I like that they always keep doing the pistachio joke whenever Willie appears in a major role. Willie is probably the most likeable Disney Villain, at the end of the day, he’s just a big destructive child who has no idea that he endangered an entire kingdom. Like Edgar Bergen said, he wasn’t a mean giant he just wanted someone to sing him to sleep.
Willie is a great character and a very positive representation of a child’s dreams he is a powerful user of magic he can turn into anything and he’s huge and strong he clearly could conquer kingdom if he desired to but instead he’s content to just use his immense power for his own amusement and he was genuinely pleasant to Mickey before he realized Mickey intended to kill him and while he did go crazy in the ending think about it I’ll come into your home without permission eat your food yet you still act pleasant to me than try trick you into being in a vulnerable state so I could kill you then try to steal a valuable position and leave and tie your shoes together and expect you to be ok with that and he’s still polite and apparently regained his composure since he’s very pleasant when asking if anyone saw Mickey and puts the roof back gently and walks quietly careful not to step on buildings He’s not a sadist who takes pride in causing pain and suffering or a reckless rebellious person who wants to defy society to do as he pleases and hates everyone who says no for any reason he’s a big soft boy who just wants to be happy and doesn’t think through his actions I was crying too when I though he died he’s a nice giant who had some issues and was so happy when he was alive
@@Adamguy2003 I think it has something to do with Willie's good attitude, which is then carried over in later appearances, like Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. Plus, he can be compared to the size of a human, if you use Mickey's height next to him; with a human being 6 feet tall, and a mouse being 2 inches tall (not counting the tail). If Mickey were to be the same height as a regular human, then Willie would be 36 times Mickey's height.
I actually have a theory that Mad Madam Mim from Sword in the Stone (1963) trained Willie the Giant in magic as a kind of inverse to Merlin training Arthur in using his wits. Think about it: both can shrink, fly up high like the birdies, disappear into atmosphere, and turn into pink animals. In the Kingdom Hearts games we know that Merlin can travel to other worlds, so Mim being on par with him in terms of power should be able to do the same, and it would make thematic sense for Mim to train Willie to focus on the magic and not using his wits, further proving that there are no bad students only bad teachers.
Though, in the end, Mim IS a bad teacher for thinking Magic is always the answer, because she later got sick from Merlin’s “virus” Trump Card. Thankfully, Willie is not like Mim and lives a better life.
Neat theory! MatPat would probably feel threatened by this! Good job, and Thank You for the new point of view! 👍😎👌❗️ I apologize for the excessive rhyming in that last part.
@@a.rustici1972 I didn't share that with MatPat, but I did share that with AniMat, who's best know for covering animation history and virtually all things animated on Animation Lookback and he too admitted that was a good theory.
Was anyone else freaked out by Willie’s build up at the beginning of the movie? They made him seem like a dark and evil entity, made his actual reveal all the more bewildering. XD
I always thought that 'Jack and the Beanstalk' started as 'Jack The Giant Killer'. In that version, Jack brutalizes a lot of giants, mostly with a magic sword.
It's possible that it took some inspiration from the Giant Killer story, but I can't find anything concrete on that..... However I did find that it did come into proper print around the early 18th century (originally passed orally and originally from the Cornwall area of England) and about 20 years later Jack and the Beanstalk was first published.
@@absolite6 Actually, there’s a reason Jack got associated with fighting giants, you should look into the Messed Up Origins video on Jack and the Beanstalk.
No. Those are two separate, entirely unrelated stories. Jack the Giant-Killer is set in the fantasy version of Britain depicted in the Arthurian legends, and portrays Jack serving in King Arthur's court, while Jack and the Beanstalk is an otherwise self-contained story (in English fairytales, 'Jack' is just a generic name for a male protagonist, like 'Hans' or 'Hansel' in Germany, or 'Ivan' in Russia). The stories have little in common beyond featuring a young boy who fights giants, named Jack.
@@petehill7280 Oh, like saying "Here's your Pot, Jack" or "Do these Shoes please you, Hans?" Still, I brought up the Messed up Origins video, but I never said anything about Jack the Giant Killer.
You know, people drivel on about the whole thing with Jack climbing the beanstalk and intruding on the giant's home, but I don't know about you, but anyone who'd say (and possibly even promptly do) something like "Be he alive or be he dead, I'll grind his bones to make my bread.", is probably not someone that's all that pleasent to begin with.
Well, if Mickey and his two best friends are only actors in this beanstalk story, it only stands to reason that Willie is also just an actor in their cartoon world.
Here's a fun fact: Willy the Giant actually has one park appearance. He shows up outside the Princess Fairytale Hall in the Princess souvenir store where he can be seen peaking through the roof with his eye and nose.
Thank you for mentioning Widowmaker. When I first watched the movie, my jaw was left open at the end of the movie and I could only say "THE HORSE GOT AWAY WITH IT?!?"
Quite interesting. Lumpjaw and Willie are like opposite characters. Lumpjaw revels in his strength and thinks that everyone should look up to him. He’s like a high school quarterback, always showing off for the girls. Willie is like a sweet but arrogant overly strong child. Too bad they didn’t get to meet each other. Seems like a lost opportunity. Maybe in some future project.
I wonder if Willie's shapeshifting powers are a reference to the ogre from Puss in Boots. They even had that bit about attempting to trick him into turning into a smaller, easily killable animal.
