The Pied Piper

"The Pied Piper" as done by Disney is a pretty faithful retelling of the story. But it's always been an odd story, and somehow making it as a Silly Symphony just highlights how dramatically inconclusive it is. A town with a horrific rat infestation problem agrees to pay a man to lure the rats away and refuses to pay him for his services. As punishment he lures away all of the children in the town and drops them off in a Pleasure Island style location.

That seems like dark, disturbing ground to cover, but "Pied Piper" prefers to just engage in rubbery animation that looks rough and unappealing and pack as many wildly unforgettable songs in its short running time as possible. I'm sure there's worse shorts in the back catalog that Disney has buried deep in the vault somewhere, but their instance on presenting "Pied Piper" as some benchmark of quality and value in the studio is kinda dubious. It's not really all that enjoyable, entertaining or even memorable. So with a shrug, I end this review.