Take A Look at Disney

4/5/14

Mickey Mouse (2013) Mondays: Bad Ear Day/Ghoul Friend

Hello  & welcome back to A Look at  Disney  and back  to Mickey Mouse (2013)  Mondays.  I've decided that starting today, to try and get as many of these done as soon as I can from here on out, you'll be getting two reviews every Monday from here on out and I'm only going up to the last short of season 1.  And then, I am done.   Anyways,  join me below as I look at Bad Ear Day.









The Plot


I  have to be honest and say that the plot of this short made me think of the well known scene from The Karnival Kid in which Mickey tips his ear to Minnie, which would inspire the Mouse Ears that you can now purchase at the parks.















The reason that I say that is because in  this short is that his ears are detachable.   Anyways,  let's begin.  Minnie calls  Mickey to tell him that he needs to get ready as he is running late for his date.   Her call wakes him up from a nap and he gets ready with a nice bow tie and  he  tries to get his ears ready but they are acting up and not wanting to work with him as they jump out the window.  This is after he tries using Ear Spray.  Cheap joke but I can accept it.



 Mickey is searching all throughout the town looking for them.  And this is where the short gets really interesting with the various angles that they came up with to make it look like Mickey's ears and how they played around with silence by making Mickey deaf throughout this short.  This short was very fascinating and I find that when  these shorts try something creative like this, they tend to be better and I tend to appreciate them more.










Mickey goes through the town all over looking for his ears and runs to Goofy and Goofy is trying to tell him something but being that Mickey doesn't have his ears, she can't hear.  So, he takes Goofy's ears and explains but that just leaves Goofy shouting "WHAT".










Which,  I'll admit did get a chuckle out of me.    Mickey hears on a TV screen that there is a hockey game with three pucks.   Mickey realizes that the other two pucks are his ears and heads to the arena to get them back and in a cool moment turns his bow tie into a hockey stick and wins the game and gets  to the date and asks  Minnie, what they are watching and Minnie tells him the opera and the curtain opens as we see Clara Cluck singing and as the opera starts, Mickey takes his ears off.  Just don't lose them this time, Mickey, okay.











Also,   I'd be remiss to mention that this short has a Wreck-It Ralph reference as Mickey passes a candy store selling King Candy for 5 cents.





These shorts are slowly winning me over. This was really inventive as it was forced not to use sound in parts of the short but I must admit that Mickey  does  look  a little creepy without his ears.   Still,  this short took a concept that could've been really stupid  and did something really clever for it.  I'd  probably put this short in my Top 10 of these shorts as this is in my opinion, the best 2013 short since Tokyo Go.  Mickey  Mouse (2013)  staff writers,  do more shorts like this and less like Gasp!  The thing is that this short is  one that while I like it, it's not for the humor but rather for the ambition and cleverness it comes up with regarding the various scenarios after Mickey has lost his ears.    



Character


Mickey Mouse voiced by Chris Diamantopoulos









 I really enjoyed watching Mickey in this short and watching  the different scenarios the short placed him after he lost his ears and as he looked for them and I liked the idea of how Mickey couldn't hear the sounds of the city.  Oh,  and I have to say  that this sequence where it was two balloons was probably my favorite as one popped and caused a young boy to cry.





I don't  know  why but this one was the best use of this ear idea to me in the short.  The meter was really good too.


My  Final Thoughts


This was a really good short.  Highly enjoyable in it's creativity and ambition in which succeeded in taking a concept that could've failed and made it works rather well and made for one of the most entertaining shorts from the 2013 series. 



Let's hope this keeps up as we move onto Ghoul Friend.



The  Plot


Alas,  I must say that  I was not a fan of this short.  It wasn't bad  but  it just felt pointless as nothing really happened in it.   The basic premise is that Mickey's car breaks down in a spooky forest and  he checks his engine but his wrench is too small.  And  then all of the sudden,  a zombie   Goofy comes out of nowhere and Mickey is frightened.


 








And  from there  on  out,  the short  just  becomes  a chase  short  at Mickey  runs away from the Zombie  Goofy  and   there are just so many ways to make the chase exciting and  I don't really think that this short did a spectacular of a job of making  me bored with the chase sequences as all this short was, was one long extended chase sequence.   The short eventually ends with Mickey thinking that the Goofy Zombie was about to attack him but no,  he gives  Mickey his arm to use as a wrench to fix his car engine and the two drive off.  Ultimately,   I don't hate this short  as I was just bored by  this short.  Someone else may like it because in the end, it's harmless but  I just found it to be really boring.


Characters


Mickey Mouse  voiced by Chris Diamantopoulos











Mickey wasn't bad in this short but he really didn't do much other than run.   There was really nothing too exciting about him in this short.


Zombie Goofy  voiced by Bill Farmer











I'm left wondering why all of characters,  they decided to make Goofy,  a zombie.   My best guess is for the contrast between silly and scary but unlike Mickey, who viewed this Zombie Goofy as a threat,  I did not because it was Goofy and perhaps that was not the intent of the short either but at the same time, he was too gross looking for my taste to be humorous. 




My  Final  Thoughts

This short isn't bad but  it's not one I'll be returning to.  It doesn't get me angry like Gasp! but rather just leaves me with a feeling of "Oh, this exists".   If you wish to check it out,  I'd say go ahead but it's not for me.  Join me next week as I look at...

Dog  Show  and O  Sole Minnie



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