While Mickey is no stranger to adaptions, he's taken on the works of Dickens and Twain but who was the last person's work I'd thought show up as a Disney adaption starring Mickey? Shakespeare. Well back in '99, there was an adaption of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream using Mickey and friends. Now I'll admit that I know next to nothing about this play and I've not seen any work of Shakespeare. Well, not in traditional sense at least but I've seen a ballet of Romeo and Juliet and it had to have been one of the worst things that I've ever seen but I'm not really into ballet. I bring all of this up because while there will be some references to the original body of work, it mostly comes through research. Even still, this short was rather enjoyable. Now I do apologize as I couldn't find a picture for every character in this short. Also as to help you out and moreso me, I was able to find a description of what characters our leads were portraying.
Hopefully this helps with setting up the short a little bit more. With that out of the way, let's get started.
The Plot
We open the short in Athens with our 4 leads at Duke Von Drake's as Minnie has been promised to Donald as an arranged marriage but she doesn't love Donald, she loves who? Say it with me, Mickey. However if Minnie doesn't marry Donald, it'll result in death. Therefore Mickey and Minnie decide to run away and elope. We see that Daisy is in love with Donald but the feeling aren't mutual as Donald has a bit of an affection for Minnie as well. You know as a Disney fan, that's a bit weird but it serves the story and also I have to point out that I find it humorous that in this adaption that Daisy had a crush on Donald while in The Three Musketeers Donald had a crush on Daisy and she wasn't interested in him in the least. Getting back on topic though this is where the trouble for our leads once they run away, Daisy and Donald as they're overheard by Oberon, king of the fairies and he hears Daisy's attempts at wooing Donald and he has the fairy Puck as played by Goofy here go and spray him with a flower potion but Puck sprays the wrong person and ends up spraying Mickey and Mickey falls in love with Daisy as this potion is one of those things were the person who's sprayed fell in love with the first person they see. Now I don't know how close the short's plot is to the original but for this short, I enjoyed the story that was told save for the ending, where it was revealed to all be a dream. I'm personally not a fan of those endings and I do believe that they could have ended the short without going that route and really, this is the only adaption starring Mickey to do that. All of the rest for a lack of better word end in their setting. Ah, well if that's only my complaint, it's not a big one but still that irks me a tad.
Narration
Narrator - John Cleese
I gotta say I loved the narration in this short and yes, you read that name right. John Cleese of Monty Python fame was the narrator for this short and while I'm not big on Monty Python as I've seen little of their stuff, I enjoyed his narration in this short. It was very eloquent and refined and it fit the tone of the tale quite well. Now I'm not certain but I believe Cleese actually quoted lines from the play and if that is the case, that's a rather nice touch.
Characters
Per usual I'll be breaking it down into Main, & Supporting.
Main Characters
Mickey voiced by Wayne Allwine
Mickey was unique in this short as we see he truly does love Minnie and willing to do anything protect her such as leaving Athens to elope with her. Of course all this goes awry when Puck (Goofy) sprays him with the potion and he chases after Daisy instead. To be fair Oberon tells Puck to look for a young man in Athenian clothing and Mickey's robe did have a Made In Athens tag. Again as I said up top, it was weird seeing Mickey chase after Daisy. And I mean really chasing after Daisy. It was funny if a little strange but really this short was all about love getting mixed up. Of course at the end of the day, Mickey does end up with Minnie. Seeing Mickey be out of character in this one was a lot of fun but I was happy to see end up with Minnie.
Minnie voiced by Russi Taylor
Minnie was rather simple in this short as she loved Mickey and only wanted to be Mickey but her father had promised her to Donald and if she didn't go through with it, she would be killed. Pretty grim and those are some high risks while stated aren't really explored save for Mickey and Minnie trying to escape. Minnie's performance was really subdued compared to the other three characters.
Donald voiced by Tony Anselmo
This is the strangest thing to say but Donald was perhaps the most grounded out of all the characters. He was simple and while he did end up with Daisy at the end, he truly seemed to be interested in Minnie. Of course he may have only wanted her for the wealth but it came across as though he had affection for Minnie. Again, weird. Still, it worked within in the context of this short.
Daisy voiced by Tress McNeille
To say Daisy was in love with Donald would be an understatement. A better way of putting it would be that she was infatuated with him and would stop at nothing to make him her man. In some ways, she reminded of Lola Bunny in The Looney Tunes Show in how they both went after someone that really didn't have much interest in them but to be fair, Daisy was a bit tamer then Lola but in the end with Donald, thanks to some help from Oberon.
Supporting Characters
Scrooge voiced by Alan Young
Scrooge's role in this short was rather minor. As in the most we see of him is him trying to get Minnie to marry Donald but as she states, she loves Mickey but if she doesn't marry Donald, she'll be put to death. Other than that we really only see Scrooge along with Von Drake at the beginning going over this and then at the end, when we see them looking for our main 4.
