I've reviewed this already, in the context of Make Mine Music.
But when I saw that Willie had a video all to himself, I simply had to
take the opportunity to let him have the spotlight all by himself. I
first encountered Willie at the library when I was a toddler, at one of
those afternoon movie viewings that they used to have. When Mom came to
get me, I was bawling my eyes out; I insisted that there was something
in my eye. When I saw it on Disney years later, I had to beg dust
particle impairment once more. And if I watched it today, I'm sure I
still would. Nothing can make me cry like this movie, even if it's only
less than half an hour long.
I'm glad to have the chance to
review this again because while supervising my brother's book swap, I
came across a Disney book, the kind that used to come with a record, of
this epic. I was thrilled...until I flipped to the end, at which point I
threw down the book in disgust. "They changed the ending!" I shouted in
dismay. This had to be some form of sacrilege.
I once read a
review which lauded Walt Disney's chutzpah for ending Willie's saga so
tragically. Disney is the land of happy endings, but the story of Willie
is one of the saddest I've ever seen. For the uninitiated, it is the
tale of a whale who has the ability to sing opera in three different
voices -- all at once. When people begin hearing him singing out in the
ocean, it causes an uproar. The news soon spreads to Tetti-Tatti, the
great Italian discoverer of operatic talent. He's found opera stars in
all sorts of strange places, so it seems conceivable that he could find
one in the belly of a whale.
He sails out to sea with a group
of sailors, determined to rescue the musical Jonah. Willie, however,
believes that this is his big break, his audition which may allow him to
realize his lifelong dream of singing at the Metropolitan Opera. He
launches into an impressive setlist of opera tunes, and the harpooners
are far too enchanted to dream of taking aim. After a while, Willie
decides to show off his second voice, and Tetti-Tatti concludes, "He's-a
swallowed two h'opera singers!" And when he sings in all three voices
at once, Tetti-Tatti is thrilled at the prospect of finding three opera
stars in the belly of one whale.
At the height of his most
dramatic performance, Willie has entranced the sailors to the point that
they are no longer guarding the harpoon. Seizing his opportunity,
Tetti-Tatti takes aim and...a great splash, and the singing is forever
silenced on Earth. Willie's seagull pal disconsolately floats around the
spot where his friend fell, and a glorious sunset sweeps upward to
reveal Willie, bedecked in a tiny pair of wings, singing to a celestial
sold-out crowd as the narrator (who plays all the voices in this film)
consoles the observers:
"Now Willie will never sing at the
Met. But don't be too harsh on Tetti-Tatti. He just didn't understand.
You see, Willie's singing was a miracle. And people aren't used to
miracles. And you, my faithful little friend, don't be too sad. Because
miracles never really die. And somewhere, in whatever Heaven is reserved
for creatures of the deep, Willie is still singing. In a hundred
voices, each more golden than before, and he'll go on singing, amid the
applause and the cheering, forever."
It's all I can do to
keep from crying as I type that. That is probably the most beautiful
ending of an animated film ever, followed closely by Watership Down (whose ending is twice as beautiful in the book). The book for Willie is not
an improvement. It is a travesty. Something to the effect of
"Unfortunately, the net scared Willie away and he swam off into the
ocean, never to return. So he'll never sing at the Met, but he'll keep
singing in the ocean forever...at least we'd like to think so!" I'm
shuddering as I write it. Why did Disney suddenly decide they had to
shield children from the most touching tragedy ever to grace the screen?
Whoever is responsible for that book, a thousand curses on your head. The Whale Who Wanted to Sing at the Met
is a tragedy; to make it otherwise is to betray its integrity and
belittle its beauty. Treasure the movie, and avoid the book at all
costs/
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