Singing, climbing, and getting weird: A look at I'd Climb the Highest Mountain

Is it worth your time?

If you like old-school, rubber-hose animation and don't mind a bit of nonsense, absolutely. It's not exactly Battleship Potemkin in terms of gravitas, but it’s got a weird energy that keeps you watching. If you hate cartoons where the physics make zero sense, you’ll probably want to skip it.

The whole thing kicks off with some physical comedy that feels like a precursor to every 'falling off a cliff' joke in history. There's this jittery, frantic quality to the movement that you just don't see in modern digital stuff.

Then we get to the title song. Watching that bouncing ball hit the lyrics is weirdly hypnotic. It feels like you're sitting in a dusty theater from 1930, waiting for your popcorn to get cold. 🍿

The shift

The movie doesn't stay serious for long. It almost feels like the animators got bored of the song halfway through and decided to start poking fun at their own setup. The images start getting distorted and silly—kind of like how things get way too intense in The Scar of Shame but for completely different, goofier reasons.

I found myself wondering if Dave Fleischer and Seymour Kneitel were just having a laugh in the studio. It feels unpolished in the best way possible.

• The mountain looks like it's made of rubber.
• The singing is surprisingly catchy for something so old.
• The spoof section feels surprisingly mean-spirited for a musical.

It’s a tiny, fleeting thing. It doesn't try to change your life or explain the human condition like Humanidad. It just wants to climb a mountain and then make fun of itself for trying.

Sometimes you watch a film and you can tell it’s trying to be a masterpiece. This one? It’s just trying to finish the song before the screen cuts to black. That's fine by me. 🏔️