Merbabies (1938) User Reviews

Cutesy

[travisimo · 6/10 · 17 January 2004]

Merbabies can be found as a bonus feature on The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea DVD. This Silly Symphony short is a cute look at how half-babies, half-fish celebrate a circus under the sea. For me, it was almost too cute. I kind of want to see more depth into the story, which may be difficult to do for a 9-minute Silly Symphony cartoon, but I point to The Old Mill on how that can be done effectively. However, I will say that the ending to Merbabies was kind of neat. So overall, Merbabies is a cute little film with crisp, clean animation.

Side note: I found Ron Oliver's comments to be interesting on how this cartoon served as practice for certain scenes in Pinocchio. I didn't think about that at the time I watched Merbabies, but if I watch it again, I'll have to pay closer attention!

My IMDb Rating: 6/10

Preparation for "Pinocchio" evident in underwater scenes...

[Doylenf · 7/10 · 30 March 2008]

Disney was busy trying to lift the art of animation to new heights by having his artists do an "under the sea" type of thing, long before anyone would be seeing films like PINOCCHIO or THE LITTLE MERMAID.

MERBABIES is thin on plot but the art work is gorgeous and the visual elements are what make it worth watching. A dazzling array of sea creatures are having a circus-like parade that includes a number of sight gags with the creatures taking on the looks of elephants, donkeys, horses and other animals. Finally, just when the atmosphere couldn't be any cheerier, everyone scatters at the approach of a hard breathing whale (as in PINOCCHIO).

The merbabies ride to the surface surrounded by a sea of bubbles and emerge atop the water, safe from the monstrous whale.

Easy to see that Disney was doing experimental procedures for PINOCCHIO before its release two years later.

Visually stunning, if a bit too cute for some tastes. All of the art work is first rate and much more impressive than in the earlier Disney shorts from '33 and onward.

Merbabies was an actual Harmon-Ising short released under the Walt Disney banner

[tavm · 6/10 · 20 August 2009]

My main interest in watching this Walt Disney Silly Symphony was in my knowledge that Hugh Harmon and Rudolf Ising-former Disney animators-were the actual producers of this cartoon but went to their former employer because their M-G-M contract had recently run out. Disney himself was looking for some extra facilities for his Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (which was released about a year before this short) so Harmon-Ising lent them some of theirs. The result was another of H-I's cutesy endeavors without much of a plot and little actual humor but as always beautiful animation. Besides the title characters, there's a circus-parade of various sea creatures performing with the whale providing the climax. Like I said, not very funny but if you love seeing good animation, Merbabies is worth a look.

Great Looking Short

[Michael_Elliott · 15 March 2016]

Merbabies (1938)

*** (out of 4)

This animated short was actually released by Disney but it was produced by Hugh Harmon and Rudolf Ising. Both men had previously worked at Disney but when Walt needed help finishing SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS this film was bought from them and released. The plot, well, there really isn't much plot but it deals with the title characters, baby mermaids, and their underwater adventures. The "adventures" aren't much either but what makes this film work isn't the plot but instead it's the wonderful and very well-detailed animation. There are some terrific footage underwater and I must admit that the look at the merbabies were rather cute and adorable.

Too gosh dang cute for words.

[Foreverisacastironmess123 · 7/10 · 24 March 2016]

It may have a whole lot of babies in it..sort of, but this isn't a short cartoon that I'd label as babyish, it's very sweet and fun and it's finely animated. I enjoy this a bit more than the Silly Symphony "Water Babies" of a few years earlier, it feels like a case of less being a little more to me and it just seems to be a little more relaxed about its tone. There's no real story, the focus is only on the beautiful fantasy of cherubic little angels under the sea who make their own underwater circus. And that was something really clever and interesting about this short, I love how inventive they were at making the sea creatures clearly represent various classic circus animals. I love how there's always little precursors to the feature length movies to spot in the Symphonies, like that whale is definitely a pre-Monstro right down to the sneeze, and that adorable baby octopus-elephant is so Dumbo! As is a lot of that parade of 'animals' come to think about it.. The lush artwork that's put into the coral backgrounds is amazing, it's just like a real painting you'd hang on your wall. I always generally notice the little details over the bigger stuff, like I enjoy the texture of the water as it swirls and bubbles as the Merbabies swim through it. And I love the magnificent richness of the closing sunset over the water. It looks so fantastic that to look at it I find it hard to tell whether it's real or not. It really is one of the most astonishingly beautiful scenes I've ever seen in animated shorts like this. Animating surface water movements must have been one of the hardest things to do and make look fluid and realistic by hand. I love how they appear out of bubbles and disappear the same way at the end as they break the surface of the ocean, no more than mere sea foam or so it would seem... As in Anderson's fairytale. I don't find it sad how it ends, it feels poetic and fitting to me. It's like they were a little touch of unseen magic beneath the waves. They can't die if they're not real, more like fleeting joyful dreams of the eternal crashing sea... I like it a lot, but I don't love it like I do some of the other Symphonies. Nothing spectacular about it I'd say, but it's simply precious nonetheless. One of many short animated works of, at their most basic level, pure joy put out by the vintage Disney studio of a very long time ago indeed for a world that needs it. If Warner Bros was good at making us laugh then Disney excelled at making us feel warm inside. Swim on forever Merbabies!

