. . . greatly disappointed in THE CHINA PLATE. Certainly such a title elicits visions of a fun gun afternoon blasting away at skeet, trap or sporting clay targets. However, long guns are nowhere to be seen in THE CHINA PLATE, whether single or double barrel. Instead, viewers are stuck with images of dancers, fishermen, patricide (by dragon, NOT by shooting iron!) and the like. Instead of spending money on THE CHINA PLATE, why not send a donation to your local chapter of BANGS (Broke Americans Need Gun Stamps)?
11 Reviews
It's likely many shooting sports enthusiasts will be . . .
cricket302 September 2021
Warning: Spoilers
An oriental-themed Silly Symphony that doesn't really deserve to be classed as an 'offensive' vintage cartoon, as it's worst crime is just that it's not very good!
Foreverisacastironmess12328 February 2022
So this isn't quite my type of Silly Symphony but the artistry of it is fairly impressive, if not exactly their best. I like some of the animations, the backgrounds are well detailed and it's a little more elaborate looking than a lot of the Symphonies of this time in the production run, I do like the orchestration of the motions of the characters and the sound of the woman's odd shoes, I thought it was cleverly done. I just generally prefer the short animations that are set in nature or have more fun and novel ideas for their themes, like I would probably have liked this one more if it had featured a cast of walking china plates or something, knowing this series I'm sure there's sometime similar out there somewhere! The short begins with the beautifully detailed image of a China plate and as the picture draws in painted figures on the plate's surface come to life, and it tells the tale of a young fisherman falling in love with a princess after saving her from drowning after she falls in the river while trying to catch a butterfly, and he soon incurs the wrath of the enormous mandarin/emperor who is her father who strongly disapproves of the young lovers being together. It picks up the pace a lot when he goes on the attack, and engages the young man in a sword fight, loses, and eventually runs into a giant cave which turns out to be the giant mouth of a giant dragon which swallows him whole! The ferocious firebreathing drake then gives chase after the young couple until they stop stop its menace by slugging a boulder down its throat! The China plate is very enjoyable for what it is but still pretty average in my opinion, not bad, but definitely not an among the best that this great series of vintage animations has to offer. X 🐉 🦋
For me, one of the better early black and white Disney Silly Symphonies
TheLittleSongbird12 June 2012
I have always much enjoyed the Disney Silly Symphonies, and while not quite in my top 10 favourites The China Plate is one of the better early ones to me. It is simply but still beautifully animated, with something always interesting to watch such as the umbrella reveal and the lovers' hands, and the music, with very effective use of In a Chinese Temple Garden, is both authentic and energetic, always enhancing the always entertaining action such as the tapping of the girl's shoes. There are also some interesting gags, especially the fishing gag, and the more romantic aspects are genuinely charming. The characters are in a way ethnic stereotypes but are done in a mild way, so I never felt offended watching The China Plate. The fight scene is exciting with well-incorporated and fitting music, and the story is engaging and deserves credit for choosing a setting different to nature or in a barnyard. Overall, really excellent. 10/10 Bethany Cox
Not so fine China
CuriosityKilledShawn3 September 2013
The artwork on a Chinese plate comes alive and the characters start moving about in time with the music. That's it, that's the premise for the entire cartoon. You have to wonder how Walt Disney never managed to get bored of making these repetitive shorts. They wear thin very, very quickly.
It's an early black-and-white effort with nothing at all to give it any lasting appeal all these years later. Some people have complained about the cartoon being "racist" or using "stereotyped characters". I wouldn't pay too much attention to that, it's harmless. These accusations are the only thing that stop it from being completely forgettable though.
It's an early black-and-white effort with nothing at all to give it any lasting appeal all these years later. Some people have complained about the cartoon being "racist" or using "stereotyped characters". I wouldn't pay too much attention to that, it's harmless. These accusations are the only thing that stop it from being completely forgettable though.
Absolutely beautiful short with a plot.
llltdesq4 October 2014
Warning: Spoilers
This is one of the shorts in the Silly Symphonies series produced by Disney. There will be spoilers ahead:
The opening shot is a pan in on a china plate. It goes from a static shot to animation and the story starts. It involves the daughter of a Chinese mandarin and a young fisherman. First, we see servants of the mandarin serving him food, then musicians and dancers entertaining the mandarin.
