After Max Fleischer and his brother were ousted from their own studio, Paramount reorganized the studio, titled it the Famous Studio (later called Paramount Cartoon Studio) and lasted another 25 years making more Popeye and Superman cartoons, as well as cartoons featuring Casper the Friendly Ghost, Baby Huey, Herman & Katnip, etc. In all honesty, even as a huge admirer of animation, I've never really been the biggest fan of their work, as much of their series were more formulaic than Tom & Jerry and they seemed to appeal more to children than both children and adults (well, some at least). That being said, I think one of if not the best cartoon they ever made was this Raggedy Ann cartoon called The Enchanted Square, mainly for how emotional and heart warming it is.
The short centers around a little blind girl in New York named Billie, who on Halloween is given a Raggedy Ann doll from the police officer Flanagan. Despite being blind, Billie is told by Raggedy Ann that she can see with her imagination (or in this case, her heart). And so, Billie imagines a beautiful voyage where she and Ann travel through a carnivalesque land based on the real world but much more imaginative and colorful. What makes this such a sweet tale is how emotional it is, as we see how even those without the ability to see can think outside the box and imagine a world far beyond our own. What could have been saccharine ends up feeling genuinely sweet and heartfelt, and the ending does a perfect job summing up how there may be more to the physically impaired than one might think.
Adding in to that, despite there only being one song, You Can See With your Heart gives the proper optimistic tone to help recreate reality into fantasy, and it's hard not to tear up when listening to it. In addition, the animation is very colorful, vibrant and harmonious, with the lusciously beautiful landscapes and environments Billie recreates, showing how the young can think up of anything. In all honesty, I think the only real gripe I have with the whole short is that I wish it was a little longer so we could maybe see more of a conflict, but then again, that's not really the main point. The short knows exactly what it wants to say, and it does its job beautifully and poetically.
Whoever said cartoons shouldn't make people cry? Overall, The Enchanted Square is not only one of Famous Studios' crowning achievements in animation, but I'd even go as far as to say that it's one of the greatest animated shorts of the Golden Age of American Animation. If you're a fan of animation or you have a kid of your own, check out this short any given time; it might even inspire you or them. In fact, I think the internet short Out of Sight might have taken some inspiration from this, who knows? Anywho, to wrap this up, I'm going to quote officer Flanagan. "There are some who see with the eyes in their head, and there are some who see with the eyes in their heart, and that's the Lord's own truth."
The short centers around a little blind girl in New York named Billie, who on Halloween is given a Raggedy Ann doll from the police officer Flanagan. Despite being blind, Billie is told by Raggedy Ann that she can see with her imagination (or in this case, her heart). And so, Billie imagines a beautiful voyage where she and Ann travel through a carnivalesque land based on the real world but much more imaginative and colorful. What makes this such a sweet tale is how emotional it is, as we see how even those without the ability to see can think outside the box and imagine a world far beyond our own. What could have been saccharine ends up feeling genuinely sweet and heartfelt, and the ending does a perfect job summing up how there may be more to the physically impaired than one might think.
Adding in to that, despite there only being one song, You Can See With your Heart gives the proper optimistic tone to help recreate reality into fantasy, and it's hard not to tear up when listening to it. In addition, the animation is very colorful, vibrant and harmonious, with the lusciously beautiful landscapes and environments Billie recreates, showing how the young can think up of anything. In all honesty, I think the only real gripe I have with the whole short is that I wish it was a little longer so we could maybe see more of a conflict, but then again, that's not really the main point. The short knows exactly what it wants to say, and it does its job beautifully and poetically.
Whoever said cartoons shouldn't make people cry? Overall, The Enchanted Square is not only one of Famous Studios' crowning achievements in animation, but I'd even go as far as to say that it's one of the greatest animated shorts of the Golden Age of American Animation. If you're a fan of animation or you have a kid of your own, check out this short any given time; it might even inspire you or them. In fact, I think the internet short Out of Sight might have taken some inspiration from this, who knows? Anywho, to wrap this up, I'm going to quote officer Flanagan. "There are some who see with the eyes in their head, and there are some who see with the eyes in their heart, and that's the Lord's own truth."