Duke Von Drake voiced by Corey Burton
Can I just say that putting Von Drake in the role of power is odd as he is the last character that I'd expect as a Duke but he was fun in this role and worked well and served as good comic relief such as interacting with the narration at the beginning talking about that was a grand introduction for him. He was funny and enjoyable but once the story got going he disappeared and you really didn't see much of him but he wasn't needed for the rest of the tale.
Puck (Goofy) voiced by Bill Farmer
First off, I do apologize but I couldn't find a picture of Goofy as Puck. Which is a real shame because he was so funny looking. As stated when talking about the plot Puck is the one that causes all of the mayhem to happen and get the lover's quarrel to start. So he was rather important to the story and I had to look up this character to see what he's like in the original source and why they chose Goofy and when I saw the words trickster and playful, it pretty much hit me why they would choose Goofy. Now it's not that he's a trickster but I think the way Disney looked at it, they knew they could rework this character to fit the personality of Goofy and instead of being a trickster, they made him clumsy and that worked well for this short and was the funniest part of the short.
Oberon voiced by John Rhys-Davies
Oberon was the only original character in this short and he was Puck's boss. That's about it, really. He was okay but while I believe he is from the play, I'm not sure that he was needed for the short and from my research they did cut out other characters. Which while it would've been interesting to see these other characters from the play to appear I can understand why they were cut as this is only a short and yes, while it is at double length of a regular short, I imagine that Disney only wanted to focus on the main story between our main characters and that was a good move.
My Final Thoughts
I did enjoy this short but I do wish that I had more of a first-hand knowledge on the play or at least seen another adaption such as a film before seeing this one as to have a better feel for the true story but as for the short on it's own, it's enjoyable with a lot of great moments. Going back to Shakespeare for a moment though I've seen some complaints from Shakespeare purists thrown at this short that it waters down the story and condenses it to that. To that I say, I'm shocked that Disney decided to take on William Shakespeare and this is perhaps the one time I can understand them watering down the source to make it more accessible for a general audience and as for the condensing, it's a short and there is only so much that they can get in it. I did enjoy this one but I'm still awed by the fact that Disney would do Shakespeare and just find one this to be oddest adaption for a Mickey short. Join me next time as Mickey takes us on a trip that goes...
Around The World In 80 Days
A Midsummer Night's Dream was adaptated into a Disney short starring Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, and Daisy Duck as Lysander, Hermia, Demetrius, and Helena, respectively.
Hopefully this helps with setting up the short a little bit more. With that out of the way, let's get started.
The Plot
We open the short in Athens with our 4 leads at Duke Von Drake's as Minnie has been promised to Donald as an arranged marriage but she doesn't love Donald, she loves who? Say it with me, Mickey. However if Minnie doesn't marry Donald, it'll result in death. Therefore Mickey and Minnie decide to run away and elope. We see that Daisy is in love with Donald but the feeling aren't mutual as Donald has a bit of an affection for Minnie as well. You know as a Disney fan, that's a bit weird but it serves the story and also I have to point out that I find it humorous that in this adaption that Daisy had a crush on Donald while in The Three Musketeers Donald had a crush on Daisy and she wasn't interested in him in the least. Getting back on topic though this is where the trouble for our leads once they run away, Daisy and Donald as they're overheard by Oberon, king of the fairies and he hears Daisy's attempts at wooing Donald and he has the fairy Puck as played by Goofy here go and spray him with a flower potion but Puck sprays the wrong person and ends up spraying Mickey and Mickey falls in love with Daisy as this potion is one of those things were the person who's sprayed fell in love with the first person they see. Now I don't know how close the short's plot is to the original but for this short, I enjoyed the story that was told save for the ending, where it was revealed to all be a dream. I'm personally not a fan of those endings and I do believe that they could have ended the short without going that route and really, this is the only adaption starring Mickey to do that. All of the rest for a lack of better word end in their setting. Ah, well if that's only my complaint, it's not a big one but still that irks me a tad.
Narration
Narrator - John Cleese
I gotta say I loved the narration in this short and yes, you read that name right. John Cleese of Monty Python fame was the narrator for this short and while I'm not big on Monty Python as I've seen little of their stuff, I enjoyed his narration in this short. It was very eloquent and refined and it fit the tone of the tale quite well. Now I'm not certain but I believe Cleese actually quoted lines from the play and if that is the case, that's a rather nice touch.
Characters
Per usual I'll be breaking it down into Main, & Supporting.
