Strong and Moving!

Excellent, a Must See

it is the rare 'crazy' movie that actually has something to say.

I have absolutely never seen anything like this movie before. You have to see this movie.

A young grizzly bear, undaunted by his mother's warnings of the coming winter, runs away from home only to be confronted by Old Man Winter himself.This is an enjoyable animated short. I have a problem with the fact that it is "SOLD" in a DVD collection of "Christmas Animated Shorts". this is not a Christmas short. It takes place in Winter. There is no "Santa" or even a "Christmas Tree". However it is an enjoyable thing to watch. This Animated Feature has some very impressive animation (For it's time). It is available;e for free on many streaming sights.

For a start, I loved all the rich amber tones in the woodland backgrounds, and even more so later on with the the frozen scenery, all exceedingly beautiful to look at. Also the music was very nice and kept things moving at a good pace. The family of bears that is featured look a lot like the ones from the 1935 Iwerks short "The Three Bears." The momma bear sounds like a black women did the voicing. She may give Billy-Bear a spankin', but it probably hurts her more than it does him! Ha, now that's the good old-fashioned 1930s parenting right there folks! For some strange reason a really crummy-looking picture that hangs above the little bear's bed really made me laugh! I don't get the strange moment where there's an apparition hovering saw cutting a log above the sleeping bear parents... A visual pun on the saying "slept like a log"? The only thing that I dislike was the annoying little song the bear kid seemed to sing about every two minutes! I just think it sounds completely childish and brings down the tone. I liked the slightly creepy character of the trickster sprite Jack Frost, who deems to teach young bratty-bear a lesson the hard way about respecting the cold. This short boasts several very impressive and spooky sight gags, like a hopping quartet of pumpkins whose collective "Whooo!" sound is genuinely eerie to listen to! And then there is my absolute favourite part of the whole short, an awesome scatting scarecrow whose wild movements and bluesy freewheeling sounds still sound extremely catchy and cool today! Not to mention totally hilarious. That scene reminded me very much of the trio of dark and fantastical Betty Boop Fleisher shorts to feature a dancing, rotoscoped Cab Calloway! Specifically 1933's "The Old Man of the Mountain." I also thought the design of the cackling wicked Old Man Winter was similar to the old man of the Fleisher short. I thought the animation of the striking character was more polished than in his earlier appearance in "Summertime." During the chase through the icy woods I love the snow-covered objects in the background that look very much like human figures frozen in agonised poses. Quite a dark and Gothic touch, I thought. I think Jack Frost was Old Man Winter, their faces and noses looked alike, and Jack's enigmatic wink to the audience at the "Finis" confirmed it for me. What a great little peril in winter wonderland animation this is. It's well worth anyone's time, and makes for an especially pleasant watch come Christmas time. Overall quite a charming rare old vintage show!

Jack Frost (1934) *** (out of 4)Ub Iwerks' directed this animated short about a young grizzly bear who decides to go outside even though his mother warned him that a cold winter was about to hit. I always enjoy watching the work of Iwerks because even today his images are quite striking and they're certainly unlike anything else that was out at the time or even today. This film isn't among his greatest works but I think there are enough unique touches that make the thing worth watching. I really liked the images but this here should go without being said. I especially liked the winter landscape as the bear wonders out of his house thinking that his fur is going to protect him. The scene showing the snowman being created was terrific and the imagination in it was excellent. Earlier there's a very good sequence with some dancing trees and the scenes with the pumpkins was also very good. The bear cub himself was a good and memorable character and his little journey has many cute moments as well as some darker ones.

This cartoon is one of my all-time favorites. I absolutely love old cartoons and movies, so naturally I had to give this one a try and I found that this is a frightening little goody. It's about a little bear who has run away from home and is one the run from "Old Man Winter." His adventure is wonderfully written and even more wonderfully animated. This cartoon will have you smiling from the very beginning to the cleverly done end.