Overlooked Specials 10th Day of Christmas

10^th Day of Christmas:

The Small One

I think this was the film that first suggested Don Bluth was an animation genius. The 30-minute Disney short about a Nazarene child trying to sell his beloved old donkey Small One, has a beautiful yet unique simplicity to it. Charming, sentimental, and even dark in some places, it knows exactly how to relate the aura of Christmas without using a lot of its familiar tenets. It’s pretty obvious where the story’s going based on the setting alone, but it doesn’t stop you from wanting to see this often sad journey all the way through. No one seems to want Small One for anything that doesn’t hurt or kill him. The animation is standard Bluth greatness: stylistic, expressive, and very pretty to look at. And the music is of the tenderest. Though perhaps not as outwardly artistic as something like The Snowman, it’s more fulfilling, both narratively and emotionally. A wonderful precursor to a wonderful career, The Small One is certainly worth going out of your way to seek out!

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