Hello and welcome back to Classic Shorts Showcase. Today I continue my look at adaptions of literary works featuring Mickey by taking a trip back in time to 1934 to look at Gulliver Mickey. After this, there will be one more Mickey short and then we're done with Mickey on Showcase for a while.
The Plot
The short starts out simply enough at Mickey's house as we see the orphans/nephews playing in a boat and Mickey gets the idea to get in on the fun and breaks their boat which causes them to cry. Mickey decides to make it up for it, he'll tell them of the time he was stranded on a strange island and this is where the story starts to resemble Gulliver's Travels. Of course Mickey mostly borrowed the basic elements because when the short opens you can see him reading a copy of Gulliver's Travels. Now being a short, Gulliver Mickey decided only to focus on one aspect and the island that Mickey travels to I believe to be Lilliput if I remember the tale of Gulliver's Travels correctly as Mickey goes to the island of tiny people. Mickey is really fun if a bit a little mean-spirited as he plays with the tiny people of the island as if they are action figures but Mickey does end up saving the island from a giant spider whose face has a somewhat likeness to Pete. For all intents and purposes, this short was a lot of fun even if at points it seemed rather random.
Characters
Now I'll just be breaking this down into Main, & Villain. While yes Mickey was the main focus, there were other characters even if they were rather minor in the long run.
Main Character
Mickey voiced by Walt Disney
You gotta love how the one child on the couch just looks bored and wants Uncle Mickey to stop punching the pillow. Now I don't believe it was the same child but one of them got the idea to take a toy spider from their toy box and used it to spook Uncle Mickey. Which caused Mickey to jump onto the ceiling and hang on the chandelier. Honestly, that had to be my favorite part of this entire short. Now don't get me wrong the stuff with Mickey on Lilliput was fun but it really didn't me make me laugh as much as the final gag and in some ways I wish that we had gotten more interaction between Mickey and the kids. Also I don't know why but for some reason before watching this short, I thought the orphans were the Lilliputians in this short but as seen here I was proven wrong.
Now I also have to say that I loved how Mickey looked when he woke up on the island, he was just a bit groggy. That was another nice touch and as you can see in the picture, he's unaware of his surroundings and a look on his face as "where am I?" and "what's going on?"
Supporting Characters
Orphans/Nephews - Uncredited
The orphans were fun but I kind of wish that we had more time with them and honestly, it would've been cool if they were the Lilliputians as I think that would've given them more to in this short. Now I realize that they aren't as popular as the other Disney kids and have faded into obscurity over the years but still, I think it would've added more to it and I honestly think it would be really cute to see them attacking the giant Mickey but all the same Lilliputians were fun.
Lilliputians - Not Voiced
Now as for the Lilliputians, there wasn't much characterization to them. Really, the only thing we come to know about them is they are going to attack Mickey and as I've been stating throughout Mickey treated it as if they were mere toys. Which you'll see with the upcoming pictures such as when they fired their cannons at Mickey but it had no effect other being ticklish.
That was bit humorous and then we also see who I assume to be the leader of the Lilliputian army trying to fight Mickey with his sword and leads into a sword fight with Mickey using his finger.
This attack leads Mickey to the ocean and again the attempts of the Lillputians are futile as Mickey just blows them away and also picks up a boat like it's a toy boat and there the Lilliputians try to fire a cannon at him but Mickey sticks his finger in the cannon and it blows up.
Again this was fun but as I've stated throughout there wasn't coherence to this short. It was rather random but that doesn't make it bad but just random.
Villain
Spider - Uncredited
Now again as said at the top, this short tends to get rather random and part of that comes with the Spider because up until this point as I said when talking about Mickey in this short, he'd been basically playing with the island and now he goes to protecting the island. Now one theory and explanation for this that Mickey didn't want someone else attacking the island or he just got bored and saw the spider as a new challenge that he could take on. Now I'll admit that while this seemingly came out of nowhere, the brawl between Mickey and the Spider was so much fun and of course led to my favorite joke of this short. The brawl was rather intense and I half expected a boxing ring announcer to come out and countdown to the winner.
My Final Thoughts
Now I did enjoy this short even if it did seem random but that does not make it a bad short. Just different and don't go in expecting a story as this short is more attack after attack but at the end of the day, it's a fun watch and it's still enjoyable and if you want a good laugh with Mickey, I suggest this short. Join me next week when I conclude my look at Mickey adaptions as I take a look at one of Mickey's more popular shorts...