Given the amount of cut content from the segment’s original feature film version, part of me wonders if the whole “turn into a fly” bit was a leftover from a previous draft that featured a similar scene to “The Brave Little Tailor” in which Mickey kills seven flies in one blow.
@@ColinLooksBack 14:03: I think my best and simple answer to how Willie is a giant, when his mother is smaller, could be that Willie runs under the similar logic as Clifford the Big Red Dog: normal sized when born, but gigantic when grown up.
@@ColinLooksBack 1:27 - 1:53: Speaking of Snow White, I can understand, from a pacing perspective, that having Snow White being "dead" 2 times by a Corset and a Hair Comb does seem to break the tension that she would die, and would've treated the Poison Apple as more of a joke than an actual threat.
god you wouldn't believe how vividly i remembered willy prying off the roof to say hi to the live action people. I was only listening to the video but it was PERFECT recall
Funny fact about Willie being voiced by Walker Edminston, he also played another giant character in the Adventure in Odyssey radio drama. It is also actually a character portraying the Giant. The episode is called Pilgrim’s Progress Revisited and the Giant character’s name was Despair.
I assume Bill Faggerbakke will replace him, given the 2017 Ducktales. Shame, he was one of the oldest active Disney voice actors along with Pat Caroll and Frank Welker. EDIT: This comment is even sadder now that Pat's gone too.
Well look at it this way in the story itself- Ichabod is the only British person in a very dutch "state". And also at the time of the story (1700s) teachers didn't get paid there's were only two choices for them: 1)go and train to be a pastor for churches or 2)marry well. And also if I recall in a later story (which has nothing to do with Disney) doesn't Laura Ingall as a teacher- stay in some pupil's homes so she's able to get some food and board? Laura Ingall's Wilder's books take place between 1870 and 1894. And also besides being the teacher of the one schoolhouse in the town- he's also the choir director. Because the teacher job paid that poorly. He's getting paid enough to be able to board outside of a pupil's house but he still goes around to pupils' home to get "paid" in food. So if you were in Ichbod's shoes which would you choose: pastoring or marrying Katrina?
This is so surreal because I used to watch Fun and Fancy Free on a VHS tape as a kid in the 90's. Your video is causing all kinds of memories to come flooding back to me.
In the Swedish dub Willle is voiced by the same guy who did Kronk's voice in The Emperor's New Groove ! I believe the dubbb of Mickey and the Beanstalk Shared the same director as the Swedish dubbing ob shared the same director as the Swedish
I get that Bongo and Lulabelle are proportioned as tiny little humanoids to further drive more the Mickey/Pete/Minnie similarities (as well as to make Bongo an underdog), but I can't stop imagining how much funnier this short would have been if they were the exact same size as all the other bears.
Great video. I’m a little bit surprised you’re skipping Melody Time, (Personally, I do consider Widowmaker a villain. As you mentioned, he basically murdered Bill’s girlfriend out of petty jealousy, and even deliberately stopped him from saving her) but it’s no great loss.
In my opinion, I think Slue Foot Sue was the villain of Melody Time. Widowmaker and Pecos Bill were inseparable almost all of Pecos Bill's life. Slue Foot Sue was the breaking point of his friendship with the horse. Didn't she completely seduce him so she could get his attention? I mean, she waltzed right into his life without any reason (powerding your face while wrangling a catfish is quite impressive, I'll admit), and throughout the whole film she seemed like she wanted to distract him from his original partner in crime. What Widowmaker did was out of jealousy that didn't go according to plan. I dunno, I love Pecos Bill and this is my own thought, but tell me what you think about this. 😁
@@sjsaunders1971 I don't think Sue was a villain. She could be considered an antagonist since she came between them, but I don't think it was her intention. I remember being horrified at her fate as a kid since while she seemed vain, she didn't seem bad, she was pretty awesome and deserved better.
@@sjsaunders1971 I disagree. Slue Foot Sue was living her life when they ran across each other. Implying that it's all HER fault that Bill thought she was attractive and wanted to marry her is a pretty narrow reading. Pecos Bill fell in love with her as much as she fell in love with him.
Rumplewatt was also in Kingdom Hearts III in one of the mini-games. I knew I'd seen him somewhere, but I remember the Gustav short a lot clearer. Anyway, thank you for this series, it's so fun to watch and I would have never learned so many of these facts without you!
I am so glad that I have so many like-minded people! I love this character, but none of my friends probably even know about him. Too bad, he's such a cute character
I loved this movie as a kid! I tended to fast-forward over the "Bongo" section to get to the parts with Edgar Bergen. This was my first introduction to ventriliquism, so I found the puppets fascinating. I didn't quite understand what they were, so I wondered where I could meet these strange wooden people.
That's really adorable. I remember having a similar reaction to Toy Story when it first came out. I thought the CGI plastic toys looked so good (at the time), that I was convinced that some of them, like Potato Head, were animatronics or puppets. The more things change, huh?
Gustav is apparently named after Gustaf Tenggren. Tenggren was the artist who set the style for the Disney films "The Old Mill", "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs", and "Pinocchio".
I think a re-telling of Jack and the Beanstalk story would work a lot better today if the villain was the man who traded Jack the beans for the cow. That he secretly knew of their purpose and the giant's treasures. And so he let's/forces Jack to do the dirty work, while he holds the mother hostage. He would meet his demise with either the giant falling on top of him, or smashed/captured by said giant.
