By far the likeliest candidate to succeed an aging Mickey Mouse, who was 20 last month, is a small, frustrated bear named Bongo, the latest in Walt Disney’s long string of animal characterizations. The story of Bongo forms part of a new full-length Technicolor movie called Fun and Fancy Free which is otherwise filled with old characters like Donald Duck and a new but almost unrecognizable version of Jack and the Beanstalk. Bongo, however, is the film’s mainstay. A circus star all his life (part of his act consists in plunging 200 feet into a wet sponge), Bongo nevertheless yearns for freedom. But when he gets it (left), he is unable to climb a tree or even walk on all fours. But learning to be an outdoor bear is nowhere near as hard as winning the affections of a sexy-looking female bear named Lulubelle (right). Most moviegoers will welcome Disney's return to "basic Disney,” i.e. straight cartoon fun, but may wonder briefly at Bongo’s unlikely genesis: a short story by Sinclair Lewis. […]
