The story, from a book by Daniel Mannix, was Disney’s best material in a decade or two, the stuff of rending family melodrama on the order of Dumbo or Lady and the Tramp. Unfortunately, the execution is only adequate: the character work relies too much on celebrity voices (as was Disney’s habit in the dark 60s) and the whole film has a sketchy, underpopulated feel that hardly represents Disney at the studio’s baroque best. Still, against all odds, a tear or two is effectively jerked, and there was enough skill on display to encourage some hope for the new generation of Disney animators, who made their debut here (1983).