À cheval!

When I first heard there would be a new Mickey cartoon, I was extremely hyped up and what really got me into it was the fact that it would feature Uncle Walt's archival recordings as Mickey Mouse, and it would mix hand-drawn animation with CGI. When I finally saw it, I was very pleased with the outcome. The comedy is genuine with the imaginative slapstick we loved in the classic Mickey shorts, no gross-out gags whatsoever. It even includes a few pop culture visual jokes like the Apple ringtone and Horace's Captain America T- shirt(usually, it would ruin animated adaptations of the beloved classics *AHEM* The Lorax, but here it worked cleverly). The visuals are also groundbreaking, it is fantastic what they do with combining two different animation mediums. Overall, Get A Horse! was an adorable, hilarious, and faithful short that celebrates the history of the mouse we all know and love in so many inventive ways possible.

I am very much in support of short films getting into cinemas, even if it mostly occurs either as part of festivals, or as large studio projects which accompany a main feature film; so it is cheering how many people would have seen this short film ahead of the film Frozen – albeit as they would have seen it as a free cartoon rather than having their eyes opened to the world of short film as a form. Anyway, this short opens in the frame size and animation style of the 1930's cartoons, with a simple scene of Mickey and Minnie Mouse heading out on their wagon, only for the "wave of the future" to come up behind them in the form of Peg-Leg Pete in his motor car, and start to make trouble.

Watching this short without any knowledge of what it does is quite a lovely experience, because just as you start to accept the rather small square image in the middle of this larger screen, suddenly the 4th wall gets broken and we have action occurring within the theatre itself as well as back inside the 1930's cartoon. It is cleverly done so that the animation transitions between modern CGI style, and black & white drawings, as the characters move between the sides of the screen. I also enjoyed the way the screen itself moved and was affected by the action – I really am not interested in watching films in 3D, but it would have been fun to see what this played like if you were not expecting it.

The action itself is a good lot of slapstick and, while I wasn't roaring with laughter throughout, I found it consistently amusing and fun, which is all I was really looking for. Perhaps understandably it won the Best Animated Short and, as much as I prefer that the big players do not dominate these smaller categories, I don't begrudge Get a Horse! because it is cleverly done, and delivered with a lot of energy and cheer.

'GET A HORSE!': Three Stars (Out of Five)

A Disney animated short film that debuted in theaters before the blockbuster 'FROZEN'. The movie is 6 minutes long and is both computer animated and hand-drawn. It's also in black-and-white and color and was released in both 3D and regular 2D versions (like the movie it plays with). It was directed by Lauren MacMullan and features archive voice recordings of Walt Disney as Mickey Mouse! It's the first Mickey Mouse cartoon since 1995's 'RUNAWAY BRAIN' and tells the story of Mickey going on a wagon ride with his friends (Minnie, Horace Horsecollar, and Clarabelle Cow) when the antagonist Peg-Leg Pete attacks them. Mickey and Horace are thrown out of the movie world (and into the theater) where they fight Peg-Leg by flipping the theater screen (and rotating gravity inside the movie). The film is amusing and fun and very reminiscent of classic Mickey Mouse cartoons. Should be nostalgic for fans of the iconic Disney character and entertaining for new (younger) viewers as well!

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As a huge fan of classic Disney and as someone who likes a lot of their modern stuff(though there have been a fair share of misfires), Get a Horse was really delightful and while Frozen is a great film and one of their best since the Renaissance this short that preceded it was even better. The animation mixes black and white classic animation and colour CGI, with the crisp and fluid black and white and the colourful and vibrant CGI that moves more naturally than that on Mickey Mouse Clubhouse it not only looks great but it is very cleverly used as well. The soundtrack is lively and with beautiful orchestration and themes that you'll recognise immediately. The sound effects are well-incorporated, some from the very early stuff that are preserved quite well, and are not misplaced or bizarre-sounding. Get a Horse has humorous dialogue and a story that is from start-to-finish boundless fun and energy and it's as clever as the animation too. Just as good are the gags, they're reminiscent of classic Disney but there is also a very modern Disney vibe, so it will appeal to anybody, child and adult, regardless of where abouts they were born. All the characters engage, with a delicious villain in Pete and Mickey who has the kindly quality he has now and also the heroic character in the old classic Disney. Minnie is sweet as well, and it was great to see Horace and Clarabelle, two characters often neglected(or they were for a long time before House of Mouse came on the scene). The voices are fine too, though it was initially a tad odd hearing (modern) Pete voiced by someone other than Jim Cummings, like the sound the original voices are well-preserved. All in all, delightful and recommended without any hint of hesitation. 10/10 Bethany Cox

Get a Horse! (2013)

*** (out of 4)

This winning short from Disney was originally released and played before the FROZEN feature. The story is quite simple and Mickey and Minnie are trying to battle Peg-Leg Pete who eventually throws Mickey off the "movie" and into the movie crowd. Once in the crowd Mickey has to use some imagination to try and rescue Minnie who is still in the movie. GET A HORSE! was rather remarkable to see on the big screen because it starts off in B&W just like the original Mickey Mouse shorts and I thought this was a great way to show younger kids a bit of the past. Once the characters start falling from the movie, Mickey then turns to color and he even makes the screen wider to fit today's movies. For the most part I thought this 6-minute short contained a lot of wonderful imagination and especially once the characters were off the screen and seeing how they could defeat the villain. There were a lot of great laughs throughout the picture and especially with some of the harmless violence that was in so many of the original cartoons.