Yes this is the Disney film, that doesn't have a theatrical release because people accuse this film of being racist and stereotypical. Is this film as bad as people say it is and should never see the light of day, or is it mistreated and should be shown to the public; ON WITH THE REVIEW!
The film takes place after the Civil War on a southern plantation where a young boy visits Uncle Remus to hear stories from him. The stories he tells are animated segments in the film. The film has three stories told by Uncle Remus and has a live action plot. So I'm going to rate each story individually including the live action plot.
Let's Start with the Uncle Remus Stories.....
BR'ER RABBIT RUNS AWAY
Br'er Rabbit leaves his briar patch to run away from trouble, however as he journeys to find a place where's there's no trouble he begins to learn that he can't run away from trouble when he's caught in Br'er Foxes trap.
When the story began, I was amazed with the animation combined with the live action. For the time it was pretty spectacular everything in the animation background is from top to bottom as Uncle Remus walks around singing and interacting with the animated animals. You see him shaking hands with Animals; you see an animated Mr.Blue Bird on his shoulder; and the way he talks and interacts with them is very convincing. This story is also famous for introducing a song that will be a top 10 hit in classic Disney songs called "Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah".
As for the story it's funny, keeps you on your toes and gives a great moral to kids. The characters are likable especially the Br'er Rabbit character. However, one of the reasons why the film doesn't have a theatrical release is because the animated characters are resemblance to stereotype African Americans with their dialogue and buffoonish behavior. My thoughts on that are I wouldn't call them racist characters because they're voiced by African Americans including James Basket (Who plays one of the important main characters of the film) and there seems to intelligence to them, instead of being stereotypical dummies. As well as their designs not looking like blackface stereotypes. Second they're cartoon characters they're supposed to be funny. Personally I find the cartoon characters from the film "Coonskin"(Another film based on Uncle Remus's Stories) more offensive then thase characters.
Rating for this story 4/5
THE TAR BABY
Br'er Fox and Br'er Bear set up a trap to capture Br'er Rabbit with Tar that looks like a person called a "Tar Baby". Br'er Rabbit falls for the trap and is captured by Br'er Fox and Br'er Bear. Can Br'er Rabbit get out of this mess?
Again another wonderful job with the animation combined with the live action character. The song "How do you do?" is my favorite song in the whole movie and always makes me smile. The story has another good moral like in the first story, to always use your brains instead of your fists. The characters once again bring a lot of laughs to this story and still are likable. The best comedy comes from Br'er Bear and Br'er Fox as they make the "Tar Baby".
Here's another thing a lot of people found offensive. The "Tar Baby" resembles a human being, and it appears that the "Tar Baby" resembles a black caricature. I can understand why it can be offensive and I don't blame anyone who is offended by it. Personally it's not that bad compared to what I seen but remember it's just an opinion.
Rating 3/5
BR'ER RABBIT'S LAUGHING PLACE
Br'er Rabbit is captured by Br'er Fox and Br'er Bear but Br'er Rabbit tells them about his secret laughing place. Br'er Bear wants to see it but Br'er Fox doesn't trust Br'er Rabbit so he keeps him on a leash so he won't escape.
This is the only short story that doesn't have live action people in it but the animation is still good. The song "Everybody has a laughing place" is fun and catchy as the previous songs. The moral of the story however pretty much tells the same the moral the last stories told us, but it still has another moral to back it up. The story however is the funniest one out of all the stories and makes me laugh every time I see it. What happens? I'm not going to give it away.
Rating 4/5
Well so far the film has a few stereotypes but they're not really that bad, the animated one's are good enough to be release. That's only part of the film; let's see if the film itself is good.
SONG OF THE SOUTH-THE LIVE ACTION PLOT
A young boy named Johnny (Bobby Driscoll, who will later play the voice of Peter Pan) moves to his grandma's plantation in Georgia thinking it's a visit. However, his father (Erik Rolf) leaves to go back to Atlanta to continue his job. Bobby now lives with his Grandma (Lucile Watson) and Mother (Ruth Warrick). Fortunately he befriends an old kind hearted storyteller named Uncle Remus (James Basket). He's also friends with an African American kid named Toby (Glenn Leedy) and a girl named Ginny (Luana Patten) who has two mean brothers (Georgie Nokes and Gene Holland).
