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Goliath II
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Wikipedia article
'Goliath II' is a 1960 American animated comedy short film produced by Walt Disney Productions. Directed by Wolfgang Reitherman and written by Bill Peet, it is narrated by Sterling Holloway and stars the voices of Kevin Corcoran, Barbara Jo Allen and Paul Frees. It was released theatrically in the United States on January 21, 1960 alongside the live-action film 'Toby Tyler' (also starring Corcoran).
The short was the first Disney short cartoon to make full use of xerography, a process of using Xerox technology to transfer animation drawings to cels as part of the traditional animation process instead of utilizing hand-inking. 'Goliath II' received an Academy Award nomination for Best Animated Short, losing to Gene Deitch's 'Munro'. Elements of this short were later reused in 'The Jungle Book' (1967).
The cartoon is also called "Sloni iro" or "Sloni ira" in Serbo-Croatian and was very popular in Yugoslavia during the late 1970s-early '80s.
Plot
Goliath II is a miniature 8-year old Indian elephant (about 7.5 to 10 centimeters tall (3 to 4 in) tall, although the consistency of this is variable) who tries to impress his father, the biggest elephant of them all. His father doesn't care about him because of his size, although his mother does. A tiger named Raja is curious to taste an elephant and tries to attack Goliath, but is stopped by Goliath's mother. Afterwards, Eloise (another member of the herd) almost accidentally steps on Goliath. Later, he is nearly eaten by a crocodile, but his mother again saves him.
As the elephants are marching through the jungle, Goliath leaves the line to follow two snails and gets lost. His mother panics, causing the other elephants to crash. Goliath's mother and Raja search for Goliath and manage to find him in a snail hole. After a short tug of war between Goliath's mother and Raja, Goliath is rescued. Goliath's mother scolds him for defying her warnings to not wander off, and puts him into a bird's nest as a timeout. Goliath is fed up with being treated like a baby and feels confident that he can take care of himself.
That night, while the herd is sleeping, Goliath runs away from the herd and vows never to return. Afterwards he is frightened by various jungle noises and accidentally wakes up Raja, who seizes him. Goliath cries for his mother, who rescues him. Goliath gets a spanking from his mother, because deserting the herd is considered a serious offense, and to make it worse, he has disgraced his father.
The next day, while the elephants are marching through the jungle again, Goliath's father is frightened by a mouse. The mouse panics the herd, causing them to flee. The mouse laughs at the elephants but finds Goliath watching him unafraid. Enraged, the mouse says that Goliath should be afraid because elephants are afraid of mice. The mouse starts a fight with Goliath, which ends with Goliath holding the mouse over a cliff above a hungry crocodile. The mouse begs for his life, and Goliath spares him. After this, Goliath is respected by his father and is named the top elephant of the herd.
Cast
* Kevin Corcoran as Goliath II, a tiny elephant who wishes to prove that he can be as good as his father, though all his efforts and curiosities get him into trouble. At first considered a "disgrace" after leaving the herd, he is branded a hero after saving the other elephants from a mouse.
* Barbara Jo Allen as Goliath II's Mother, who is of Goliath II's efforts but upset at the mischief he causes.
* Paul Frees as Goliath I, Goliath II's father. Due to Goliath II's size, he doesn't like his son at all.
** Frees also voiced the Mouse, an arrogant, nasty and bullying rodent who enjoys scaring elephants and bullies Goliath II but is defeated by him in battle.
* Sterling Holloway as the Narrator
Home media
The short was released on December 6, 2005 on 'Walt Disney Treasures: Disney Rarities - Celebrated Shorts: 1920s1960s'.
See also
* List of American films of 1960
References
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