In Which Another Obscure, and Very Strange, Disney Animated Short Finally Surfaces

Sadly, the Disney studio has the nasty habit of either owning the rights to or creating really awesome animated content and then essentially burying them.  The periodic "vaulting" of their classic animated features is the most infamous example of this, but there is a lot of much more unusual Disney animation that has never even had the chance to see the light of day outside of maybe one Oscar-qualifying theatrical screening or something.  Once in a blue moon, one of these resurfaces online, and that is an occasion the entire animation fandom should celebrate.

One such animated short was finally posted on YouTube by it's director, Steve Moore, last week.  Now imagine you are a director and the leader of Disney's television animation team asks you if you would like to create an animated short film that parodies a famous fairy tale -- and that you can have complete creative free reign?  It sounds improbable, especially for Disney in the mid-90's, but that is essentially the situation a stunned Steve Moore found himself in.

The result is "Redux Riding Hood", and it is very definitely one of the very strangest animated shorts to ever bear the Disney name:



Steve Moore tells the complete story of "Redux" on his blog, and it's a worthy read.  Rumor has it that this was going to be a part of a series of fairy tale parodies directed at an older audience; a project that was later abandoned after only one other film was created.  That sadly leaves "Redux" a one-of-a-kind oddity, and unless Disney finally releases the "Lost Disney Shorts" DVD compilation I suddenly need like I need water, it'll never find a permanent home.  Then again, "Redux" has been steadily building a cult following so we can dream...

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