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 Golden Touch
Animation · Comedy · 1935
King Midas is visited by an elf; the elf turns his cat to gold, then claps his hands and it changes back. Midas begs for the golden touch, but the elf warns him it would be a curse to him. Midas insists. He dances about joyfully at first, but discovers the drawbacks when he sits down to dinner. Fearing death by starvation, he summons the elf and agrees to surrender everything he owns to have the curse lifted.
Movie details
The Golden Touch
“A fable of a king whose touch turns everything to gold.”
1935 Animation · Comedy 10m
Critical arithmetic
One number, for now.
Scores change. Arguments endure.
TMDB
6.5 / 10
Community rating
King Midas is visited by an elf; the elf turns his cat to gold, then claps his hands and it changes back. Midas begs for the golden touch, but the elf warns him it would be a curse to him. Midas insists. He dances about joyfully at first, but discovers the drawbacks when he sits down to dinner. Fearing death by starvation, he summons the elf and agrees to surrender everything he owns to have the curse lifted.
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 Golden Touch?
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.
Taste neighbourhood
Nearby on the taste map.
TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.
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Puss in Boots: The Three Diablos
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Puss in Boots is on a mission to recover the Princess' stolen ruby from the notorious French thief, Whisperer. Reluctantly accompanied by three little kittens, Three Diablos, Puss must tame them before they endanger the mission.
Ferdinand the Bull
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This Oscar-winning short tells of a bull who preferred to sit under trees and smell flowers to clashing horns with his fellow animals. As luck would have it, an untimely bee reveals Ferdinand's ferocious side via pained howls and wild stomping. This lands him in the bull-fighting arena amidst characters based on Walt's animators with a matador reportedly modeled after Walt himself.
Where it lives
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Names above the title
The people responsible.
Cast & crew
Directed by
Walt Disney
Written by
Albert Hurter
Billy Bletcher
King Midas (voice) (uncredited)
M
Mary Moder
Goldie (voice) (uncredited)
Clarence Nash
Grim Reaper (voice) (uncredited)
Purv Pullen
Bird (voice) (uncredited)
Toby Wing
Bird (voice) (uncredited)
Court is in session
Put The Golden Touch 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.