Hamilton Luske (1903–1968)

A little girl wanders through a nonsense world.

As a whole, it's a frantic mess. But the individual pieces are great enough to make up for that. It's best seen as a series of shorts instead of a feature.

Concept: A
Story: D
Characters: B
Dialog: A
Pacing: D
Cinematography: C
Special effects/design: A
Acting: B
Music: B

Enjoyment: A plus

GPA: 3.0/4

(Jun. 2012)

Some of these cartoons -- in particular the excellent "Pecos Bill" -- are quite entertaining, and others have pleasant shades of "Fantasia". But others are frightfully dull, as is the live action narration segment preceding "Pecos Bill". And unlike some of the earlier package films Disney made, this one makes no effort at joining it together with a frame narrative or thematic throughline.

As a kid, I had no idea how shit-tastic the depiction of Native Americans was in this film but what the hell I was just a ignorant-ass little kid. But now, while I can enjoy some parts of the movie still, the part with the Native Americans is just a huge yikes on bikes experience.

Animal friends and fun songs make this movie a real treat. There's just one thing that really sticks in my craw. After her father's death, Cinderella is banished to the attic of her father's chateau... which can only be accessed by a twisty flight of stairs. I get that this added dramatic effect to show more how Cinderella was isolated from the house, but having a tower with so many stairs just seems like a really unwieldy waste of space. It's just really poor architectural design.