This is a nice Disney take to Bizet's Carmen opera. Funny song and dance characters and catchy tunes. Not terribly entertaining, but somewhat of the more unique Silly Symphonies.Grade B-

Honestly, if this cartoon has committed a sin, it's that it's not as imaginative or impressive as its predecessor, The Skeleton Dance (1929). One would think that this cartoon came out before that one, because in comparison, El terrible toreador is underwhelming and not that well animated. It also borrows from the Mickey Mouse silent, Gallopin' Gaucho (1928), in which outlaw Mickey romances and rescues dancing waitress Minnie.The structure is very disjointed. The first half involves the titular toreador rescuing a sexy waitress from the unwanted advances of an officer. he proceeds to humiliate his rival, and then we get to the second half where the toreador engages in a comical bull fight. It is loosely connected to the first part only by the presence of the waitress and officer in the audience. The gags are occasionally funny and the animation is average. The last bit where the toreador pulls the bull's insides out is rather gruesome and will no doubt bother some viewers.Basically, the cartoon is average and unremarkable. Unless you're an animation nerd or you're trying to watch all the Silly Symphonies, you can skip this one without missing a thing.

It is not as if I hate Disney, I don't. As a matter of fact, I am a huge fan, and watch their films, cartoons and shows a lot. It's just that El Terrible Toreador never sat well with me, it is my least favourite Disney Silly Symphony and the only one of a cartoon series that contains many solid cartoons and a lot of gems that I disliked. Is there is a redeeming quality. Yes, and it is a big one. The music, which is sprightly and energetic and the Carmen snippets are done with so much zest and authenticity it is musically a delight. I just wish the rest of the cartoon was as good, sadly it is not and mostly lives up to its name. I appreciate that it tried to do something new story-wise, but the story in both parts really doesn't come together, lacking in character and some of it especially in the second half is baffling. Carmen's dancing is not characterful at all, I read somewhere that it is very rubber hose-style and that is a very apt description, the bullfight sequence is severely undermined by lack of any true tension and characterisation plus the only likable character is a caricature in this scene, and the ending is maybe interesting for seeing what gross-out gags at that time were like but as well as being confusing that's all it is, a very unsubtle gross-out. I didn't like the characters either, the only one who shines in any way is the Toreador and that is to do with the swagger and style and that in the first half(especially when he steals the man's beer) there is an attempt to give him some character. Carmen is nowhere near flirtatious enough sadly, pretty much the most exciting thing she does here is kick a tray, that's it. I wish I could say the same about the animation as I did the music, but I can't. It is very lacking in any kind of fluidity, and the character designs are the stiffest of any Disney Silly Symphony. The sound is also crude, and the cartoon is never funny, even the most potentially interesting gag of the entire cartoon failed due to how it was executed and the fact it may offend people. Overall, the music is outstanding and the Toreador, apart from being reduced to a caricature in the second half, is not a bad character. Other than that, right from a story that never feels right and an ending that will leave people gasping with shock or disgust than laughing, El Terrible Toreador sadly does live up to its dubious name. 4/10 Bethany Cox

Before you can get to see "Cannibal Capers" and a few other 'special' cartoons on the "Walt Disney Treasures: More Silly Symphonies" DVD set, you are forced to watch an introduction by Leonard Maltin. He talks about the times in which they were made and how politically incorrect the films are. I am not against this, but hate how once you view it, you must ALWAYS view Maltin's speech again if you come back to any of the offensive cartoons. The same thing happens in some of the other Treasures DVDS--such as the second Donald Duck set.As far as "El Terrible Toreador" goes, I was rather at a loss to understand why it was placed among the infamous shorts introduced by Maltin. Now I am not Hispanic nor am I a bull--if I were, I might feel otherwise. Perhaps someone took offense at the way the folks were depicted or the idea of showing a bullfight--though it was very non-violent. Perhaps someone thought the bull was gay or the cartoon offended bald folks--I'm just grasping at straws trying to figure out what's 'incorrect' about this rather charming cartoon.