King Neptune (1932)
King Neptune Review
King Neptune is a 1932 Silly Symphony animated short film by Disney. It is a color film that is one of the most mature in the series.
The story itself here is not only present and eventful, but quite good. The action is solid, it starts well and ends on a nice note, but the middle of the film is the best and most entertaining. I liked the singing as well and the animation in particular was phenomenal here and so colorful and it is nice to see such a great, repeated use of Technicolor after their groundbreaking ‘Flowers and Trees’.
But the film is interesting for being so mature in tone as it has both nudity and some sexual overtones. And although the flamboyant pirate was handled rather tastelessly and insensitively, I still liked the choice to go into more adult territory which was easily achieved as being a Pre-Code film. The whole film is never as great or as particularly likable as it should have been, but it is still an interesting diversion and one of the most intriguing experiments in the Silly Symphony canon.
