The Reluctant Dragon is a 1941 American live-action/animated anthology comedy film produced by Walt Disney, directed by Alfred Werker, and released by RKO Radio Pictures on June 27, 1941.

Most of the film is live-action, with four short animated segments inserted into the running time: a black-and-white segment featuring Casey Junior from Dumbo; and three Technicolor cartoons: Baby Weems (presented as a storyboard), Goofy's How to Ride a Horse, and the extended-length short The Reluctant Dragon, based upon Kenneth Grahame's book of the same name.

The film starts at Robert Benchley's home as he plays in his swimming pool, shooting darts at toy ducks.

After his arrival, Benchley dodges an overly officious studio guide named Humphrey (played by Buddy Pepper).

As he wanders around the studio, Benchley stumbles upon a number of the Disney operations and learns about the traditional animation process, some of the facets of which are explained by a staff employee named Doris (Frances Gifford).

Strikers picketed the film's premiere with signs that attacked Disney for unfair business practices, low pay, lack of recognition, and favoritism.

At one theater, sympathizers paraded down the street wearing a "dragon costume bearing the legend 'The Reluctant Disney'".

[5] Some critics and audiences were put off by the fact that the film was not a new Disney animated feature in the vein of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs or Pinocchio, but essentially a collection of four short cartoons and various live-action vignettes.

Yet, the film also makes it quite clear that the dragon does not believe in fighting, and the film doesn't specifically make fun of him for that... Just as in Ferdinand the Bull, The Reluctant Dragon presents an easily read gay character under the guise of fantasy and shows characters accepting him as he is.

The "Reluctant Dragon" segment is the main attraction, along with three other cartoon shorts, on the Disney Animation Collection Volume 6 DVD, which was released in America on May 19, 2009.

In the UK, the "Reluctant Dragon" segment was paired with Mickey and the Beanstalk and released during 2004 on DVD as Disney Fables Volume 6.

The Reluctant Dragon and Sir Giles make various cameos in the 1988 Disney (through the Touchstone Pictures label)/Amblin Entertainment film Who Framed Roger Rabbit.