Mickey's Amateurs

Mickey cartoons all follow the same formula. Whatever he's doing will soon fall into chaos as soon as Donald shows up or whatever he's in charge of inexplicable rebels.

In this cartoon, nothing is different. He's hosting an amateur music show on the radio and Donald forgets the lyrics to Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. He's not happy about being booed and won't give up even after being kicked off. Clara Cow (or whoever) and Goofy turn up with some failed acts (both interrupted by Donald) that go haywire in the most predictable of fashions.

Not that funny and not that interesting. So much so that I did the hoovering while watching it.

Mickey's Amateurs as always with Disney is worth watching. But I do think they have done much better shorts. I wasn't expecting an innovative story, but there are gags and sequences that look and feel as though they had been done before in other Disney shorts, in the case of Clara Cluck for example a couple certainly have. There were a couple of scenes that didn't work as well as I would've liked as well. Donald forgetting the words to Twinkle Twinkle Little Star after offering Mickey a gift of an apple was funny, but to me the scene itself didn't really make sense as that is a very kid-oriented song and in the audience there wasn't a child in sight. Clara's gag didn't quite work for me either, the only really original thing about it was her getting frustrated and chasing the microphone but the basic set-up is pretty much the same as it in Orphans Benefit and Mickey's Grand Opera. However, the animation is lovely. Mickey does look rather odd to me here, but the backgrounds and colours still look gorgeous. The music is full of life and sparkle, enhancing the humour seamlessly. Most of the gags do work. Donald's second gag in disguise and with an out of control machine gun fared much better, but Goofy, with the one man band contraption, was the one with the best gag. Mickey is likable and sympathetic on the whole though he takes a sidestep compared to the rest of the characters. It was nice to see Clarabelle, and Donald is funny in his temperament, but Goofy is the star here for me. Overall, an entertaining if not amazing short. 7/10 Bethany Cox

A Walt Disney MICKEY MOUSE Cartoon.

MICKEY'S AMATEURS perform for audience approval in the worst possible way...

This wonderful little film - a spunky spoof of Major Bowes' Amateur Hour, a very popular radio show of the era - features top-notch animation and plenty of solid laughs. Mickey is the MC keeping the program moving along. Donald Duck is hilarious in his determination to recite Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. Buxom & boisterous, Clara Cluck appeared in only a handful of cartoons; here she gives one of her most memorable performances as she attempts to 'sing' to the piano accompaniment of the (unusually) giddy Clarabelle Cow. Goofy literally brings down the house as a one-man band with his unique presentations of 'In the Good Old Summertime' and 'There'll Be A Hot Time In The Old Town Tonight.' That's Pete having trouble with his rendition of 'Loudly The Bell In The Old Tower Rings' as the film opens. Walt Disney supplied the voice for Mickey, Clarence Nash did the honors for Donald, and the inimitable Florence Gill clucks for the marvelous Miss Clara.

Walt Disney (1901-1966) was always intrigued by pictures & drawings. As a lad in Marceline, Missouri, he sketched farm animals on scraps of paper; later, as an ambulance driver in France during the First World War, he drew comic figures on the sides of his vehicle. Back in Kansas City, along with artist Ub Iwerks, Walt developed a primitive animation studio that provided animated commercials and tiny cartoons for the local movie theaters. Always the innovator, his ALICE IN CARTOONLAND series broke ground in placing a live figure in a cartoon universe. Business reversals sent Disney & Iwerks to Hollywood in 1923, where Walt's older brother Roy became his lifelong business manager & counselor. When a mildly successful series with Oswald The Lucky Rabbit was snatched away by the distributor, the character of Mickey Mouse sprung into Walt's imagination, ensuring Disney's immortality. The happy arrival of sound technology made Mickey's screen debut, STEAMBOAT WILLIE (1928), a tremendous audience success with its use of synchronized music. The SILLY SYMPHONIES soon appeared, and Walt's growing crew of marvelously talented animators were quickly conquering new territory with full color, illusions of depth and radical advancements in personality development, an arena in which Walt's genius was unbeatable. Mickey's feisty, naughty behavior had captured millions of fans, but he was soon to be joined by other animated companions: temperamental Donald Duck, intellectually-challenged Goofy and energetic Pluto. All this was in preparation for Walt's grandest dream - feature length animated films. Against a blizzard of doomsayers, Walt persevered and over the next decades delighted children of all ages with the adventures of Snow White, Pinocchio, Dumbo, Bambi & Peter Pan. Walt never forgot that his fortunes were all started by a mouse, or that childlike simplicity of message and lots of hard work always pay off.

"Mickey's Amateurs" is a cartoon made during the great era when Disney cartoons were simply the best shorts being made. The animation and vivid colors were second to none and the characters and situations were most enjoyable. This being said, this cartoon is a big disappointment. Sure, the animation is great...but watching various characters in a talent show where they mostly display a distinct lack of talent isn't a great idea for a cartoon short. The segment with Goofy is nice but Donald's, Clara's and Pete's acts are really bad and not much fun to watch. An interesting experiment here...but one that ultimately fails. My advice is don't give up on the cartoons....just this one.

In this cartoon short, Mickey hosts an radio show where Donald, Goofy, Clara Cluck and Clarabelle Cow each put on amateur acts. Donald forgets the lyrics to Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star, while Clara Cluck attempts to pluck out a song while Clarabelle Cow plays on the piano. These two acts weren't very entertaining and was pretty predictable, but Goofy comes in and blows the show away in my opinion, putting on the most entertaining act that had him playing multiple instruments at one time.

It wasn't a very funny cartoon but it's nice seeing some of Disney's most popular characters come together to put on a radio show in this cartoon short.

Grade B-