The Reluctant Dragon (1941) - 62 Minutes

The Reluctant Dragon is actually a series of short films: The Reluctant Dragon, Ferdinand the Bull, Goliath II, and Johnny Appleseed.  The first is the tale of a gay poetry-writing very gay dragon who very much does not want to fight a gay poetry-writing super gay knight, to a young boy's disappointment.  The second is the story of Ferdinand, a gay bull who likes to smell flowers rather than fight.  Third is the story of Goliath II, the mouse-sized elephant who only wishes to live up to his elephant-sized father's expectations.  And finally there's the legend of Johnny Appleseed, the gay Republican uber-Christian, apple-planting pioneer.

Eli

Rating: 8/10

Reaction: Before I begin, you must realize that this isn't the actual version of The Reluctant Dragon that was released in 1941. That version had a studio tour with some guy, and involved him pitching the idea of this film to studio folks and finally Walt Disney. Suffice it to say, this is not that film - but a collection of four very-gay shorts. It's fun though. I don't think anyone can be more flamboyant than this dragon is. He is Fab-U-Lous! The other three shorts are pretty good, my favorite being Goliath II. What a cute little elephant he is, and I'm pretty sure some of the animation is put directly into Peter Pan (I'm talking about the crocodile part.) And boy, is that mouse a real jerk! So mean. The other two animated shorts were cute, but not my favorites. I mean, come on - I almost cried when Johnny Appleseed died at the end of the last one. How sad! He planet all those trees, and we NEVER actually saw him enjoying the food he provided the apples for. Poor guy. He must've died from starvation. Oh well, at least we know the clouds are totally made of apple blossom tree. Let's see if these hurricane clouds surrounding NYC will give us some apple pie!


Regan

Rating: 7/10

Reaction: I really enjoyed most of these shorts!  They were whacky and silly, of course, but also great fun.  The dragon segment was the most absurd, with the dragon flouncing around throwing tea parties.  I loved Ferdinand, which I think I actually used to watch on television as it felt very familiar.  The bull who simply likes to smell flowers is adorable and endearing, and nothing terrible befalls anyone involved.  Goliath II was similarly cute, with the itsy-bitsy elephant trying so hard to get by.  (Also, the narrator was the voice of Winnie the Pooh!)  The story of Johnny Appleseed didn't hesitate to bash us over the head with the Bible, so it was probably the most annoying of the lot.  Overall the four were clever, with fun characters and jaunty songs tossed in.