Willie had a counterpart in Once Upon a Time, too, who had a character arc I really liked which had a really sweet ending. His name was Tiny, he had kind of an Ariel "part of your world" thing going on, and he eventually found a place where he belonged & was loved and accepted :')
The giant being able to transform into other things is taken from the Puss In Boots tale, where the ogre (the story's villain) can do exactly the same and the titular character tries to trick him the same way Mickey does...And this trick seems to also be inspired by the Greek Mythology, where Zeus does the same thing with his first wife
I was actually familiar with a third version of "Mickey and the Beanstalk". Unlike the "Fun and Fancy Free" and "Ludwig von Drake" versions, there was no frame story, and the narration was performed entirely off-screen by early Disney regular Sterling Holloway, (known for voicing characters such as the Cheshire Cat, Winnie the Pooh, and Kaa the python) without any additional narrators. This lack of interplay between multiple characters in the narration led to certain minor adjustments in the story line, such as the brief appearance of the Red Barn being removed. Willie the Giant's roof-lifting appearance at the end of the story is also absent. Instead, as Willie is plummeting downward after Mickey, Goofy and Donald cut down the beanstalk, the impact of his landing causes the book (which is apparently the one containing the story, as it features a cover picture of Willie angrily chasing Mickey and his friends) to slam shut. This version was VCR recorded by my family from a TV broadcast in the early 1990s, and seems to have been created sometime after the story was detached from "Fun and Fancy Free".
Willie also made an appearance in this old Disney ice show they did in 1988 for Mickey's 60th birthday. One scene there is themed to "Mickey and the Beanstalk" and has everyone in the castle have a run-in with Willie, although in this case, the only thing one sees of him here is his hand as he tries to catch them.
I think it’ll be better for all of us if we just assume two things about Willie’s inception with his mother. 1. He was most likely adopted and he had birth parents who were giants 2. He was born a normal sized human, but gained his magic powers and made himself a giant but couldn’t remember how to change himself back. Either one of those theories are mine and I’m stuck with either one
Quite surprising that out of the three giants that Mickey has faced, the most obscure one (Rumpelwatt) is the only one who appears in Kingdom Hearts (in a Minigame from 3, but that's still more than what Gustav and Willie have to offer).
Another great video in this series. I never knew how the real story of "Bongo" went. Very interesting. I used to have the "Mickey Meets the Giant" book you praise so highly it's a good. Regarding the way the story of "Jack and the Beanstalk" was rearranged to give it more morality, some versions, such as the Faerie Tale Theatre one, make it so that the things Jack stole were originally his father's and had been stolen by the giant. And one other thing, about Mickey in "Fun and Fancy Free" there's been some debate from various sources regarding whether it was Jim McDonald's first time as Mickey or Walt Disney's last.
In my Battle Royale series, there is a twist on the "Jack and the Beanstalk", where the giant is actually Jack's deadbeat illegitimate father & Jack himself is actually half giant himself.
How Disney villains could've won: Willie the Giant. This version of the giant needed only to remember that he could fly and shapeshift, and that fall would've been nothing to him. He didn't even need to bother with the beanstalk.
Once I heard the fact that the general idea of check in the beanstalk is set to take back 5000 years I was so surprised and I said out loud 5000 years!
I just realized Splash mountain could have been themed to Bongo instead of Song of the south, it could still have reused the America sings animatronics, the location could have still been the same (maybe keeping its original name Bear country) and the log flume ride system would have been perfectly fitting referencing the fight between Bongo and Lumpjaw, plus it would have made a great comeback for the story and its characters. But alas i still think that with the Song of the south theming Disney still had a good choice
Something about the oufish clockmaker that’s only seen in the statue when you read about his lore is that he uses the violet, rainbow gem to build the clock tower, but in a twist of events, the more he uses the gem, he becomes slower and much more clumsy. I am aware that this isn’t a retrospective on some video game bosses from Mickey’s past although that would be a good idea to talk about some of them. There are a few interesting battles. Just wanted to talk about that. I learned it recently.
I find it weird in the Willie the giant was introduced as a full on angry monstrous bad guy but his later apperiances like the Christmas Carol and the mickey mouse clubhouse he's more of a kind, goofy and silly character
You know, when you reach John Silver from "Treasure Planet", i recomend you to touch other sci-fi versions of him - His version from "Treasure island in outer space" and more sinister take - John SuperSilver from the 1982 film
You neglected to mention how Willie is part of the decor in the Magic Kingdom's Fantasyland gift shop Sir Sir Mickey's, shown trying pry off the roof of the store.
I would like to see someone make a full version of miickey and the beanstalk, Because At least they would give it some plot rather then it opening on happy valley, And it would feel more like a story.
This short confused me a bit as kid the same way that lady and the tramp 2 would, where the main characters and his love interest look way younger than the bullies that want to get them for themselves, and it worries me a bit now
Something I remember from watching this movie is that in the scene where Lumpjaw was approaching, I had thought that it was a bunch of hunters that were coming in since I was familiar with Bambi and the Fox and the Hound which both had hunters as the antagonists. During the fight scene in the movie, I remember there was a scene where Bongo was snorting like a motor car almost as if he was sprayed by Mickey's bravo potion from the cartoon, The Worm Turns. It does make sense for those sound effects to be used to me since it showed Bongo was building up his courage to face Lumpjaw.
