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.
"Where's Minnie?" is yet another very enjoyable episode, if not quite one of my favourites. It's towards the top when ranking all the 'House of Mouse' episodes though. As has been said in my previous 'House of Mouse' episodes, 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.
This is something evident here and it is always great to see how much she means to her friends and how crucial she is to running the club. Did guess the "not what one expects" revelation fairly early on, but not enough to ruin the episode.
Both featured cartoons are good. In fact, "Where's Minnie?" is worth seeing for 'Mickey and the Colour Caper' alone, for me it was the highlight of the episode and one of the best of the cartoons featured on 'House of Mouse'. What could have been a ridiculous story turned out to be very funny and thrilling with a sense of threat. Love the chemistry and characterisation of Mickey, Donald and Goofy and the Phantom Blot is a fun and sinister villain voiced with relish by John O'Hurley.
Was a little more conflicted on 'Donald's Pool', leaning towards the like it a lot opinion. The gags are well timed, witty and rarely less than amusing, the pool setting is used to full advantage, the cartoon does a great job adhering to Donald's classic original personality and his chemistry with Baby Shelby is funny and endearing. It is a predictable cartoon though and despite his cute exterior and clever and amusing comic timing, one can see why Donald finds Baby Shelby, basically a one-joke character and a pretty annoying one, a total pest. Estelle Harris also overdoes it badly as Mrs Turtle, with most of her lines shouted that your eardrums nearly burst.
It is always nostalgic watching 'House of Mouse' and seeing characters from various Disney shows, cartoons and films. The prop basement is so cool, can never get enough of it, and Daisy's disastrous hosting attempts are very well done, her rendition of "Davy Crockett" suitably leaves one speechless.
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 as always, particularly from Tony Anselmo (a very worthy successor for the legendary Clarence Nash), Wayne Allwine and John O'Hurley. Only Harris doesn't work.
Overall, very enjoyable. 8/10 Bethany Cox
