Christmas Shorts Showcase: The Small One

Hello and welcome back to the festivities.   Today, I take a look at an underrated piece of animation, The Small One.  Fun fact for ya: this short's animation director was famed animator and  future rival for Disney, Don Bluth.


The Plot


The plot of this short is pretty simple in that we follow a young boy and his beloved donkey, Small One who he has to sell as he is too old to work.  His father tells him this and takes him to the small village to sell him. Nobody wants to buy Small One because that believe him to be a useless donkey.  That is until he comes to a young man that needs a Donkey to help carry his wife, who is pregnant. That man happens to be Joesph.  I liked the plot for this short, it was rather simple but beautifully done.


Characters


I'll be breaking this down into Important, & Supporting, & villains.  This short with it's villain at least in my eyes is similar to Pinocchio. With how there are multiple villains.


Important Characters




Small One - Not Voiced

Small One is our main character and he is a really adorable character. Admittedly, I chose this short because there was another donkey Christmas special that I enjoyed and I wanted to see how good this one was.  While that special holds a special place in my heart, I still enjoyed this one.  As for Small One,  he was a very likable character.  He felt very sincere and kind hearted.  I could feel that he cared about the Boy and vice versa.  It felt as though while he may have been older, he wanted to  prove himself so that the Boy would have an easier time finding him an owner.  He may not be much to look at but he has a lot of heart and that is what counts in my book.


Boy voiced by  Sean Marshall

The Boy is perhaps the most likable human character.  Again just as with Small One, he is a very kind hearted person and truly cares for Small One.   That is why when his Father tells him in the first night that'll be taking Small One to be sold, he asks to go instead.  This shows how much he cares about Small One and it pains him that he has to let Small One go.  Each time  you saw these two character together, you could feel  how much they cared for one another.


Father voiced by Olan Soule

The Father is an important character as he the one in my eyes that sets the events of the story in motion.  He is the one that decides that Small One needs to be sold.  He sees  that it hurts his son that he made the decision that Small One needs to be sold but he knows Small One isn't bringing in any money for the family and there is no need in keeping Small One.  He lets his son take Small One and sell him because of how he loves Small One.  If I had known about this short sooner, the Father from this short might have had a chance of making my list of Top 6 Disney Dads. Because while he's not in the short much, the time he is, shows how powerful a father he is.


Joesph voiced by  Gordon  Jump

While we don't see Joesph until the very end of this short, I'd still rank him as an important character as he is the only one besides the Boy to show compassion for Small One.   He was a very caring man from the little we saw of him while on screen. I'm a little sad that we didn't get to see more of Small One with Joesph & Mary.  Especially how there is foreshadowing with the Boy saying that Small One is a donkey fit for a King.  Though that is before we met Joesph and everyone else the Boy took Small One to just laughed at him for believing in Small One but not Joesph.  Joesph saw that there was something more to Small One.  I think is what made him such a good character and one of the most likable human characters.




Supporting Characters



The Merchants  - Voices Unlisted

Now if there were a set of characters I didn't particularly care for in this short, it would have to be The Merchants.  I believe that they were supposed to be the comic relief characters but to me they just didn't work and that is saying something. Because normally, I like comic relief characters but I don't know something just felt off about these three.  They were okay and while they weren't in the short for long, I just didn't care for them.





Music


Friendly Faces





While a simple song, it is a nicely done song.  It shows that the The Boy knows while he has to give up Small One, it is for the best and that he will find a better home for Small One somewhere. Which he eventually does with Joesph.  It is a very touching song and fits in well with what  I believe one of  the themes of this short to be which, there is a home everyone.





Villains




The Tanner voiced by William Woodson

The Tanner is the first person the Boy takes Small One to sell.  The Tanner is more than willing to take Small One off the Boy's hands.  To skin Small One that is.  The Boy is surprised and shocked by this news.   So The Boy decides not to sell Small One to the Tanner as he doesn't want Small One to be killed and seeing how the other animals that the Tanner has and the thought of what he'll do them is pretty horrifying.  Just like most people that the Boy and Small One encounter, he is only in the short for a brief period of time but boy does he leave an impression.




The Auctioneer voiced by Hal Smith

The Auctioneer is the second person that the Boy takes Small One to so that he can sell before finally meeting Joesph.  When I looked up this short and saw comments on it, someone compared the character of the Auctioneer to that of Stromboli.  Which I will say he does look a bit like that character and some of his mannerisms are similar.  They are both  cruel and greedy men that are just in it for the money. It's actually pretty funny that someone would make that statement seeing as this short was packaged with a Christmas re-release of Pinocchio  back in '78.





My Final Thoughts


I honestly can't believe that I had never seen this short before.  It is such a wonderfully done short and the message is just so beautiful.  This is a short that I highly reccomend as it is very good and shows some of Don Bluth's early stuff and it shows that Mr. Bluth worked rather hard on this short.  Another comment I noticed when watching this short is someone stated when they watch they don't see Disney but rather Don Bluth and taking a look at some of his feature films such as All Dogs Go To Heaven or An American Tail,   you can see how much of a hand Bluth had in this short but I think that it still has  a Disney quality to it that makes it a stunningly gorgeous short to watch.    Well, join me Monday when I resume Christmas mode and take a look at

The Santa's of Disney