I have just come from a showing of Disney's FROZEN, for which this was a preceding short. However, from my viewpoint, I saw this cartoon with a movie added on, because this is a fine little cartoon while FROZEN is just another Princess movie.
Mickey, Minnie and the rest of the crew from 1928 go on a hay ride, where they meet Pegleg Pete... and Pete, fighting for Minnie, throws Mickey through the movie screen, where he is the modern Mickey, with red pants and three dimensions. The inevitable donnybrook extends through both media and even beyond, with references to intermediate Mickeys, until the point of the movie, the subtext, in between the situations and gags, became clear to me: Mickey remains Mickey, whether in the 1928 silent version, before he learned to whistle, or the modern, three-dimensional, full color version.
With all the commercial issues of modern Disney movies, with all the brand extensions and can-we-make-sequels and how can we milk this idea for another ten million dollars, there comes a point at which some creative individual says "I have an idea". At that stage it's not commercial, it's not a multi-media franchise, it's just an idea. If it's a good idea, then the money men, essentially non-creative individuals (I should know; it's what I do for a living) will make enough money on it to pay the people with ideas and give them the chance to have more ideas. And the best idea they can have is "Let's do something the audience will enjoy."
I enjoyed this one very, very much. I think you will too. Even if, or perhaps especially if you don't worry about subtext.
Mickey, Minnie and the rest of the crew from 1928 go on a hay ride, where they meet Pegleg Pete... and Pete, fighting for Minnie, throws Mickey through the movie screen, where he is the modern Mickey, with red pants and three dimensions. The inevitable donnybrook extends through both media and even beyond, with references to intermediate Mickeys, until the point of the movie, the subtext, in between the situations and gags, became clear to me: Mickey remains Mickey, whether in the 1928 silent version, before he learned to whistle, or the modern, three-dimensional, full color version.
With all the commercial issues of modern Disney movies, with all the brand extensions and can-we-make-sequels and how can we milk this idea for another ten million dollars, there comes a point at which some creative individual says "I have an idea". At that stage it's not commercial, it's not a multi-media franchise, it's just an idea. If it's a good idea, then the money men, essentially non-creative individuals (I should know; it's what I do for a living) will make enough money on it to pay the people with ideas and give them the chance to have more ideas. And the best idea they can have is "Let's do something the audience will enjoy."
I enjoyed this one very, very much. I think you will too. Even if, or perhaps especially if you don't worry about subtext.