This cartoon's use of color and background detail is excellent. Sometimes, the story and the action is just too cute for my tastes, but it more than makes up for this visually. The dragon is great! Nominated for an Academy Award for Animated Short, this runs on Cartoon Network occasionally and, when TCM does its annual "Salute to the Oscars" in March, this has been used as filler between features in years past as have other shorts, both animated and live-action. Recommended.

In short, it's a cute cartoon. :)

There's nothing earth-shattering here, just some winsome characters and nice artwork.

Three toy pals; a Peter Pan-looking doll, a horse, and a plaid Scottie set off on a quest to find a dragon. They travel through a patchwork landscape comprised of the bedspread of their little-girl owner and things you'd find lying around the bedroom. The animation is imaginative and rather charming. A bra becomes a couple of birds' nests, a jacket is a tree, a girdle is a bridge, spools of thread make up a tree trunk, and a union suit is a house with the flap in back functioning as a drawbridge.

The music and singing is typical of cartoons of the period. The little girl at the beginning has the usual Betty Boop/Olive Oyl voice.

Not extraordinary but sweet.

Love animation, it was a big part of my life as a child, particularly Disney, Looney Tunes, Hanna Barbera, Studio Ghibli and Tom and Jerry, and still love it whether it's film, television or cartoons. With significantly broader knowledge of different directors, animation styles and studios, actually appreciate and love it even more now.

'The Calico Dragon' is fairly typical of Rudolf Ising, leaning towards the cute kind of cartoon with a lot of sentiment in alternative to the laugh a minute and hilarious kind, the latter being the one that a lot seem to prefer (understandably, though am hardly biased against the former). This approach has varied with Ising. In some instances it has been very sweet and charming, in others it can be cloying and too cutesy. Generally 'The Calico Dragon' belongs in the former category, despite the danger of falling into the latter with the premise.

'The Calico Dragon' has a lot to like and far from undeserving of a nomination and deserving of more attention.

Yes it gets a bit too saccharine in places, like with the lyrics of the narration, and it is best perhaps to not talk about the story because there really isn't much of one.

What 'The Calico Dragon' does so well however eclipses these problems. The animation is rich in detail for design and backgrounds, vibrant in colour and crisp. Composer for the prime-era 'Tom and Jerry' cartoons and regular Tex Avery composer Scott Bradley provides a lush and atmospheric music score.

It is hard not to fall in love with the irresistibly adorable dragon, and it has enough likeability and personality to not be dull. 'The Calico Dragon' is rich in natural sweet charm and some very imaginative ideas and visuals. There is not much hilarious and the cartoon's hardly laugh a minute, but a good deal of it does raise a smile. The pace avoids being draggy.

Overall, lovely cartoon. 8/10 Bethany Cox