Hello and welcome back to Classic Shorts Showcase. We once again return to the tale of Hansel and Gretel as we take a look at a short starring Mickey and Minnie that was used this tale as it's basis. Also this short is considered at least by the people who worked on it to be a Silly Symphony. Which would make it the first new Silly Symphony short in 63 years seeing as this short came out in 2002 and The Ugly Duckling, the second one was released in 1939. However every list I've seen for Silly Symphony do not include this one. So I wonder if even though Disney considered it a Silly Symphony, do the fans? Maybe because it has Mickey and Minnie in it, they don't. True, the mainstay characters rarely appeared in these shorts but Pluto starred in one Silly Symphony and Donald got his start. I guess another factor to take into account on does it count as a Silly Symphony is to ask does it feel like one? Which is a hard question to answer as I've reviewed many Silly Symphonies as time went on, they changed but the basis for these shorts was that music had to play a role in telling the story and on that front, I'd say yes, this was a Silly Symphony. Okay, I should clarify, using music was the original intent for these shorts but overtime, they changed as most things do. So in a way, this has more in common with the earlier Silly Symphonies as the music is the biggest factor in driving the story as Mickey and Minnie do not talk at all in this short. With that out of the way, let's begin.
The Plot
The plot for this short is basically Hansel and Gretel and I'll say that it's probably more in line with how I remember it. Our two characters Hansel and Gretel or in this Mickey and Minnie come upon a house made out of candy while out in the woods and the Witch stuffs them up on sweets. She later takes them to a room to rest, now I don't know if this is new to the story but it works for this short. Mickey and Minnie fall asleep and when Mickey wakes up later and then we see Mickey and Minnie try to escape and that's when we see the scene of the Witch throwing Mickey and Minnie into the oven. Well, okay this is after she puts them in a birdcage. She then takes Mickey out and has him open the oven and he tries to push the witch but it doesn't work as he goes in with her and Minnie goes in and this is one deep oven as I swear, it looks like it leads to Hell. Thankfully, Mickey & Minnie are able to escape the oven of Hell whereas the Witch dies. All in all, this was a great short with a lot of dark moments.
Characters
Mickey & Minnie
Okay, let me make one thing clear here, even though this short is called Hansel and Gretel and tells that story, I will not be referring to Mickey and Minnie by those names for two reasons. First, this is a silent short with only the background music moving the story, so those names are never said and secondly, act more like a loving couple as they should then brother/sister. Mickey & Minnie in this short were a lot of fun as always and this moment right here of them being stuffed. Besides having comedic moments, they also get to be adventurous such as when they're trying to escape and also inside the Hell oven. Y'know at first, I thought Mickey and Minnie to be odd choice for this tale but then I remembered my D23 calendar from last year talking about a scrapped segment from Fun and Fancy Free that was supposed to be Hansel and Gretel using Mickey and Minnie but would've been more traditional then what we got here. I guess it does make sense for these two as they are perhaps the two most endearing characters out of the big ones. Also I have to say that this short felt very Fantasia esque in the way it used music to convey the character's emotions.
Music
Dance Macabre
Okay, here we are the Dance Macabre was our piece of music for this short and it worked rather well for this short. Just the way, it was able to tie in with this story was amazing and again, this makes me think of Fantasia and I almost have to wonder if the people who came up with this short listened to this music and then got the idea of telling Hansel and Gretel with it or was it the other way around? I really want to know as this piece surprisingly tied well with the rest of the short.
Villain
The Witch
Okay, I have to say that I really like the look of The Witch as she has a cross of looking sweet yet also being creepy at the same time. This Witch reminded a lot more of the one I was familiar with seeing as she stuffed Mickey and Minnie up and then tried to put them in the oven or as I'm calling it the Hell oven. I think in terms of threat level, she was somewhere in the middle as she went through a lot to just cook Mickey and Minnie as Roasted Mice was on the menu at her house that night.
My Final Thoughts
All in all, this is a very fun short that I highly suggest and I think it's truer to the tale of Hansel and Gretel than Babes In The Woods was but they are both very good. I'd say check both out as this one is a great Mickey and Minnie short while the other is a good short where it just falls short because of the characters. On a sidenote, I realized that my actual introduction to the tale of Hansel and Gretel was through a Flintstones book that retold fairy tale using the Flintstones characters. In their version, Pebble and Bam Bam were Hansel and Gretel while Barney was the Witch. That was just weird, even back then. Anyways, it was The Flintstones Bedtime Storybook
The Plot
The plot for this short is basically Hansel and Gretel and I'll say that it's probably more in line with how I remember it. Our two characters Hansel and Gretel or in this Mickey and Minnie come upon a house made out of candy while out in the woods and the Witch stuffs them up on sweets. She later takes them to a room to rest, now I don't know if this is new to the story but it works for this short. Mickey and Minnie fall asleep and when Mickey wakes up later and then we see Mickey and Minnie try to escape and that's when we see the scene of the Witch throwing Mickey and Minnie into the oven. Well, okay this is after she puts them in a birdcage. She then takes Mickey out and has him open the oven and he tries to push the witch but it doesn't work as he goes in with her and Minnie goes in and this is one deep oven as I swear, it looks like it leads to Hell. Thankfully, Mickey & Minnie are able to escape the oven of Hell whereas the Witch dies. All in all, this was a great short with a lot of dark moments.
Characters
Mickey & Minnie
Okay, let me make one thing clear here, even though this short is called Hansel and Gretel and tells that story, I will not be referring to Mickey and Minnie by those names for two reasons. First, this is a silent short with only the background music moving the story, so those names are never said and secondly, act more like a loving couple as they should then brother/sister. Mickey & Minnie in this short were a lot of fun as always and this moment right here of them being stuffed. Besides having comedic moments, they also get to be adventurous such as when they're trying to escape and also inside the Hell oven. Y'know at first, I thought Mickey and Minnie to be odd choice for this tale but then I remembered my D23 calendar from last year talking about a scrapped segment from Fun and Fancy Free that was supposed to be Hansel and Gretel using Mickey and Minnie but would've been more traditional then what we got here. I guess it does make sense for these two as they are perhaps the two most endearing characters out of the big ones. Also I have to say that this short felt very Fantasia esque in the way it used music to convey the character's emotions.
Music
Dance Macabre
Okay, here we are the Dance Macabre was our piece of music for this short and it worked rather well for this short. Just the way, it was able to tie in with this story was amazing and again, this makes me think of Fantasia and I almost have to wonder if the people who came up with this short listened to this music and then got the idea of telling Hansel and Gretel with it or was it the other way around? I really want to know as this piece surprisingly tied well with the rest of the short.
Villain
The Witch
Okay, I have to say that I really like the look of The Witch as she has a cross of looking sweet yet also being creepy at the same time. This Witch reminded a lot more of the one I was familiar with seeing as she stuffed Mickey and Minnie up and then tried to put them in the oven or as I'm calling it the Hell oven. I think in terms of threat level, she was somewhere in the middle as she went through a lot to just cook Mickey and Minnie as Roasted Mice was on the menu at her house that night.
My Final Thoughts
All in all, this is a very fun short that I highly suggest and I think it's truer to the tale of Hansel and Gretel than Babes In The Woods was but they are both very good. I'd say check both out as this one is a great Mickey and Minnie short while the other is a good short where it just falls short because of the characters. On a sidenote, I realized that my actual introduction to the tale of Hansel and Gretel was through a Flintstones book that retold fairy tale using the Flintstones characters. In their version, Pebble and Bam Bam were Hansel and Gretel while Barney was the Witch. That was just weird, even back then. Anyways, it was The Flintstones Bedtime Storybook
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