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Going into the seasonal subject for today’s MC Toon Reviews Shorty, let’s talk
about one of the most iconic cartoon characters ever, Mickey Mouse. Created and released to the public over 90
years ago, this character demonstrated the appeal and potential of the animated
art form. His many cartoon shorts
entertained millions who would also be enthralled by his good nature and friendly
personality. Not only that, but their
success would lead to many other grand achievements of the Walt Disney
Company. Other great animated
personalities; full-length animated features; revolutionary theme parks;
groundbreaking art styles; and boundary pushing TV shows have impacted the
entertainment world in a significant way.
This brings a whole new meaning to Walt’s claim from long ago that “it
was all started by a mouse.”
However, in recent years, people constantly point out the bad controversial business decisions the corporate side of Disney has been making. It’s hard not to condone them for disregarding the appeal of their own animation library by pointlessly remaking those films in live action solely for profit; buying too many companies to the point of near monopolization; shutting down an entire animation studio they acquired leaving many artists without a job; and carelessly ending great TV shows in the middle of their prime because they decide serialized series don’t fit their brand anymore. Despite understandable frustration, it goes too far when the one blamed for all of these issues is Mickey. Some will explain this is because he’s the mascot for Disney, but it’s just plain ignorant of what he was created for. He was designed to be a fully-realized animated personality to entertain people in ways cartoon characters never could before and inspire achievements in the media to come. There’s also disregard for his generally open and friendly personality and drive to make the world a happier place, not unlike what his creator, Walt Disney, always strived to do. Really, the corporate leadership Disney gets flack for nowadays doesn’t relate to Mickey at all. Any great creative product they turn out is much more reflective of his true nature and spirit. Not to mention, Mickey is at the mercy of some bad corporate decisions too. They include mainly starring in shows aimed solely for preschoolers, and not enough exposure of his classic shorts.
Fortunately, there has been one fix to both
those issues. In 2013, animator Paul Rudish, whose credits include several classic Cartoon Network shows, was
assigned to bring a new universally appealing light to Mickey and his
gang. The result was a series of short
cartoons that return everyone to more classic appearances, e.g. Mickey’s black
oval eyes, and had them follow a wackier tone.
It was a fresh perspective that successfully brought a new sense of
entertainment from the characters, but still had great respect for the classic
Disney legacy. These shorts have never
been as exposed as or trended as much as the preschool shows, but their great
acclaim, many award wins, and continuing to run today is very fortunate. In fact, this series has become so big that
it inspired two holiday specials between 2016 and 2017. One of them ties into a holiday that is upon
us right now, Halloween, and that’s what we’ll be covering as the feel of the
season and Disney storytelling come together for:
The Scariest Story Ever:
A Mickey Mouse Halloween
Spooktacular
(October 8, 2017)
Now, Halloween is a holiday that lends itself very well to
animation. The variety of characters’
costumes and personal takes on fright factors are open to absolutely anyone’s
interpretation. Anyone familiar with
this incarnation of Mickey Mouse cartoons would probably agree that it’s a
series that immerses itself in the feel of animation very well. The creative and expressive visuals, extreme
gags, and energetic takes on familiar cartoon characters is something to
behold; a remarkable TV animation feat for Disney. With the versatility that comes from the very
nature of Halloween, these forces would be expected to come together for a
standout measure of entertainment. With
both spirits fully realized, not only does this special live up to the
potential; it also accomplishes even more, depending on one’s point of view.
Right at the start, there’s a strong feeling of Halloween from
both the premise and the general atmosphere.
The nighttime setting, the colors of fall, houses in all sorts of
seasonal decorations, the spooky background music, and the variety of costumes
have everything nailed. Going this far
not only suits Halloween, but feels right at home with these types of
cartoons. That’s not even mentioning how
a take on the holiday from this show would not be complete without some classic
Disney references. For the occasion,
it’s easy to spot ties to the Headless Horseman from the company’s adaptation
of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, and Fantasia’s “Night on Bald
Mountain.” More specific to the
special’s plot, bigger references can be found through following Mickey, Donald
Duck, and Goofy hosting Halloween for a particular group of Disney youths. There’s Morty and Ferdie, Mickey’s nephews
rarely seen in animation, and Donald’s nephews Huey, Dewey, and Louie, whose
costumes call back to their 1952 short, Trick
or Treat. This is no doubt a strong
hook to kick the special off, watching them all go about town
trick-or-treating, with the cast well-established and plenty of Halloween
sights to see. However, it’s when they
get back to Mickey’s home gone all out with fitting décor when the main plot
really kicks off.
Having hosted a great Halloween so far, Mickey has one big
thing to make the holiday perfect, a scary story. With that in mind, the main premise for the
special becomes clear. It’s just Mickey telling
such a story to the young kids he and his friends are hosting Halloween
for. However, this is not a detracting
point at all, for even works with the simplest premises can be executed to big
memorable experiences, and that’s the case here. When thinking about it, the very idea of
scary stories can be substantial enough for a great experience, especially at
Halloween. They can cover just about any
idea, tie into the feel of the holiday, and go all out in their own right. Having Mickey tell the stories also makes for
a solid approach to the stories tying well into the feel of this series of
shorts. He’s known for being an
all-around good character wanting to bring happiness to his friends, and while
it’s played straight in other media, it’s very entertaining in this series. It’s exaggeration that makes his friendly
attitude very charismatic, and it’s these qualities that present the scary
stories with real showmanship.
