AllMovie

The second of two Disney cartoons based on Hans Christian Andersen's touching fable, the 1939 version of The Ugly Duckling begins as Mama Duck waits for her eggs to hatch, while Papa paces nervously. The blessed event arrives, yielding four perfect little ducklings--and one grotesquely homely and hopelessly clumsy one. Making matters worse for his parents by honking instead of quacking, the Ugly Duckling is soon abandoned by his Mama, leaving him to weep at the sight of his own reflection in the water. . .and to try unsuccessfully to bond with a bluejay and a wooden duck decoy. But there's a happy ending in store when the outcast duckling finds a new home with a family of swans. The Ugly Duckling earned another Academy Award for Walt Disney's increasingly cluttered shelf-full of honors.