"Mickey and the Beanstalk" was also featured on an episode of the early 1970s show called "The Mouse Factory", with narration in this case done by ventriloquist Shari Lewis, as she tells the story to her sheep puppet friend Lamb Chop.
What.... I remember Mickey and the Beanstalk really vividly, or at least the part where they're starving and slicing shriveled peas. And I remember Michael & Co. playing mind games with Willie. I even remember how the Harp looked and that bit at the end with the puppet, but I _do not_ remember him turning into a giant pink bunny LOL
there's also epic mickey concept art for willie & think he should be a boss in kingdom hearts(also strangely find it funny will ryan voiced him and petrie from the land before time.) i remember reading rumplewatt comic(along with the donald duck papernick comics.)mickey meets the giant a lot as a kid at my uncle fobi's house.(would say fun and fancy free & the weird jack and the beanstalk anime made by the people who worked on street fighter 2: the animated movie are my favorite versions of the story.:3)
Who do you think would win in a fight? Willie the Giant or Hugo the Abominable Snowman from Looney Tunes? And who would be the first to call the other one "George?" Jokes aside, it seems that with the Mickey and the Beanstalk cartoon, even in the full version, they combined the stories of Jack and the Beanstalk and Puss in Boots. The ogre or giant (depending on the version you are familiar with) does the same thing in the Puss story, right down to the hero tricking him into shrinking down to crush or capture him. Seems like the Mickey cartoon was actually subverting the ending of that story by having the giant too smart to fall for it.
that is true, but have you noticed that willie didn't ever used is transforming ability in any of his later appearance, that is really a shame especially since they weren't used that much in the movie
The first version which was a French version (and I happened to know this because I had to look up Faire Tale theatre's version of Jack and the Beanstalk) is that the Giant's (or Orge in that case)'s castle was original Jack's father's castle. So basically he took back what was rightfully his.
I like that they always keep doing the pistachio joke whenever Willie appears in a major role.
Willie is probably the most likeable Disney Villain, at the end of the day, he’s just a big destructive child who has no idea that he endangered an entire kingdom. Like Edgar Bergen said, he wasn’t a mean giant he just wanted someone to sing him to sleep.
Willie is a great character and a very positive representation of a child’s dreams he is a powerful user of magic he can turn into anything and he’s huge and strong he clearly could conquer kingdom if he desired to but instead he’s content to just use his immense power for his own amusement and he was genuinely pleasant to Mickey before he realized Mickey intended to kill him and while he did go crazy in the ending think about it I’ll come into your home without permission eat your food yet you still act pleasant to me than try trick you into being in a vulnerable state so I could kill you then try to steal a valuable position and leave and tie your shoes together and expect you to be ok with that and he’s still polite and apparently regained his composure since he’s very pleasant when asking if anyone saw Mickey and puts the roof back gently and walks quietly careful not to step on buildings
He’s not a sadist who takes pride in causing pain and suffering or a reckless rebellious person who wants to defy society to do as he pleases and hates everyone who says no for any reason he’s a big soft boy who just wants to be happy and doesn’t think through his actions I was crying too when I though he died he’s a nice giant who had some issues and was so happy when he was alive
i like willie he's a big friendly giant.
@@viviennemorgan7217 your a smart person
@@TheMagnaficent what does this have to do with anything that i said?
@@viviennemorgan7217 I think your smart for liking Willy instead of finding him annoying or stupid
Willie the Giant was hilarious and an inspiration for Roald Dahl's the BFG.
He was? That's not surprising, now that I think about it.
@@Adamguy2003 I think it has something to do with Willie's good attitude, which is then carried over in later appearances, like Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. Plus, he can be compared to the size of a human, if you use Mickey's height next to him; with a human being 6 feet tall, and a mouse being 2 inches tall (not counting the tail). If Mickey were to be the same height as a regular human, then Willie would be 36 times Mickey's height.
Oh? I figured that book came out before the movie. Interesting!
@@ungurdagda813 the original BFG novel came out in the 1970's. Though Dahl DID start writing in the '40's, so it's really unsurprising.
I love Willie even the video games with him in them 14:54
Nothing could have prepared me for Goofy singing "Giants In The Sky." Thank you for blessing us with that.
Three years late but I am subscribing because of this LOL
A shame they canceled “Gigantic”, it would be great to see if they put a reference to Willie the Giant.
To be quite honest, it would end up feeling like a genderswap version of Roald Dahl's BFG.
Don’t be sad, he appears in the new Mickey Mouse series in Disney+, in which he has even a girlfriend
@@Gabriel-rp2pc Aw❣️
Willy is a good guy now
@@erainmartinez8175yes he is I feel bad him he was also in House of Mouse
I actually have a theory that Mad Madam Mim from Sword in the Stone (1963) trained Willie the Giant in magic as a kind of inverse to Merlin training Arthur in using his wits. Think about it: both can shrink, fly up high like the birdies, disappear into atmosphere, and turn into pink animals. In the Kingdom Hearts games we know that Merlin can travel to other worlds, so Mim being on par with him in terms of power should be able to do the same, and it would make thematic sense for Mim to train Willie to focus on the magic and not using his wits, further proving that there are no bad students only bad teachers.
Though, in the end, Mim IS a bad teacher for thinking Magic is always the answer, because she later got sick from Merlin’s “virus” Trump Card. Thankfully, Willie is not like Mim and lives a better life.
