Blistering performances.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

This is one of the longest 1940's animated short films by Disney and in general (including also the other companies like Warner Bros). Usually they're around 6-7 minutes, but this one stands at a whooping 28 minutes to do the story justice. It switches occasionally back to the narrator who also, as an introduction, tells us a bit on crucial characters from previous Disney feature films such as Pinocchio and Snow White.When the real story begins, we see a harp-lady with a beautiful voice being kidnapped and thus the happy valley she used to sing for sinks into despair. Action switches to our heroes Mickey, Goofy and Donald who show the possibly best portrayal of starvation ever put in an animated movie. When Micky exchanged their proper meal for a handful of magic beanstalks, they, all of a sudden, end up on a distant world in the sky where they pretty much have the size like midges and butterflies.They approach a large castle and not only find lots of delicious food (Goofy in the jelly is a highlight), but also the abducted harp and the magically skilled, but daft, ginger giant who kidnapped her. Their initial plan of tricking the giant into turning himself into a fly and kill him with a swatter fails, but the harp-lady can manage to sing him to sleep, so the trio and her successfully escape the castle and revive Happy Valley. It's a thoroughly recommendable short film and certainly not only to children.

I absolutely love this mini-classic. The animation is really beautiful with colourful backgrounds, especially the opening part with Happy Valley and vibrant too. I also want to say that I thought the animation for the beanstalk was fantastic. As for the music, it was absolutely stunning, full of playfulness and lyricalism. The song "My What a Happy Day" I have always considered a great song, it is just so joyful and makes you want to sing along. All the characters were great too, I have always loved Mickey, Goofy and Donald, and I don't know about you but Willie the Giant was quite lovable here. The voice acting was spot on, with Clarence Nash, Pinto Colvig, Billy Gilbert and Walt Disney himself. The narration was satisfying, from Professor Von Drake in the version I am most familiar with, but also the one with Sterling Holloway narrating and Edgar Bergen in the underrated Fun and Fancy Free were nicely done too. Can I say that I think the singing harp has a beautiful singing voice? All in all, a real pleasure to watch. 10/10 Bethany Cox

'Jack and the Beanstalk' is a very familiar story and the Disney adaptation is a delight to watch. It starts with an old duck and his little friend Hermann talking about fairy tales. The duck explains how 'Cinderella, 'Pinocchio', 'Sleeping Beauty' and 'Snow White' were fairy tales and therefor the story and the characters were made up. With this talking we see the actual images from those Disney-movies.Than the duck tells his own fairy tale version of 'Jack and the Beanstalk' and we see Mickey, Donald and Goofy as the three Jacks climbing the beanstalk and meeting the giant. With lots of funny moments and nice things that can only happen with animation this is a another great movie from Disney. When that beanstalk goes up I was amazed by what I saw.

A Walt Disney MICKEY MOUSE Cartoon.Three zany farmers - Mickey, Donald & Goofy - attempt to rescue the stolen Singing Harp from a temperamental giant.While it technically does not match the quality of their classic cartoons from the 1930's, MICKEY AND THE BEANSTALK is a most enjoyable two-reeler and provides the trio with one of their liveliest adventures. The sequence of the growing beanstalk up lifting & breaking apart the farmhouse is pure magic. Comic veteran Billy Gilbert provides the voice for Willie the Giant; Clarence Nash does the honors for Donald.Disney has produced at least three versions of this cartoon. Originally it was the concluding half of FUN AND FANCY FREE (1947) and was narrated by the marvelous Edgar Bergen with assistance from Charlie McCarthy & Mortimer Snerd. There is also a version narrated by Paul Frees in the character of Professor Ludwig von Drake. Finally, there is a version of the cartoon narrated by Sterling Holloway.Walt Disney (1901-1966) was always intrigued by pictures & drawings. As a lad in Marceline, Missouri, he sketched farm animals on scraps of paper; later, as an ambulance driver in France during the First World War, he drew comic figures on the sides of his vehicle. Back in Kansas City, along with artist Ub Iwerks, Walt developed a primitive animation studio that provided animated commercials and tiny cartoons for the local movie theaters. Always the innovator, his ALICE IN CARTOONLAND series broke ground in placing a live figure in a cartoon universe. Business reversals sent Disney & Iwerks to Hollywood in 1923, where Walt's older brother Roy became his lifelong business manager & counselor. When a mildly successful series with Oswald The Lucky Rabbit was snatched away by the distributor, the character of Mickey Mouse sprung into Walt's imagination, ensuring Disney's immortality. The happy arrival of sound technology made Mickey's screen debut, STEAMBOAT WILLIE (1928), a tremendous audience success with its use of synchronized music. The SILLY SYMPHONIES soon appeared, and Walt's growing crew of marvelously talented animators were quickly conquering new territory with full color, illusions of depth and radical advancements in personality development, an arena in which Walt's genius was unbeatable. Mickey's feisty, naughty behavior had captured millions of fans, but he was soon to be joined by other animated companions: temperamental Donald Duck, intellectually-challenged Goofy and energetic Pluto. All this was in preparation for Walt's grandest dream - feature length animated films. Against a blizzard of doomsayers, Walt persevered and over the next decades delighted children of all ages with the adventures of Snow White, Pinocchio, Dumbo, Bambi & Peter Pan. Walt never forgot that his fortunes were all started by a mouse, or that childlike simplicity of message and lots of hard work always pay off.