Little Hiawatha is way more about falling pants than epic hunting

If you have about eight minutes and want to feel like a kid again, this is a pretty safe bet. 🏹 It is one of those old Silly Symphonies that feels like a warm blanket on a rainy day.

Most people who like classic animation will dig this. But if you’re looking for something super edgy or experimental like Rhythmus 21, you’re definitely in the wrong part of the woods.

The movie starts with this really serious narration. It makes you think you are about to watch a grand epic about a legendary warrior.

Then we see Hiawatha in his little canoe. 🛶 His pants are already falling down before he even gets to the shore.

He is trying so hard to be fierce. It’s adorable and also kinda sad because he has no idea what he is doing.

There is this one scene where he tracks a grasshopper. He stalks it like it is a 500-pound grizzly bear.

The grasshopper just laughs at him. I think I made that same face the last time I tried to fix a leaky sink. 🛠️

I really liked the water animation in this. For 1937, the way the ripples move around his paddle is actually pretty impressive.

Then he finds a bunny. This is where the movie really shows its heart.

He points his arrow right at it. The bunny doesn't even run; it just stares at him with these huge, watery eyes.

You can tell Hiawatha is absolutely struggling. He tries to look tough, but you can see his lip quiver just a little bit.

He ends up breaking his arrow and telling the bunny to scram. It's the most relatable moment in the whole thing.

The middle part of the short drags a tiny bit when he’s looking at tracks. I found myself looking at the background trees more than the actual character.

The backgrounds look like soft watercolor paintings you’d find in a dusty attic. 🎨 They have this hazy, dreamlike quality that modern cartoons usually lack.

Suddenly, a real bear shows up. The tone shifts from 'cute forest fun' to 'run for your life' pretty fast.

The bear is much chunkier than I expected. He looks like he’s been eating very well even before he spotted a kid in oversized pants. 🐻

All the animals he spared earlier come back to help him. It's a bit predictable, but it works because the animation of the squirrels and birds is so bouncy.

It’s a bit like a test run for the forest scenes in Bambi. You can see the animators figuring out how to make animals look both realistic and funny at the same time.

If you enjoyed the nature vibes in Wild Waves and Women, you'll probably appreciate the scenery here. It’s very cozy.

One weird thing is the narrator. He just disappears after the first minute and never comes back.

I guess they realized the slapstick spoke for itself. 🤷‍♂️

The ending is very abrupt. He just gets home and the short ends right there.

There’s no big moral or lesson. It just... stops.

I’ve seen bigger productions like The Big Show that try to do too much. This stays small and simple, and I think that's why it's still watchable now.

It isn't a masterpiece or anything. It's just a nice way to spend ten minutes without thinking too hard.

I did notice one reaction shot of a squirrel that lingered a few seconds too long. It was supposed to be cute, but it started to feel like the squirrel was judging me through the screen.

Anyway, his pants falling down is a recurring gag. It shouldn't be that funny, but it got me every time.

Didja notice?

• The way the grasshopper spits at him is kind of gross if you think about it too much.
• Hiawatha’s toe-stubbing animation looks genuinely painful.
• The bear seems to have some serious beef with the squirrels.
• That one bird looks suspiciously like a character from The Crime Doctor, or maybe I'm just seeing things.
• The sound of the arrow snapping is weirdly satisfying.

Overall, it's fine. It's cute. Go watch it if you're stressed out and need to see a bunny win for once. 🐰