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Wednesday, January 6, 2016

Short Subject: They’re Off (1948)



Horseracing!


Another Goofy sports short, but like the good ones it has something that makes it unique from the others.  In this case it’s that Goofy himself isn’t really the one carrying the short as a character this time.  He is in the opening with pouring over all the books to pick the perfect horse so hard that he literally ties himself up in knots, but really it’s more about visual gags with the different terms for racehorses, the ways of picking a horse, and combinations of sights and sound effects like when Snapshot is ‘tip-toeing’ during the race that drive this short. 

Snapshot is a fun character too with his confident swagger and need to mug for the cameras.  I love that there is a shout out to this with the names of his parents and grandparents being things like Flashbulb and Negative.  That and him having to mug for the photo finish so Old Moe win is just great.  However, the Goofy picking Old Moe bugs me.  I think it’s because of the way the narrator announces him.  He says our psychic friend is going to pick a horse as if we should already know who this character is, but we don’t.  He just comes out of nowhere and bets on Old Moe, did a scene get cut during production?
Also I would have liked to have seen other horses like Bubble Bath and Plumber's Friend be more true to their names like Snapshot is rather than all of them just being one base design with some colour changes.  I think it would have given the end of the short the chance to be just a little bit more creative than the underdog wins cliché.  Insomnia could have bloodshot eyes and be buzzed out on coffee.  Flannel Cake could have a plaid coat design and so on I think it’d be neat. 

Still this is a nice little short with fun visuals and an underdog victory for the end is fine even if I think it could have been expanded just a little bit more with some more diverse character designs and explaining who the heck the guy in the mustard suit was.

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