REVIEW TO THEIR NAME. NOW WHEN ITS A POSITIVE REVIEW THAT TELLS ME THEY WERE INVOLVED WITH THE MOVIE. IF ITS A NEGATIVE REVIEW THEN THEY MIGHT HAVE A GRUDGE AGAINST THE FILM . NOW I HAVE REVIEWED OVER 200 HOLIDAY FILMS. I HAVE NO AGENDA. I AM HONESTWe all grew up loving all the Rankin-Bass Christmas Cartoons. Every year I still love to watch "Rudolf" "Santa Claus in Coming to Town", "Frosty the Snowman" as well "The Grinch". Well here is a lesser known Animated Christmas Cartoon that in reality is a true "Christmas Story"In this special Outside of the city of Nazareth, a young boy and his father own four donkeys. Three of these donkeys are young and strong. The fourth donkey, Small One, is old and weak, but the boy loves him anyway. Every day, the boy and the donkey play together before they go to work, helping the boy's father to collect wood.The boy and his father take the donkeys to work one morning, as they always do. Many times, the boy loads Small One with small sticks, since Small One can't carry heavy loads any more. Small One even has trouble carrying stacks of small sticks and the boy helps to carry them for him.That evening, the boy's father tells the boy that he has to sell Small One. Devastated, but understanding, the boy asks if he can be the one to sell his best friend. The father agrees and tells him that he has to sell him for one piece of silver. That night, the boy comforts Small One and promises to find him a gentle and loving master.The next morning, the boy takes Small One to the market in Nazareth. Unfortunately, nobody wants an old weak donkey but the tanner, and he only wants to kill Small One to make leather out of his hide. After failing to find another buyer, the boy and his donkey return to the tanner's shop. The boy weeps, and Small One, accepting his fate under the tanner's knife, tenderly consoles the boy.Don't worry there is a very happy ending. This should be seen by everyone. The makers of this should be proud. There is not a false note in this.

anthony-rigoni I watched this cartoon on Video and I loved it. I'm serious, this is a really great cartoon! This cartoon is a story about a boy and his donkey named Small One. After Small One was unable to carry a load of sticks, the boy's father decides that his son should sell Small One for a piece of silver. Although the boy and Small One try to find a new owner for the donkey, nobody wants the poor donkey. Small One nearly gave up his life for the boy(Small One was almost sold to a tanner and nearly gets crushed like a grape by a rather sinister auctioneer). However, in the end, Small One was given to a kind man whose wife is ill(or something like that). That was one ending I'll never forget. The theme song makes me want to cry. Why? Because it was beautiful. Don Bluth, who was behind Dragon's Lair and Space Ace, not only directed this cartoon, but he also wrote the lyrics of the theme song. Perfect for the holidays, "The Small One" is a cartoon you'll neither forget nor regret watching. A grade-A holiday classic!

Atreyu_II The cover line «A new animation featurette destined to become a Disney Holiday Classic» suits perfectly on this Christmas tale. This short is considered an experiment, reuniting the talents of Don Bluth and the artists from the Walt Disney Company, as much as it is a quality Christian propaganda mini-film.It's a nice cartoon. The story is touching, the artwork is excellent, the animation is great and the whole thing runs on a perfect pace. But, back to the artwork, for those who are familiar with Disney's "Aladdin", the artwork here and even the sceneries give a certain "déjà vu" feeling.As for the characters, the boy looks almost identical to Mowgli from Disney's "The Jungle Book", but he's much better drawn and not as slim as Mowgli. Plus, this boy is kind and very humble, while Mowgli is stubborn and often challenging to deal with. Curiously, some of the animation of the boy is identical to Mowgli's.The donkey is precisely named Small One, which is ironic because he's such a large donkey. Big, yes, but as gentle as a lamb. The boy's father is a nice guy and Joseph (the donkey's buyer) is very kind.About the characters I don't like, they are obviously the guard, the tanner, the 3 merchants and the auctioneer. Curiously, the auctioneer almost looks like Stromboli from Disney's masterpiece "Pinocchio". But although I like Stromboli, I dislike the auctioneer.Our story takes place in Israel, outside of Nazareth. The story focus on the friendship between Small One and the boy, but also on the boy's attempt to sell the donkey for a piece of silver. They both live an awful day but the ending is happy. The donkey is sold to Joseph, who needs a gentle donkey to carry his wife Mary to Bethlehem. The ending has a strong magical feeling because of its excellent artwork and especially because of that sparkling big star.The voice cast does a good job, including Sean Marshall as the boy (which is obvious, because his laughter is very Pete-like). Sean Marshall was not only a very talented young actor, but also a wonderful singer. If there's any doubt about that, he is very good as Pete in "Pete's Dragon" and he sings beautifully in that movie. In "The Small One", he demonstrates again his acting skills (in this case, vocal) and sings very well either. I wonder what happened to him and where is he now.So, in conclusion, it's not an animated short without faults, but it's quite good and deserves more credit than it gets. It's really pitiful that such a trashy and gross movie like "Grease" has much more success, popularity and recognition than this nice little story (which came out in the same year of 1978).The number of animated shorts, animated films and even live-action films made by Walt Disney Company doesn't stop to surprise me. Anytime I think there won't be more or that even more would be impossible, I keep getting surprised.This should definitely be on Top 250.

ugagal_ericac I remember watching this movie all year long -- not only at Christmas. I am sure that my first experience with this movie was at Christmas, as we recorded it off of the Disney Channel. My siblings and I loved this movie, loved watching this movie, and as adults, still do.The tale of a boy who loved the old donkey, "small one," as his best friend is a sweet and touching one. He goes to town to sell his donkey, only to find that no one wants Small One to love as he does. Finally, a miracle brings Joseph to the young boy, and Small One finds his greatest task of all.Even thinking of this movie brings a smile to my face. The allusion to the birth of Christ are a blessing, and we enjoyed this movie all year round.