A carefree little satyr frolics his way across the stream and forest floor, playing his pan pipes as he goes and causing all the animals and even the foliage itself to join in with his revelrous dance, and all is well until a pair of rowdy thunderclouds accidentally start a forest fire, at which point everyone has to think fast if they hope to save their woodland home! This is a bit of a curiously structured Silly Symphony, at the starts Pan's dance across the river rocks and everything is okay with some noticeably odd touches like a flower with big eyes and a bear cub fleeing up a tree that looks an awful lot like Mickey Mouse, but it's a bit bland as it's the same old gag of just animation built around the music, which was what most of these animated shorts were all about and for the most part it was very charming, but the short really picks up though when the fire animation starts and attacks everything in the form of little fire imps that even kill a few of the forest residents including one poor treeman who I felt really sad for because he looked just like one of the cute characters from the later Symphony "Flowers and Trees." The animation of the fire and the action that revolved around it and just how well the monochrome animation could convey the heat and destruction is something I was quite impressed by, and I liked the way the action returns to Pan who quietly disappears from the short for a while after unleashing the havoc, and then he just as casually saves the day as he uses his pipe to captivate and extinguish the wicked flame sprites! Slow to begin with but I enjoy how it picks up and becomes quite exciting towards the end, not exactly a gem but fun and well worth seeing if you have a liking for this kind of vintage animation goodness! x
Review of Playful Pan
