Review of The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (1949) by Eric A — 11 Mar 2009

Disney in the 1940s--dare we say experimental? In terms of broad family entertainment, I'd say yes. "Mr. Toad" is a weird little yarn about an eccentric, charismatic protagonist that today would be labeled mentally ill. Though I prefer the days when we didn't consider eccentricity as something to be treated medically, it's kind of a revealing parable about almost any sort of behavior being publicly tolerable if you are rich. The story is rather clumsily told but at least we have a baller theme park ride to show for it.

Ichabod, on the other hand, is a revelation and a highly underrated/underseen part of the American animated canon. Turning "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" into a comic jazz musical is a terrible idea on paper, but the richly-drawn characterizations and the smooth, hepcat attitude provided by Bing Crosby make it work. The key is that everybody knows a douche like Ichabod and thus we love to see him squirm. Washington Irving would be proud.