Really Surprised!

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

. . . with this ironically portentous brief cartoon, BABES IN THE WOODS. The future Disney MegaCorp casts ITSELF as an evil, ugly witch, possessing a job-killing potion capable of turning the liveliest kid or cat into stone (as in "stone-cold dead"). This, of course, is exactly what Disney soon did to the entirety of Western Civilization, bribing the U.S. Congress to extend standard 28-year copyrights Ad Infinitum. This insures that Disney's Witching Hours will NEVER end; that Steamboat Willie and friends NEVER will be allowed to breathe free in the Public Domain. As an unintended and ever more grotesque side effect from this misuse of Disney's ill-gotten Wealth, all the Beloved Creatures of Real Artists--such as Gatsby, Bugs Bunny, Gilroy, Porky Pig, and Bogart--are similarly condemned to the static single dimension of Disney's Stone Cold Dungeons. The solution to this sorry state of affairs is embedded in the conclusion of BABES IN THE WOODS. Just as the tiny bearded gnomes liberate all the kiddies frozen by the Disney Witch, it is up to We the 99 Per Center Little People to make sure that imprisoned Disney Characters such as Goofer and Bluto FINALLY see the light of day by tagging them across America's municipal buildings and streets as often as possible!

Babes in the Woods (1932) *** (out of 4) Fun and great to look at Disney cartoon has a brother and sister wondering into the woods where they meet some elves but they're tempted by a house made out of candy and once inside they're kidnapped by the evil witch. This here is an alternate take on the Hansel and Gretal tale and for the most part it's highly entertaining. The film has some very charming moments but there's also some rather dark moments that I'm sure scared the heck out of kids back in 1932. There's a lot of great things about this short but the highlight has to be the actual animation and the colors used. I was really shocked at how wonderful the colors looked because you really could pass this off as a film that was made a decade ago let alone back in 1932. I really loved the look of the candy house and the various colors that are on full display. Another great use of color comes towards the end as the witch slowly begins to turn to stone. Speaking of the witch, she's quite creepy here and manages to be very memorable with her wicked spells. One highlight has the boy being turned into a spider and then it hits you that the various other creatures in the room were also children at one time.

I thoroughly enjoyed this Silly Symphony. I wouldn't necessarily deem it as a favourite, like I would Flowers and Trees and The Old Mill, but it manages to be both scary and charming. With nice colourful animation, particularly on the outside of the gingerbread house, a beautiful lullaby-like title song and dramatic and whimsical incidental music it is a delight visually and musically. The pace is secure and the cartoon eventful enough to be enjoyable, with some elements of other Grimm fairy tales and sticking to the overall structure of the original Hansel and Gretel tale. The characters are engaging, the two children are likable enough and look cute in the Dutch traditional dress, while the gnomes are friendly and jovial. I remember this though chiefly for the Witch, who is very scary not only how she is animated but how she speaks too. Concluded with a fun climax, in which the Witch is finally turned into stone, this is a lovely, charming Silly Symphony. 10/10 Bethany Cox

An early attempt at the Brothers Grimm world to which Disney would soon lay claim. But more awkward and with much sloppier animation. The Hansel and Gretel stand-ins ("whose names I don't know") are shockingly devoid of personality - they've got weird little blank faces that even I could draw. When the boy is turned into a spider, it's both icky and somewhat of a relief, because at least now he's got some personality. Turned into a spider, not fattened up to be eaten. This witch just imprisons and transforms kids...the standard cannibalism was apparently too edgy.The whole thing is also dated by the utterly inane song.Is it just me, or is there something unearthly and horrific about the witch's final moments, after which the ring of laughing children just seems bizarre? And is the fact that the rock's 'arms' seem to have disappeared with the passage of time suppose to be a hint that this is all just the stuff of myth? So many questions.