Wednesday, March 21, 2007

Mickey Mouse Clubhouse: Mickey's Great Clubhouse Hunt


As some of you may know, the Disney Corporation resurrected the Mouse a few years ago on television in a kind of revamped "Mickey Mouse Club," now called "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse." The present disc contains a full-length (71 minutes), 2007 direct-to-video feature film, "Mickey's Great Clubhouse Hunt," based on that series. If the movie's title sounds awkward, it will give you some idea of the story's content.

I watched this show just shortly after watching Warner Bros.' "Baby Looney Tunes" and couldn't help notice the similarities. Both programs are clearly meant for the youngest members of the family, and both have a kind of simplistic television quality to them. More important, the filmmakers of both programs mean to use their shows to help teach children moral lessons whilst entertaining them. Gone are the frenzied antics of former WB and Disney cartoon folk, replaced by characters who look and sometimes talk the same but act much differently. These characters--Mickey, Donald, Pluto, Goofy, Minnie, Clarabelle, even Pete--are no longer flighty, silly, mischievous, or hot-tempered. They are cool, calm, and collected, determined to show kids that a sensible, rational approach to problem-solving beats anger and revenge any time.

One should hardly complain about the film's approach, but unless you're a child, you may want to do something else while your son or daughter is watching "Mickey's Great Clubhouse Hunt," like knit or read or gaze out the window. Similar to "Baby Looney Tunes," this one may be a long haul for anyone over the age of six. I mean, Donald doesn't even throw one of his celebrated tantrums. What's that all about? I know this series is meant only for the youngest of the young, but have we become so politically correct these days that filmmakers think a little boisterous fun is going to turn a kid into a terrorist or a serial killer or a politician or something? I dunno.

Rob LaDuca, Howy Parkins, and Victor Cook directed "Mickey's Great Clubhouse Hunt" from a script by Ashley Mendoza, and the movie includes the voice talents of Wayne Allwine, Tony Anselmo, Cory Burton, Jim Cummings, Bill Farmer, Tress MacNeille, Will Ryan, Russi Taylor, and April Winchell. It surprises that the project involved so many actors and directors, given the rather simplistic nature of the story's plot and characters.

In this episode, Pete, as usual, is the villain. Only he's not quite as villainous as he has typically been. He's feeling blue when he sees Mickey and the gang having fun at an Easter party to which everybody but he has been invited. So, he sets about to steal the clubhouse. Unfortunately, not knowing the magic words--"Meeska Mooska Mickey Mouse"--he manages to set the whole clubhouse afloat, for which he seems truly sorry! Mickey and Pluto are away at the time, but when they return, they find the clubhouse gone.

Mickey asks the viewer's help in finding the clubhouse, and the story turns into a kind of mystery puzzle, in which a child can play along, sort of like a noninteractive video game. There are a couple of cute songs along the way, but not many, and there is practically no tumultuous action as in older cartoons; so, as I say, adults may find it tough sledding.

I mentioned that the story and dialogue are fairly simplistic, and so are the background animations, once the hallmark of any Disney cartoon. The Disney artists appear to have animated the characters in computer-generated graphics because they do have a nicely three-dimensional quality to them, round and soft like rubber toys. But the artists have left the backgrounds plain and static, most often with unchanging trees and walls and without much diversity. So, Disney may be using the most up-to-the-minute technology to produce these cartoons, but they seem to be aiming the product at a much younger audience than those who watched Disney's old classics of the 1930s, 40s, and 50s.

By the way, the keep case announces the feature film as 71 minutes long. It's not; it's 49 minutes. Perhaps the Disney people meant that the feature film, "Mickey's Great Clubhouse Hunt," and the bonus film, "Donald's Hiccups," total 71 minutes, but they don't, either; they add up to over 80 minutes. I dunno.

As some of you may know, the Disney Corporation resurrected the Mouse a few years ago on television in a kind of revamped "Mickey Mouse Club," now called "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse." The present disc contains a full-length (71 minutes), 2007 direct-to-video feature film, "Mickey's Great Clubhouse Hunt," based on that series. If the movie's title sounds awkward, it will give you some idea of the story's content.

I watched this show just shortly after watching Warner Bros.' "Baby Looney Tunes" and couldn't help notice the similarities. Both programs are clearly meant for the youngest members of the family, and both have a kind of simplistic television quality to them. More important, the filmmakers of both programs mean to use their shows to help teach children moral lessons whilst entertaining them. Gone are the frenzied antics of former WB and Disney cartoon folk, replaced by characters who look and sometimes talk the same but act much differently. These characters--Mickey, Donald, Pluto, Goofy, Minnie, Clarabelle, even Pete--are no longer flighty, silly, mischievous, or hot-tempered. They are cool, calm, and collected, determined to show kids that a sensible, rational approach to problem-solving beats anger and revenge any time.

One should hardly complain about the film's approach, but unless you're a child, you may want to do something else while your son or daughter is watching "Mickey's Great Clubhouse Hunt," like knit or read or gaze out the window. Similar to "Baby Looney Tunes," this one may be a long haul for anyone over the age of six. I mean, Donald doesn't even throw one of his celebrated tantrums. What's that all about? I know this series is meant only for the youngest of the young, but have we become so politically correct these days that filmmakers think a little boisterous fun is going to turn a kid into a terrorist or a serial killer or a politician or something? I dunno.

Rob LaDuca, Howy Parkins, and Victor Cook directed "Mickey's Great Clubhouse Hunt" from a script by Ashley Mendoza, and the movie includes the voice talents of Wayne Allwine, Tony Anselmo, Cory Burton, Jim Cummings, Bill Farmer, Tress MacNeille, Will Ryan, Russi Taylor, and April Winchell. It surprises that the project involved so many actors and directors, given the rather simplistic nature of the story's plot and characters.

In this episode, Pete, as usual, is the villain. Only he's not quite as villainous as he has typically been. He's feeling blue when he sees Mickey and the gang having fun at an Easter party to which everybody but he has been invited. So, he sets about to steal the clubhouse. Unfortunately, not knowing the magic words--"Meeska Mooska Mickey Mouse"--he manages to set the whole clubhouse afloat, for which he seems truly sorry! Mickey and Pluto are away at the time, but when they return, they find the clubhouse gone.

Mickey asks the viewer's help in finding the clubhouse, and the story turns into a kind of mystery puzzle, in which a child can play along, sort of like a noninteractive video game. There are a couple of cute songs along the way, but not many, and there is practically no tumultuous action as in older cartoons; so, as I say, adults may find it tough sledding.

I mentioned that the story and dialogue are fairly simplistic, and so are the background animations, once the hallmark of any Disney cartoon. The Disney artists appear to have animated the characters in computer-generated graphics because they do have a nicely three-dimensional quality to them, round and soft like rubber toys. But the artists have left the backgrounds plain and static, most often with unchanging trees and walls and without much diversity. So, Disney may be using the most up-to-the-minute technology to produce these cartoons, but they seem to be aiming the product at a much younger audience than those who watched Disney's old classics of the 1930s, 40s, and 50s.

By the way, the keep case announces the feature film as 71 minutes long. It's not; it's 49 minutes. Perhaps the Disney people meant that the feature film, "Mickey's Great Clubhouse Hunt," and the bonus film, "Donald's Hiccups," total 71 minutes, but they don't, either; they add up to over 80 minutes. I dunno.

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