I am 18, and a huge fan of Disney. Mickey Mouse Clubhouse is not their best show, plus it is not even close to the classic Silly Synphonies, but it is light years from their worst. Sure it can have its predictable moments, but it is better than it's made out to be. I often see it criticised for being a rip-off of Dora the Explorer. True, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse uses the talk-to-the-camera technique, but so do other shows even before Dora. And I may get some flack for this opinion, but I think this is better than Dora. Dora I find annoying and repetitive, and other than counting to one to ten in Spanish I learnt little from it.
Back to Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. The stories can be predictable and the dialogue overly-simplistic. Plus the pacing of the episodes can be rushed or draggy. However, I liked the animation. It has been criticised for being rough, robotic and lacking variety. Maybe so at first, but I for one think it improved. The backgrounds are colourful and bright, the colours are nice and the character designs are fairly good. The clubhouse actually looks very interesting in my view. The music is pretty decent too. The theme song is simple but memorable, and the accompanying music is decent enough. I personally thoroughly enjoy the Hot Dog Dance, and liked its imaginative and funny name.
I also liked the social and creative skills that Mickey Mouse Clubhouse teaches children. Children I think will be delighted by the fun that goes into this show(I have toddler friends who adore this show), adults mayn't be so impressed, but the look on their child's faces will say it all as they learn new skills in every episode. The characters are engaging enough for the target audience. Mickey, despite the criticism he smiles too much contrary to his more mischievous persona in the original cartoons, is very benevolent and an ideal character for children to at least relate to. Goofy is still funny, and Minnie and Daisy are interesting without being too vapid. My only disappointment character-wise is Donald, I don't hate him far from it, but I would have liked to seen more of his cantankerous personality that made him so funny yet endearing in the originals. Morever, the voice acting from the late Wayne Allwine, Bill Farmer, Tony Alselmo, Russi Taylor and Tress MacNeille is rock solid.
To conclude, it is a good show but no classic. 7/10 Bethany Cox
