Mickey Mouse: Mash-Up - App Review

 By: Nick

If you've seen the new Mickey Mouse cartoons Disney has released recently, you'll know that they are very clever.

The Mickey Mouse: Mash Up app for iPhone, iPad and iPod gives you the opportunity to be as clever as the Disney animators, because YOU get to help Mickey Mouse complete one of the cartoons, "No Service."

Mickey asks for your help, inviting you to draw something large you would find at the beach.

I drew a sand pail.

Now it's time to color it in.

It's going to sound like I'm making excuses, because I am, but this app is probably great on an iPad, as drawing and coloring is much more difficult on an iPhone, which is what I'm using here. But artistic skills aside, this is fun regardless, and you can always start over by using the icon in the upper right hand corner. Just click on that...

... to be brought to the menu, where you can choose a point to go back or forward to.

You are then invited to draw something small you'd find on the beach,  and something silly for Mickey to wear.

All these drawings will be used later in the cartoon!

As the cartoon progresses, you are asked to contribute new illustrations.

 For instance, the sign needs to be completed with a food item. The drawing by me? A hotdog.

In addition to drawing activities, there are interactive games throughout. Here, I'm picking a feather I'll use to tickle Donald with!

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Why is Mickey naked? Spoilers! You'll be using your drawings from earlier to help Mickey out of a tricky spot!

There is plenty to entertain both young and old here, with appearances from Goofy, Minnie Mouse and Daisy Duck.

At the end Mickey thanks you for helping finish his cartoon, and invites you to celebrate by drawing a picture of him, either using a template to draw over, or a blank page to draw from memory.

You can even view past mouseterpieces.

The app is $3.99 and lots of fun, with plenty of potential. I'm assuming Disney will be adding additional animated shorts in the future, adding to the re-playability.

We would like to thank Disney Publishing for providing this App for review.

Mickey's Traffic Trouble : Disney Hallmark Ornament

By: Nick

Back in July, Hallmark had their Ornament Premiere Weekend, and I picked up the "Limited Quantity" ornament featuring Gus and Jaq, titled "Sewing For Cinderelly."

Last year, there was also a limited quantity ornament featuring Mickey Mouse, titled "Traffic Trouble."

"Traffic Troubles" is a 1931 animated cartoon, Mickey's 26th short, and can be easily found by doing a YouTube search. The ornament is in black in white, just like the original.

 

This is a heavy ornament, like a matchbox car. In fact, the wheels turn!

The cabs tires have seen better days.

From the box:

Traffic Troubles 

Mickey Mouse 

Special Edition

 

Mickey has had a lot of jobs through the years, but one of the earliest was as a cabbie in the 1931 animated short Traffic Troubles. And trouble he has aplenty as he tries to maneuver through the crowded city streets with his trusty taxi. Things become smoother and a lot more fun when he picks up Minne-she is after all the fairest fare he's had all day!

This special edition ornament was issued in limited quantities and first available at the 2012 Keepsake Ornament Premiere event. 

Don Palmiter 

Hallmark Keepsake Artist

 

 

I love the license plate: "O-heck"!  

 

I hope you don't encounter any traffic trouble today, unless it's this ornament!

Disney "Tour Around the Kingdom" Flash Giveaway!

This morning I shared this awesome Brave Little Tailor Mickey Mouse Hallmark ornament.

I have teamed up with other Disney blogs to bring you a tour of flash giveaways, and we are giving away one of these terrific ornaments!

Here's how to enter.

• Please visit our Facebook Page and Like the status (And while you're there, if you haven't already done so, please Like the page itself!).

• Leave a comment telling me your favorite time of year to visit Walt Disney World or Disneyland

You must Like the status AND answer the question to be entered!

Once you have entered our contest, head over to Disney Dose to enter their giveaway.
 
A winner will be picked tomorrow night at 6pm.

I will count the number of people who comment, and enter that number in the True Random Number Generator from random.org.
After the random number is picked, I will count down to the Comment that corresponds to that number.

I'll announce the winner here and on the Facebook page.

Please let all your friends know, thank you, and good luck!

Mickey Mouse Brave Little Tailor Hallmark Ornament

By: Nick

If you are at all familiar with this blog, you'll be familiar with the fact that my favorite Mickey Mouse cartoon is Brave Little Tailor.
And you'll also be aware I collect Hallmark ornaments.
Combine the 2, and you get this beauty right here!

It is the second in a the Mickey's Movie Mouseterpieces series.

