It has been so long since I saw Don Bluth’s The Small One (1978), I cannot remember if it was one of the good cartoons that came out between Walt Disney’s death in 1966 and the studio’s “renaissance” in the late 1980s, or if it was one of the studio’s more embarrassing ventures. But no matter; because it is one of the few Disney cartoons that deals with biblical material, I think I shall have to pick up Classic Holiday Stories, the ninth disc in the “Classic Cartoon Favorites” series, which comes out Sept 27.
FWIW, Bluth — who left Disney and went on to direct The Secret of NIMH (1982), An American Tail (1986), The Land Before Time (1988; my comments), Anastasia (1997; my review) and Titan A.E. (2000), among others — is a former Mormon missionary, so his work on The Small One was almost certainly motivated by his beliefs. And as I recall, there is nothing in the film that should raise any hackles for more orthodox Christian viewers.
The disc also includes Pluto’s Christmas Tree (1952) and Mickey’s Christmas Carol (1983), both of which are already available on the limited-edition set Mickey Mouse in Living Color, Volume Two.
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