Donald's Grizzly Guest

A Donald Duck Cartoon

Release Date : November 7, 1999

Synopsis

With the rainy season approaching, Humphrey the Bear, dissatisfied with his leaky cave, decides to make camp in Donald's spiffy trailer.

Characters

Donald Duck

Humphrey the Bear

Credits

Television

Mickey Mouse Works: Season 2 - Episode 7

House of Mouse: Season 2 - Episode 4

Technical Specification

Comments

From J. D. Weil : Humphrey Bear makes his debut in MouseWorks in this short. Donald come out to the woods in his house trailer cum hunting lodge and Humphrey tries to crash the place looking for a better place to spend the night. This is one of the better entries in the series and I certainly enjoyed it.

From Patrick Malone : The return of Humphrey the Bear! And about time, in my book. Humphrey was always one of my favorite Disney characters so I can't help but get what may be seen as a little too critical here. The short itself was dandy, nice set-up and plotting; pretty much what we'd expect from a Humphrey short. But there were a few troubling things. Humphrey himself seemed a little stiff; he seemed not to have any weight or flexibility to his body as if he was a cardboard cut out in a few scenes. Another thing that bugged me was that, while Humphrey was anthropomorphized a lot in the original 50's shorts, he was still just a bear, and followed the rules of a bear. Consequently, he wouldn't have had a "closet" tummy or "swiss-army" fingers. He would have gotten into Donald's trailer the "real" bear way.

The other troubling thing was the internal consistency of the short. Donald's trailer was a nice gag; just a little bit less complex than Mickey's Trailer. But in that short, even though the trailer folded out magnificently, inside it was still as cramped as it would have seemed from the outside. The gag that threw me was when Donald was trying to get back inside the trailer and zips through 8 different windows in a row trying. There just simply didn't seem to be enough room for a row of 8 windows.

Okay, so I'm nitpicking. I think the important thing at this point, is not just to bring back the older "minor" characters, but to start to develop them as well. I'm firmly convinced (as I've written elsewhere) that Humphrey could have been a major Disney star had they not shut down the shorts department not too soon after his debut. Let's see more (and maybe Ranger Woodlore as well.)

From Lee Suggs : Welcome Back Humphrey! Here, once again in Brownstone Park, Humphrey encounters Donald Duck. Tried of his wet, cold cave Humphrey decides to check out Donald's Motor Home. This mobile marvel (inspired no doubt by the classic short "Mickey's Trailer") has all the comforts of home. Humphrey wastes no time moving in. Of course, Donald is none too happy to find him when he returns from an unsuccessful fishing trip. This short is a lot of fun with Donald and the bear playing off each other very well. The animators really out did themselves with sight gags here, and the short has non-stop action. Let's hope we see more of Humphrey.

From Emily : Humphrey the Bear has been my son's favorite cartoon character since he was little, and at age 18 still is.

From Shlakers : I too have always loved Humphrey and enjoyed seeing him return. But I was disappointed in some of the gags used. As mentioned by Patrick Malone, Humphrey is just a bear. I think Disney has been watching too many Warner Brothers cartoons of late. The cartoon was funny, but it was not in the classic Disney style. Nonetheless, I am glad to see Humphrey once again and hope to see more of him.

From Aja Ramos : Nice to see Humphrey back, but I do agree with everyone else that the slapstick was a little disappointing. Like when Humphrey had a closet stomach and swiss army fingers [As mentioned by Patrick.] These cartoons with Humphrey in them just don't seem to be as classical as the older ones. Except for Hot Tub Humphrey and Donald's Fish Fry. They were one of the better Humphrey cartoons which I'd rate them a 9. We even got to see Ranger Woodlore and the Brownstone Bears.