Retter in Seenot

...........AS IT SURE sounds like a substitute to us!!

TAKING ON YET another group team comic effort, the Disney Studios' answer to the Brothers Marx & Ritz, as well as Laurel & Hardy, the Stooges, etc.gives their best in team effort.

PERHAPS THIS COMBINATION of character concept was getting just a trifle stale or maybe the creative talent was being allocated in a greater proportional configuration to the animated features; like SNOW WHITE, PINNOCHIO, BAMBI, DUMBO and FANTASIA.

OUTSIDE OF THE obvious buffoonery of the actions by the true supporting characters of Donald & Goofy and the now much more straight laced demeanor of the "Top Banana", Mickey; the big development was the physical appearance of this anthropomorphic trio. This goes especially for their facial construction and make up.

SOMETIME BETWEEN THE earlier short, BOAT BUILDERS and this maritime outing, an editorial policy decreed that Mickey especially needed an upgrade.

PRODUCTION ON WHAT was originally to be called "the Concert Feature" had a segment starring Mr. Mouse in it called The Sorcerer's Apprentice and the feature, now dubbed FANTASIA, showcased this more complex countenance.

WE RECENTLY VIEWED this short along with BOAT BUILDERS on Turner Classic Movies' FROM THE Disney VAULT Feature with Leonard Maltin.

As the boys grab their tugboat and head off to do a rescue, just about everything goes wrong. Good intentions seldom work well in these cartoons. But it allows for series of pratfalls that kids would have enjoyed as a come on to the main feature. It is beautifully drawn with lots of color and a good deal of detail.

A significant portion of this animated short shows Goofy trying to load up some coal to be burned in order to get Mickey's tugboat moving. Meanwhile, Donald struggles with a piece of machinery and Mickey stands around until the boat gets moving. Wow...the comic genius involved is downright mind-blowing!

I know I'm being a bit of a downer, but it is disappointing that Mickey and his gang were always trying to cull laughter from idiocy instead of cleverness. "Tugboat Mickey" continued to employ that strategy. It used broad, uninvolving humor and the "surprise" ending was obvious from the get-go. 1/10

A Walt Disney MICKEY MOUSE Cartoon.

TUGBOAT MICKEY, along with crewmen Donald Duck & Goofy, attempts to rush to the rescue of a quickly sinking ship.

Here is another classic little film, with excellent animation and lots of good laughs. Many younger viewers may not understand the final gag, what with all the changes in American popular entertainment since 1940. Walt Disney provides Mickey with his squeaky voice; Clarence Nash does the honors for the Duck.

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 have always enjoyed the cartoons with Mickey, Donald and Goofy individually, and even more so together. While it is still a good, solid cartoon, Tugboat Mickey is not one of their better outings. The story is rather routine and reminded me a lot of The Whalers(the main reason why the ending wasn't so much as a surprise) and especially Clock Cleaners, and Mickey's re-design takes some getting used to especially as Donald and Goofy are kept the same. However, there is much to enjoy as Tugboat Mickey is beautifully animated especially in the colourful backgrounds, and the music is very energetic. The gags are familiar in a way, but they are still very funny especially with Donald's temperament with the steam piston and Goofy's confusion as the grate keeps closing on him. Mickey is not as funny but he is still likable and all three characters are impeccably voiced as always. Overall, a good cartoon if not one of the best. 8/10 Bethany Cox