The daughter enters the short in a dance sequence and then follows a butterfly outdoors. The action cuts to a nice sequence of the fisherman using a bird to bring in fish. The girl falls in the water and is rescued by the fisherman. They start chasing the butterfly together.
The butterfly flies into the house and lands on the chair in which the mandarin is snoozing. The fisherman tries to catch the butterfly, only to roughly grab the mandarin instead, who wakes up in very bad temper. The two begin to fight as the daughter tries to stop them.
Eventually, the daughter and fisherman escape in a rickshaw, with the mandarin soon in pursuit. The mandarin meets up with a dragon, which eliminates one threat only to become a greater threat to our happy couple. They vanquish the dragon in the end and go off on their own (with the bird) on the boat.
All of the characters are Chinese and are mildly stereotypical. This short is available on the Disney Treasures Silly Symphonies DVD set and both the short and the set are worth getting. Most recommended.
The opening shot is a pan in on a china plate. It goes from a static shot to animation and the story starts. It involves the daughter of a Chinese mandarin and a young fisherman. First, we see servants of the mandarin serving him food, then musicians and dancers entertaining the mandarin.
The daughter enters the short in a dance sequence and then follows a butterfly outdoors. The action cuts to a nice sequence of the fisherman using a bird to bring in fish. The girl falls in the water and is rescued by the fisherman. They start chasing the butterfly together.
The butterfly flies into the house and lands on the chair in which the mandarin is snoozing. The fisherman tries to catch the butterfly, only to roughly grab the mandarin instead, who wakes up in very bad temper. The two begin to fight as the daughter tries to stop them.
Eventually, the daughter and fisherman escape in a rickshaw, with the mandarin soon in pursuit. The mandarin meets up with a dragon, which eliminates one threat only to become a greater threat to our happy couple. They vanquish the dragon in the end and go off on their own (with the bird) on the boat.
All of the characters are Chinese and are mildly stereotypical. This short is available on the Disney Treasures Silly Symphonies DVD set and both the short and the set are worth getting. Most recommended.
My vote for one of the strangest and most politically incorrect Disney films of all time!
planktonrules29 April 2012
This is an amazingly strange and dated little Silly Symphony cartoon from Walt Disney. It begins quite oddly--with the camera going in for a closeup of a Chinese plate. As it gets closer, suddenly the scene changes to an amazingly patronizing and stereotypical view of China of old. It's kind of like a China of the Charlie Chan variety--Chinese in name only as lots of cute stereotypical Chinese folks dance about and have fun. And, like a typical Silly Symphony, there is a baddie that comes in and tries to spoil the fun--and the little Chinese guy needs to fight him to get back his girlfriend. It's all very odd--and very un-Chinese. I'd really love to show this to some Chinese folks to watch their reactions--I am pretty sure they would NOT be very positive!! It's all an obvious relic to our past and the way we viewed 'strange people from strange lands'. In addition, it's really not that good a cartoon either--though the animation is the best for its time, as are all the Disney shorts from this era.
Whose Ox Is Gored
Hitchcoc30 November 2018
I found this to be quite endearing. While I'll admit that there are some Asian stereotypes at work here, it is pretty harmless. The music is nicely put forth. The sight gags work quite well. There is criticism of Disney for making these films. It was significant because he had to put together sound and substance which later could be tweaked. There was an engaging story with some funny moments. I suppose a Chinese person today would find it offensive.
Mediocre
kaicesbr15 July 2023
Warning: Spoilers
Continuing my marathon of Disney shorts but as they are almost always not available on Disney plus I have to hunt on YouTube.
Continuing my marathon of Disney shorts but as they are almost always not available on Disney plus I have to hunt on YouTube. First time watching as usual. Amazing how I get bored with 6 minutes watching these Silly Symphony shorts, they are extremely bad and monotonous, rare exceptions are not like that. Conclusion: As much as the Mother Goose Melodies short didn't amuse me, I thought the shorts were about to get more interesting but apparently I was wrong, it went back to being mediocre and bad. Watched on July 14, 2023.
