- In the Parks
- Yes
I've been doing a lot of thinking about Mickey & friends cartoons recently. Although I have a lot of affection for the classic characters, I've been re-watching a lot of their old cartoons & I'm really starting to see they were never really that funny. While they were creative & looked fantastic they always gravitated a bit too heavily into the cutesy territory for my liking. Occasionally you'd get a funny premise from a Donald or Goofy cartoon but anything involving Mickey was usually kind of bland & safe. And that's a real bummer because retro Mickey from the 20's to 30's had a lot more edge. He was a mischievous scamp who had a lot in common with a bratty child. He shirked responsibilities & liked to play pranks on his pals (Minnie included). This has made me realize that on the cartoon front just how great classic Looney Tunes was. I popped in a few of their old shorts & they are consistently hilarious even by today's standards. You can tell that the animators at Warner Bros. were trying to create art that stood the test of time & would make people laugh for years. Even the new Looney Tunes material is consistent. They've started creating a new set of shorts & they are legitimately fantastic. The comedy, timing, & wit is all spot on & you can see just how much creative freedom they've been given. Should Mickey & the gang try to emulate them more? I don't mean copying their specific style but maybe they can follow the lessons of Chuck Jones & Bob Clampett instead of Walt Disney sometimes? I feel that they deserve to have better material to work with. Mickey's become such a corporate symbol & maybe he should go back to his rebellious roots a bit more. I suppose Disney's been trying that a little with Paul Rudish's shorts but I really think they should explore even more with their characterizations. This would obviously be a monumental task for the entire company but I feel it would really pay off if they rubbed away some of Mickey's twee, syrupy nature. It'd be nice for Mickey to be treated as a character again instead of an icon.
Below I've attached an episode of the new Looney Tunes cartoons. It's well worth a watch. It proves that the gang over at Warner Bros. really knows how to make funny cartoons. Funny's always more interesting than cute.
Below I've attached an episode of the new Looney Tunes cartoons. It's well worth a watch. It proves that the gang over at Warner Bros. really knows how to make funny cartoons. Funny's always more interesting than cute.