Fun and Fancy Free

Fun and Fancy Free is a 1947 American animated musical fantasy comedy package movie. It was produced by Walt Disney. It was released on September 27, 1947 by RKO Radio Pictures. It is the 9th Disney animated movie and the fourth of the package movies the studio produced in the 1940s in order to save money during World War II. The Disney package movies of the late 1940s helped finance Cinderella, and subsequent others, such as Alice in Wonderland and Peter Pan.

The movie features two stories. The first story, Bongo, is hosted by Jiminy Cricket and narrated by Dinah Shore. Based on the tale "Little Bear Bongo" by Sinclair Lewis, Bongo tells the story of a circus bear cub named Bongo who longs for freedom from captivity. Bongo escapes the circus and eventually forms a romantic relationship with a female bear cub named Lulubelle in the wild, realizing that he must prove himself in order to earn Lulubelle as his mate. The second story, Mickey and the Beanstalk, is hosted by Edgar Bergen and is a retelling of Jack and the Beanstalk featuring Mickey, Donald, and Goofy as three pheasants who discover the temperamental Willie the Giant's castle in the sky through the use of some magic beans. They must battle the greedy but lovable giant in order to restore peace to their valley. Mickey and the Beanstalk was the last time Walt Disney voiced Mickey Mouse, because he was too busy on other projects to continue voicing the famous character. Disney replaced himself with sound effects artist Jimmy MacDonald.

Voice cast 
 Edgar Bergen – himself, Charlie McCarthy and Mortimer Snerd
 Luana Patten – herself
 Dinah Shore – singer, narrator of Bongo
 Cliff Edwards – Jiminy Cricket
 Walt Disney – Mickey Mouse
 Clarence Nash – Donald Duck
 Pinto Colvig – Goofy
 Billy Gilbert – Willie the Giant
 Anita Gordon – singing harp
 The King's Men – Happy Valley crows

Rereleased 
October 18, 1957
September 14, 1960
December 15, 1967
June 21, 1974
May 23, 1980
April 12, 1985
May 15, 1992
June 30, 1995

Reception 
Fun and Fancy Free received mostly positive reception. Rotten Tomatoes said that the movie has a 71% approval rating based on 7 reviews, with an average score of 6/10. The site's consensus reads, "Though it doesn't quite live up to its title, Fun and Fancy Free has its moments, and it's a rare opportunity to see Mickey, Donald, and Goofy together."

Home media 
Fun and Fancy Free was first released on VHS in 1982. It was re-released on VHS and LaserDisc in 1997 as part of the Walt Disney Masterpiece Collection. It made its DVD debut in 2000 as part of the Walt Disney Gold Classic Collection. The movie was released in a 2-Movie collection Blu-ray with The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad on August 12, 2014.

Directing animators 
 Ward Kimball (Jiminy Cricket, Donald Duck, Lumpjaw)
 Les Clark (Singing Harp, Lulubelle)
 John Lounsbery (Willie the Giant)
 Fred Moore (Mickey Mouse)
 Wolfgang Reitherman (Goofy)
 Art Babbitt (Bongo)

References

Other websites 
 
 
 
 

1947 movies
1940s comedy movies
1940s musical movies
American comedy movies
American family movies
American musical movies
Disney animated movies
Movies about animals
Movies composed by Oliver Wallace