Wilbur the Lion

When Wilbur the Lion retires from the circus and returns home to the jungle, he discovers that his old friends don't care for his act. In the meantime, the circus' patrons miss their favorite performer.

I am very fond of George Pal's Puppetoons, the stop-motion short subjects with a cartoon universe sensibility that he produced for Paramount in the 1940s, even his Jasper ones about a small Black child, now seen as racist. Pal was a Hungarian expatriate and all of his shorts have a sentimental nostalgia for bygone days that may reflect his sense of separation.

However, this one, free from racism (although modern ideas about putting animals on cages for people's amusement may offend some) is less offensive. Yet even while the details are as amusing as other, it seems too childish in its sensibilities to rank among his best.

It's still very amusing for fans of old animation.