Too much of everything

I gave this film a 9 out of 10, because it was exactly what I expected it to be.

The movie runs out of plot and jokes well before the end of a two-hour running time, long for a light comedy.

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

I always enjoyed the Silly Symphonies that tried out different themes and concepts, and this one certainly is no exception, being all about living ornaments that come to life and cavort and caper when the owner of the shop closes for the night! And just for a little drama, as a pair of Victorian dancers begin to dance together, there is of course an awfully devilish jade ornament that lurks in a more sinister corner of the place who is instantly green with envy and swipes the girl! I love the way that all of the characters have a certain look and movement to them, they have a reflective sheen to them that creations of pot and glass would, and that little detail just beautifully conveys that. I really appreciate how the animators went to the trouble of doing that, had they been lazy they wouldn't have bothered to include such a rich touch. It was mighty appealing to me, I enjoyed the different approach to some of the animation, it's very brightly textured and colourful. The shorts had really picked up in quality by this time, but they had yet to reach the best quality that they did. You can perhaps see very early echoes of what would later be expanded upon in Beauty and the Beast with the dancing plates and teacups of the legendary "Be Our Guest" song over fifty years later! I love how there isn't any dialogue whatsoever and everything we see is played out to wonderful music. It's like an adorable little ceramic opera! It is a very classic kind of story that most Disney shorts had at their core: A villain kidnaps a girl and a hero has to save her. And I'm not criticising that formula at all, it's one of the most easy to get into and simplest of stories that you could tell in such a short amount of time. I also liked the ending where the kindly old shopkeeper returns to find his wares mysteriously cracked and damaged and not knowing what to make of it, but deciding to re-label them as "antiques" and raising the prices as the female dancer bashfully giggles. It's a good short but there's nothing about it that I'd say makes it an outstanding one. It's very animated, that's just the best way to put it! Excellent idea and presentation, good short. Tally-ho!

This is an early color short in the Silly Symphonies series produced by the Disney studio. There will be spoilers ahead:Much of this will be familiar, at least in terms of plot-boy and girl are courting, a rival interferes and our hero ultimately triumphs through the adversity to once again win the girl.In this one, all but two of the characters are things made of china. Three monkeys, beer steins, cups and saucers and the like. There's the old man who owns the china shop and an animated wall clock. Everything else is china, including three figurines. The first two are a couple, who dance in one of the better sequences of the short. The third figurine is the bad gut, a green satyr who covets the female china figurine and grabs her.A fight, of course, is inevitable, though our hero must fight more or less alone, with the satyr throwing whatever it can grab while the more active figures scatter. Finally, our hero beats the satyr with some rather timely (sorry) help from the clock and the couple is reunited. When the proprietor returns in the morning, he takes the carnage in stride and gives the short a funny, happy ending.This short is available on the Disney Treasures More Silly Symphonies DVD set and both the set and this short are worth your time. Recommended.

Many of the early Silly Symphonies were concerned with scenes of nature, but 'The China Shop (1934)' constitutes an interesting change. Directed by Wilfred Jackson, the film unfolds entirely in a china shop, whose ceramic inhabitants come to life the moment the elderly owner leaves for home. The idea of inanimate objects become animate when we're not looking has always been a popular one for audiences: literary characters emerged from their books in MGM's 'The Bookworm (1939),' and the tradition stretches all the way to Pixar's success with 'Toy Story (1995).' It's human nature to want to anthropomorphise machines and toys, to ascribe to them motivations and emotions, and here Disney takes advantage of this fantasy, paradoxically unfolding an epic romantic battle in the confines of a quiet china store. The end result is a pleasant and enjoyable musical cartoon, animated in brilliant Technicolor, with a plot fuelled by romantic tension, and a battle between hero and villain.As soon as the china shop's old proprietor sluggishly closes up for the night, the wide-eyed wall-clock gives the signal that the coast is clear. Every ceramic figure suddenly comes to life, and the dreary old store is quickly abuzz with festive cheer, and a handsome male dances romantically with his beautiful lady-friend. However, evil is afoot. A devilish, goat-legged satyr comes to life and crashes the party, locking up the beautiful woman in a glass cage to claim ownership over her. The male, of course, does not take kindly to his love being snatched away, and, though he gets battered and bruised along the way, challenges the satyr to an epic battle of strength and will. I don't need to tell you how the cartoon ends, but suffice to say that the china shop winds up a little worse for wear. Fortunately, in the film's humorous conclusion, the old shop-owner thinks up the surest solution to a busted-up china collection, proving that every disaster is simply a blessing in disguise.

A Walt Disney SILLY SYMPHONY Cartoon Short.When the old proprietor closes down THE CHINA SHOP for the evening, all the various plates, mugs & figurines come alive and start to frolic. Among these are the little china figures of a young lord & lady. Their romantic interlude is shattered, literally, by a jealous goat-legged satyr, who wants possession of the little lady. The resulting struggle between the young lord & his antagonist creates havoc about the shop.A pleasant, though unremarkable cartoon. Disney often used romantic tension to fuel his plots. Seldom, however, does his hero & heroine end up so battered & bruised as they do here.The SILLY SYMPHONIES, which Walt Disney produced for a ten year period beginning in 1929, are among the most interesting of series in the field of animation. Unlike the Mickey Mouse cartoons in which action was paramount, with the Symphonies the action was made to fit the music. There was little plot in the early Symphonies, which featured lively inanimate objects and anthropomorphic plants & animals, all moving frantically to the soundtrack. Gradually, however, the Symphonies became the school where Walt's animators learned to work with color and began to experiment with plot, characterization & photographic special effects. The pages of Fable & Fairy Tale, Myth & Mother Goose were all mined to provide story lines and even Hollywood's musicals & celebrities were effectively spoofed. It was from this rich soil that Disney's feature-length animation was to spring. In 1939, with SNOW WHITE successfully behind him and PINOCCHIO & FANTASIA on the near horizon, Walt phased out the SILLY SYMPHONIES; they had run their course & served their purpose.