Bobby Driscoll and the other kid actors help give the film its charm. Whenever they're together, I can't help but smile. They’re another group of kids who remind me of "The Little Rascals" (Well, without the comedy) by being cute, fun, and lovable. I know a handful of people, who find them boring and annoyingly cutesy, and yeah I can understand why; they're not as interesting or memorable as Uncle Remus, but they are still decent characters and I personally don't mind the cute factor to these characters. The real person who makes the film so wonderful is James Basket as Uncle Remus. He's the kind of character you would love to be around when you're sad. He's smart, wise, loving and caring and whenever you hear him tell a story, you'll not only get Goosebumps but you'll be thinking to yourself "He is Uncle Remus". The scenes that grab me the most are the scenes when he's with Johnny because Johnny doesn't just see him as his best friend, he also is like a father figure to him. Also seeing the friendship between two different races not only at the time when this film was made but in the time where the story takes place, is so heartwarming that it makes me cry and smile.
The film does sound nice enough to get a release but sorry the reviews not over yet. The film does deliver a lot of joy and laughter but here's the problem, it's where the films set. Its set after the Civil War during the time of reconstruction, a younger audience isn't going to understand that. In fact, just look at the former slaves in this movie, sure they don't get whipped or anything like that but you still see them work, sing and act like its fun. They're free, but no matter where you see them, they're either working or severing; notice that you don't see any white people working in any scenes at least not like the African Americans. This is supposed to be the "Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah-Days" that Disney is talking about? When you hear the African Americans talk they sound uneducated and when you hear the white people talk they sound smart and classy. Uncle Remus is smart but he still sounds like he has no education. It was part of the time period that this film is taking place in, but again, I don't think kids will understand why the black people talk like that in this film, and on top of it the uneducated southern accents do sound a bit insultingly exaggerated. Another thing I should point out is a lot of people see Uncle Remus as an Uncle Tom figure and see Aunt Tempy (Hattie McDaniel) as a stereotypical Mammy.
Aside of the two brother being the antagonist, the main antagonist is the Mother. You can tell she's prejudice to African Americans. She doesn't want Johnny hanging out with Uncle Remus because she thinks his stories are poisoning her child's mind when they're only meant to entertain and teach Johnny things that school can't teach him. Hell, she doesn't even say good morning to Toby after saying good morning to her son, when Toby is clearly standing right next to him. The two white adult characters who aren't prejudice are Johnny's Dad and the grandmother. The grandmother can be a little tough in some scenes but she still treats African Americans fairly.
The live action plot is kid friendly but it seems like it's aimed more at adults than kids. To me this film seems like a crossover between Disney and "Gone with the wind". The setting is similar, the cinematography is familiar and you even got Oscar winner Hattie McDaniel playing basically the same character she played before. Only difference is it's focused on the kids than the adults. The story is decent but kids need to know the history to understand where the films taking place, as well really sugar coating the South which will indeed mislead kids, which I think is the real reason why the film doesn't have a release, also the fact that it was made by "Disney" and when people hear the word Disney they think it's just for kids when it's really for the whole family.
Rating for the live action Segment 3/5
When the film was released it won the Oscar for Best Song "Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah" and gave James Baskett an Honorary Oscar who by the way died two years later at the age of 42. The film was attacked by a lot of people including the NAACP and Disney decided to cover up the films existence. I must say they did a horrible job pretending the film was never made.....
As years went by they showed clips of the movie (Mostly the Animated segments on TV) in fact even had a release in 1986, even now the animated characters appear on Disney TV shows and make cameos in Disney Films.
There were also Disney Sing Along Songs Videos that showed clips from the film
The Song "Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah" is a hit Disney song
They even have a ride at the Disney parks based on the movie.
If you call the animated characters stereotypes then I guess you might as well call the ride racist as well
In fact you can even find the "Br'er Rabbit Runs Away" on the Alice in Wonderland DVD under the Bonus features that shows a TV special called "One Hour in Wonderland"
Now getting back to my final thoughts on the film
Is the film as bad as people say it is, my answer to that is not really. I mean sure it has it's stereotypes and the idea of making a film taking place in those times for a younger audience is a bad idea, but to me it's not that bad. The animation is incredible, the characters are lovable, the story is cute and meaningful (Though the animated segments are clearly the film's highlight) and the songs are catchy and beautifully written. Should it get a DVD release well I think the animated parts should but the live action segment no. I think it would be more appropriate to release this film under "The Walt Disney Treasure Collection" that way it doesn't get a big DVD shout out and just be something you got to keep an eye out for.
Rating for the film 3/5
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