. . . of their Bitter Rivals comprising Warner Bros.' Animated Shorts Seers division (aka, The Looney Tuners), Walt Disney assigns his own scribblers to look forward into Football's Super Bowl Era with LAMBERT THE SHEEPISH LION. Since the Motor City Lions were capturing "World Championships" left and right when LAMBERT came out in the 1950s amid Football's Weak "Tag--you're It!" Era, Disney's doodlers thought that they had "easy pickings" in closing LAMBERT with Motown's Victory Parade for the Lions triumphing over the Predators as they win Super Bowl I. This, of course, resulted in the famous "Disney Curse;" that is, more than half a century of Kitty Kat Lions, culminating with the 2008 squad setting the ultimate mark for NFL futility: completing a win-less season at 0 -- 16! The Lion's remain the lone "original" team NEVER to appear in the Super Bowl during its 50-year plus history. If Predators starting dragging away the Lions' moms in Real Life (as happens toward the close of LAMBERT THE SHEEPISH LION), these feckless felines doubtless would rush to get the Predators knives, forks, and napkins! At least the Chicago Cubs could quantify their futility, thanks to a Series Championship in 1908. Guess who they beat W-A-A-A-Y back then? (Hint: It starts with "D," ends with "T," and is followed by the name of the Lion's deplorable litter box mates.)

WE ARE ONCE again reminded of the old adage that there are only so many basic plots. All stories are derivative of these and are only variations; however well and fancifully disguised they may be.THEREFORE, WE WISH to publish our assertion that this, today's honored reviewee. LAMBERT THE SHEEPISH LION (Walt Disney Productions, 1952) is in fact a variation on the story of The Ugly Duckling. The story is also a natural for audiences; being that it brings into play the most elemental struggle between two symbolic opposites. The polar antagonists were the Lamb and the Lion, here displayed in the same venue.INSTEAD OF HAVING a protagonist that is a miscast swan in a duck family, we are treated to the story of a Lion Cub's being raised by a mother ewe as her own little lamb. Of course the little feline, Panthera leo (scientific name), finds it a very difficult way to go. His physical attributes were designed for predatory existence on the savannas of sub-Saharan Africa and not to grazing on grass in Western North America.THE STORY IS cleverly done and tends to give one not only a fine helping of laughs; but also does a good job in warming the old heart. The metamorphosis of the timid misfit lion cub/lamb to the ferocious and fully maned male big cat is done in a way that keeps us on the edge of our seats throughout its running time.IN AN OUTSTANDING move to underscore not only the story's action, but also the mood of the picture is its original musical score. In addition to the incidental music and musical queues, We have the original song, "Lambert The Sheepish Lion"; being sung in a sort of bleating sheep's style.STARTING OFF THE action is a case of a misdirected delivery. Reprising his voice characterization of the stork in DUMBO (Walt Disney Prod., 1942), we have Sterling Holloway. The Stork character was a real scene stealer and kit is no surprise that he would be used again. Our only question would be: How come he wasn't used much more?

Simba wasn't the first lion Disney made heroic... and cute. I had half-forgotten the little gem that is Lambert the Sheepish Lion until the other day, but it is a part of my childhood. The 1952 short tells of a lion cub mistakenly delivered by a stork to a flock of sheep, one of whom becomes attached to the kitten. Lambert grows up into a big lion, but instead of inspiring awe among the sheep, he inspires ridicule. He lacks the qualities of a sheep, but of course, he has qualities of his own, a nice little message.Of course, that message is familiar. Others have brought up comparisons to the Ugly Duckling- it also bears parallels to Rudolph the Red- Nosed Reindeer. A retelling of the story should have its own qualities, and here Disney succeeds. The animation is quality- it's from 1952, but could have come from a later decade. The song is nice, the humour is there (the wolf's goofy holler as he falls off the cliff is irresistible). The wolf is scary, but the cartoon isn't mean- spirited, as the bad guy gets to live. The big unsolved question is what exactly Lambert was eating while growing up; then again, if in Disney's universe a wolf can avoid starvation by eating berries, surely a lion can survive on a sheep's diet.

This short is one of the more successful Disney produced in the 1950s. Nominated for an Oscar in 1951, it has one of the more memorable one-shot characters Disney created in Lambert. Some of the visual gags, particularly toward the end of the cartoon are hilarious! Toward the end of the 1940s, Disney slipped behind UPA and MGM and even Warner Brothers in terms of shorts. The quality was still there, but the energy seemed to fade a bit. Cartoons like Lambert show that Disney could still more than hold its own. Highly recommended