Mickey's Rival

Mickey and Minnie are out in the country for a nice quiet picnic. But that's soon rudely interrupted by the arrival of Mortimer Mouse, who promptly gatecrashes their pleasant afternoon.

Mortimer is a loudmouth show-off with a big car, Minnie instantly swoons over him (how shallow is that?) even though he takes great pleasure in tormenting and humiliating Mickey. He even sets a mad bull loose on him, which destroys any remaining hope of a relaxing picnic. Chaos follows as per normal. Not that funny though.

Isn't it weird how much Mickey's car looks like Benny the Cab from Who Framed Roger Rabbit?

The selfish, bully and coward Mortimer. The poor honest Mickey. Minnie as prey and a bull solving her dilemma. The best character - the faithful car. And, obvious, the glorious - sweet end.

In this Mickey and Minnie cartoon short, the couple are out in the country for a picnic. However, their quiet time together is interrupted by the cocky and loud-mouthed Mortimer Mouse, who swoons over Minnie and shows off his nice car. Needless to say, Mickey is jealous and an intriguing love triangle ensues.

It's a classic love competition between the three mice - even Mickey and Mortimer's cars were also in a little competitive bout. Mortimer proves to be a shallow and inconsiderate bully, making you want to root for Mickey. However, more chaos follows as a bull escapes his fenced-in area and wrecks havoc on the picnic goers. What results is pretty predictable, but the overall cartoon lacks some humor and action.

Grade B-

It's not the best Disney short film, but it's still good. Highly recommend.

Mickey has long been regarded by critics as having a one dimensional personality. This is true for the most part as personality animation didn't come into fruition until the mid-30s, which is when Mickey started to be rivaled by characters with more personality.

In this short, he displays a more three-dimensional and flawed personality. As he and Minnie go on a picnic, a former boyfriend of Minnie, Mortimer, joins them, to Mickey's chargin. While Mickey is visibly jealous, Mortimer comes across as a showoff and unlikeable; Even his anthropomorphic car has a haughty personality. One wonders how Mortimer's relationship with Minnie ended the first time around.

It has been said that Mortimer was the name Walt initially chose for Mickey, but his wife didn't like it and chose Mickey instead. Considering the murkiness of Mickey's origins, this story might be apocryphal, but who's to say. Assuming the story is true, the plot and circumstances make for an interesting inside joke.

This is one of the few shorts, where Mickey come across as more human and thus more relatable.