Mickey Mouse (2013) Mondays: Potatoland

Hello  &  welcome back  to  A Look at Disney and to Mickey Mouse (2013)  Mondays and I have to be honest,  this f short just leaves me confused,  so much  so I only want to focus on this short.  I'll triple up next week. It's not that I hated it, but I don't get what they were going for in this short.  You see this short was 7 minutes,  4 minutes longer than the average short in the 2013 series and it aired in November as to celebrate Mickey's  birthday.  Which is fine and all but then why was Goofy, the main character, if this short was meant to celebrate Mickey's birthday.  I  just don't get it.  This is Potatoland.      And why potatoes? 



The  Plot

Mickey,  Donald,  and Goofy  were a road trip to  Idaho to go to Potatoland,   somewhere Goofy has wanted to go since he was young'n.   Goofy has mistaking this sign  for the sign to a theme park 14 1/2  times.

Mickey and Donald  realize the mishap  and Donald wants to leave but Mickey doesn't want to have Goofy's dreams crushed.  So, they spend all night building a potato theme park.   And the next morning, they take Goofy to it and this is where I'm confused.    It was said that this was short was meant to celebrate Mickey's 85th birthday but there weren't any homages or that to Mickey and he wasn't even the main character. This short was more a tribute to Disneyland.   I mean,  just take a look at the sign.

That is clearly based on the Disneyland sign.

They even reference Main Street U.S.A.  and show the Penny Arcade.

 

And  the climax of the short took place in a potato version of Great Moments with Mr.  Lincoln.    

And there is even a great callback to Mr.  Lincoln's first appearance at the World's Fair, where Walt debuted him as Mickey couldn't get the potato Lincoln to work and there was even blood ink running and   someone  made a joke about not knowing that John Wilkes Booth was a part of the show, when Walt couldn't get Lincoln to work.   Maybe I'm looking to deep into it but   I think it was meant to be a reference to that and  of course,  Mickey then gets plugged in and the potato gets mashed and  Goofy   sees Donald and wonders what was happening and Mickey explains that the two of them didn't want to see Goofy disappointed and so, they spent the entire night building the park out of potatoes and gravy. Speaking of which,  the sun started to thin the gravy, which caused the park to be caught in a gravy flood and Goofy's new dream was to get out of the park.  Okay,  I don't dislike this short but ultimately I'm  confused by it, this short was supposed to celebrate Mickey's 85th birthday.  Then why,  didn't they pull from any of his previous work like   Steamboat Willie,  Fantasia,   The Band Concert,  Mr.  Mouse Takes A Trip,    Mickey and The Beanstalk,  heck even Mickey Mouse Club,   and House of Mouse.  There was nothing here

 

Or  heck,  even  do a short about Mickey as a celebrity and dealing with the struggles or  maybe have Minnie planning a party and he's running late for it.  Just something that focuses on Mickey as this was meant to be a celebration of his 85th birthday and this was more of a celebration of Disneyland.  And  I have nothing against that as I love Disneyland and I loved seeing the references but   Disneyland's  birthday  is in July.     So,  this should've been saved for July  as it would've  made more sense  as there were more homages to Disney than Mickey.   This special I'm about to mention may not be very good but  Mickey's  60th Birthday knew to focus on Mickey and celebrate him.

 

  I'm  just confused.   I don't  hate this short but why  didn't it focus on Mickey,  if it was supposed to be for  his 85th birthday.   When  Mickey's 90th birthday rolls around,   please do something that focuses on Mickey and if you wanted to do this for Goofy,   is  in  May.     So, you could've saved it for May as it would've made sense there but looking  as this is something that was to celebrate Mickey,  they dropped the ball here and  this makes me more disappointed.    Again,  I can't stress that I hate this short and I want to look it as it's own entity but  I find that difficult to do, knowing what it was supposed to be and another good example,  this year Batman turned 75 and there have been two shorts celebrating Batman and Batman Beyond and they actually focused on Batman.

 

The creators behind these being Paul Dini knew what the fans wanted and got Kevin Conroy and Will Fredile back to voice their respective characters as a treat for the fans.  I'm sorry but if  DC/Warner Brothers can do something this cool for Batman's 75th, why couldn't  Disney do something of actual substance.   Like  why not,  a n hour-long retrospective on Mickey's career and the cultural icon that he has become and how he has spanned all different mediums from animated shorts to comic books and video games and  how many people around the world know, he is.

 

I'm sorry  but as someone that has been a life-long  of Mickey Mouse,  I'm  just... just... just confused.  

Characters

Goofy voiced by  Bill Farmer

Why was Goofy, the main character?   Don't get me wrong,  I like Goofy and  it was fun watching him go through the park and have fun.

Mickey  Mouse  &   Donald  Duck  voiced by Chris Diamantopoulos  &  Tony  Anselmo  

I'll give Mickey and Donald credit for being good friends and building an entire park in one night for their friend but again, why wasn't  Mickey, the focus?

My  Final Thoughts

This short isn't bad but knowing what it was supposed to be,  makes me disappointed that this is all they could come up with to celebrate Mickey's 85th birthday.  This is what they thought would pass for  Mickey's 85th birthday  and while this wasn't celebratory for Mickey's birthday,  Get A Horse was a better way to celebrate Mickey's birthday than this.  That's it,  I'm reviewing Get A Horse tomorrow to show how to better honor Mickey Mouse and his legacy.      

 

Because this is a failure.  I'm sorry but I can't let this go.  Join me next Monday as I take a look at Sleepwalkin',    Flipperboobootosis,  and Tapped Out.     Peace!