©1999-2009 Patrick Malone
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From Juan F. Lara : I was lukewarm to the premise when I read it in the synopsis, but this episode still had a few great moments.I thought the highlight of the HoM scenes was the Censor Monkey scene. The Monkeys' comments actually sounded the gripes you'd expect from BS&P
monkey: ...and in the end he is unharmed.
monkey: In truth he would at least have multiple broken bones.
monkey: Or worse.
Mickey: We gotta show Donald with broken bones, or worse?!
monkey: Absolutely not.
monkey: That would be inappropriate...
In the end, the Monkeys even insisted on "comical" sound effects for the rollercoaster scene. That showed how the censorship process can lead to BS&P outright rewriting shows and making artistic judgements. The revised "Charmed Date" scene, with the funny sounds and the happy music, did have a different feel from before ( The revisions also enabled Donald to avoid the shooting gallery altogether. ) I really wanna know, was this short made for "House of Mouse" with the Censor Monkey scene in mind, or was it a short already made that the makers then went back and did all new footage for the Monkey gag?
The song: I liked the horn solo part of the song. The mayhem the Wolf caused with the horn was really funny. The room and the guests all got trashed, and in the end they loved it. They also had inspired casting for the Wolf's backup chorus. But I didn't think "Who's afraid..." adapted very well to a swing version. The reprise sounded silly. The Wolf and the Pigs: more than just the different clothes, I would've never recognized them to be Zeke Wolf and the Three Little Pigs. I found that I liked this sketch more if I thought of them as completely different characters from the originals. I'm very uneasy about the idea of changing a character as completely as they did with these four.
I'd rather they not use the characters for cultural references. The O.J. Simpson reference at the start made me wince. I've been feeling the same way about the nephew's "Quackstreet Boys" routine ( What's with the recycled animation? At least they don't sing. ). One thing I really appreciated about "Mickey Mouseworks" was that the show generally avoided using contemporary references for laughs. Any reference is going to come off as a self-conscious attempt to be "hip", and characters always look bad doing that.
Among the regular cast members Daisy was the funniest in this ep. It was really cute seeing her shamelessly fawn over the Wolf. Fawning for a Disney villain no less. Her tranquility was a good counterbalance to Mickey, who spent the whole episode stressed out.
Favorite cameo this week: the cavemen from "Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom".