Paul Bunyan (film)

Paul Bunyan is a 1958 animated musical short film released by Walt Disney Studios It was based on the North American folk hero and lumberjack Paul Bunyan. 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.

Paul Bunyan received an Academy Award nomination for Best Animated Short in 1959, but lost to Warner Bros. Cartoons' Looney Tunes cartoon Knighty Knight Bugs. It was also included on the 2002 DVD release Disney's American Legends

Following a violent windstorm on the coast of Maine, lumberjack Cal McNab spots a giant cradle on the beach containing a giant baby boy. The town adopts and raises the boy, giving him the name Paul Bunyan. One Christmas, the town gives Paul a double-bladed axe to help chop down timber. Paul's work clears open land and allows for the town's expansion of buildings. Unfortunately, Paul is too big for it and decides to move out west.

Paul continues to help clear land for farmers in the midwest. During a cold blizzard, Paul rescues a giant ox that has instantly become frozen, turning blue from the cold. Paul adopts the ox and names him Babe. During the following spring, Paul and Babe's footprints through the snow filled up with water and became known as the "Land of 10,000 Lakes." Paul eventually clears the trees from North Dakota and South Dakota, digs the Missouri River to flow the logs downstream to the sawmills, and builds Pike's Peak as a lookout. He creates the Grand Tetons while playing rough with Babe, and makes Yellowstone Falls as a shower bath.