Brave Little Tailor
The Plot
The short starts out simply enough at Mickey's house as we see the orphans/nephews playing in a boat and Mickey gets the idea to get in on the fun and breaks their boat which causes them to cry. Mickey decides to make it up for it, he'll tell them of the time he was stranded on a strange island and this is where the story starts to resemble Gulliver's Travels. Of course Mickey mostly borrowed the basic elements because when the short opens you can see him reading a copy of Gulliver's Travels. Now being a short, Gulliver Mickey decided only to focus on one aspect and the island that Mickey travels to I believe to be Lilliput if I remember the tale of Gulliver's Travels correctly as Mickey goes to the island of tiny people. Mickey is really fun if a bit a little mean-spirited as he plays with the tiny people of the island as if they are action figures but Mickey does end up saving the island from a giant spider whose face has a somewhat likeness to Pete. For all intents and purposes, this short was a lot of fun even if at points it seemed rather random.
Characters
Now I'll just be breaking this down into Main, & Villain. While yes Mickey was the main focus, there were other characters even if they were rather minor in the long run.
Main Character
Mickey voiced by Walt Disney
You gotta love that image right there recreating the classic image from when Gulliver awakes on Lilliput. Again as I said when talking about the plot, Mickey just messed around with the residents of Lilliput and played with them as if they were mere toys while they were trying to attack him. It was funny watching the residents trying to attack Mickey. Although I must say that seeing Mickey all of the sudden attacking the spider that is attacking Lilliput is just random when throughout the rest of the short we see Mickey playing with the island and they're attacking him and there is no buildup to Mickey protecting the island. It just came out of nowhere. Although I must say the end was funny when it went back to Mickey's house as we see him beating the tar out of a pillow using it as the spider for his story.
You gotta love how the one child on the couch just looks bored and wants Uncle Mickey to stop punching the pillow. Now I don't believe it was the same child but one of them got the idea to take a toy spider from their toy box and used it to spook Uncle Mickey. Which caused Mickey to jump onto the ceiling and hang on the chandelier. Honestly, that had to be my favorite part of this entire short. Now don't get me wrong the stuff with Mickey on Lilliput was fun but it really didn't me make me laugh as much as the final gag and in some ways I wish that we had gotten more interaction between Mickey and the kids. Also I don't know why but for some reason before watching this short, I thought the orphans were the Lilliputians in this short but as seen here I was proven wrong.
 |
| Geese, Mickey looks creepy here |
Now I also have to say that I loved how Mickey looked when he woke up on the island, he was just a bit groggy. That was another nice touch and as you can see in the picture, he's unaware of his surroundings and a look on his face as "where am I?" and "what's going on?"
Supporting Characters
Orphans/Nephews - Uncredited
The orphans were fun but I kind of wish that we had more time with them and honestly, it would've been cool if they were the Lilliputians as I think that would've given them more to in this short. Now I realize that they aren't as popular as the other Disney kids and have faded into obscurity over the years but still, I think it would've added more to it and I honestly think it would be really cute to see them attacking the giant Mickey but all the same Lilliputians were fun.
Lilliputians - Not Voiced
Now as for the Lilliputians, there wasn't much characterization to them. Really, the only thing we come to know about them is they are going to attack Mickey and as I've been stating throughout Mickey treated it as if they were mere toys. Which you'll see with the upcoming pictures such as when they fired their cannons at Mickey but it had no effect other being ticklish.
That was bit humorous and then we also see who I assume to be the leader of the Lilliputian army trying to fight Mickey with his sword and leads into a sword fight with Mickey using his finger.
This attack leads Mickey to the ocean and again the attempts of the Lillputians are futile as Mickey just blows them away and also picks up a boat like it's a toy boat and there the Lilliputians try to fire a cannon at him but Mickey sticks his finger in the cannon and it blows up.
Again this was fun but as I've stated throughout there wasn't coherence to this short. It was rather random but that doesn't make it bad but just random.
Villain
Spider - Uncredited
Now again as said at the top, this short tends to get rather random and part of that comes with the Spider because up until this point as I said when talking about Mickey in this short, he'd been basically playing with the island and now he goes to protecting the island. Now one theory and explanation for this that Mickey didn't want someone else attacking the island or he just got bored and saw the spider as a new challenge that he could take on. Now I'll admit that while this seemingly came out of nowhere, the brawl between Mickey and the Spider was so much fun and of course led to my favorite joke of this short. The brawl was rather intense and I half expected a boxing ring announcer to come out and countdown to the winner.
My Final Thoughts
Now I did enjoy this short even if it did seem random but that does not make it a bad short. Just different and don't go in expecting a story as this short is more attack after attack but at the end of the day, it's a fun watch and it's still enjoyable and if you want a good laugh with Mickey, I suggest this short. Join me next week when I conclude my look at Mickey adaptions as I take a look at one of Mickey's more popular shorts...
Brave Little Tailor
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