Wal in Sicht

The Whalers (1938)

*** (out of 4)

Charming animated short from Disney has Mickey, Donald and Goofy out on the open sea where the goal is to capture a whale. They end up finding one but things don't go as planned especially when Goofy winds up inside the whale. THE WHALERS is a pretty good short from Disney and while it's certainly no classic it at least has enough good moments to where fans should enjoy it. Needless to say, the highlight is when Goofy winds up inside the whale where he must try and be creative to get out. In reality this is mainly a Goofy and Donald short because Mickey only has two small scenes and he doesn't say a word throughout.

A Walt Disney MICKEY MOUSE Cartoon.

Mickey, Donald & Goofy go looking for the elusive leviathan.

THE WHALERS is an excellent little film, with lots of laughs and topnotch animation propelling its plot. Outside of a hilarious sequence attempting to empty a bucketful of bilge, Mickey has very little to do. The Goof & the Duck dominate the proceedings - delightfully. Donald's frustrations with hungry seabirds and Goofy's ineptitude with the harpoon cannon are just two of their misadventures. Clarence Nash supplies Donald's unique voice.

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.

I am somewhat confused that this one is classified as one of the "Mickey Cartoons". Sure, Mickey Mouse is in it, but he doesn't really do anything here and he barely speaks something here. Plus, the story focus more on Goofy, Donald Duck and a whale than Mickey Mouse.

It's a generally enjoyable cartoon. The only thing I have to criticize is that they want to hunt the whale. But that doesn't happen. Fortunately, it turns out to be a comical story, especially the bits inside the gigantic whale and the bit when the whale destroys the boat.

I love that whale. The whale is the main interest in this story. Without the whale, this would have been probably nothing special.

Although quite old-fashioned, for something that is from the year 1938, it doesn't look as dated as it could be (except for some minor clues, such as the older appearance of Goofy and Mickey Mouse).

Not a classic by all means, but great fun regardless. Mickey doesn't feature that much here, but Goofy and Donald have plenty to do and as pretty much always are peerless. The animation is done in a very nice fluid and colourful visual style, and the music is rousing and clever. Also prevalent are some interesting sight gags, and the whale is a great point of interest. When it comes to cartoon whales I prefer Willie from Willie the Operatic Whale and Spot from the Little Mermaid series, but this whale is memorable. The story is simple and a tad predictable but only occasionally, but it is effective mostly. The voice acting is well done, with Clarence Nash coming off best.

Overall, nicely done and entertaining. 9/10 Bethany Cox

This is a cartoon that features, in a rare move, all three of Disney's biggest stars: Mickey, Donald and Goofy. They work on a ship and each run into scores of mishaps. Mickey couldn't get his bucket of water to dump into the ocean; Donald's can't have a moment's peace during his lunch break; and Goofy is having trouble firing a cannon. Things get worse when they run into a whale that resembles Monstro from Pinocchio.

It's a story full of slapstick comedy and misadventures. Good for laughs but I think it leaves you wishing that the three guys would get a break from all the misfortune once in a while. Even though this is labeled a Mickey Mouse cartoon, he doesn't have any dialog in the short and Donald and Goofy take more center stage in the plot. In addition, the animation is great and the voice talents of Clarence Nash and Pinto Colvig brought charm and uniqueness to the characters.

Grade B