The Reluctant Dragon

The Reluctant Dragon was created in 1941. This is Disney's second hybrid film, and after watching it, I was very surprised to see that it was not very well received and that it didn't make a profit. I was even more surprised that I had never seen this before. Why had I not seen this before? It was witty and clever and highly entertaining. I think The Reluctant Dragon needs to be a part of everyone's Disney collection.
The story begins with Mr. and Mrs. Benchley talking about the picture book that Mrs. Benchley recently discovered: The Reluctant Dragon. Mr. Benchley, or Robert, plays with his toy gun while she goes into great depth about her fondness of the aforementioned book and how it would make a great Disney movie. She then drags Robert to Disney studios and ditches him there with the book. An uptight and extremely dull lackey comes to get Robert and bring him to Walt Disney. (Wow, I wish it were that easy today.)
Robert escapes from the guide by sneaking into a drawing class. I found this part to be extremely hilarious. Robert, coming in, hears that there is a model in use and tries to sneak a peek at her. He is quickly spotted and as he comes out of his hiding spot, he finds that the model is a charming, young elephant. (Who doesn't like to sneak a peek at elephants?) You learn about the artists at Disney Studio and Robert leaves to go escape explore elsewhere.
Through a series of events, Robert meets Donald Duck, gets a sneak peek of the song "Casey Junior" from Dumbo, the movie goes from black and white to technicolor, and we get to see a very trippy montage of the paint making process. (We also get to see a sneak peak of Bambi). All the while, Robert is collecting souvenirs and continuing to avoid his guide.
We are then rewarded with a series of shorts that Robert experiences on his adventures. Starting out with "Baby Weems" about the smartest baby who ever lived, then "How to Ride a Horse" starring Goofy - hijinks naturally ensue- and finishes off with one last cartoon.
Robert walks in to pitch the movie idea to Walt right as a final screening for a cartoon is taking place. Walt invites Robert to come and give his opinion on it. (naturally, since this has happened to our protagonist in every other situation he's been in.) Then all of them sit down to watch "The Reluctant Dragon".
In brief, the cartoon is about a dragon who is reluctant to fight any knights and hides in his cave all day. When people discover he is where he is, they send in a knight, who has previously befriended the dragon. Neither wants to fight the other, so they do what any person would do. They fake it! (That'll come in handy for those late nights when you procrastinate your homework kids.)
I was only a little disappointed with this movie. If it wasn't already pretty clear, this movie is fantastic. I literally laughed out loud on more than one occasion. It was fun and clever and did a really good job of suspending reality. Part of me really wants to believe that this is how Disney studios is actually run. The only disappointment I had, was that the one thing that everything was leading up to, the movies namesake, fell a little flat. It was just average. And if there's one thing we can all  agree on about Disney, it's that average, just isn't enough.
Next Movie: Dumbo

Ah yes, the sword through the armpit illusion. Classic.