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Goliath II

Release Date January 21, 1960

Format Color / Standard animation

Running Time 15:00

Synopsis

Goliath is a miniature elephant who is ostracized from the herd because of his size. But his size comes in handy when he has to rescue the herd from an invader : a mouse!

Characters

Elloise
Goliath I
Goliath II
Mrs. Goliath
Raja

Credits

Director : Wolfgang Reitherman
Asst. Director : Dan Alguire
Story : Bill Peet
Directing Animator : John Lounsberry
Character Animation
Hal King
Cliff Nordberg
John Sibley
Amby Paliwoda
Eric Cleworth
Blaine Gibson
Bill Keil
Dick Lucas
Color Styling : Ralph Hulett
Background
Richard H. Thomas
Gordon Legg
Thelma Witmer
Layout
Basil Davidovich
Vance Gerry
Collin Campbell
Music : George Bruns
Narrarator : Sterling Holloway

Awards

Nominated for an Academy Award (Short Subjects - Cartoons)

Videos

United States
Cartoon Classics : Limited Gold Editions 2 : How the Best was Won : 1933 - 1960
Germany
Donald Superstar and Co.
Italy
Cartoni Animati da Oscar

Laserdiscs

United States
How the Best was Won 1933-1960
Japan
Disney Cartoon Festival 5

DVD

United States
Disney Treasures : Disney Rarities: Celebrated Shorts, 1920s - 1960s
It's a Small World of Fun : Volume 1

Television

The Ink and Paint Club : #42 : Goin' to the Zoo

Comments

From Jerry Edwards : One of my favorite Disney shorts. I've always considered this a minor classic and never understood why the short isn't better known and more highly regarded. The short combines humor, drama and pathos in telling the story about a tiny child elephant who grows up to be no larger than a mouse - a huge disappointment to his father, the huge leader of the elephant herd. Goliath's fight with a mouse, who has the rest of the herd scared silly, is very well done. I've always enjoyed Goliath II's answer when the mouse asks why Goliath II isn't also afraid of the mouse - Goliath II's answer, "Why should I be afraid of you? I'm just as big as you are!" The continual misadventures of a scraggly old tiger trying to catch and eat Goliath II add a great deal to the humor of the short.

From Jeremy Fassler : I liked this short very much. I thought the xerox process brought out a lot of the color in the cartoon. I also liked when "Goliath II" battled the mouse with a new york accent. This short really shows what Disney could do in 1930 something and brought it out in 1960, a time when the cartoon was dying out. "Goliath II" was up for the Academy Award in 1960, and lost to "Munro," the better short. But "Goliath II" comes very close to being better.

From Sara : This short was adorable, but the most fascinating thing about it was how there were bits of other disney animation movies in it--I couldn't help exclaiming over little parts that I watched hundreds of times in Sleeping Beauty, Lion King, Jungle Book, Peter Pan, and more. That drew me most to the short.

From Sam : It is really great short movie, especially suitable for young kids. And it is funny, though. I used to watch it when I was a kid and I remember that I was really worried about little Goliath II during the show, because the tiger Raja was trying to eat him all the time.

My favourite part was the part when the tiger finally catches poor Goliath II and Goliath's mother comes to rescue her little son. She grabs the tiger and throws him into the river where a crocodile is waiting with his mouth wide opened. The crocodile swallows the tiger for launch before he could run away. So that Goliath II is saved once again.

But not for long. Later, when the movie goes on, the crocodile is shown again, lying on his back with his fully belly. But the tiger inside his stomach is still alive. When the crocodile opens his mouth the tiger Raja suddenly jumps out of the crocodile's mouth and runs away.

From Fred : I really like this movie. Goliath II is one of the greatest Disney's short movies so far. And is full of humor, especially at the parts when the old tiger Raja is trying to catch little Goliath II. However, he is not successful and later in the movie he is eaten by a hungry crocodile. With tiger Raja inside crocodile's stomach, Goliath II's life is much easier, but still not without danger...But in the end the little Goliath II saves the day and made his father proud of him.

From Baruch Weiss : This short was okay, but not one of my favorites. However, the scenes with that crocodile (who looks similar to the one from "Peter Pan") added some enjoyment. This short is not one of my favorites as the plot is similar to other shorts and movies where a character is rejected by the group for doing something bad but they later on redeem themselves. In this case, Goliath runs off and deserts the heard which was a major offense, but later he saves the elephants from a mouse. I read that elephants are afraid of mice because they are afraid that the mouse will get stuck in their trunk.

Goliath 2

Goliath 2

Goliath 2
Courtesy of Wonderful World of Animation Art Gallery

Goliath 2
Courtesy of Animation Celection

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