The defence The Sentimental Softie
“Sincerity is not manipulation.”
The film risks embarrassment to make emotion communal, and that openness is harder than fashionable detachment.
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The Small One
Animation · Family · 1978
Ordered by his father to sell an old mule called Small One, a Hebrew boy in the ancient Holy Land takes the donkey to the Jerusalem market. Finding no buyers there, the boy is about to give up when he meets a kind man named Joseph, who buys Small One and uses the steed to take his pregnant wife Mary to Bethlehem.
Movie details
The Small One
1978 Animation · Family 26m
Critical arithmetic
One number, for now.
Scores change. Arguments endure.
TMDB
7.0 / 10
Community rating
Ordered by his father to sell an old mule called Small One, a Hebrew boy in the ancient Holy Land takes the donkey to the Jerusalem market. Finding no buyers there, the boy is about to give up when he meets a kind man named Joseph, who buys Small One and uses the steed to take his pregnant wife Mary to Bethlehem.
CriticWise case file
What this film says about your taste.
Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.
The archetype split
Who fights over The Small One?
For the defence
The Sentimental Softie
“You came to feel something, and you will.”
Read their case For the prosecution
The Cool Ironist
“Feeling things is a little embarrassing.”
Read their objectionThe split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.
Where it lives
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Streaming availability data supplied by JustWatch.
Names above the title
The people responsible.
Cast & crew
Directed by
Don Bluth
Written by
Vance Gerry · Peter Young
Sean Marshall
Boy (voice)
William Woodson
Tanner (voice)
Olan Soule
Father (voice)
Joe Higgins
Guard (voice)
Gordon Jump
Joseph (voice)
Hal Smith
Auctioneer (voice)
Court is in session
Put The Small One on trial.
Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.
The prosecution The Cool Ironist
“The strings are showing.”
Every cue tells you exactly what to feel and when, leaving sentiment to do the work character should have done.