Hello and welcome back to House of Mouse Week. Now this review was a last minute decision but once I saw this short, I could not pass up the chance to review it. This short has to be one of the coolest things I've seen. This shot was first aired on Dennis The Duck, an episode of House of Mouse, where the club's theme was Black & White Day and the toons shown that day were indeed B&W. The first one shown was the classic, The Whoopee Party and the next one shown was this short. Now what I find fascinating about this short is that it was a brand new short done in Black and White and the design and look of the characters to match the look of the classic shorts from the early days. Anyways with that out of the way, let's get this party started.
The Plot
In this short, Mickey and Mortimer are a vaudeville act and Mickey plays second fiddle to Mortimer and Mortimer has made Mickey think he was a loser and that'll never be on top and Mortimer decides that after their latest act goes afoul that they should go to Alaska but that changes when they come across Minnie and she's going to Hollywood and Mortimer kicks Mickey out of the car and takes Minnie with him. When we later catch up with Mortimer and Minnie, we find out that they've taken by the Goat Man and he keeps what he likes and at one point, the Goat Man lets them perform their act but Minnie tells Mickey to be lousy and he is and The Goat Man let Mickey and Minnie go but keeps Mortimer. Now in all honesty, the plot is nice but to me that takes a backseat to the style that this short as the black and white look was meant to be an homage to the shorts of what is often considered the classics of early Disney shorts.
Characters
Now I'll be breaking this down into Main & Villain. I had to think long and hard about whether or not to include Mortimer as a villain but I don't think that was the case here unlike with the The Goat Man.
Main Characters
Mickey voiced by Wayne Allwine
Okay, I have to say that it's odd to hear Wayne's voice come out of a B&W Mickey but the same is true for Russi Taylor and Maurice LaMarche. Now I will say much as I did like this short for being an homage, I do wish that we could've seen more the scrapper in Mickey from his early shorts but at the same time, I think a good way to look at this short is that while yes, it's a B&W short, it uses the storytelling methods of today's shorts. Granted they aren't too different but still it was a nice touch and I do like the fact that at the end of the short, when Mickey got his revenge on Mortimer, they used the rubbery effects of characters being more flexible than they should like in old cartoons.
Mortimer voiced by Maurice LaMarche
The Plot
In this short, Mickey and Mortimer are a vaudeville act and Mickey plays second fiddle to Mortimer and Mortimer has made Mickey think he was a loser and that'll never be on top and Mortimer decides that after their latest act goes afoul that they should go to Alaska but that changes when they come across Minnie and she's going to Hollywood and Mortimer kicks Mickey out of the car and takes Minnie with him. When we later catch up with Mortimer and Minnie, we find out that they've taken by the Goat Man and he keeps what he likes and at one point, the Goat Man lets them perform their act but Minnie tells Mickey to be lousy and he is and The Goat Man let Mickey and Minnie go but keeps Mortimer. Now in all honesty, the plot is nice but to me that takes a backseat to the style that this short as the black and white look was meant to be an homage to the shorts of what is often considered the classics of early Disney shorts.
Characters
Now I'll be breaking this down into Main & Villain. I had to think long and hard about whether or not to include Mortimer as a villain but I don't think that was the case here unlike with the The Goat Man.
Main Characters
Mickey voiced by Wayne Allwine
Okay, I have to say that it's odd to hear Wayne's voice come out of a B&W Mickey but the same is true for Russi Taylor and Maurice LaMarche. Now I will say much as I did like this short for being an homage, I do wish that we could've seen more the scrapper in Mickey from his early shorts but at the same time, I think a good way to look at this short is that while yes, it's a B&W short, it uses the storytelling methods of today's shorts. Granted they aren't too different but still it was a nice touch and I do like the fact that at the end of the short, when Mickey got his revenge on Mortimer, they used the rubbery effects of characters being more flexible than they should like in old cartoons.
Mortimer voiced by Maurice LaMarche
Now it was odd to see Mortimer in a B&W short seeing as his first appearance was in a color short but I will say that for the old timey look of characters, I think they did Mortimer the best as he truly looks like he is an old cartoon and as for his character in this short, well he's the usual jerk that he's always been.
Minnie voiced by Russi Taylor
You gotta love the little details here such as them including Minnie's hat, which she doesn't wear anymore and well, Minnie was good in this short and great moral support to Mickey and convinces him to be lousy and that ends up getting them out of The Goat Man's house and it's cute and I love the interaction here and I like the idea of this short being how Mickey and Minnie met.
Villain
The Goat Man - uncredited
Okay, I think I was wrong about which character had the best old time look because looking at The Goat Man, they got it down pat. That looks like a classic character. Now he wasn't the greatest character as he tended to be annoying but I do like the fact that he gives Mortimer his just desserts in the end by keeping and I swear he must've been a hoarder for everything he had in his house because as he said, he keeps what he likes.
My Final Thoughts
This short is a great homage to the classic Disney shorts. It's nice to Mickey and Minnie in black and white again. If a little jarring to hear Wayne and Russi voicing a B&W Mickey and Minnie. It's a simple story but that works for this short and really, I think what is more important is that it captures the feel of the old B&W Mickey Mouse shorts and for the most part, it succeeds in doing that. Join me next time as I close out this event by taking a look at the music of House of Mouse(?)
No comments:
Post a Comment