La casa de Mickey Mouse

They don't call Disney the "Mouse House" for nothing. There's no question that Mickey Mouse is the king of the classic Disney cartoon characters. He's iconic, memorable, and almost every Disney fan and cartoon fan in general knows his name. Mickey Mouse Clubhouse is perhaps the latest show to have him as a star, and for some bizarre reason, they decided to create a show aimed at preschoolers.

The show follows the same interactive formula used in two Nick Jr. shows, Blues Clues & Dora the Explorer. The main character interacts with the viewer and asks him/her for help on a certain something. In addition to Mickey's familiar pals like Minnie, Donald, and Goofy, there are some elements that are exclusive to the show such as the clubhouse itself, a floating mouse-eared device named "Toodles", and the "Mousketools" the device usually carries. There are some bright sides to the show. It teaches children creative skills and problem solving, and that is a very important thing to teach to children nowadays, because there is no creativity when it comes to television for kids and tweens.

This was an odd route Disney chose to reintroduce their mascot to new generations of kids. With the character's track record of being on shows such as Mickey Mouse Works and House of Mouse, Mickey's no stranger to television. But, an interactive "edutainment" show for preschoolers does not seem like a very good fit for him. I don't think rendering the characters into 3D CGI was the best idea either, but the show sure did work. I know someone whose daughter watches the show and now also watches the original Mickey Mouse cartoon shorts by Walt Disney himself because of it.

Mickey Mouse Clubhouse returns to the old roots of Disney itself, with morals and lessons, and teaching about helping others, in a fun and energetic way that is very conducive to learning from children. This is something I feel Walt would be proud to write his name to. I hope this series never gets canceled! All of the famous characters from Disney Lore are represented here in the show, and the animation is spot on, and fun, but not overdone. Some of the voices are pretty "close" to their originals, unfortunately a lot of the voices can't be possibly copied (Chip and Dale, etc.) because the character went "out of production" so many years ago, and Paul Frees is unfortunately passed. However, for wholesome family entertainment, this is probably the best bang for your buck today.

I am 18, and a huge fan of Disney. Mickey Mouse Clubhouse is not their best show, plus it is not even close to the classic Silly Synphonies, but it is light years from their worst. Sure it can have its predictable moments, but it is better than it's made out to be. I often see it criticised for being a rip-off of Dora the Explorer. True, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse uses the talk-to-the-camera technique, but so do other shows even before Dora. And I may get some flack for this opinion, but I think this is better than Dora. Dora I find annoying and repetitive, and other than counting to one to ten in Spanish I learnt little from it.

Back to Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. The stories can be predictable and the dialogue overly-simplistic. Plus the pacing of the episodes can be rushed or draggy. However, I liked the animation. It has been criticised for being rough, robotic and lacking variety. Maybe so at first, but I for one think it improved. The backgrounds are colourful and bright, the colours are nice and the character designs are fairly good. The clubhouse actually looks very interesting in my view. The music is pretty decent too. The theme song is simple but memorable, and the accompanying music is decent enough. I personally thoroughly enjoy the Hot Dog Dance, and liked its imaginative and funny name.

I also liked the social and creative skills that Mickey Mouse Clubhouse teaches children. Children I think will be delighted by the fun that goes into this show(I have toddler friends who adore this show), adults mayn't be so impressed, but the look on their child's faces will say it all as they learn new skills in every episode. The characters are engaging enough for the target audience. Mickey, despite the criticism he smiles too much contrary to his more mischievous persona in the original cartoons, is very benevolent and an ideal character for children to at least relate to. Goofy is still funny, and Minnie and Daisy are interesting without being too vapid. My only disappointment character-wise is Donald, I don't hate him far from it, but I would have liked to seen more of his cantankerous personality that made him so funny yet endearing in the originals. Morever, the voice acting from the late Wayne Allwine, Bill Farmer, Tony Alselmo, Russi Taylor and Tress MacNeille is rock solid.

To conclude, it is a good show but no classic. 7/10 Bethany Cox

I find it interesting that some reviewers here have criticized this show with zero knowledge of Disney.

One reviewer states, "Walt Disney and Wayne Allwine are rolling in their Graves." Interesting since Allwine voiced the Mouse for enough episodes to roll 4 seasons of the show before his passing in May of 2009.

Many reviewers are also lambasting the term "Meeska Mooska." These people obviously aren't aware of the Mickey Mouse Club which was Walt's second television show. The Mickey Mouse Club used the phrase, "Meeska Mooska Mousketeer" as a password to open the cartoon vault (Every episode aired a classic Disney short).

In today's program the phrase "Meeska Mooska Mickey Mouse" is used as a password to open the clubhouse. This show is consistent with everything Disney did with their programming in both Walt's lifetime and after.

This show and Dragon Tales are the only cartoons that my two-year-old son will watch. He is fascinated and recently started answering Mickey back. Yes, this is a rip-off of Dora, but my son likes this and not Dora, so who cares? He has seen the sheep, beanstalk and Mars episodes and been glued through them all. He doesn't watch much TV, so this is a great opportunity for me to unload the dishwasher or get dinner ready. (Thank you TiVo!) One thing that does bother me is that Minnie and Daisy have to do all of their adventuring with heels on. Come on! It is 2006. Ducks and mice do not need to wear heels.

My husband and I can't get the songs out of our head. Does anyone know who sings "Hot Dog"?