From Patrick Malone : Why do Mickey Donald
and Goofy always have to be in business together? In the classic shorts,
(such as "On Ice", "Mickey's Trailer" or "Moving Day") they were often seen
just out having a good time together or at least relating to each other outside
of a business context. In MouseWorks, that's all they do is work, work, work.
When I first saw the title of this short, I immediately thought, "They're
not going to have the gall to have Mickey answer the phone 'we smith locks!'
" But he did, and I got just a little chuckle out of the sheeer silliness
of how it sounded. Beyond that, there weren't a whole lot of laughs here.
Goofy's "key" monologue was kind of cute, and I didn't think the "Don Quixote"
was going too far at all; in fact, I would have liked to see it go a little
farther in that direction. The door gag; how many times have we seen that
one before, and it does seem to break Disney's rule of plausible impossiblity.
Since we'd seen what was behind the door before it made it less probable
for that gag to work. And Clarabelle ... I wish there had been some tip to
"Mickey's Fire Brigade" where the fab three found her in the same situation.
The action sequence in the middle seemed like it was just there in order
to throw in as many of the secondary characters as possible. (Speaking of
which ... whatever happened to Stan, the Service Station Attendant?) And,
as it was written, the ending was kind of "door-key." It seemed incomplete,
as if they really didn't know how to end it.
One small idea : since the telephone gag looks like it's going to be an ongoing
thing, perhaps it would be ironic for their next job to be telephone repairmen.
From David Gonterman : I just plain
love this short, not because of the material, I know it's used, but
the fact that they made this short seem like it was done improvisational
to me. For those who haven't seen "Who's Line is it Anyway?" it means that
it's made up as you go along. Examples include Mickey talking back to the
recording - don't we all do that? - Goofy's listing of his kay chain that
could resemble my own at times, Mickey again with his "AAAH!" while opening
up all those doors, Goofy talking to himself over the phone, and so on. All
that's missing is a "Cool Runnings" reference in just the right place.
From Charles Buchanan : One thing I'm not
fond of with MouseWorks is these formulaic shorts. Do all the Mickey/Donald/Goofy
ones have to start out the same way, almost word for word and scene for scene?
At least this one did play a little bit with that, and believe me, it was
welcome. Overall, though, I liked this short. The gags were funny and rapid-fire,
and the characters' expressions were super. I think this short set a record
for cameos. We even got to see Horace Horsecollar and the doorknob from "Alice
in Wonderland"! I liked the little mystery involving Minnie, though we all
probably could have predicted the ending.
From Lee Suggs : This is another Mickey,
Donald, and Goofy short. This hasn't been the most impressive series for
"MouseWorks". The one great exception being "Mickey Foils the Phantom Blot"
which may be the best short the "MouseWorks" team has made. Unfortunately
this short has a weak premise and never goes beyond its muddled beginning.
I don't know, but Goofy just seems too Goofy here, and it almost seems like
they just ended the short because time had run out.
From Aaron : The best short in this episode!
But I'm getting sick of the way all Mickey Donald and Goofy cartoons start.
[Except for 'Housesitters']Anyways, I really liked the format of this cartoon.
They didn't work this time. [A good thing because they're always working]
To get to Minnie [An emergencey] they have to unlock their door. I liked
Goofy's Key Chain gag! And the destruction of what the spare key did when
they tried reeling it in with a fishing hook was funny. This threw in a lot
of cameos. My favorite one is either Pete or Butch.
I liked the set of doors that Mickey tried to get through. A cameo with
Clarabelle by the way. I LOVED their last attempt to get through the door.
They made it out with some bad luck. And the emergencey is that Mickey left
his door key at Minnie's house. A CERTAINLY above average short!
From John : The only Mouse Works/House of
Mouse short that made me laugh. I just cannot get over Goofy counting his
keys and finally exclaiming M\mickey at the end. Brilliant.
