The Brave Locomotive is a 2023 American independent animated short film by Academy Award-nominated Disney animator Andrew Chesworth. [1]
Linus is a small 2-4-0 English-American Steam Locomotive that works at the Trailway Railroad in the Western United States in the late 1890s with his engineer and good friend Henry (Linus and Henry). Their job is to take passengers to and from locations and through the mountains and a small town called Colonnaville. At the end of one journey, Baron von Kapital, who has recently purchased the Trailway Railroad and merged it with his own Von Kapital Railroad, announces to Henry that changes are to be made to improve the railroad (The Baron's Proposal). He introduces Samson, a large 4-8-4 northern type Steam Locomotive that is to replace Linus. Henry is assigned as Samson's engineer, while Linus is reassigned to work the Lumber Mill, controlled by the evil and stern Logging Manager (What Becomes of Linus).
Samson soon takes over running the railroad's passenger trains, quickly improving travel time thanks to his speed and the new wooden trestle bridge built over a large canyon. Linus sadly watches Samson work as he's forced by whip to haul heavy lumber trains across the mountain (Samson Assumes). Due to the speed at which Samson moves, Colonnaville soon expands into a major town, but this soon causes extra stress on the bridge, which was built too quickly to accommodate him. While passing over the bridge one day, Samson's speed causes part of it to break, leaving him dangling dangerously over the chasm. Henry whistles for help, which is heard by Linus. He quickly breaks free from his chains and rushes off to help, taking a bullet from the Logging Manager's gun in the process.
Linus is able to get the coaches to safety, but Samson's tender disconnects in the process, leaving him, Henry, Von Kapital and his daughter Katrina stranded. Linus goes back to save them, but struggles to pull Samson to safety. Henry and Katrina begin shoveling coal into Linus' firebox, giving him enough strength to pull Samson just as the bridge begins to collapse (Linus to the Rescue). The strain causes Linus' boiler to explode just as they reach safety, leaving him a charred wreck. Henry and the others mourn as Linus' spirit flies up to heaven (Train Heaven).
However, Linus soon finds himself in the railroad workshop: Henry, his wife Scarlet, Katrina, and other passengers worked together to restore him to full working order. Linus is hailed a hero for his efforts and given his old job back, while a grateful Samson is reassigned to haul lumber.
Years later (possibly 1946), the bridge has been replaced with a steel and concrete one, the Baron has passed away, and modern trains now run the line. Linus runs a tourist railway on his old line, with a now elderly Henry and Scarlet acting as his engineers (The Bravest Locomotive).
Chesworth formerly worked at Disney (being animator on Wreck It Ralph , Frozen , Get a Horse! , Big Hero 6 , Feast , Zootopia and Moana ) [2] [3] and Netflix (on the 2019 Annie Award for Best Animated Feature winner Klaus ) [4] while working independently on his passion projects including The Brave Locomotive (first conceived in 2008; he released online in 2015 the opening sequence that was in progress before shelving it after being hired by Disney in 2011). [1]
It was released to film festivals for Oscar qualification before airing on YouTube. [5] [6]
The following Disney animated films featuring the aforementioned Andrews Sisters:
Silly Symphony is an American animated series of 75 musical short films produced by Walt Disney Productions from 1929 to 1939. As the series name implies, the Silly Symphonies were originally intended as whimsical accompaniments to pieces of music. As such, the films usually did not feature continuing characters, unlike the Mickey Mouse shorts produced by Disney at the same time. The series is notable for its innovation with Technicolor and the multiplane motion picture camera, as well as its introduction of the character Donald Duck, who made his first appearance in the Silly Symphony cartoon The Wise Little Hen in 1934. Seven shorts won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film.
The golden age of American animation was a period in the history of U.S. animation that began with the popularization of sound synchronized cartoons in 1928 and gradually ended in the 1960s when theatrical animated shorts started to lose popularity to the newer medium of television. Animated media from after the golden age, especially on television, were produced on cheaper budgets and with more limited techniques between the late 1950s and 1980s.
Isadore "Friz" Freleng, credited as I. Freleng early in his career, was an American animator, cartoonist, director, producer, and composer known for his work at Warner Bros. Cartoons on the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons from the 1930s to the early 1960s. In total he created more than 300 cartoons.
Ward Walrath Kimball was an American animator employed by Walt Disney Animation Studios. He was part of Walt Disney's main team of animators, known collectively as Disney's Nine Old Men. His films have been honored with two Academy Awards for Best Animated Short Film.
The term independent animation refers to animated shorts, web series, and feature films produced outside a major national animation industry.
Franklin Rosborough Thomas was an American animator and pianist. He was one of Walt Disney's leading team of animators known as the Nine Old Men.