Continuing my marathon of Disney shorts but as they are almost always not available on Disney plus I have to hunt on YouTube. First time watching as usual. Amazing how I get bored with 6 minutes watching these Silly Symphony shorts, they are extremely bad and monotonous, rare exceptions are not like that. Conclusion: As much as the Mother Goose Melodies short didn't amuse me, I thought the shorts were about to get more interesting but apparently I was wrong, it went back to being mediocre and bad. Watched on July 14, 2023.
Disney's Tale Told Under The Blue Willow Tree
Ron Oliver17 September 2000
A Walt Disney SILLY SYMPHONY Cartoon Short.
THE CHINA PLATE on the shelf has much to tell, if you examine the picture on its face carefully. There you'll find the story of a dreadful old mandarin who forbids the love of his daughter for a simple fisherman...
An interesting black & white cartoon, which alternates between action/reaction antics & the plot of the romantic story. The animation is stylized to look somewhat like a blue willow pattern plate. Quite a few racist elements in the story.
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.
THE CHINA PLATE on the shelf has much to tell, if you examine the picture on its face carefully. There you'll find the story of a dreadful old mandarin who forbids the love of his daughter for a simple fisherman...
An interesting black & white cartoon, which alternates between action/reaction antics & the plot of the romantic story. The animation is stylized to look somewhat like a blue willow pattern plate. Quite a few racist elements in the story.
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.
One Of My Top Ten Silly Symphonies.
Dawalk-110 May 2009
I first saw this Disney short on Youtube a few months ago. I've become enraptured with it ever since. Everything about it I find great, but what I really love most about it is the Chinese musical score featured in it. It's one of my favorite compositions used in a Silly Symphony and I think one of the best. I never paid much attention to Chinese music before this, but this instrumental Chinese song grabbed me like no other. Maybe it was just all in a matter of finding what I'd consider to be the perfect tune in that sub-genre of world music that actually appealed to me.
Despite the Chinese stereotypes, I read somewhere that this was one of the few (allegedly) racist Disney shorts that actually aired on the Disney cartoon anthology show The Ink And Paint Club. It must not have been that supposedly bad enough to ban it, the stereotypes must be slight only if that's the case, at least I can't find anything bad in it, not sure what that would be. Anyway, a delightful short in which we get a different look at the country China: From the plate and what takes place on it. I don't know for sure if this is one of the first cartoons in which we get to see things come to life, but if it is, then it's certainly among the pioneers and is groundbreaking for its time, not to mention imaginative. I like the Chinese boy coming to the aid of the Chinese girl (too bad the father had to be such a ruffian) the chase scenes, and the boulder being rolled into a dragon's mouth and in its stomach. One of my favorite Silly Symphonies.
Despite the Chinese stereotypes, I read somewhere that this was one of the few (allegedly) racist Disney shorts that actually aired on the Disney cartoon anthology show The Ink And Paint Club. It must not have been that supposedly bad enough to ban it, the stereotypes must be slight only if that's the case, at least I can't find anything bad in it, not sure what that would be. Anyway, a delightful short in which we get a different look at the country China: From the plate and what takes place on it. I don't know for sure if this is one of the first cartoons in which we get to see things come to life, but if it is, then it's certainly among the pioneers and is groundbreaking for its time, not to mention imaginative. I like the Chinese boy coming to the aid of the Chinese girl (too bad the father had to be such a ruffian) the chase scenes, and the boulder being rolled into a dragon's mouth and in its stomach. One of my favorite Silly Symphonies.
This film seems to argue against collecting antique . . .
pixrox12 September 2021
Warning: Spoilers
. . . china. Sure, you can display old plates (for which you've paid a fortune) in cupboards, hanging from hooks on your wall or resting in a slot on a dish shelf running around the room just below your kitchen, dining room or parlor ceiling. However, every time you have an earthquake your dish fortune is likely to shatter into hundreds (if not thousands) of little pieces, and all of Elmer's men won't be able to glue them back together again. THE CHINA PLATE illustrates the sort of bad luck which will befall you when this happens. (Spoiler: Don't be surprised if you're eaten alive by a fire-breathing dragon!).
See also
Awards | FAQ | User Ratings | External Reviews | Metacritic Reviews