Main Characters
Mickey voiced by Wayne Allwine
Mickey was unique in this short as we see he truly does love Minnie and willing to do anything protect her such as leaving Athens to elope with her. Of course all this goes awry when Puck (Goofy) sprays him with the potion and he chases after Daisy instead. To be fair Oberon tells Puck to look for a young man in Athenian clothing and Mickey's robe did have a Made In Athens tag. Again as I said up top, it was weird seeing Mickey chase after Daisy. And I mean really chasing after Daisy. It was funny if a little strange but really this short was all about love getting mixed up. Of course at the end of the day, Mickey does end up with Minnie. Seeing Mickey be out of character in this one was a lot of fun but I was happy to see end up with Minnie.
Minnie voiced by Russi Taylor
Minnie was rather simple in this short as she loved Mickey and only wanted to be Mickey but her father had promised her to Donald and if she didn't go through with it, she would be killed. Pretty grim and those are some high risks while stated aren't really explored save for Mickey and Minnie trying to escape. Minnie's performance was really subdued compared to the other three characters.
Donald voiced by Tony Anselmo
This is the strangest thing to say but Donald was perhaps the most grounded out of all the characters. He was simple and while he did end up with Daisy at the end, he truly seemed to be interested in Minnie. Of course he may have only wanted her for the wealth but it came across as though he had affection for Minnie. Again, weird. Still, it worked within in the context of this short.
Daisy voiced by Tress McNeille
To say Daisy was in love with Donald would be an understatement. A better way of putting it would be that she was infatuated with him and would stop at nothing to make him her man. In some ways, she reminded of Lola Bunny in The Looney Tunes Show in how they both went after someone that really didn't have much interest in them but to be fair, Daisy was a bit tamer then Lola but in the end with Donald, thanks to some help from Oberon.
Supporting Characters
Scrooge voiced by Alan Young
Scrooge's role in this short was rather minor. As in the most we see of him is him trying to get Minnie to marry Donald but as she states, she loves Mickey but if she doesn't marry Donald, she'll be put to death. Other than that we really only see Scrooge along with Von Drake at the beginning going over this and then at the end, when we see them looking for our main 4.
Duke Von Drake voiced by Corey Burton
Can I just say that putting Von Drake in the role of power is odd as he is the last character that I'd expect as a Duke but he was fun in this role and worked well and served as good comic relief such as interacting with the narration at the beginning talking about that was a grand introduction for him. He was funny and enjoyable but once the story got going he disappeared and you really didn't see much of him but he wasn't needed for the rest of the tale.
Puck (Goofy) voiced by Bill Farmer
First off, I do apologize but I couldn't find a picture of Goofy as Puck. Which is a real shame because he was so funny looking. As stated when talking about the plot Puck is the one that causes all of the mayhem to happen and get the lover's quarrel to start. So he was rather important to the story and I had to look up this character to see what he's like in the original source and why they chose Goofy and when I saw the words trickster and playful, it pretty much hit me why they would choose Goofy. Now it's not that he's a trickster but I think the way Disney looked at it, they knew they could rework this character to fit the personality of Goofy and instead of being a trickster, they made him clumsy and that worked well for this short and was the funniest part of the short.
Oberon voiced by John Rhys-Davies
Oberon was the only original character in this short and he was Puck's boss. That's about it, really. He was okay but while I believe he is from the play, I'm not sure that he was needed for the short and from my research they did cut out other characters. Which while it would've been interesting to see these other characters from the play to appear I can understand why they were cut as this is only a short and yes, while it is at double length of a regular short, I imagine that Disney only wanted to focus on the main story between our main characters and that was a good move.
My Final Thoughts
I did enjoy this short but I do wish that I had more of a first-hand knowledge on the play or at least seen another adaption such as a film before seeing this one as to have a better feel for the true story but as for the short on it's own, it's enjoyable with a lot of great moments. Going back to Shakespeare for a moment though I've seen some complaints from Shakespeare purists thrown at this short that it waters down the story and condenses it to that. To that I say, I'm shocked that Disney decided to take on William Shakespeare and this is perhaps the one time I can understand them watering down the source to make it more accessible for a general audience and as for the condensing, it's a short and there is only so much that they can get in it. I did enjoy this one but I'm still awed by the fact that Disney would do Shakespeare and just find one this to be oddest adaption for a Mickey short. Join me next time as Mickey takes us on a trip that goes...
Around The World In 80 Days
John Rhys Davies as Oberon? That's actually pretty funny, since he played Macbeth in Gargoyles(which had a lot of Shakespearean mythos incorporated in it).
ReplyDeleteOverall, a nice short, if a bit watered down in some areas. I'm not familiar with the original too well, but some places felt a bit like "confusion to lengthen". But still funny, especially that last scene {I dreamed we were getting married! Minnie: >:( }
I wish I'd known that about John Rhys-Davies as that would've been awesome to include in the review. Yeah, it's a fun short and the "confusion to lengthen" is a good way of describing this short. Yeah, the ending joke while funny, I wish it hadn't ended that way because I feel making it a dream lessens the story a tad.
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