El Terrible Toreador - September 7, 1929

El Terrible Toreador is 2nd in the Silly Symphonies cartoon series, and unfortunately its name fits a little too well. Coming off the heels of the entertaining The Skeleton Dance, this film manages to pale in comparison with decent animation but nothing spectacular.


Notice the title cards used for this toon. Mickey Mouse makes an appearance here because he was an already a popular character. In a way he was used to endorse the Silly Symphonies until the series was able to make a name for itself.


El Terrible Toreador opens in a Mexican cantina with Carmencita, the cantina girl. This toon is an early attempt by the Disney animators at human characters. The effect though is not quite right, as the characters possess a "rubber hose" quality allowing their arms and legs to stretch.


The audience is next introduced to the Mexican officer who obviously has an eye for the lovely Carmencita.


In enters El Toreador, the best bullfighter in all the village. He is an instant crowd pleaser as he saunters through the cantina.


Carmencita is instantly infatuated by the handsome El Toreador, but the Mexican officer wants her all to himself. Here is a perfect example of the rubber hose quality given to these characters: the more the officer stretches Carmencita's arm, the thinner her stomach becomes.


Displeased with the officer's manhandling of Carmencita, El Toreador calls him out and saves the cantina girl.


The toon then abruptly switches to La Gran Corrida de Toros, the local bullfight. El Toreador enters the stadium with his bull.


In the stands, Carmencita claps for her lover while the officer looks on resentfully.


The actual bullfight turns out to be anything but. El Toreador and the bull dance, skip, and at one point are shown playing patty cake.


Determined to get his revenge, the officer sprinkles Carmencita's flowers with pepper just before she throws them into the ring.


As El Toreador and the bull smell the flowers, the pepper bothers the bull's nose. The bull sneezes so hard that he knocks his teeth out!


Once he has his teeth back in, the bull is mad! He goes after the first thing he sees, which happens to be El Toreador. The next scene is another example of Disney's tendency to have its animation pop out at the audience. As the bull chases down El Toreador, it runs straight towards the camera and almost eats the audience.


El Toreador is scared hairless of the approaching bull.


But in the end, El Toreador's bullfighting skills pay off as he manages to turn the bull inside out. El Terrible Toreador comes "From the Vault" on its DVD for this scene in particular; the sight of a bull with its innards exposed is not the best thing to show in any Disney toon.


El Terrible Toreador is a dysfunctional toon with no character development. It's not a very good follow-up to the superb The Skeleton Dance, making the toon a bit forgettable.