In 1937, the Disney Studio and the Harman-Ising studio were in a jam. Disney was barely meeting the deadline for completing Snow White; They were at the inking and painting stage, but there was not enough people to complete it on time. MGM canceled their distribution contract with Harman-Ising after their films were running over budget. Walt contacted Harman-Ising and asked them if they could loan him their inking and painting department. In return Disney had them produce a Silly Symphony that was in development since 1935, Merbabies. Harman-Ising's cartoons for MGM were so lush that they could be almost mistaken for a Disney cartoon, which is probably why Disney warranted this consideration. Although, animation buffs and historians would be the only ones to notice that house style-wise, this does not resemble a Disney cartoon, but an MGM cartoon. Even Scott Bradley, the composer for virtually every MGM cartoon through the 1950's composed the score. Like most of the cartoons Harman-Ising directed, there isn't much story as there is lush visuals. It's mostly the Merbabies putting on an underwater show. I couldn't make sense out of the ending. Disney had Harman-Ising produced two additional cartoons for him, but RKO wouldn't allow this. It would be interesting to see if this was released as a Happy Harmony or a regular MGM cartoon. This makes for an interesting mash-up of two great animation studios. Worth checking out for the lush visuals and breathtaking musical score.

It may have a whole lot of babies in it..sort of, but this isn't a short cartoon that I'd label as babyish, it's very sweet and fun and it's finely animated. I enjoy this a bit more than the Silly Symphony "Water Babies" of a few years earlier, it feels like a case of less being a little more to me and it just seems to be a little more relaxed about its tone. There's no real story, the focus is only on the beautiful fantasy of cherubic little angels under the sea who make their own underwater circus. And that was something really clever and interesting about this short, I love how inventive they were at making the sea creatures clearly represent various classic circus animals. I love how there's always little precursors to the feature length movies to spot in the Symphonies, like that whale is definitely a pre-Monstro right down to the sneeze, and that adorable baby octopus-elephant is so Dumbo! As is a lot of that parade of 'animals' come to think about it.. The lush artwork that's put into the coral backgrounds is amazing, it's just like a real painting you'd hang on your wall. I always generally notice the little details over the bigger stuff, like I enjoy the texture of the water as it swirls and bubbles as the Merbabies swim through it. And I love the magnificent richness of the closing sunset over the water. It looks so fantastic that to look at it I find it hard to tell whether it's real or not. It really is one of the most astonishingly beautiful scenes I've ever seen in animated shorts like this. Animating surface water movements must have been one of the hardest things to do and make look fluid and realistic by hand. I love how they appear out of bubbles and disappear the same way at the end as they break the surface of the ocean, no more than mere sea foam or so it would seem... As in Anderson's fairytale. I don't find it sad how it ends, it feels poetic and fitting to me. It's like they were a little touch of unseen magic beneath the waves. They can't die if they're not real, more like fleeting joyful dreams of the eternal crashing sea... I like it a lot, but I don't love it like I do some of the other Symphonies. Nothing spectacular about it I'd say, but it's simply precious nonetheless. One of many short animated works of, at their most basic level, pure joy put out by the vintage Disney studio of a very long time ago indeed for a world that needs it. If Warner Bros was good at making us laugh then Disney excelled at making us feel warm inside. Swim on forever Merbabies!

Disney was busy trying to lift the art of animation to new heights by having his artists do an "under the sea" type of thing, long before anyone would be seeing films like PINOCCHIO or THE LITTLE MERMAID.MERBABIES is thin on plot but the art work is gorgeous and the visual elements are what make it worth watching. A dazzling array of sea creatures are having a circus-like parade that includes a number of sight gags with the creatures taking on the looks of elephants, donkeys, horses and other animals. Finally, just when the atmosphere couldn't be any cheerier, everyone scatters at the approach of a hard breathing whale (as in PINOCCHIO).The merbabies ride to the surface surrounded by a sea of bubbles and emerge atop the water, safe from the monstrous whale.Easy to see that Disney was doing experimental procedures for PINOCCHIO before its release two years later.Visually stunning, if a bit too cute for some tastes. All of the art work is first rate and much more impressive than in the earlier Disney shorts from '33 and onward.

Merbabies can be found as a bonus feature on The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea DVD. This Silly Symphony short is a cute look at how half-babies, half-fish celebrate a circus under the sea. For me, it was almost too cute. I kind of want to see more depth into the story, which may be difficult to do for a 9-minute Silly Symphony cartoon, but I point to The Old Mill on how that can be done effectively. However, I will say that the ending to Merbabies was kind of neat. So overall, Merbabies is a cute little film with crisp, clean animation.Side note: I found Ron Oliver's comments to be interesting on how this cartoon served as practice for certain scenes in Pinocchio. I didn't think about that at the time I watched Merbabies, but if I watch it again, I'll have to pay closer attention!My IMDb Rating: 6/10