I don't recall this being part of my yearly childhood rotation - parts seem familiar, so I probably saw it once, but it never really registered - and seeing it now as a grown-ass man, I found it perfectly charming and a near ideal example (aside from Midnight Summer's Dream) of the sort of wholesome musical fluff MGM were masters at creating. Giant, elaborate sets, peppy musical numbers, nightmare-fuel costumes (that mouse!), and in the middle are Stan and Ollie providing a much needed injection of modernism into the fairy tale aesthetic.
In a way, this is kind of like a proto-Shrek, aware of itself and its fairy-tale conventions, if only because of its two stars and their own comic timing, except here it's more timeless due to the black and white photography (I didnt watch the colorized version), and because of the MGM/Golden-age Hollywood production, from the non-stop music to the innocent-but-not-too-innocent tone - yes, mortgages and foreclosures included. I wouldn't rank it as fully great, yet I'd be lying if I said I wasnt giggling consistently throughout, and not just from the Stan & Ollie bits. It's the kind of family entertainment where you gather everyone around, make hot cocoa and dig in. And who could give a "come on!" 4th-wall breaking look like Hardy?
In a way, this is kind of like a proto-Shrek, aware of itself and its fairy-tale conventions, if only because of its two stars and their own comic timing, except here it's more timeless due to the black and white photography (I didnt watch the colorized version), and because of the MGM/Golden-age Hollywood production, from the non-stop music to the innocent-but-not-too-innocent tone - yes, mortgages and foreclosures included. I wouldn't rank it as fully great, yet I'd be lying if I said I wasnt giggling consistently throughout, and not just from the Stan & Ollie bits. It's the kind of family entertainment where you gather everyone around, make hot cocoa and dig in. And who could give a "come on!" 4th-wall breaking look like Hardy?