The film was legendary animator Don Bluth’ directorial debut and the last project he would do with the Disney Company before doing films of his own (such as “An American Tail” and “The Land Before Time”). Despite that I've never seen the film, I remember hearing the title of it during the previews for Disney Christmas films being released on VHS that was played right after the video "Very Merry Christmas Songs". Many years later I would, he hear about the film from Walker Brothers, which led to my curiosity from hearing how good it was. The film itself is not a household Christmas title as many other Christmas films, nor is it ever played on TV. Seeing how it has such a low profile I began to wonder if its underrated gem that should be brought out this time of year, or is it forgotten for a reason; ON WITH THE REVIEW!
A young boy, who lives outside the city of Nazareth, is close friends with the smallest and oldest of his father’s four donkeys who he calls him Small One. When Small One becomes too old to carry heavy loads, the boy's father regrettably has to sell him, but decides to give his son a chance to find a suitable owner for the donkey in the city of Nazareth before night fall. The kid takes Small One to the city only to find that nobody wants to buy him for how small and weak he is.
Going into this short as interested I was in seeing it, I was pretty much thinking to myself, all right cartoon warm my heart, make me emotional; make me feel the spirit of Christmas. Once it began, I was completely sucked in by it. It is more than obvious of how the short is going to end, and how it connects to Christmas, just by its setting alone. Nevertheless, the emotions of the short are so strong, that I really didn't care about how predictable it was. The relationship between the boy and his donkey feels completely genuine. You feel the kids attachment to his pet and his determination to find him a person who will love him just as much as he does and find him useful. The journey itself may not be as dark or intense as the films that Don Bluth would later do in his career, but it's still enough to make the boy's journey feel like hell. Everyone the kid meets in Nazareth are selfish, cruel, and mean that are always insulting the donkey, threatening him, and even abusing the poor little fellow just for laughs. And like in any good Don Bluth movie, after going through all this drama the ending would be so emotionally gripping and up lifting that it feels rewarding, even if you do know how it ends. What I also admire about the movie is how the film is both a Christian and Jewish film. It has characters that are Jewish, but the story and its morals are very reminiscent to the stories we would hear during Christmas time. And instead of the message coming off as preachy or direct, it's actually delivered as subtle and laid back as how "A Charlie Brown Christmas" delivered its message.
Now even though the film is a Disney film, this is practically Don Bluth's film. Yes there are plenty of Disney style animation where you'll know right off the bat that this is a Disney film (such as the design for the boy almost looking like Mowgli from "The Jungle Book", or the auctioneer looking like a mix between Stromboli from "Pinocchio" and Tony from "Lady And The Tramp".) But if you're familiar with Don Bluth's work, then you'll catch on to Don Bluth's animation style as well from the way the characters move, how they're designed, and how certain scenes and backgrounds are animated, colored and lit. The combination of both styles of animation is just as gorgeous as it sounds, especially when it involves Christmas. The short even has a few songs that bring the warmth that Disney and Don Bluth bring in their other works.The opening credits song "Small One" gets you into the Christmas feeling the same way that the opening credits song "Oh, What A Merry Christmas Day" did in "Mickey's Christmas Carol". And the song "Friendly Face" that the kid (who's by the way, voiced by the same kid who played Pete in "Pete's Dragon") sings to Small One is just as touching as hearing Fievel and Tanya sing in "An American Tail". The one song that pales in comparison with the other songs is "The Merchant Song". It does move the story forward, the Merchants are fun to watch and listen too, and the parts where the kid sings as he tries to sell Small One to people who don't want him (including one voiced by the late and great Thurl Ravenscroft) do keep to the short's emotional core. But the problem I have with it is, the parts that the Merchant sings, and the parts that the kid sings sound like totally separate songs badly edited together. This is mainly due from how it just keeps going back and fourth from between comical and sad, that it almost keeps you off-guard for how bio-polar the change of tone is, unlike how Don Bluth would successfully balance out both emotions for the song "There Are No Cats In America" in "An American Tail".'
"The Small One" is without a doubt in my mind an underrated Christmas classic that should get more recognition. The two leads are cute. The songs, while a mess on one occasion, are still beautifully sung. The overall journey and lessons plays on levels of emotions very authentically, despite how predictable the story is. And the combination of Don Bluth's animation style with Disney's gives us one of the most beautiful short animated pieces that Disney has ever created. If you haven't seen it yet, be sure to check it out this holiday season. It's 25 minutes that I'm sure you won't wish to get back!
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