Ben and Me

MOVIE TITLE: Ben and Me

DIRECTOR: Hamilton Luske

YEAR: 1953

GENRE: Children’s Animation

RATING: G

GRADE: Pass

In 1745 colonial America, Amos Mouse leaves home to try and find work, but gets stuck in frozen weather with nothing to eat and very little money to spend. He takes shelter in a printing shop owned by soon-to-be American Revolutionary Benjamin Franklin, who has only twenty-four hours to pay his rent at the threat of being evicted. Amos earns Ben’s trust by helping him invent bifocal glasses, the Franklin Stove, and the Pennsylvania Gazette. Their friendship becomes strained when Ben’s electrical experiments endanger Amos’s wellbeing, which is especially damning considering war between the colonies and England is on the horizon. Can they mend fences long enough to bring peace to what will eventually become the United States of America?

While Disney movies tend to stretch the truth when it comes to history, it’s still fascinating to see Ben Franklin’s various achievements throughout the cartoon. The scene where he and Amos are printing copies of the Pennsylvania Gazette is interesting just to see how printing presses worked in those days with individual letter blocks, a tube of ink, and a giant stamp. In Pennsylvania weather, it’s also refreshing to see just how effective the Franklin Stove is at bringing heat to the shop (after they run the smoke up the chimney, of course). I’ve never worn glasses before, but in 1745 when technology was in its infancy, it’s good to know that Ben has his bifocal glasses for getting work done and going outside. These inventions were enough to pay Ben’s bills and strengthen the bond between himself and Amos. I like seeing those kinds of stories.

I know about this movie because I watched it all the time as a small child with my mother. Because I was that little, I found certain aspects of the movie funny that may have been overlooked by others. The first comedic moment happened when Ben Franklin sneezed on Amos and broke his reading glasses. The way he sounded always tickled my brain. The same thing is true when Ben ran into a street post and knocked his three-cornered hat over: the sound of his scream had me rolling on the floor. Amos had a strange moment of comedy as well. When he’s helping Ben print copies of the Gazette, he ends up with a giant Y on his shirt after being stamped onto the letter blocks. The music they played near the end of that scene with the dramatic violins helped get the giggles out of me too. You know you’ve had a happy childhood when you can laugh at silly things like that and never question them until you’re all grown up.

Then there was a moment of the movie that scared me as a kid. It was the scene where Ben was flying his kite in stormy weather and Amos gets electrocuted by lightning. The screams of “Ben!” coming from the little mousy pie were disturbing to me, especially since Amos was voiced by the same guy who did Winnie the Pooh twenty-four years later. Imagine if that had been innocent little Pooh fixated to the kite with a metal tip near the top. It would break the sweetie bear’s little heart. Amos, on the other hand, was madder than hell and rightfully so. As an adult, I question Ben’s judgment as to why he needed Amos on the kite in the first place. Zapping the mouse in the tail with a printing press is one thing, but this is a lightning storm we’re talking about. He could have killed the little guy, though he didn’t because this is a G-rated movie. What if Amos/Pooh didn’t have the G-rating to protect him? Then what?

While this movie didn’t bring me good grades in high school history classes, it was a great deal of entertainment for me as a little guy growing up in the late 80’s and early 90’s. Small children aren’t expected to take history seriously, not until they’re old enough to go to school. They don’t care if a mouse helped Ben Franklin through times of war. They’re just happy to see the little guy and hear his Winnie the Pooh voice. Thank you, Ben and Me, for being my little piece of childhood heaven. I still appreciate it as an adult, especially since I’m not particularly age-conscious. The fact that I even looked this movie up on You Tube shows that I don’t care about age expectations. How does a passing grade sound?