Then consideration is made to the stories themselves, with the first two following a pattern. As stories by themselves, they’re both told well with Mickey’s aforementioned showmanship leading everything.
One story is a take on the Frankenstein monster, while the other portrays himself, Donald, and Goofy as vampire hunters.
They both start out well with the appropriate scary mood to set up the atmosphere thanks in large part to Mickey’s delivery of the narration. They seem to be played straight as any story featuring these monsters would be, but that’s the thing. Before they can get deep into their plot or climaxes, the stories always have something that keeps them from being what they’re expected to be. By that, they’re kept back from being the scariest stories they can be.
The Frankenstein story starts with the right tone and feel, but when the monster creation is almost complete, the scary tone is ultimately subverted. All the build-up leads to the monster turning out to be the familiar figure with Mickey’s head, who in turn proceeds to celebrate being alive with a song and dance. Basically, there’s no real scary ending, and the story is ultimately one big joke. As for the vampire ending, it also has the right idea of starting out scary, but all through out there are overtly comedic approaches.
Mickey and his pals argue
over petty things like what the vampire hunters ride, and Goofy has a literal
idea of stakes steaks to bring to the mission.
The ultimate confrontation is played straight
for the most part, being an intense fight with a vampire made with lots of
action, and even ends with one of the hunters being bitten. However, this is easy to see coming given the
general nature of vampires.
This brings to light a significant issue with Mickey’s
stories. The kids are here for something
scary, considering this is Halloween, and what they’re being told is just not
scary. The first one may be a subversion
of tropes which would be welcome to most storytellers, but not what this
audience wants. The second may have a
fitting spooky ending, but it’s predictable and the jokes heading into it make
it feel more like a parody than an actual story. The lack of general frights is so bad that
not only do the kids go into a riot, but it’s said that their entire Halloween
will be ruined without a good scary story.
To some perspectives, that claim can be too extreme. When pondering why Mickey’s failing to impress
the kids, there is an interesting consideration. Donald and Goofy claim that it’s because
Mickey comes from a place so happy and light-hearted that make him unable to be
scary. They do come off as smug and
condescending when saying this since Goofy’s attempts with visual aids and
Donald’s garbled duck talk also failed hard.
Despite that, it says a lot about the misconceptions of Disney
storytelling by the general public, mainly by those who see their films as works
solely for kids. In those minds, the
films are nothing but cute and happy imagery with little stakes, making them
suitable fodder to keep little ones quiet for a fixed amount of time. Those happy scenes may be pushed a lot when
promoting the films, but to people who actually watch the entire films, they
tend to see them as well-structured. A
large part to this is that most Disney films are not, in fact, all happy and
innocent. A great majority of them have
legitimately scary moments necessary to enhance the story, build sympathy for the
characters, and make it relatable with a strong emotional range. Such an idea is brought up in the resolution
of this very special where Mickey is put down by general perceptions of his
storytelling, so he sets out to prove his audience wrong.
This in turn brings on the last story which not only proves to be the scariest, but also the most creative. There are even genuine improvements to the previous two stories. While at least one of them started scary and ended up fun and cute, this one basically goes in the opposite direction. It’s also relatable to Mickey’s audience where instead of the story’s character being built off of him, Donald, and Goofy, they’re modeled from Morty, Ferdie, Huey, Dewey, and Louie. They even fit their mischievous traits, as the story takes place in a village where five brothers in colorful lederhosen would torment everyone by stealing their pies. In other words, they’re typical delinquents doing typical delinquent things.
What seems like petty theft however, leads to dire consequences when they’re tempted by the aroma of a particularly tempting pie from a resident old lady. Just for the record, from the very look of the pie, it’s easy to see why the brothers would see this as the ultimate one. Once they follow the scent of that one pie, the horror element of the story is set to unfold very intricately, never letting up. They break into the old lady’s house to steal the pie and split up to cover more ground, something that allegedly always leads to something scary.
Some of them, mainly Huey, are even put through a creepy hallway in their pursuit before reaching the pie. Then Huey is all alone once he has the pie and hears of a dark secret about what their made of.
It takes the cries of his brothers in baking pie crusts to answer that question.
Then following a classic Disney-style horrifying transformation into a hideous monster from that old lady, Huey’s dragged in too, and is said to be never heard from again.
From there, after spending the special
struggling to pull it off, Mickey proves that he in fact CAN tell a scary
story. In fact, it could very well be a
good contender for the scariest story ever.
The premise is fitting for the tone as well as very creative, the events
leave a frightful impact and point, and it subverts all chances for usual
happiness. It even shows as it works not
only on the kids, but Donald and Goofy as well, and even Mickey himself when an
old woman with a pie shows up. However,
that last point may also be there to give Minnie a chance to be in this
special. Above all, it says a lot for
the nature of storytelling, and the reputation of Disney films in general that
with an open mind, great, and of course scary stories, can come from anywhere.
Through fitting seasonal atmosphere, imaginative
storytelling, and impactful statements on the appeal of Disney, this is a
Halloween experience like no other. One
might even go as far as to call it one of the best showings of the concept of
telling scary stories basically ever.
Plus, in an age where Disney’s done things that people aren’t proud of,
this special can help remind them that despite it all, Mickey Mouse DOES care
for quality entertainment.
Highly Recommended
