Goliath II

Goliath II is a 1960 American animated comedy short film produced by Walt Disney Productions.[1] Directed by Wolfgang Reitherman and written by Bill Peet, it is narrated by Sterling Holloway and stars the voices of Kevin Corcoran, Barbara Jo Allen, J. Pat O'Malley, Verna Felton, and Paul Frees. It was released theatrically in the United States on January 21, 1960 alongside the live-action Toby Tyler (also starring Corcoran).

Goliath II
Title card
Directed byWolfgang Reitherman
Produced byWalt Disney
Story byBill Peet
Starring
Narrated bySterling Holloway
Music byGeorge Bruns
Animation by
Layouts by
Backgrounds by
  • Gordon Legg
  • Richard H. Thomas
  • Thelma Witmer
Color process
Production
company
Distributed byBuena Vista Distribution
Release date
  • January 21, 1960 (1960-01-21) (with Toby Tyler)
Running time
15 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

The short was the first Disney short cartoon to make full use of xerography, a process of using Xerox technology to transfer animation drawings to cels as part of the traditional animation process instead of utilizing hand-inking.[2] Goliath II received an Academy Award nomination for Best Animated Short, losing to Gene Deitch's Munro. Elements of this short were later reused in The Jungle Book (1967).

The cartoon is also called "Slonić Ćiro" or "Slonić Ćira" in Serbo-Croatian and was very popular in Yugoslavia during the late 1970s-early '80s.

Plot

Goliath II is a miniature 8-year old Indian elephant (about 7.5 to 10 centimeters tall (3 to 4 in) tall, although the consistency of this is variable) who tries everything to impress his father, the biggest elephant of them all. Because of his size, his father doesn't care about him; only his mother does. A nasty tiger named Raja is curious of tasting an elephant or any animal he sees in his path and tries to attack Goliath with his claw, but Raja is stopped by his mother. Afterwards, Eloise (another member of the herd) almost accidentally steps on Goliath II. Later, he's nearly eaten by a crocodile (which appears to be the same one from Peter Pan), but his mother saves him.

One day, the elephants are marching through the jungle, Goliath follows two snails but gets lost and his mother panics, causing the other elephants to crash. Goliath II's Mother and Raja search for Goliath and manage to find him in a snail hole. After a short tug of war between Goliath's Mother and Raja, Goliath is rescued. Shortly afterwards, Goliath is scolded by his mother for dishonoring her warnings on not wandering off and is put into a bird's nest as punishment. It is at this point that Goliath is now fed up with being treated like a baby and feels confident that he can take care of himself.

That night, while the herd is sleeping, Goliath runs away from the herd and vows never to return. Afterwards he is startled by various jungle noises and is again attacked by Raja after mistakenly waking him up with a cattail, subsequently walking on and crying for his Mother. After his mother hears his cries for help, she goes to his aid and finds that he is being taken away by Raja. After saving Goliath from Raja's grasp, she grabs the tiger by his tail and throws him straight into the crocodile's mouth; he escapes from its belly and runs away, scared out of his wits, never to be seen again. Afterwards, Goliath gets a spanking from his mother for trying to desert the herd, because a deserter from the herd is branded a "scoundrel, a rogue elephant, a traitor to that high and imperial order of pompous pachyderms", and to make it worse, he has disgraced his father.

The next day, while the elephants are marching through the jungle again, Goliath I screams because of a 6-inch mouse, stopping, and causing the elephants to crash again. The mouse scares away and panics the herd, which flee and jump into a river, scaring the crocodile out of his wits. While the mouse is laughing hysterically at the elephants' misfortune, he finds Goliath II staring at him. Shocked, he asks Goliath if he is afraid, but Goliath replies that he is not as they are the same size. Enraged, the mouse points out that Goliath is an elephant, and adds that elephants are afraid of mice as he deliberately pulls on his Trunk, flaps his ears, and kicks his "Baggy Pants" and threatens Goliath by telling him that if he doesn't run away until he counts 3, he will hurt him.

After the mouse counts 3, a tussle starts between the two as Goliath I and Mother watch. The fight ends with Goliath holding the mouse over a cliff, where below is the waiting hungry crocodile. Not wanting to become the crocodile's next meal, the mouse cowardly begs Goliath not to drop him and tells him that he (Goliath) is the champ. Goliath agrees and spares the mouse. After this, Goliath is respected by his father and is named the top elephant of the herd.

Cast
  • Kevin Corcoran as Goliath II, a tiny elephant who wishes to prove that he can be as good as his father, though all his efforts and curiosities get him into trouble. At first considered a "disgrace" after leaving the herd, he is branded a hero after saving the other elephants from a mouse.
  • Barbara Jo Allen as Goliath II's Mother, who is of Goliath II's efforts but upset at the mischief he causes.
  • J. Pat O'Malley as Goliath I, Goliath II's father. Due to Goliath II's size, he doesn't like his son at all.
  • Mel Blanc as Raja, a tiger who wishes to eat Goliath II. He was based on the nameless tiger that tormented Goofy in Tiger Trouble.
  • Paul Frees as the Mouse, an arrogant, bullying rodent who enjoys scaring elephants and bullies Goliath II but is defeated by him in battle. Based somewhat on Timothy Q. Mouse from Dumbo.
  • Verna Felton as Eloise, a female elephant that almost steps on Goliath II.
  • Jimmy MacDonald as the Mugger Crocodile, who behaves like a normal croc. Based on Tick-Tock from Peter Pan.
  • Sterling Holloway as the Narrator

See also

References
  1. Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. p. 153. ISBN 0-8160-3831-7.
  2. Cohen, Karl (January 2000). "Milestones Of The Animation Industry In The 20th Century". Animation World Magazine. Archived from the original on 2014-10-16. Retrieved 28 June 2014.
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