Moving Day

Moving Day is one of my favorite cartoons of all time, and it has always been. I remember this Mickey cartoon being my favorite of the 7 on the Mickey DVD I had(which I still have now). As a kid, I would be a fan of SpongeBob and Tom And Jerry, but I still had a heart for classic Disney. This short's plot is that Mickey and Donald are very late on paying rent, so in order to prevent Sheriff Pete from selling their items, they have to move as quick as possible(with the help of Goofy). The visual gags are frequently imaginative and hilarious, such as Goofy's trouble with a supposed possessed piano and Mickey trying to fit all the items into one suitcase. The vocal performances in this are top-notch, the most credit going towards Billy Bletcher as Pete. Also, the animation is still revolutionary today, 1936 or not. Overall, Moving Day is a consistently funny, great-looking, and extremely well- voiced cartoon that is hilarious fun no matter how old you are.

About to be foreclosed upon by Sheriff Pete, Mickey and Donald need to move out fast, leading to the usual mayhem. Goofy, as an ice delivery man (ask your grandparents), comes to help them out; but, as usual, he's no help at all.

This is one of the earliest cartoons to team Mickey, Donald and Goofy, and one of the best. The formula is established early on: The trio have a common task to complete, then split up for individual gag routines. The gags are very clever and well timed, and the action is fast-paced, with everything building up to an exciting climax. Of particular interest to animation buffs is Art Babbitt's handling of Goofy. He bends and twists his joints far past the breaking point, yet makes it seem absolutely natural, giving the Goof an astonishing flexibility without seeming rubbery. A must for cartoon fans.

Walt Disney was famous for his fascination with butt jokes. We see it here. This cartoon has two extended jokes. One is a tussle between Goofy and an animated piano. Its among the best bits in early animation.

The other, longer piece was surely scripted by Walt. It has Donald in all sorts of butt-problem situations. Its more curious than funny. Where do jokes about rear ends come from? Donald was created pretty much for this purpose and most of his projects concern rear ends until Walt became obsessed with Disneyland and trains.

Ted's Evaluation -- 2 of 3: Has some interesting elements.

A Walt Disney MICKEY MOUSE Cartoon.

With their rent six months overdue, it's a hasty MOVING DAY for Mickey and Donald before Sheriff Pete can sell their furniture.

Donald & friendly iceman Goofy handle most of the action in this very funny little Depression-era film, with the Goof dealing with a distressingly anthropomorphic piano and the Duck harassed by a plumber's helper and fishbowl which are determined to stick to his anatomy. Pete once again makes the perfect villain, literally spitting out nails and hammering them in with his fist. Walt Disney gives Mickey his squeaky voice; Clarence Nash does the honors for Donald.

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 storm 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.

Mickey, Donald and Goofy have been given an eviction notice to leave their house due to unpaid rent by the Sheriff, who is none other than Pete. That set off a panic for the three to pack up their stuff, which apparently they didn't really know how to do it organization, as stuff fly and fall over everywhere! But what results were hilarious misadventures in the process, from Donald getting stuck in a plunger to Goofy battling it out with a piano that seemed to have a mind of its own.

Mickey seemed largely missing in this cartoon short, though he is in it. But, it's still a funny, laugh-out-loud short that will bring entertaining to both adults and children. Lots of slapstick fun and classic character personalities!

Grade A