@@robbiewalker2831I... could see that happening and it wouldn't surprise me if it were to be true, one day.
Neat theory! MatPat would probably feel threatened by this! Good job, and Thank You for the new point of view! 👍😎👌❗️
I apologize for the excessive rhyming in that last part.
@@a.rustici1972 I didn't share that with MatPat, but I did share that with AniMat, who's best know for covering animation history and virtually all things animated on Animation Lookback and he too admitted that was a good theory.
You forgot one thing: giants aren't exactly humans. Why would members of supernatural species need the same training as humans?
Was anyone else freaked out by Willie’s build up at the beginning of the movie? They made him seem like a dark and evil entity, made his actual reveal all the more bewildering. XD
I guess it could be chalked up to his shapeshifting abilities.
I always thought that 'Jack and the Beanstalk' started as 'Jack The Giant Killer'. In that version, Jack brutalizes a lot of giants, mostly with a magic sword.
It's possible that it took some inspiration from the Giant Killer story, but I can't find anything concrete on that.....
However I did find that it did come into proper print around the early 18th century (originally passed orally and originally from the Cornwall area of England) and about 20 years later Jack and the Beanstalk was first published.
@@absolite6 Actually, there’s a reason Jack got associated with fighting giants, you should look into the Messed Up Origins video on Jack and the Beanstalk.
No. Those are two separate, entirely unrelated stories. Jack the Giant-Killer is set in the fantasy version of Britain depicted in the Arthurian legends, and portrays Jack serving in King Arthur's court, while Jack and the Beanstalk is an otherwise self-contained story (in English fairytales, 'Jack' is just a generic name for a male protagonist, like 'Hans' or 'Hansel' in Germany, or 'Ivan' in Russia). The stories have little in common beyond featuring a young boy who fights giants, named Jack.
@@petehill7280 Oh, like saying "Here's your Pot, Jack" or "Do these Shoes please you, Hans?" Still, I brought up the Messed up Origins video, but I never said anything about Jack the Giant Killer.
@@robbiewalker2831 Yes. Basically.
You know, people drivel on about the whole thing with Jack climbing the beanstalk and intruding on the giant's home, but I don't know about you, but anyone who'd say (and possibly even promptly do) something like "Be he alive or be he dead, I'll grind his bones to make my bread.", is probably not someone that's all that pleasent to begin with.
I'm glad Willie was promoted to Ghost of Xmas Present; he's a great character
Well, if Mickey and his two best friends are only actors in this beanstalk story, it only stands to reason that Willie is also just an actor in their cartoon world.
Here's a fun fact: Willy the Giant actually has one park appearance. He shows up outside the Princess Fairytale Hall in the Princess souvenir store where he can be seen peaking through the roof with his eye and nose.
Thank you for mentioning Widowmaker. When I first watched the movie, my jaw was left open at the end of the movie and I could only say "THE HORSE GOT AWAY WITH IT?!?"
Quite interesting. Lumpjaw and Willie are like opposite characters. Lumpjaw revels in his strength and thinks that everyone should look up to him. He’s like a high school quarterback, always showing off for the girls. Willie is like a sweet but arrogant overly strong child. Too bad they didn’t get to meet each other. Seems like a lost opportunity. Maybe in some future project.
Fun and fancy free is Disney’s most underrated movie
Especially Bongo, Lulubelle, and Lumpjaw. I love Bongo!
I wonder if Willie's shapeshifting powers are a reference to the ogre from Puss in Boots. They even had that bit about attempting to trick him into turning into a smaller, easily killable animal.
That's a good point. I hadn't remembered that!
Given the amount of cut content from the segment’s original feature film version, part of me wonders if the whole “turn into a fly” bit was a leftover from a previous draft that featured a similar scene to “The Brave Little Tailor” in which Mickey kills seven flies in one blow.
@@ColinLooksBack except in the case of the ogre it actually worked!
@@ColinLooksBack 14:03: I think my best and simple answer to how Willie is a giant, when his mother is smaller, could be that Willie runs under the similar logic as Clifford the Big Red Dog: normal sized when born, but gigantic when grown up.
@@ColinLooksBack 1:27 - 1:53: Speaking of Snow White, I can understand, from a pacing perspective, that having Snow White being "dead" 2 times by a Corset and a Hair Comb does seem to break the tension that she would die, and would've treated the Poison Apple as more of a joke than an actual threat.
Yay I so enjoy these villain retrospectives.
Who doesn’t?
god you wouldn't believe how vividly i remembered willy prying off the roof to say hi to the live action people. I was only listening to the video but it was PERFECT recall
Funny fact about Willie being voiced by Walker Edminston, he also played another giant character in the Adventure in Odyssey radio drama. It is also actually a character portraying the Giant. The episode is called Pilgrim’s Progress Revisited and the Giant character’s name was Despair.
R. I. P. Will Ryan 1949 - 2021😢
I assume Bill Faggerbakke will replace him, given the 2017 Ducktales. Shame, he was one of the oldest active Disney voice actors along with Pat Caroll and Frank Welker.
EDIT: This comment is even sadder now that Pat's gone too.
I think Bob Joles will replace will Ryan! Due impart to Billy Gilbert voicing Sneezy and Willie the Giant!🤔
The Headless Horseman short is the first where nearly everyone is not so good , Ichobod is pretty much a gold digger .
