Have a lot of fondness for 'House of Mouse'. Love Disney and the concept was such an interesting and for Disney shows at the time a unique one. There are times where it could have done more with the concept, with showing more of some of the guests and not focusing all the featured cartoons on Mickey and the gang. It is however so much fun and how it makes an effort to retain the spirit of the classic old cartoons is to be lauded.
"Pete's One-Man Show" is a Pete-centric episode and it's an enjoyable ones. To me though, there are far better episodes that have funnier and more memorable character moments with the Disney characters, the lack of Disney character audience hurts the episode a little. Once again, really like that it and the rest of the show tries to and succeeds in making the personalities of Mickey and the rest of the gang true to those of their "golden age" ones when they first came out (1930s-1950s), especially Donald. Except that Mickey is far more interesting in personality in 'House of Mouse', feels like a lead character, is used well and isn't over-shadowed by the rest of the characters. Minnie is also more resourceful.
Ever the fun villain, Pete is exactly that if less of an antagonist to usual. It does take a little too long to get to the one-man show bit but when it happens it is nice stuff.
'Housesitters' is the best of the three cartoons, a real treat for fans of Mickey, Donald and Goofy together and very funny. The "House of Genius" Ludwig Von Drake cartoons are good fun, and 'Time Reverser' is not an exception and Von Drake is an amusing character voiced with a lot of enthusiasm by Corey Burton.
Am not the greatest fan of 'Pinball Mickey'. It's charming enough and Mickey and Minnie are appealing together and as character, but it is basically an extended "Mickey to the Rescue" cartoons, which are generally not favourites of mine. It does have nice gags and what is done to get out the scrape are interesting but it is formulaic, not particularly imaginative and the voice actors in the pinball sections have little to do.
One of "Pete's One-Man Show's" highlights is the "Boom Da Boom" number, with some inspired references to Disney characters and films and is both hilarious and oddly disturbing. The gang's reaction to the song says it all, mirroring how the viewer feels.
While not surprising in outcome, the story is lively and engaging, kept afloat by the character interaction, characters and the atmosphere. The writing is clever and very funny, even with the deliberately corny moment and pun which made me grin rather than groan.
Furthermore, the animation is very colourful, smooth in movement and with some meticulous detail. The cheap recycling footage for the audience reactions at the end of the featured cartoons does jar and annoy though. The music is suitably groovy and cleverly used, while the theme song is one of the catchiest of any Disney show in the past twenty years.
Voice acting is very good from particularly Wayne Allwine and Jim Cummings.
In summary, enjoyable but there are better 'House of Mouse' episodes and couldn't help feeling disappointed when it followed on from two of the show's best "Dennis the Duck" and "Suddenly Hades". 7/10 Bethany Cox
