YMMV / The Golden Touch

• Alternative Character Interpretation: Is Goldie a kind-hearted imp out to teach Midas a valuable lesson? Or is he a twisted sadist who bestows the Golden Touch on poor fools who create a ton of golden objects which he can then take for himself, all the while enjoying watching them suffer? Considering Midas's unbridled greed, which he was happily singing about, Goldie probably just couldn't resist.
  • In addition, Goldie claims that he doesn't want Midas's gold because "it's chicken feed to me"... yet he takes not only that but the rest of the king's possessions and wealth to release him from the curse. Makes it seem less like a lesson to teach the greedy king and more of an easy catch for free stuff.
• Broken Aesop: While the story seems to be trying to teach a lesson about greed and its consequences, it seems hollow when the ambiguity of Goldie's intentions comes to light, particularly when the elf makes off with all of Midas's possessions just to release him of the curse.
• Critical Backlash: Despite its poor reputation among animation historians, and even Walt Disney himself hating the end product, many Disney and animation fans consider this to be a perfectly fine short, only really let down by Goldie being too much of a Designated Hero, and the story taking a little too long to get going.
• Designated Hero: Goldie. After showing the effects of the Golden Touch on the cat, he launches into a rant about the evils of gold and greed without even showing or explaining to the king why it's a curse. And when the king desperately begs to have the Golden Touch removed, Goldie extorts Midas for everything he owns, leaving him only a hamburger and his underclothes.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: Due to audiences finding Midas's unsympathetic due to being too selfish for his own good and Goldie unsympathetic for teasing the king into getting the golden touch and extort him his kingdom in exchange for a hamburger for his own sick amusement, The cat of King Midas, the remaining character left, becomes this by default. It doesn't help that it's easy to pity him when he's unwillingly turned into gold and is never seen again even after Midas's curse is undone.
• Esoteric Happy Ending: King Midas learned there are some things better than gold, but he now lives with nothing to his name but his undergarments and a hamburger he's eating. Considering he's a king, he likely has no work experience and no known family he can turn to for help. Also, since he's a king, that must mean he has a kingdom. Wouldn't the absence of a king mean anarchy is about to reign?
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • You can't help but wonder if the makers of A Case of Spring Fever were inspired by this short.
  • A monarch having trouble with an elemental power? To think that the same company would make another cartoon like that almost a century later...
• Nightmare Fuel: Naturally, the consequences of Midas's ill-conceived wish become all too apparent almost immediately after he gets what he desires. As hunger sets in for him, he is greeted by his own skeleton mocking him in the mirror, as well as a golden silhouette of the Grim Reaper much to his terror. Perhaps even more upsetting is how he turns his golden touch on his own pet cat, whose fate is unclear at the end of the cartoon.
• Slow-Paced Beginning: Generally agreed to be the cartoon's biggest weakness, even by its defenders; the first two minutes of the cartoon just feature Midas sat behind a table singing about how greedy he is, with little in the way of visual humor. Even compared to Disney's contemporary cartoons this came across as pretty listless, and when compared with the more over-the-top direction that other animation studios were going in by the time of its release, it ended up making the cartoon seem several years too late.
• Unintentionally Unsympathetic: The main reason Walt Disney hated this short. King Midas and Goldie were two characters that people did not have sympathy for. Unlike his source material, Midas was a greedy jerk who was more than happy to turn his pet into gold. Furthermore, unlike other adaptations, he doesn't feel any guilt since he has no daughter that he loved that he accidentally turned to gold; he was only upset that he couldn't eat or drink. On the other hand, Goldie was seen more like a wicked Jackass Genie than the engaging Karmic Trickster he was supposed to be and cruelly enjoyed Midas's torment, not to mention robbing him out his entire kingdom.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: Practically the whole story in general. A lot of the various elements of the original story getting Adapted Out effectively steals any audience sympathy for Midas, particularly since his breakdown when he realizes the Blessed with Suck side of the Golden Touch only comes as a result of inconvenience to nobody but himself. At the end, Goldie removes the curse but on the condition of taking everything Midas owns, which seems to defeat a lot of the purpose of the lesson, as it would have been more interesting to see how Midas could have changed for the better even while still a fabulously wealthy man instead of the suddenly poverty stricken man left with only a hamburger... the only reward of which for his newfound humility being onions on said burger that he didn't beg for...
• The Woobie: Midas's cat. Most disconcertingly, it's never seen again after being turned into gold for a second time, leaving it unknown if Goldie turned the animal back to normal after presumably claiming it along with all of Midas's other belongings at the end of the cartoon.

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