Katrina is also rather manipulative
Well look at it this way in the story itself- Ichabod is the only British person in a very dutch "state". And also at the time of the story (1700s) teachers didn't get paid there's were only two choices for them: 1)go and train to be a pastor for churches or 2)marry well. And also if I recall in a later story (which has nothing to do with Disney) doesn't Laura Ingall as a teacher- stay in some pupil's homes so she's able to get some food and board? Laura Ingall's Wilder's books take place between 1870 and 1894. And also besides being the teacher of the one schoolhouse in the town- he's also the choir director. Because the teacher job paid that poorly. He's getting paid enough to be able to board outside of a pupil's house but he still goes around to pupils' home to get "paid" in food. So if you were in Ichbod's shoes which would you choose: pastoring or marrying Katrina?
I remember the book Mickey and the Giant. I read it too and it’s close to my heart as well
This is so surreal because I used to watch Fun and Fancy Free on a VHS tape as a kid in the 90's. Your video is causing all kinds of memories to come flooding back to me.
In the Swedish dub Willle is voiced by the same guy who did Kronk's voice in The Emperor's New Groove ! I believe the dubbb of Mickey and the Beanstalk Shared the same director as the Swedish dubbing ob shared the same director as the Swedish
Patrick waterburn as willy?! I can see that
@@RobertEOSPEEDWAGON1 he said Swedish dub, not English dub.
I get that Bongo and Lulabelle are proportioned as tiny little humanoids to further drive more the Mickey/Pete/Minnie similarities (as well as to make Bongo an underdog), but I can't stop imagining how much funnier this short would have been if they were the exact same size as all the other bears.
Great video. I’m a little bit surprised you’re skipping Melody Time, (Personally, I do consider Widowmaker a villain. As you mentioned, he basically murdered Bill’s girlfriend out of petty jealousy, and even deliberately stopped him from saving her) but it’s no great loss.
In my opinion, I think Slue Foot Sue was the villain of Melody Time. Widowmaker and Pecos Bill were inseparable almost all of Pecos Bill's life. Slue Foot Sue was the breaking point of his friendship with the horse. Didn't she completely seduce him so she could get his attention? I mean, she waltzed right into his life without any reason (powerding your face while wrangling a catfish is quite impressive, I'll admit), and throughout the whole film she seemed like she wanted to distract him from his original partner in crime. What Widowmaker did was out of jealousy that didn't go according to plan. I dunno, I love Pecos Bill and this is my own thought, but tell me what you think about this. 😁
@@sjsaunders1971 I don't think Sue was a villain. She could be considered an antagonist since she came between them, but I don't think it was her intention. I remember being horrified at her fate as a kid since while she seemed vain, she didn't seem bad, she was pretty awesome and deserved better.
There’s also some Indians who Bill chases around for no apparent reason and non-sapient instrument monsters that menace a bee.
@@sjsaunders1971 I disagree. Slue Foot Sue was living her life when they ran across each other. Implying that it's all HER fault that Bill thought she was attractive and wanted to marry her is a pretty narrow reading. Pecos Bill fell in love with her as much as she fell in love with him.
Rumplewatt was also in Kingdom Hearts III in one of the mini-games. I knew I'd seen him somewhere, but I remember the Gustav short a lot clearer.
Anyway, thank you for this series, it's so fun to watch and I would have never learned so many of these facts without you!
Willie is my favorite. He's likable and funny! He's just misunderstood. Poor guy!
I am so glad that I have so many like-minded people! I love this character, but none of my friends probably even know about him. Too bad, he's such a cute character
Since Willie and Gustav are similar characteristically and visually, I imagine them being cousins.
Heck with it, make them also related to Rumplewatt.
@@92JazzQueen Rumplewatt looks cool. Don’t know why Disney used him less.
I loved this movie as a kid! I tended to fast-forward over the "Bongo" section to get to the parts with Edgar Bergen. This was my first introduction to ventriliquism, so I found the puppets fascinating. I didn't quite understand what they were, so I wondered where I could meet these strange wooden people.
That's really adorable. I remember having a similar reaction to Toy Story when it first came out. I thought the CGI plastic toys looked so good (at the time), that I was convinced that some of them, like Potato Head, were animatronics or puppets. The more things change, huh?
Gustav is apparently named after Gustaf Tenggren. Tenggren was the artist who set the style for the Disney films "The Old Mill", "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs", and "Pinocchio".
Making a beanstalk with my favorite I was born in 1985 I don't remember that far of Walt Disney movies I seen when I was a kid
12:39 I personally think Willie wanted to hang out with Mickey to celebrate the completion of filming Mickey and the Beanstalk.
11:04 The comedic timing of that gag is just delightful
I think a re-telling of Jack and the Beanstalk story would work a lot better today if the villain was the man who traded Jack the beans for the cow. That he secretly knew of their purpose and the giant's treasures. And so he let's/forces Jack to do the dirty work, while he holds the mother hostage. He would meet his demise with either the giant falling on top of him, or smashed/captured by said giant.
Willie had a counterpart in Once Upon a Time, too, who had a character arc I really liked which had a really sweet ending. His name was Tiny, he had kind of an Ariel "part of your world" thing going on, and he eventually found a place where he belonged & was loved and accepted :')
The giant being able to transform into other things is taken from the Puss In Boots tale, where the ogre (the story's villain) can do exactly the same and the titular character tries to trick him the same way Mickey does...And this trick seems to also be inspired by the Greek Mythology, where Zeus does the same thing with his first wife
Props for using the Brothers Bear theme.