Humanists generally regard this as the best . . .

[pixrox1 · 7/10 · 23 October 2021]

. . . of the so-called Silly Symphonies. Not so coincidentally, this is the only title among the 74 or 75 films with this classification NOT to be written, drawn and scored by the low-paid, disgruntled, constantly defecting castle serfs at the Dizzy 'Magic Kingdom.' All of the commentators sometimes willing to regurgitate the Dizzy corporate lines (or lies) about most topics rave over how much more humane, involving and artistic this animated short appears when placed next to the standard Dizzy diet of gyrating psychedelic flowers and rabidly spinning rodents.

Great animation, occasionally funny

[Horst_In_Translation · 6/10 · 19 March 2016]

"Merbabies" is an 8-minute short film from 1938, in color and with sound and just like its prequel "Seababies", this one is by Disney too. This prequel had a major problem in the lack of a story really and this is here also the case. Still I believe this one here is superior because it actually has some funny moments, mostly involving the animals (posing as other animals) unlike the earlier film. The music is good and the animation is truly outstanding taking into account that this one here is almost 80 years old. The ending was quite brutal to be honest, even if I must say I cared more for the animals than the babies in this little film, so maybe that's why I wasn't that touched by the last scene. All in all, certainly worth a watch. Here is one example why the 1930s and 1940s are called the Golden Age of Animation.

Enchanting short of the imaginative goings on underwater

[TheLittleSongbird · 9/10 · 15 September 2009]

Merbabies was a truly enchanting short. The animation is stunning, with beautiful underwater backgrounds, and fluid movements, and the music was a delight to the ears and was strongly reminiscent of a Tchaikovsky ballet score. And it was a delight hearing Gossec's Gavotte.

The characters, especially the adorable Merbabies, were completely likable and there are some truly entertaining bits, like the part when the seahorse tries to get through the hoop. I will admit, Merbabies is thin in terms of story, and I was saddened when the Merbabies turned to sea foam at the end.

Still, it is very beautiful, and I would definitely watch it again. 9/10 Bethany Cox

Disney Goes Beneath The Sea

[Ron Oliver · 10/10 · 24 August 2000]

A Walt Disney SILLY SYMPHONY Cartoon Short.

The MERBABIES are frolicking beneath the salt waves - swimming & playing with various sea creatures. An elaborate underwater circus parade & performances fill much of their day, culminating in a rise to the surface in the expelled breath of a whale at sunset.

While the plot is virtually invisible in this little film, there's much to fill the eye as the colorful images cavort about the screen. The real significance of this cartoon is that it gave the folks in Disney Animation some excellent experience in working with the particular aspects of underwater scenes (bubble movement, light & shadow) which would be so important in the under seas sequence in PINOCCHIO.

The SILLY SYMPHONIES, which Walt Disney produced for a ten year period beginning in 1929, are among the most interesting of series in the field of animation. Unlike the Mickey Mouse cartoons in which action was paramount, with the Symphonies the action was made to fit the music. There was little plot in the early Symphonies, which featured lively inanimate objects and anthropomorphic plants & animals, all moving frantically to the soundtrack. Gradually, however, the Symphonies became the school where Walt's animators learned to work with color and began to experiment with plot, characterization & photographic special effects. The pages of Fable & Fairy Tale, Myth & Mother Goose were all mined to provide story lines and even Hollywood's musicals & celebrities were effectively spoofed. It was from this rich soil that Disney's feature-length animation was to spring. In 1939, with SNOW WHITE successfully behind him and PINOCCHIO & FANTASIA on the near horizon, Walt phased out the SILLY SYMPHONIES; they had run their course & served their purpose.

With One Foot Planted In Two Different Eras

[redryan64 · 8/10 · 27 March 2016]

WE WEREN'T EVEN at all familiar with this one at all, not even with the title until Turner Classic Movies featured it on their ongoing FROM THE Disney VAULT Series. This was a genuine surprise and provided us with some further understanding of how and when the art of the animated film advanced.

TO BEGIN WITH, we found this entry into the SILLY SYMPHONY Series to be sort of unique. It seems to occupy a sort of "No Man's Land" in the developmental charts. Whereas it displays all of the glorious advancements recently developed, it has many similarities to cartoon product of the silent and early talkie eras.

AS FAR AS any "Plot" or "Scenario", forget it, they are virtually non-existent. It is as if every scene, visual pun, sight gag and bit of business has but one purpose. Rather than being that of advancing the story along the way to a satisfactory conclusion, it all is intended to be the presentation of the art, animation, sound and color work that were rapidly advancing on to the production of Feature Length Animated productions; with Disney's first in SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS having been released the previous year (1937).

IN PLACE OF plot or storyline, the short opts for turning the sea floor into a sort of mock circus; mimicking and otherwise lampooning every aspect of the circus World.

ANOTHER FACTOR WHICH can't be left out is the fact that it was sort of at least partially sub-contracted out to another production company. As it reads in the IMDb listing, MERBABIES employed former Disney associated Hugh Harmon and Rudolph Ising in helping to meet the Disney Company's deadline in turning out the number of shorts that were contracted for by distributor, RKO Radio Pictures.

IT WAS THIS pair who had formed their HARMON-ISING Animation Company and had worked for Warner Brothers and MGM.