Dingo fait de la natation

A Walt Disney GOOFY Cartoon.

Although happily suffering from AQUAMANIA, `Mr. X' (Goofy) is about to enter the water for the scariest experience of his life...

This little film is a friendly poke in the ribs of anyone who's ever been consumed with water sports. The quality of the animation is not up to the standard of the classics of earlier decades, but the story is whimsical & amusing. Both Goofy, Jr and the terrified Octopus add to the fun.

Walt Disney (1901-1966) was always intrigued by pictures & 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 comic 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 childlike simplicity of message and lots of hard work always pay off.

I recently saw this short on the Disney Channel. It features Goofy and his son, who I don't know the name of. In the short, Goofy and his son plan to go boating on a peaceful sunny day in the ocean, but end up getting involved in a crazy boat race and not to mention a run in with an octopus. I thought this cartoon was one of Goofy's greatest hits and possibly the last of his greatest as he would appear on the children's show "Goof Troop", which is just plain boring (although I liked it as a kid). This short will make people of all ages laugh.

In a town where almost a third of the population are "aquamaniacs" we are introduced to "Mr X" ("Goofy/George"). Now a while back, he was just a normal working man, but after he espies a boat shop, his head turns to maritime mush. Water on the brain perhaps? Anyway, he decides that he has to have one for him and his family, and so with water-skiing lessons in mind for "Junior", these land-lubbers head for the nearest lake (along with the rest of his seagoing neighbours) and some daft regatta-style antics ensue. I'm not sure this does the US car industry many favours but there are some fun facial expressions as the water-borne activities become more like a perilous form of water-jogging. We get our own version of a chariot race where even the octopuses aren't safe - but can they win the race?! It goes on a bit long, but is good fun, this.

This cartoon, nominated for an Oscar, is one of the sports-oriented cartons Disney made featuring that graceful soul, Goofy. While this is a good cartoon and is well worth seeking out, there truly isn't anything exceptionally special about this cartoon. It is typical of the series-a narrator talks about the actions, and the consequences rising from those actions, of your "average man" (Goofy) while Goofy goes through sight gag after sight gag. This runs on The Ink and Paint Club periodically. Recommended.

In the early 1960s, Disney discovered a way to make far less expensive cartoons. They used copy machines to copy backgrounds and characters to speed up the animation process. Although fast, it also resulted in rather ugly films compared to their films of the 1950s. The newer cartoons look 'muddier' and less polished. In addition, "Aquamania" also has incredibly simple backgrounds...often splashy and lacking detail. As a result, this Goofy cartoon looks like none before or after.

The story itself, unlike the animation, is excellent. Goofy and his son (who looks little like their later version of Max) are out waterskiing. Goofy skis and his son drives the boat...and they accidentally enter a race...and chaos ensues.

This is a fun cartoon and you will enjoy it. The only reason I scored it 6 is because it just looks cheap...very cheap.