In 1982, Tim Burton worked for Disney Film Animation. During this time he made a television short film called "Hansel and Gretel" for the then brand new Disney Channel. It aired shortly after Halloween in 1983 and has been gathering dust in the archives ever since. Until now. Someone recently rediscovered a recording and published it on Youtube.
The cast of the film consists entirely of a Japanese cast. The story revolves around a poor toy manufacturer and his son and daughter (Hansel and Gretel). As already known, the father marries a new woman and she is an evil, greedy stepmother who openly despises her stepchildren. One day she leads them out into the forest, into a labyrinth from which the children are no longer supposed to find their way out on their own. But the siblings manage to find their way back home, only to be lured back into the forest a few days later by their evil stepmother with the help of one of their father's toys. But the children have learned from the first experience and no longer trust their stepmother and therefore lay a trail with stones. But the toy duck that the children drag behind them eats the trail of stones without the children noticing. Once again Hansel and Gretel find themselves in the deserted forest without knowing the direction back home. The children have no choice but to sleep in the woods. The next morning, the toy that lured her into the forest turns into a robot and leads her to a huge house made of gingerbread and sweets. A hooked-nose witch lives there, showering the children with sweets. The kids are overjoyed and greedily enjoy the sugar confectionery. The witch has prepared for the two beds and when the children lie down in them, the beds come to life and hold the siblings prisoner. To fatten up in the Hansel, he is forced to eat gingerbread and before the witch can put him in her oven, there is a battle between her and the children and that in kung-fu style ...