Mickey's Rival

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.

In this short, Mickey and Minnie are enjoying a picnic together. Suddenly, the super-annoying Mortimer arrives and ruins everything. To make it worse, he used to be Minnie's boyfriend...though why this sweet mouse would want to be around Mortimer, I have no idea. He's a total jerk and if wasn't for Mickey being such a nice character, he would have slugged Mortimer! Yes, Mortimer is that bad! Can Mickey manage to put this blowhard in his place?

Like the other Mickey cartoons of the 1930s, the animation is simply gorgeous...and far, far better than the shorts coming out of competing studios. Much of this is because Disney had bought exclusive rights to use Three-Color Technicolor and other studios at this time were either making black & white cartoons or using older and inferior color systems, such as Two-Color Technicolor and Cinecolor...processes that were not true color but painted everything in green-blue and orange-red hues. But a lot of the difference is the quality of the artwork...which is unrivaled. In addition to looking great, the story is clever and enjoyable and just show you how great these cartoons were back in the day. Well worth seeing.

While not quite a classic, this is a very entertaining and fun Mickey Mouse cartoon. The story is simple but effective, and the scripting is rock solid. There are also some entertaining parts, the bull was a good character. But even more successful is for starters the animation, a very fluid and colourful style is used here and it works wonders. The music is wonderful, it is cheerful and it is lively, like music in a cartoon should be. The voice acting for its time is impressive, with Walt Disney applying his squeaky voice again for Mickey and doing a stellar job, and Marcellite Garner also impressive as Minnie. At the end of Mickey's Rival, I asked myself who did I prefer Mickey or Mortimer? I would have to go with Mickey, even with his whimsical charms I could tell how really obnoxious Mortimer was.

Overall, entertaining, a classic, not quite, but fun, you got it! 9/10 Bethany Cox

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-

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.