Mickey's Elephant (1936) User Reviews

Amusing and cute Silly Symphony

[TheLittleSongbird · 8/10 · 25 February 2010]

You have probably guessed I love the Disney Silly Symphonies, they are just so cute, funny and endearing. While "Mickey's Elephant" doesn't rank as a favourite of mine like "Ugly Duckling", "The Old Mill", "Flowers and Trees", "Skeleton Dance" and "Wynken, Blynken and Nod"(and of course "Steamboat Willie" is timeless), it is very cute and amusing. While it is isn't particularly laugh-out-loud funny, and the pace is a bit too fast, it is very enjoyable, thanks chiefly to the lovely animation and the outstanding music. There is a nice story, and the characters are endearing, especially the baby elephant Bobo who is so cute I think. The voice acting is excellent, Walt Disney does a good enough job as Mickey, and there is a very good lesson learnt at the end. Speaking of the ending as someone on YouTube said quite rightly, I love how nobody wins-Bobo keeps sneezing, Mickey's hard work is ruined and Pluto is angry because his house gets blown away. Overall, a very nice watch. 8/10 Bethany Cox

Pluto's Pal

[CuriosityKilledShawn · 6/10 · 11 December 2004]

The King of Siam (or something) sends Mickey little Bobo, a baby elephant, for a new pet (he could have phoned ahead) and a pal for Pluto. So Mickey get down to hard work building an Elephant kennel.

Pluto's lil' Devil on his shoulder (er...where did the angel go?) tells him that the elephant is his replacement and to plot against him. Obviously Pluto cannot reads the innocence and friendliness in Bobo's eyes and relentlessly tries to run Bobo off. He just won't give in to his devil's side. Would this be allowed in the disgustingly PC world of Disney today. NO!

A mildly amusing cartoon.

Blowing along

[Prismark10 · 7/10 · 31 January 2014]

This Mickey Mouse Silly Symphonies short from 1936 is very much inspired by their Warner Brothers rivals.

Mickey receives Bobo, a baby Indian elephant a gift from an Indian Rajah. While Mickey builds a house for his elephant Pluto does not seem to be thrilled.

In fact we see a Devil Pluto who splits from him and plays on his fears and negativity. He encourages him to be mischievous.

The shenanigans from Pluto leads to Bobo having a sneezing fit and ultimately blowing everything round him. Pluto realises that his devilish side might not always be acting for Pluto's own interest.

This animated short is painful to watch . . .

[pixrox1 · 8/10 · 16 January 2022]

. . . as the rapacious rodent Mickey tries to top himself in the annals of All-Time Villains for Animal Cruelty, as he literally ties his title character co-star's trunk into a big knot to stymie its effort to sneeze away the mound of red pepper Pluto has impelled it to inhale. Making matters worse, in Real Life this anatomical outrage was officially adopted by the Roman sects cult as its preferred method of birth prevention. As more than one dude was subsequently heard to scream, "Oh, the Horror!"

One of the worst Mickey and Pluto cartoon shorts.

[OllieSuave-007 · 2/10 · 3 March 2016]

In this cartoon short, Pluto, convinced by his inner-devil, thinks that he has been replaced as Mickey's pet by a baby elephant (which, by the way, looks like a overgrown and overly chubby Dumbo) the Bobo. He appeared to be too friendly with Pluto, which ticked the dog off immediately.

Many of these Disney cartoon shorts, unfortunately, follow the same formula of an overly cute animal character who antagonizes the main character. For example, in past cartoons, Frankie the bird drives Figaro crazy; a penguin eats Donald's prized goldfish; and in this cartoon short, Bobo tries too hard to force Pluto to be friendly with him. Also, in a lot of these cartoons with Mickey's name in the title, Mickey himself hardly appears in the story.

The animation Mickey and Pluto looked good as always, but the drawings for Bobo looked pretty hideous. Not much laughs here and the overall story was pretty boring and non-substantive - just Pluto not getting along with Bobo, while Mickey is sequestered to the sidelines painting Bobo's new house. The ending left things ambiguous. One of the worst cartoons featuring both Mickey and Pluto.

Grade D---

Mickey and Pluto's pacaderm experience

[ja_kitty_71 · 10/10 · 22 March 2009]

I love this short and it is one of my favorite Mickey Mouse shorts from 1936. I am quite terribly particular about that (a favorite cartoon short from which year). Anyway, in this short, Mickey receives Bobo a baby elephant from India as a gift from the Rajah of Gahbooh. Of course, Pluto's first introduction was with Bobo's trunk, through a fence while Bobo was playing with a ball, and the ball going under the fence. Pluto was not thrilled and marches away. But the playful Bobo grabs Pluto's tail and follows. Of course, Pluto didn't like it at all, especially when he begins to suspect that he's being replaced thanks to his bad side - a devil version of himself.

I love how little Bobo is designed, he's so cute. And you know, this cartoon has a lesson in it and it is: NEVER listen to the devil in you!