Rare Disney Animation: Cri-Cri The Singing Cricket

[pap64]

Talk about a delight!

In 1963 the Disney studios did a short animated segment featuring the Three Little Pigs for a children's Mexican film called "Cri Cri The Singing Cricket".

Its all in Spanish, but easy to understand. The story is that the Big Bad Wolf is threatening to kick out the three little pigs and their mother if they don't pay the rent. So the pigs go to the festival of flowers, sing and dance and win first prize.

There is also a story that said that Disney wanted the character of Cri Cri but its original creator refused to give him the rights.

Enjoy!
<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/MhxoDonN5Jk&hl ... ram><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/MhxoDonN5Jk&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

[Elladorine]

Wow, pretty cool, never even heard about this before! I just asked Rey if he was familiar with the sequence, but it's been years since he's seen this stuff so I'm gonna have him watch it (and make him translate, lol) when he gets home.

[pap64]

Wow, pretty cool, never even heard about this before! I just asked Rey if he was familiar with the sequence, but it's been years since he's seen this stuff so I'm gonna have him watch it (and make him translate, lol) when he gets home.

Why wait when I can do it RIGHT NOW!

Narrator: My dear little friends, tonight, Cri Cri is very upset. You know why? Because he has received a letter from Pepita where it says that her little brother Miguelito, oh dear this is terrible, I hope they are listening. As I was saying, Miguelito refuses to take his cough medicine. How sad, because if Miguelito would take his medicine he would get well soon and get out of bed.

Ah, but that's not all. Aaaah... Cri Cri says that he will not sing because Miguelito doesn't want to take his medicine.

Miguelito: I will take my medicine!

Narrator: But I say that Miguelito WILL take his medicine. Because I am sure that Miguelito is an obedient boy. And now as a reward, the singing cricket will tell the story of very sleepy pigs. The youngest one dreamt of working so he could help his poor mother.

Miguelito: Like mine!

*Points at the picture, the animated segment begins

Narrator: The little pigs are in bed, their mother gives them lots of kisses.

And all warm in their pajamas, and in a bit all three will snooze.

Chorus: One dreamt that he was a king, and all of a sudden he wanted cake, they brought him lots of cakes and ate it all for himself.

The other dreamt of being in the sea, and was going rowing on a boat. And all of a sudden he fell out of bed and started crying.

*Knocking on door

Practical Pig: Geez, its the big bad wolf!

Big Bad Wolf: Ma'am, the rent must be paid RIGHT NOW!

Miss Pig: But, I don't have the money. If only you could wait a bit more, please!

Big Bad Wolf: Fine. Tomorrow morning I will return for the rent. if you don't have it, I will kick everyone out!

Practical Pig: Hey sleepy heads wake up! We must help mom and make money soon!

Pigs: But how? Where?

Practical pigs: Here, in the festival of flowers! We sing and dance and win cash prizes!

*Holds poster up, says "Festival of Flowers: Cash Prizes! Music happiness and dancing"

*Goes into a scene from The Three Caballeros

Narrator: Welcome to the festival of flowers! The little pigs in a latin american musical fantasy!

*Song goes here

*Pigs ride home whistling "Who's afraid of the big, bad wolf?"

Big Bad Wolf: Alright, ribs AND money!

Pratical Pig: Geez! It's the big, bad wolf, RUN!

Pigs: Hurry mom open the door! Hurry!

Wolf: Stupid little pigs! Just wait till I kick you out!

Miss Pig: My lovely children! I love you so much! You have help me out of this predicament!

[Isidour]

That's a very old movie!

I never knew that Disney had an interest for Cri-Cri, (made by Gavilondo Soler)

[pap64]

That's a very old movie!

I never knew that Disney had an interest for Cri-Cri, (made by Gavilondo Soler)

Si. Though I don't know if its urban legend, but considering Disney had many connections in Latin American I wouldn't be surprised if he did ask Gavilondo if he could make a movie based on the character.

