Guerra Fría

"Though the virus wins few friends, he influenza's many people". Yes, that's the standard of gag that's not be sneezed at as "George/Goofy" is sent home from work because he is loaded with the cold. His wife is off playing bridge, so he's all alone with his own particular brand of "man flu". He raids the medicine cabinet, pops a pill - well tries to, then shivers his way through a nice warm foot bath. When his wife does return home, she takes charge and nurses him to within an inch of his life! Two weeks later, he is back at work - but that pesky virus is never far away! I quite enjoyed this. It does take a particularly masculine approach as we deal with the life-threatening sniffle - trying just about everything short of amputation to be rid of the thing. The pseudo-scientific narration is quite fun too, even if it does repeat the jokes once or twice.

In Cold War Disney have delivered another treasure starring one of their best ever characters. The animation is vibrantly coloured and drawn with great care and detail. Goofy's facial expressions and gestures and also the ways we can see how the cold is affecting him is done very well here. The music is of the best kind, it is beautiful to listen to and have a lot of character, adding to what we can see on screen as well as matching it splendidly. While it is clever and funny, Cold War does make us feel sympathy for Goofy and his situation and even gives us great advice for what we can do when we fight a cold too. Maybe it is stuff that people will know already but for the main target audience it is also very useful to know these things. The story is very well paced and interesting, with a scenario that anybody will relate to. Goofy is still hugely appealing and has great charisma. In conclusion, a truly fine Disney short, when you yourself have a cold Cold War is a great remedy for it and I'd recommend it with no hesitation to be had. The boss' opening line "A cold is nothing to be sneezed at" is very cleverly worded, written in a funny, witty way while also stating the absolute truth. 10/10 Bethany Cox

After finding Home Made Home (1951-also reviewed) to be a delight,I got set to see Goofy go to war with a bad cold.

View on the film:

Zooming in on the cold landing on Goofy's nose, director Jack Kinney follows Goofy's sneeze from the office to being sick in bed with wonderful brightly coloured hand-drawn animation, which pushes Goofy's attempts to find a cure, to a zany exaggerated level.

One of the very few Goofy titles from this era to not be voiced by Pinto Colvig, (with Bob Jackman doing the voice of Goofy with the sniffles instead) returning screenwriters Dick Kinney & Milt Schaffer keep the attempt to find a cure for Goofy's cold moving at a slap-stick pace of hilarious antics that make Goofy get boiling hot one moment,then ice cold the next,in this cold war.

Poor Goofy (using a different name). He gets a horrible cold. Had he been a hypochondriac we wouldn't feel sorry for him But in this case, he is really sick. He even tries to stay at work. When he gets home, his wife is playing bridge. He does his best to self medicate. Once she gets home, she has no regard for his plight. She literally tortures him. This is supposed to be a little Disney advice on how to treat a cold, but it is pretty harsh.

It was just a coincidence that I was having a cold when watching this cartoon, so, I could totally relate to poor Goofy when he was suffering from the effects of the sickness - from cold feet to a runny nose, and from the shivers to sneezing.

The narrator is back once again, telling the story of Goofy being set home by his boss because of him catching a cold, and of his wife giving him all kinds of remedies to cure his sickness - from stuffing his mouth full of medicine to soup, and from heating pads for his feet to putting in nose drops.

Not a bad cartoon. Not too funny, but a little entertaining.

Grade B-