Micky im Traumland

A Walt Disney MICKEY MOUSE Cartoon.

Like the famous literary Alice, Mickey goes THRU THE MIRROR to find himself in a very strange room where almost anything can happen...and probably will.

Here is one of the classic Mouse films - an exercise in sheer exuberant delight. Taking Lewis Carroll as the departure point, the Disney artists crafted a tale of visual excitement & great good fun. Music propels the action and Mickey's joyous dance - backed up by matches, white gloves & a whole pack of cards - proves to be a salute to both Fred Astaire & Busby Berkeley. The Queen of Hearts card - the Mouse's soulful dancing partner at one point - is a spoof of Greta Garbo. Look fast near the end for a quick cameo by King Neptune, who starred in his own SILLY SYMPHONY back in 1932. Walt Disney provides Mickey with his squeaky voice.

Walt Disney (1901-1966) was always intrigued by 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 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 simplicity of message and lots of hard work will always pay off.

When "Thru the Mirror" begins, Mickey has just fallen asleep after reading Lewis Carroll's "Through the Looking Glass". Then, like in the story, Mickey has a dream where he, too, is able to talk through the mirror into a strange parallel world. He finds that all the furnishings in the house are alive. Next, he eats a walnut and shrinks--and has all sorts of miniature adventures. He battles against some playing cards but my favorite portion is where he tap dances--in a manner highly reminiscent o Fred Astaire. All in all, there really isn't a lot in the way of plot but the cartoon is so much fun and the animation so nice that you really don't care! Clever and fun from start to finish.

"Thru the Mirror" is a fun literary take on the Lewis Caroll classic "Through the Looking Class". While not especially faithful, it is tremendously entertaining for a number of reasons. Whether it is the lovely Technicolour animation, with the colourful backgrounds and interesting character features. Whether it is the wonderful music, it is rousing on the most part, with a little snippet of Schubert's "Marche Millitaire". Whether it is the great scene with the cards chasing Mickey. Whether it is Mickey in the role of Alice, and doing it with gusto I must say. I will say though I do think Mickey has done better cartoons namely "Sorceror's Apprentice", "The Band Concert" and "Symphony Hour". But this is great fun as a cartoon, and works on multiple viewings. 10/10 Bethany Cox

After falling asleep reading Alice Through the Looking Glass, Mickey dreams about walking through the mirror and entering and opposite world where almost everything is alive and has a personality. Sort of in the same way as all those annoying, singing teacups in the awful Beauty and the Beast movie.

There are many references to Alice in Wonderland of course, some subtle, some obvious and some intelligent. Though it's all great fun and wildly imaginative. It's these sort of cartoons that made Disney Studios and Mickey Mouse legendary.

In a way, it's the success of cartoon like this that are to blame for the existence of stuff like The Haunted Mansion.

But that's just the pessimist in me.

Mickey has been reading Lewis Carrol and has dozed off. This is a combination of mouse antics and the Alice story. He does battle with numerous fictional entities and seems to have a great time. Very well animated and imaginative. Mickey is at his improvisational best.