I was actually familiar with a third version of "Mickey and the Beanstalk". Unlike the "Fun and Fancy Free" and "Ludwig von Drake" versions, there was no frame story, and the narration was performed entirely off-screen by early Disney regular Sterling Holloway, (known for voicing characters such as the Cheshire Cat, Winnie the Pooh, and Kaa the python) without any additional narrators. This lack of interplay between multiple characters in the narration led to certain minor adjustments in the story line, such as the brief appearance of the Red Barn being removed. Willie the Giant's roof-lifting appearance at the end of the story is also absent. Instead, as Willie is plummeting downward after Mickey, Goofy and Donald cut down the beanstalk, the impact of his landing causes the book (which is apparently the one containing the story, as it features a cover picture of Willie angrily chasing Mickey and his friends) to slam shut. This version was VCR recorded by my family from a TV broadcast in the early 1990s, and seems to have been created sometime after the story was detached from "Fun and Fancy Free".
Great video as always! Any video in this retrospective is always a wellcome surprise in my day!
Willie also made an appearance in this old Disney ice show they did in 1988 for Mickey's 60th birthday. One scene there is themed to "Mickey and the Beanstalk" and has everyone in the castle have a run-in with Willie, although in this case, the only thing one sees of him here is his hand as he tries to catch them.
thank you for the goofy rendition of giants in the sky xD
Willie the giant must have been an inspiration for wreck it Ralph also. And even Andre the giant before then in the wwf, now the wwe.
They really were gentle giants.
I think it’ll be better for all of us if we just assume two things about Willie’s inception with his mother.
1. He was most likely adopted and he had birth parents who were giants
2. He was born a normal sized human, but gained his magic powers and made himself a giant but couldn’t remember how to change himself back.
Either one of those theories are mine and I’m stuck with either one
The Brave Little Tailor is one of my favorite Mickey cartoons. I love the animation and humor of the cartoon.
Quite surprising that out of the three giants that Mickey has faced, the most obscure one (Rumpelwatt) is the only one who appears in Kingdom Hearts (in a Minigame from 3, but that's still more than what Gustav and Willie have to offer).
Willie needs to come back in some capacity
I agree, he's a great character
Another great video in this series. I never knew how the real story of "Bongo" went. Very interesting. I used to have the "Mickey Meets the Giant" book you praise so highly it's a good.
Regarding the way the story of "Jack and the Beanstalk" was rearranged to give it more morality, some versions, such as the Faerie Tale Theatre one, make it so that the things Jack stole were originally his father's and had been stolen by the giant. And one other thing, about Mickey in "Fun and Fancy Free" there's been some debate from various sources regarding whether it was Jim McDonald's first time as Mickey or Walt Disney's last.
The brave little tailor was on a vhs I had as a kid with some other shorts about romance, it was called "mickey loves minnie"
RIP Will Ryan
Happy 75th Anniversary, Fun and Fancy Free.🎼🎵🎶
Fun fact Rumple giant appears in a mini Game in Kingdom heart 3.
1:29. Love the background music choice
Willy the Giant might not have shown off his shape-shifting talent much, but decades later, Robin Williams' Genie made up for that.
When I realize Fun and Fancy-Free is as old as my dad, born in November 1947.
Wow, I thought this movie was a fever dream I'd had as a kid. Great review man.
In my Battle Royale series, there is a twist on the "Jack and the Beanstalk", where the giant is actually Jack's deadbeat illegitimate father & Jack himself is actually half giant himself.
How Disney villains could've won: Willie the Giant.
This version of the giant needed only to remember that he could fly and shapeshift, and that fall would've been nothing to him. He didn't even need to bother with the beanstalk.
Once I heard the fact that the general idea of check in the beanstalk is set to take back 5000 years I was so surprised and I said out loud 5000 years!
16:24 I looked it up. The actor is identified. Rumblewatt was voiced by someone named Homer Hall.
I just realized Splash mountain could have been themed to Bongo instead of Song of the south, it could still have reused the America sings animatronics, the location could have still been the same (maybe keeping its original name Bear country) and the log flume ride system would have been perfectly fitting referencing the fight between Bongo and Lumpjaw, plus it would have made a great comeback for the story and its characters. But alas i still think that with the Song of the south theming Disney still had a good choice
Something about the oufish clockmaker that’s only seen in the statue when you read about his lore is that he uses the violet, rainbow gem to build the clock tower, but in a twist of events, the more he uses the gem, he becomes slower and much more clumsy. I am aware that this isn’t a retrospective on some video game bosses from Mickey’s past although that would be a good idea to talk about some of them. There are a few interesting battles. Just wanted to talk about that. I learned it recently.
I find it weird in the Willie the giant was introduced as a full on angry monstrous bad guy but his later apperiances like the Christmas Carol and the mickey mouse clubhouse he's more of a kind, goofy and silly character
It is likely that the fact that he was not completely evil contributed to his “correction”
You know, when you reach John Silver from "Treasure Planet", i recomend you to touch other sci-fi versions of him - His version from "Treasure island in outer space" and more sinister take - John SuperSilver from the 1982 film
Willie the Giant is one of my favorite "Disney" Villains!
