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Saturday, March 19, 2016

Short Subject: Barnyard Olympics (1932)



It’s more like chaos than any Olympic event I’ve ever witnessed, but it’s certainly fun anyway.



I love the different events in this short from the boxing to the diving it provides a nice variety of gags, although I don’t get the running one with the numbers on the characters butts.  The crowd scenes with Minnie and Clarabelle are nice and I like how they help get Mickey into the race after bulk biceps in cat form blatantly cheats; but his laugh creeps me out. 

The race with Mickey is very creative with all the different characters designs and the way they interact, like Mickey using the overly long dog as a ramp to get over a fence, although since the event involves biking, rowing, and running it’s clearly a triathlon not cross country, but whatever.  The biking part is my favourite though with a great shot of Mickey and the long dog biking downhill, the competitors coming out all sides of house and four of them getting stuck on a clothesline.  The animation of the bikes as they fall apart is great even though I have no idea how you get a bike with only one working tire to move without doing wheelies.  Oh, well considering Mickey wins by getting flung through the air thanks to gum getting stuck to his one working bike tire cartoon physics is clearly running the universe here.

For me this is another nice early Mickey Mouse short.  Yes there are obvious loops and some stiff animation at points, but the characters personalities and the fun Disney and his crew were clearly having in developing these crazy sports scenarios shines through and is great fun to watch.

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