That was an excellent one.

Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

The Reluctant Dragon is about a childlike children's book author who goes to Walt Disney Studios to see about having his book adapted into a cartoon, his adventure through the studio gives a look at how they created cartoons back in the 40's.Seeing cartoons in process is very interesting in itself, it features a cast of many known Disney talents including the original voice of Donald Duck, it's a treat seeing how these Disney Legends did what they did.Then you add in the animated bits, shorts like Baby Weems, How to Ride a horse Starring Goofy, and of course The Reluctant Dragon. These shorts are very funny, they each deserve a viewing on their own.It's a shame how few people have even heard of this Disney film. If you can get your hands on the Adventures of Ichabod & Mr. Toad with Fun & Fancy Free Blu-ray this film is included as well.All around I give it two thumbs up!

"The Reluctant Dragon" got a somewhat hostile response from critics when it first came out. To some degree, I can understand the negative reaction. For one thing, it often comes more like an advertisement for the Disney company instead of an original story. Also, while the movie promises to answer some questions to its audience about how cartoons are made, it doesn't go into that much depth about the subject. And some of what it presents is wrong, from hiring actors to play cartoon staff to suggesting that the audio for a cartoon is made after the animation is done. It also doesn't help that while Robert Benchley was a funny guy elsewhere, the material given to him as the movie's pseudo-host just isn't that funny. But if you are an animation buff and/or a Disney buff, the movie does have its rewards. There are occasional legitimate peeks into the Disney company at the time, and those peeks do have some interest. And while the live action footage is mostly disappointing, the animated sequences do deliver - not just the title cartoon, but also "Baby Weems" and the Goofy cartoon. I don't know if kids would sit still for the entire movie, but those certain adults I mentioned at the start of this paragraph should find the movie has its rewards.

Reluctant Dragon is best viewed in the Disney Treasures Behind the Scenes DVD.this story combined with baby weems and Goofys "how to ride a horse" make this a magical treat for all ages,Timeless Disney classic.The live action scenes of the original voices of Donald Duck and Clara Cluck are a rare joy to see.

I happened upon this film during a late night when nothing else was on TV, and couldn't have been happier that I came across it.In this, we're taken behind-the-scenes of Disney studios circa 1941, and given a humorous (and, I'm sure, highly fictionalized) tour of the studio and its various departments. While I've always been a fan of Disney's animation, I'd never been given a glimpse of the animators themselves, and I always thought that they deserved to be as well known as the Warner Brothers stable of talent. Well, here they're given a chance to hog the spotlight (as Disney himself doesn't show up until the final few moments of the film) and show off their talents.Not only is this a good chance for you to see how some of your Disney favorites were brought to screen, the linking device with comic Robert Benchley is charming throughout, and the attitude is more than a little self-deprecating (playing up the notion that one is indoctrinated into the "Disney way of life" in working for the Mouse, Benchley's guide is portrayed as a militarily-garbed, wormy little walking Disney Rule Book). The animation itself is great (as is usual for Disney of this vintage) and the live-action work is funny in a way that most Disney live-action works aren't. All of this adds up to a most rewarding, and highly neglected, classic from the Vaults of Disney.