Love animation, it was a big part of my life as a child, particularly Disney, Looney Tunes and Tom and Jerry, and still love it whether it's film, television or cartoons. Know Rudolf Ising for his cartoons that have a cute approach with a lot of sentiment. There have been times where this approach has been done sweetly and charmingly, there have also been other times where it can be too cutesy and cloying. Saw 'Dance of the Weed' quite late in the game, after seeing comparisons to one of my favourites 'Fantasia'.
'Dance of the Weed' really impressed me on the whole, and it didn't strike me as over cute or over sentimental. It's very charming and visually and musically absolutely gorgeous, to me it is one of Ising's better, best looking and most interesting cartoons regardless of the expected slightness (all of Ising's cartoons are slight narratively, some more so than others) of the plot. While it is not ground breaking or ahead of the time level as 'Fantasia', as others have said the influence is obvious.
The best aspect of 'Dance of the Weed' is the animation, which is just gorgeous. Especially in the dancing sequences, and it is rich in detail for design and backgrounds, vibrant in colour and crisp. The dance of the flowers definitely has a 'Fantasia' influence. Composer for the prime-era 'Tom and Jerry' cartoons and regular Tex Avery composer Scott Bradley provides a lush and atmospheric music score that enhances the action so beautifully and seamlessly.
Dancing just enchants in the animation and in the atmosphere, as someone who has adored ballet since six years old watching such beautifully animated and balletic dancing in animation really took me back. It is a very charming cartoon without ever being sickly sweet or sentimental and while the pace is not thick and fast it isn't dull either because the perfect marriage of visuals and music captivates so much. The characters engage, especially the weed, the very definition of a fool with a heart of gold.
For all those outstanding qualities they are not quite enough to disguise that the story is one that is immediately forgotten by the viewer quickly and it's best to keep it that way. There's nothing new about it, not much of one at all and it's not hard to tell where it's all going to go.
Overall though, really liked it. 8/10.