I put this ornament central on the tree, where he joins several other Brave Little Tailor ornaments.

Stop back here, or to our Facebook page tonight at 6pm to learn how you can win an ornament just like this one!

Disney's Frozen : A Mostly Spoiler Free Review

By: Nick

Disney's newest animated feature film, Frozen, was released this weekend.
I went into this wanting to love it, and, well, I really, really liked it.
It's absolutely beautiful to look at.
The music is wonderful, the best in a long time. However, I was hoping for more songs featuring Idina Menzel, who played Elphaba in Wicked. Speaking of Wicked, there are several things that reminded me of that tremendous musical, in a good way. I also got a vibe that the song-writers were channeling other musicals, including Avenue Q, which was co-written by one of the Frozen's soundtrack's writers, Robert Lopez.
Olaf the Snowman is maybe one of the funniest Disney characters. Ever. As much as I wanted more Idina Menzel, I wanted even more Olaf.
Looking back, that may be my biggest issue, if you can even call it that: I wanted more of everything!

The story has many twists that I wish I could say I didn't expect, but, as I'd reviewed the Frozen Deluxe Storybook App , these surprises were spoiled, which may have contributed to my initial feelings.
I say initial feelings, because we bought the soundtrack when we got home, and listening to it has brought back just how terrific the movie really is.
I'm looking forward to seeing it again.

By: Barbie

Since I had no preconceived notions going into this movie, I have to say I was blown away! I mean, wow, I wanted to stay and see the next showing, but you have to reserve your seats in advance at the theater we went to. The cartoon short at the beginning of the movie featuring Mickey and Minnie Mouse, Get a Horse, well, I won't ruin it for you, but my mouth was on the floor it was so amazing, the 3D effects so well done I was on the edge of my seat, I didn't want to miss a thing.

The visuals and storyline to Frozen: awesome, as was the character development. I think the songs were the strongest and most memorable I've heard in a Disney movie since The Lion King.

Nick and I immediately went home and bought the soundtrack to hear them again.

So would I recommend this movie? The answer is absolutely! Come out and see it with us! We will be seeing it again!

The Skeleton Dance, A Disney Silly Symphony

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

The Skeleton Dance was released in 1929, the first Silly Symphonies animated short.

If you haven't seen it, it involves, well, skeletons dancing! There are plenty of sight gags revolving around the skeletons using various bones and a hapless cat as instruments.

I bought this Skeleton Dance Cinemagic Films Volume One figure along with several other capsule toys off of eBay.

Other capsule toys can be found here and here, and I will be sharing more in the future.

The Skeleton Dance is available on the Walt Disney Treasures - Silly Symphonies DVD collection, as a bonus on the video game, Epic Mickey 2, and can be found on YouTube. It makes for perfect Halloween viewing!

Mickey Mouse and Lonesome Ghosts

One of my favorite cartoons is a Mickey Mouse short from 1937 called Lonesome Ghosts.

 

It stars Mickey, Donald Duck, and Goofy as Ghost Exterminators. Essentially, this is Ghostbusters. In fact, the Ghostbusters theme song has the line "I ain't afraid of no ghost," echoing a memorable line by Goofy in Lonesome Ghosts, "I ain't scared of no ghosts."

Lonesome Ghosts can be found on the animated feature The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad on DVD, which I watch annually at this time of year, as well as several other cartoon collections.

As a child I watched Lonesome Ghosts over an over, literally forward and back, on my Fisher Price Movie Viewer. This little hand cranked toy was the DVD Player (or maybe more accurately, VHS) of it's day. The cartoon came in a cartridge you would pop into the player, and crank to watch. It being 1973 or 1974, when I was 5 or 6, I don't remember many details, such as if Lonesome Ghosts was included with the player, but I don't recall watching any other cartridge. I found this Fisher Price Movie Viewer and Lonesome Ghosts cartridge on eBay.

Just pop the movie in, and you can watch it forward, or, as I used to do, for whatever reason, in reverse.

There are several Disney movies available for this player, such as Cinderella, Snow White, and Bambi. But, as when I was a little kid, I'm fine just watching Lonesome Ghosts forward and back.

Mickey Mouse's Runaway Brain

By: Nick

Mickey Mouse twisted and running amok? Oh yeah! But, not really. Confused? Read on!

Runaway Brain was released in 1995, before the feature length movie "A Kid in King Arthur's Court."


