While I am a huge fan of the early Disney cartoons, it's hard to like "Old King Cole". It has practically nothing going for it. For example, although the cartoon is in color (as were all the Silly Symphony shorts at this time), the colors are VERY splashy and not at all pleasing to the eye. And, oddly, the characters' faces are all white and washed out--making the cartoon appear to have been hastily made. Additionally, there really is no story--just lots of annoying characters popping out of a storybook. They sing and dance, but none of it is appealing--it's all like a steady diet of saccharine! Some other cartoon producers specialized in making annoying cartoons like this (such as the dreadful Harmon-Ising shorts), but this is very atypical of Disney. Sure, their Silly Symphonies were known for singing and dancing, but usually the songs are good and there is some plot--here in "Old King Cole" the songs are bad, the animation is bad and the overall product will have you wondering why in heaven you watched it in the first place! Pretty terrible.
Review of Old King Cole
