The Reluctant Dragon

In 1941, in the middle of the Disney animators’ strike, Disney decided to make a film that combined animation and live action, known as a Hybrid film. This wasn’t the first time Disney made this combination. In the 20s, he made a series of shorts known as the Alice Comedies. The resulting feature was The Reluctant Dragon, starring Robert Benchley, Frances Gifford, Buddy Pepper, and Nana Bryant.

I was able to find a colorized version.

The plot features humorist Robert Benchley trying to find Walt Disney so he can pitch an animated version of Kenneth Grahame’s The Reluctant Dragon at his wife’s insistence. Dodging a studio guide named Humphrey (Pepper), Benchley stumbles onto a number of Disney studio operations and learns about the traditional animation process:

In the life drawing classroom, animators learn to caricature people and animals by observing the real thing.

A score and voice recording session featuring Clarence Nash (Donald Duck) and Florence Gill (Clara Cluck).

A foley session for a cartoon featuring Casey Junior, where Doris (Frances Gifford) demonstrates the sonovox.

The camera room, featuring a demonstration of the multiplane camera. Donald Duck explains the mechanics of animation and animation photography.

The Ink and Paint Dept, which includes a montage of the paint-making process. Doris presents a completed cel of Bambi.

The maquette-making department, which makes small statues to help animators envision a character from all sides. Benchley steals a black centaurette from Fantasia. There are also statues of Captain Hook and Tinkerbell. The employee on duty makes Benchley a maquette of himself, which became the property of Chuck Jones in later years.

The storyboard department, where a group of storymen test their idea for a new short on Benchley. The short, Baby Weems is shown in the form of a story reel.

The room of animators Ward Kimball, Fred Moore, and Norm Ferguson, where Benchley watches Kimball animating Goofy and Ferguson animating Pluto. There is also a preview of the first Goofy How To parodies: How to Ride a Horse

Humphrey finally catches up to Benchley and delivers him to Walt Disney, who is about to screen The Reluctant Dragon.

The cartoon starts with an introduction by the narrator. A boy is reading a book about knights and bloodthirsty dragons when is father comes rushing by, claiming to have seen a monster. The boy reassures his father that it was only a dragon, causing the father to panic and run to the village in fear.

The Boy then goes to the Dragon’s Liar, where he is confronted by a shy, poetry spouting dragon. The Boy befriends him. When he arrives back at the village, the Boy discovers Sir Giles the dragon slayer has arrived. He runs to tell the Dragon that he should fight him, only to be told that the Dragon never fights. The Boy visits Sir Giles, an old man, and tells him that the Dragon will never fight. They go to visit him.

Sir Giles and the Boy visit the Dragon while he is having a picnic. It turns out Sir Giles also loves to write poetry, so he and the Dragon serenade each other. The Boy then asks if he could recite a poem of his own. He uses this chance to get a word in edgewise to arrange a fight. The Dragon leaves, but is persuaded to come back by being flattered by Sir Giles. They decide to fight, but as the two leave, the Dragon realize what he has done. He tries to change his mind, but the two ignore him. The next day, the villagers gather to watch the fight. Sir Giles arrives to wait for The Dragon.

Inside his cave, the Dragon is too scared to fight and cannot breathe fire. The Boy calls the Dragon a “Punk Poet” leads to the Dragon getting angry and spitting flames. The fight ensues with Sir Giles chasing the dragon around with his sword and into the cave where they drink tea and make noises to fake fighting. Out in the open, they charge at each other and create an enormous cloud, where they dance. Sir Giles reveals that it is time for the Dragon to be slain, but only for pretend. He places his lance under the Dragon’s arm, then the Dragon jumps out of the cloud and performs a dramatic death scene. The story ends with the Dragon being accepted into society, to which the dragon poetically states that he will not rant, roar or scourge the countryside anymore.

There’s few films where I want to confusedly ask what I just watched. It seems I wasn’t alone. 1941 critics and audiences didn’t like that the film was not fully animated like Snow White or Pinocchio. It’s really just a collection of four short cartoons framed by a loose and rushed live action story. It also lost $200,000 at the Box Office.

The animated segment that is the film’s namesake is pretty good, but getting through the 40 minutes of Humphrey bumbling around between various departments is quite tedious. Yes, Baby Weems and How to Ride a Horse are good, but it feels like Disney just wanted to show off his company and threw on a 20 minute short framed by some schmuck trying to get to Disney so he can pitch a story. These could have been separated for the better.

As stated, the titular story is pretty good, but I would have enjoyed seeing how it could have been made as a full length feature. The animation is good and the plot is fun, but the only character that’s interesting is the Dragon and that’s because he’s the campiest thing I’ve ever seen.

Final Call: One film that should have been two with pretty good titular story. Unfortunately, it finds itself crossing the Edge of Dissatisfaction at #3.