Brave Little Tailor Reviews

There's a lot of laughs, joy and charm to behold in Mickey Mouse's adventures in "Brave Little Tailor," but it's missing a certain spark that makes a good piece of animation truly great. "Mickey and the Beanstalk" has it, "Clock Cleaners" has it, so why doesn't this one have it too?

The basic premise follows the fairy tale -- a tailor kills a group of flies, gets misunderstood by the townsfolk and finds himself in an escalating series of events culminating in a fight with a giant. Using his pluck and tools of the trade he manages to take the giant down and win the heart of Minnie Mouse. That's the entirety of the short. Sure there's a few clever gags and some solid animated work, but I think some of the missing spark is in the villain. The giant here just isn't much of a presence. Willie the Giant may have been more comedic than frightening, but he had a fully-built and fleshed out persona to engage us in. This giant is pretty generic and forgettable, even a few seconds after you've finished viewing it. He doesn't linger in the mind, but jokes involving him do. Namely, tearing apart a house to use a stove as a lighter for his makeshift cigarette -- but this is more memorable for the clever sight gags and slick animation than any kind of character traits or quirk. Cute, fun but not great, "Brave Little Tailor" is still worth a viewing (or several).