The plot involves Mickey trying to earn enough money to take Minnie to Hawaii, a mad scientist named Dr. Frankenollie, a scientific experiment gone awry, Mickey's mind in a monster's body, and a crazed monster in control of Mickey's body.

Still confused?

Well, check it out yourself! It can be found on YouTube, or if you want to own it and see it on DVD, it can be found on Walt Disney Treasures, Mickey in Living Color, Volume 2.


It is really clever, and there is so much going on that it needs to be viewed multiple times:

• Wouldn't you love to have a copy of the video game Mickey is playing at the beginning of the cartoon?
• Can you spot the Starship Enterprise from Star Trek?
• What classic horror movie is being payed tribute as Mickey approaches the Mad Scientists house, and what song is Mickey whistling as he rings the bell?
• Do you know what 2 legendary animators Dr. Frankenollie pays homage to?
• How about the old picture of Mickey in his wallet?

There is some merchandise available from this terrific short. There are, of course pins:

Kubricks by Medicom Toys:


Vinylmation




There are other toys available, most notably some anime vinyl, as well as Walt Disney Classic Collection figures of Runaway Mickey and Dr. Frankenollie available, and eventually I hope to add them all to my collection.

Name That Disney Bear

Can you name the characters on this Totem Pole, which sits outside the Mercantile store at Disney's Wilderness Lodge?
Got Mickey, Goofy and Donald pretty easily, I would imagine, but who's that bear?

While staying at the Wilderness Lodge a couple of years ago, we took the  excellent ranger guided tour. When the ranger asked who in our group of about 12 could name the characters, only my wife and I knew this bear is Humphrey.

I have a few Humphrey collectibles. One is a 12" resin reproduction of the Totem Pole above which I purchased at the Wilderness Lodge Mercantile for $20.95.

Humphrey first appeared in a Goofy short from 1950, titled "Hold That Pose", though he is bearly (pun intended) recognizable as the bear he would develop into. This short can be found on the "Walt Disney Treasures: The Complete Goofy" DVD set.

Next he went on to appear in four classic Donald Duck cartoons: "Rugged Bear", 1953, "Grin and Bear it", 1954, "Bearly Asleep", and "Beezy Bear", both from 1955. All 4 of these can be found on "Walt Disney Treasures: The Chronological Donald: Volume 4" DVD set.

He even starred in his own cartoons in 1955,"Hooked Bear", and one of  my favorite short cartoons of all time, "In the Bag" both of which can be found on the "Walt Disney Treasures: Disney Rarities: Celebrated Shorts: 1920s-1960s" set.

I'll share more Humphrey in the future here on Disney Musings.

Disney Animation Collection: Vol. 1: Mickey and the Beanstalk

Sunday, while doing a search for Disney on Netflix streaming service, I discovered they have Disney Animation Collections Vol. 1-5 available! I actually have many of the cartoons available in these volumes on DVD, but the quality of the picture in HD is superb!

I watched Disney Animation Collection: Vol. 1: Mickey and the Beanstalk.

 
It starts off with Mickey and the Beanstalk, which was originally released  September 27, 1947 as part of the "package film" Fun and Fancy Free.  It was originally narrated by Edgar Bergen. The version in this collection is from Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color, aired in 1963, and is narrated by Ludwig Von Drake. 

This is a retelling of Jack and the Beanstalk, with Mickey, Donald and Goofy going on an adventure.
The highlight of this, in my opinion, and what I remember being most amused of as a child, is the beanstalk growing scene. It's full of hilarious and imaginative gags with perfectly orchestrated music accompanying it.

Next up is my favorite Mickey Mouse cartoon, the 1938 masterpiece, The Brave Little Tailor. I've written about several of my collectables from this classic, and have many more to come. Past articles can be found by typing in "Brave Little Tailor" in the "Search This Blog" block to the right. I don't think I've ever seen it as beautifully as it is here in HD. Just stunning. I watched it twice in fact!

Then I was treated to an almost as wonderful, certainly in my top 5 Mickey Mouse cartoons, Thru the Mirror, from 1936. Mickey falls asleep while reading Alice In Wonderland, and has quite the dream!
Also included a black and white Mickey from 1934 Gulliver Mickey. Mickey tells a group of young orphan mice a fanciful tale.

Rounding out the set is Mr. Mouse Takes a Trip, from 1940, where Mickey and Pluto try to avoid train conductor Pete, and have many problems doing so! I'll be checking out the rest of these animated classics for sure!