Oliver Martin Johnston Jr. was an American motion picture animator. He was one of Disney's Nine Old Men, and the last surviving at the time of his death from natural causes. He was recognized by The Walt Disney Company with its Disney Legend Award in 1989. His work was recognized with the National Medal of Arts in 2005.
Lorenzo is an American animated short film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation about a cat, Lorenzo, who is "dismayed to discover that his tail has developed a personality of its own". The short was directed by Mike Gabriel and produced by Baker Bloodworth. It premiered at the Florida Film Festival on March 6, 2004, and later appeared as a feature before the film Raising Helen, but it did not appear on the DVD release of the film. It is based on an original idea by Joe Grant, who started working on the film in 1949, but it was eventually shelved. It was later found along with Destino. The short was intended to be one of the segments for the proposed but ultimately abandoned Fantasia 2006. It was included on the Walt Disney Animation Studios Short Films Collection Blu-ray/DVD set released on August 18, 2015.
The Disneyland Railroad (DRR), formerly known as the Santa Fe & Disneyland Railroad, is a 3-foot narrow-gauge heritage railroad and attraction in the Disneyland theme park of the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California, in the United States. Its route is 1.2 miles (1.9 km) long and encircles the majority of the park, with train stations in four different park areas. The rail line, which was constructed by WED Enterprises, operates with two steam locomotives built by WED and three historic steam locomotives originally built by Baldwin Locomotive Works. The ride takes roughly 18 minutes to complete a round trip on its mainline when three trains are running, and 20 minutes when four trains are running. Two to four trains can be in operation at any time, three on average.
Joseph Henry Ranft was an American animator, screenwriter, and voice actor. He worked for Pixar Animation Studios and Disney at Walt Disney Animation Studios and Disney Television Animation. His younger brother Jerome Ranft is a sculptor who also worked on several Pixar films.
The Brave Engineer is a 1950 Walt Disney-produced animated short film, based on the exploits of legendary railroad engineer John Luther "Casey" Jones. It is narrated by comic Jerry Colonna and is a comedically madcap fanciful re-telling of the story related in the Wallace Saunders ballad, later made famous by Eddie Newton and T. Lawrence Seibert. It was also released fifty years after Jones was killed.
Disney's American Legends is a 2001 American animated anthology film narrated by James Earl Jones. A compilation of four previously released animated musical shorts from Walt Disney Animation Studios based on American tall tales, the collection includes The Brave Engineer (1950), Paul Bunyan (1958), John Henry (2000), and The Legend of Johnny Appleseed which is a segment from the 1948 film Melody Time.
Building a Building is a 1933 American animated short film produced by Walt Disney Production and released by United Artists. A remake of the 1928 Oswald the Lucky Rabbit film Sky Scrappers, the cartoon depicts Mickey Mouse working at a construction site under the supervision of Peg-Leg Pete while Minnie Mouse is selling box lunches to the workers. It was directed by David Hand, his first directorial assignment at Disney, and features the voices of Walt Disney as Mickey, Marcellite Garner as Minnie, and Pinto Colvig as Pete. It was the 51st Mickey Mouse short film, and the first of that year.
Paperman is an American black-and-white computer-cel animated romantic comedy short film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios. Directed by John Kahrs, it blends traditional and computer animation, and features the voices of Kahrs and Kari Wahlgren in the leading roles.
Paul Bunyan is a 1958 American animated musical short film produced by Walt Disney Productions. The short was based on the North American folk hero and lumberjack Paul Bunyan and was inspired after meeting with Les Kangas of Paul Bunyan Productions, who gave Disney the idea for the film. The film was directed by Les Clark, a member of Disney's Nine Old Men of core animators. Thurl Ravenscroft starred as the voice of Paul Bunyan. Supporting animators on the project included Lee Hartman.
Claude Coats was an American artist, background artist, animator and set designer, known for his work with the Walt Disney Animation Studios and Walt Disney Imagineering. His pioneering work with the company helped define the character of animated films, and later, immersive installations with his designs for Disneyland. Coats, known as "The Gentle Giant" was inducted a Disney Legend in 1991.
Feast is an American 2D animated romantic comedy short film written and directed by Patrick Osborne from a story of Raymond S. Persi and Nicole Mitchell, and produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios. It made its world premiere on June 10, 2014, at the Annecy International Animated Film Festival and debuted in theaters with Big Hero 6 on November 7 of the same year. The short is about a Boston Terrier named Winston, his experiences bonding with his owner, James, over the food they share and his owner's relationship with a waitress named Kirby.
Arthouse animation is a combination of art film and animated film.
Andrew Chesworth is an American animator known for his 2018 Oscar-nominated short One Small Step and his 2023 Oscar-qualifying effort The Brave Locomotive.