Love animation to bits. It was a big part of my life as a child, especially Disney, Looney Tunes, Hanna Barbera and Tom and Jerry, and still love it as a young adult, whether it's film, television or cartoons. Actually appreciate it even more now, having more knowledge of the different animation styles and directors and what work went into them.
Am most familiar with the 'Mickey Mouse Works' cartoons from them featuring on 'House of Mouse', a show still held a fondness for by me. With the colours and sound effects, that 'Mickey Mouse Works' makes a real effort to retain the spirit of the old/classic/golden age Disney cartoons is to be lauded. The characters' original personalities are admirably stuck true to as well, particularly Goofy and Donald, while also expanding those for a few, Mickey being more interesting here than before. The hyperactive energy present here is one of few things that is different.
Am not really a fan of the "Mickey to the Rescue" series. Although with nice settings and some good visuals and moments, the cartoons are not very tense (you know what the outcome is) or hilarious and the series is very predictable and repetitive. Also giving the characters, in melodramatic archetype mode, and voice actors little to do. 'Cages and Cannons', thanks to some imaginative visuals, is one of the better cartoons in the series but has all of the above.
'Mickey's Remedy' is a lot of fun with Huey, Dewey and Louie as pesty, amusing and cute as ever. The Bolbanian Brain Fever stuff is visually imaginative and eerie, though Mickey comes very close to going too far and being mean-spirited in teaching his lesson.
Another one of the Goofy "Extreme Sports" cartoons, basically the "How to" cartoons but sports oriented, 'Wakeboarding does a good job in entertaining and educating. Goofy is endearing incompetent.
Here too is one of the best 'Mickey Mouse Works' cartoons 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'. Animated Shakespeare has seldom been funnier, wilder or more imaginative, Disney's spin on one of Shakespeare's best avoids being confused and the characters and their interaction are on top form. As are the voice actors, having Alan Young as Scrooge is wonderful, being someone who associates him closely with the character it is hard to think of anybody else voicing him.
While not surprising in outcome, the stories are lively and engaging, kept afloat by the character interaction, characters and the atmosphere. The writing is clever and very funny, even with the deliberately corny moment and pun which made me grin rather than groan.
Really enjoy the spontaneous flow of the episode and Donald's spotlight stealing/accident with the train is very funny indeed.
Furthermore, the animation is very colourful, smooth in movement and with some meticulous detail. The music is suitably groovy, jaunty and cleverly used.
Voice acting is very good with some of the best voice actors in the business involved. Wayne Allwine, Bill Farmer and Tony Anselmo are more than worthy successors to Walt Disney/James MacDonald, Pinto Colvig and Clarence "Ducky" Nash. Corey Burton brings so much personality to the narrator as does John Cleese for 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'.
To conclude, very enjoyable. 8/10 Bethany Cox