:)
You neglected to mention how Willie is part of the decor in the Magic Kingdom's Fantasyland gift shop Sir Sir Mickey's, shown trying pry off the roof of the store.
I would like to see someone make a full version of miickey and the beanstalk, Because At least they would give it some plot rather then it opening on happy valley, And it would feel more like a story.
I had that Mickey and the Giant picture book as well!!
I Read it when I was in school!😄
This short confused me a bit as kid the same way that lady and the tramp 2 would, where the main characters and his love interest look way younger than the bullies that want to get them for themselves, and it worries me a bit now
Something I remember from watching this movie is that in the scene where Lumpjaw was approaching, I had thought that it was a bunch of hunters that were coming in since I was familiar with Bambi and the Fox and the Hound which both had hunters as the antagonists.
During the fight scene in the movie, I remember there was a scene where Bongo was snorting like a motor car almost as if he was sprayed by Mickey's bravo potion from the cartoon, The Worm Turns. It does make sense for those sound effects to be used to me since it showed Bongo was building up his courage to face Lumpjaw.
If Willie were a bit smarter and more evil, he might could use his shapeshifting powers to become a terribly unbeatable villain
20:34 don't forget about Mr. Winkie (yes that's his actual name) and Brom Bones
I was today years old when I realized almost all Disney giants walk without pants and are the disney universes biggest flashers....; _ ;
I like Willie the Giant.
"Mickey and the Beanstalk" was also featured on an episode of the early 1970s show called "The Mouse Factory", with narration in this case done by ventriloquist Shari Lewis, as she tells the story to her sheep puppet friend Lamb Chop.
What....
I remember Mickey and the Beanstalk really vividly, or at least the part where they're starving and slicing shriveled peas. And I remember Michael & Co. playing mind games with Willie. I even remember how the Harp looked and that bit at the end with the puppet, but I _do not_ remember him turning into a giant pink bunny LOL
Willie made cameos in House of Mouse ordering three bean salad and telling Willie the Whale that Hades gives him the "willies".
4:10 Lumpjaw
10:01 Willy The Giant
15:57 Rumblewatt
18:14 Gustav
talking about disney giants reminds me that gigantic was cancelled and that makes me sad
Fun and fancy free had a weirdly prominent presence in my childhood media so I'm here for this
14:03 I've seen Grape Ape episodes that feature HIS human-sized parents, so this isn't anything that new to me.
Could you please tell me the name of the episode?
I started watching all 8 of theses (so far) today. They are all, like, 20 minutes!
I wonder if those that got a tv series like Lion King , Big Hero 6 and Tangled will be longer ?
@@nicholassims9837 maybe
Actually, Willie is more like a neutral character than a villain. Kinda like Tick-Tock the Croc from Peter Pan or King Louie from The Jungle Book.
I think that's why in the future, his character changed slightly for the better
Hey, I used to have a copy of the Mickey meets the Giant book when I was little! 🤩
Good video I never got to see these movies as a child.
I heard you playing Mickey's Magical adventure SNES music
The background music starting at 6:00 is Brothers Bear from the Donkey Kong Country 3 soundtrack. Major props to you, man.
Don't forget Mr. Winkie!
there's also epic mickey concept art for willie & think he should be a boss in kingdom hearts(also strangely find it funny will ryan voiced him and petrie from the land before time.)
i remember reading rumplewatt comic(along with the donald duck papernick comics.)mickey meets the giant a lot as a kid at my uncle fobi's house.(would say fun and fancy free & the weird jack and the beanstalk anime made by the people who worked on street fighter 2: the animated movie are my favorite versions of the story.:3)
I had that same book about him too, using the cheese to “squeeze water from a rock!”
Actually, Mickey and the Beanstalk was one of the last times he was voiced by Walt, himself.
Correct, I read that in some scenes Walt voices Mickey and in some it's Jimmy. I don't know if anyone's confirmed which specific moments, though.
1. The Three Caballeros
2. Fun and Fancy Free
3. Ichabod and Mr. Toad
4. Saludos Amigos
5. Melody Time
6. Make Mine Music
Who do you think would win in a fight? Willie the Giant or Hugo the Abominable Snowman from Looney Tunes? And who would be the first to call the other one "George?" Jokes aside, it seems that with the Mickey and the Beanstalk cartoon, even in the full version, they combined the stories of Jack and the Beanstalk and Puss in Boots. The ogre or giant (depending on the version you are familiar with) does the same thing in the Puss story, right down to the hero tricking him into shrinking down to crush or capture him. Seems like the Mickey cartoon was actually subverting the ending of that story by having the giant too smart to fall for it.
that is true, but have you noticed that willie didn't ever used is transforming ability in any of his later appearance, that is really a shame especially since they weren't used that much in the movie
The first version which was a French version (and I happened to know this because I had to look up Faire Tale theatre's version of Jack and the Beanstalk) is that the Giant's (or Orge in that case)'s castle was original Jack's father's castle. So basically he took back what was rightfully his.
very excited for the headless horseman video
I don't think the Brave Little Tailor short is well known enough, it's one of the best classic Mickey shorts
10:42 - 15:27 Poor guy just can't say pistachio properlly.
Goofy doing Sondheim is definitely enough to earn a sub.
Been waiting for this great video as always
Bongo is my favorite part of Fun and Fancy Free
Disney: makes package films.
Me: I hope Colin covers these 😂
Say it with a slappp!