Las olimpiadas de Mickey

I've been slowly making my way through the short films on Disney Plus. A recent rejig within that section has moved and added some of them, one of which was this 1932 classic Mickey Mouse Cartoon "Barnyard Olympics".

To coincide with the Los Angeles Olympics, Mickey Mouse and the Disney characters undertake their own games including Boxing, Wrestling and Diving. Mickey though, plans to impress Minnie, by winning the triathlon, which includes cycling, running and rowing a boat. Mickey though has competition from a larger unscrupulous competitor, who also has his eyes on Minnie and will stop at nothing to win.

Some of these shorts have been a little underwhelming, particularly as we've approached the sixties and seventies, but this is another one I'd describe as a classic. It's perfectly set to music again, as was "Steamboat Willy" from just four years earlier. The animation has some obvious loops to it but is nice work and is utterly charming. The beats of the story, just the typical physical slapstick moments that you see a lot with these films, are excellent.

There's a lot of stuff upcoming that I'm less excited about, a number of "Cars" shorts for example, but this was great.

My assumption is that the title of this cartoon would not be used today, as the International Olympic Committee has been so very litigious in recent years if anyone dares to use the word 'olympics' or their precious symbol. Perhaps I am wrong...I dunno.

This cartoon has a very simple plot--all the barnyard animals have come to watch or participate in their own Olympic contests. And, at the end, they have a sort of decathlon (but with only four events). It all boils down to Mickey Mouse and an incredibly buff creature that looks a lot like Pete.

As this cartoon has lots and lots of gags, no singing and terrific animation, it turns out to be a very enjoyable short film indeed.

This is really fun. The barnyard animals have their own Olympic games. There is stuff going on all over the place: boxing, wrestling, diving, etc. Mickey is entered in Cross Country which is really a series of events like a tri-athlon. Of course, Pete is entered and he cheats over and over. Mickey must make up ground. But Pete's actions backfire on him over and over. The final race is quite engaging. There are lots of really fun bits here. What I really noticed is the character development that other cartoonists had not reached yet.

A Walt Disney MICKEY MOUSE Cartoon.

Mickey & Pete compete in the Cross Country event at the BARNYARD OLYMPICS, each hoping to capture Miss Minnie's attentions.

This enjoyable little black & white film was Disney's salute to the 1932 Summer Games, which were held in Los Angeles. Clarabelle Cow is a spectator along with Minnie, while Horace Horsecollar performs as Mickey's masseur. Among the sports depicted are boxing, diving & wrestling. The hilarious fast walkers get an unexpected reaction from a gynandroid poodle up in the stands.

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 always pay off.

While sports is not my favourite pastime, I do enjoy seeing cartoons with them involved as something funny and inventive is always done with them. That is true especially true with Disney and to a lesser extent Looney Tunes. Barnyard Olympics is so much fun. It is interesting if maybe a bit odd to see for a short made in the 30s some of the character designs in the final scene looking like they belong more in the 20s, for example seeing a cow or pig's head from the 30s on a hippo's body from the 20s or something or other. The rest of the animation is great, clean and smooth with a very detailed opening sequence and constant motion of the characters during the truly energetic race parts themselves. The music and sound effects have always been good with enhancing the action and that is definitely the case here and the music especially is beautiful and jaunty in orchestration and energy. The story is a basic Mickey overcoming the opposition- in the form of Pete- but is crisply paced and even with a somewhat standard concept something fresh is done with it. The main selling points are the interplay between Mickey and Pete, and the hilarious gags, of which the goat refereeing between two bruisers and getting clocked himself, the combatants and goat get tied up in knots, Mickey climbing over the fence using a dachshund, the whole group of bikers rolling down the hill, and when the poor dachshund hits a pole and twists around it stood out in particular. Pete's continuous cheating is also entertaining. Mickey is as likable as ever, the part with the soda bottles does emphasise his determination which I loved seeing, and Pete is a great foil. Overall, kinetic, sporty fun at its best. 9.5/10 Bethany Cox