[rs_milo_whatever]

Woah, it's cool running into this here

Francisco Gabilondo Soler is a true Mexican icon. Generations grew up with his music, and some of us with this movie. Even as a little kid you can tell that animation is undeniably Disney. This is the first time i hear that Cri Cri (his pen name/also a character), the cricket, could have potentially been a Disney classic and it makes me sad/angry that he passed on the opportunity. I just know that just by association and having him work with Disney himself would have made the movie a classic, most likely at least better than the package films. I'm guessing he wanted to keep it an exclusively Mexican product or he was trying to keep it as a more pure product, rather than a franchise based project.

I just keep wondering if it would have been an animated film with translations of his music or original works, may be a musical live action film, or may be a hybrid like Mary Poppins or Pete's Dragon having Cri Cri be an animated character...Oh the possibilities.

[pap64]

I think it might have been a matter of pride. Remember that Disney has the tendency of taking a classic story or character and making it his own, leading people to believe that his version is the ultimate version. Kinda like how people think Winnie the Pooh is a Disney character even though it was originally a series of books.

I guess Cri-Cri's creator wanted to keep his character his property and have the freedom to pursue any project he wanted with the character.

[rs_milo_whatever]

If I'm not wrong, there was another Mexican character that did get a Disney outing. Cantinflas was made into a series named Amigo and Friends, and it was quickly forgotten, but that is probably because it wasn't a film, and I'm guessing Disney television was not very succesful. But you're right, the Winnie The Pooh example could explain it all...I just had a mental picture of Cri-Cri in a Kingdom Hearts Game

[musicradio77]

Never saw it, but this is a spanish film, I'm not really sure if there is an English dubbed version of the movie, I don't really see it in the light of day. This film was not available on any format such as VHS and DVD. This film was from 1963, but it's over 2 hours long. It has a rare Disney animation to it which is the Three Little Pigs characters in Spanish form where Disney revived them.

[Isidour]

Maybe not dubbed but subtitled.

I guess Soler did wanted to keep Cri-Cri as a pure product. Remember that it's only interest was to entertain children more than making business

[pap64]

Maybe not dubbed but subtitled.

I guess Soler did wanted to keep Cri-Cri as a pure product. Remember that it's only interest was to entertain children more than making business

And unfortunately, one thing Disney does is market their characters to the point where we see the product first, the character later.

[rs_milo_whatever]

Maybe not dubbed but subtitled.

I guess Soler did wanted to keep Cri-Cri as a pure product. Remember that it's only interest was to entertain children more than making business

And unfortunately, one thing Disney does is market their characters to the point where we see the product first, the character later.

Was that the case when Walt was alive though? I mean, may be this whole Disney monster franchise started afterward. Who knows why it didn't happen, but anybody that has heard any of Cri-Cri's music would know it would make a very good contribution.

[pap64]

If I am not mistaken, Disney DID license Mickey Mouse, and had Snow White toys and items at the premiere. Disney did this so he could have more money at the studios and generate more films.

[blackcauldron85]

Did the credits of the film credit Disney?

And I won't lie- when I saw this thread, I read it as "Cri-Kee the Singing Cricket" and thought that it was a deleted scene or deleted character development from Mulan. I was disappointed.

Why are the mouths not synched up as well as they should be in the short? Especially for the pigs' mom?

Thanks for the translation, pap! 6 years of Spanish classes didn't do much for me.

[pap64]

Did the credits of the film credit Disney?

And I won't lie- when I saw this thread, I read it as "Cri-Kee the Singing Cricket" and thought that it was a deleted scene or deleted character development from Mulan. I was disappointed.

Why are the mouths not synched up as well as they should be in the short? Especially for the pigs' mom?

Thanks for the translation, pap! 6 years of Spanish classes didn't do much for me.

The mouths are not synched up because its likely that American animators were struggling to animated to a foreign language. I still think they did a good job with it.

And yes, they did give Disney credit for the sequence. Not only that it received a huge marketing push:

[blackcauldron85]

I don't think that the synching was *bad*, but it just wasn't what I'm used to from Disney, but your reason makes sense. Thanks for the info!

[Elladorine]

Thanks for the translation!

We ended up watching a lot of youtube clips last night because of this segment. Rey had many of these films as a kid so it was a real treat for him. He says he'd like to pick up the films again and reminded me that I need to learn more Spanish!