Get a Horse!

Playing before “Frozen” was the 2013 animated short from Disney that was unlike any other short they have done. Especially since director Lauren MacMullan gets the title for being the first female director to direct a film for Walt Disney’s Animated Shorts solo, “Get a Horse!”

Debbie Lynn Elias said in her review, “A perfect hybrid of hand-drawn 2D animation and CG, set to a 3D format, this is the stuff for which 3D (and Disney dreams) was made. Working off original 1928 black & white renderings of Mickey Mouse and company, MacMullan and her artisans treat us to a seamless blend of mediums (more often than not within the same frame) that celebrates the best of the past (all 2D images are here actually drawn on paper) with the technology of the future, set to an uproarious, laugh-out-loud funny tale that is oh-so-Mickey!”

This time, Mickey, Minnie and their friends Horace Horsecollar and Clarabelle Cow are enjoy a musical hayride sing-a-long when their day of enjoyment is sadly interrupted by the evil Peg-Leg Pete who tries to run them off the road. While Horace fights to keep the wagon on the road, Mickey is thrown off the wagon and through the movie screen, landing in 2013, standing on a full color stage (which looks really good for the effect) in amazing color-filled 3D. Can Mickey get back into the 2D frame or is he going to be stuck on that empty stage? Combining the ease of 1928 with hayrides, Milk Duds and popcorn with 2013 innovations like a Smartphone and Captain America shirt, the story is great for today’s time.

As amazing as the visuals are, the grand champion in “Get a Horse” is the voicing. Elias noted, “Thanks to technology, and patience, Mickey Mouse is voiced by Walt Disney himself who, as we all know, was/is the voice behind Mickey.  Combing through thousands of hours of audio, MacMullen and company “cut and pasted” every word together, often requiring the melding of individual letter or syllable pronunciations to get a complete word or sentence of Disney’s voice.” Amongst the cast is Marcellite Garner as the voice of Minnie and Billy Bletcher as Peg-Leg Pete.

I was absolutely amazed at this short. The way it combined the classic animation with modern animation looked like a lot of work went into it, and it was laborious. I wouldn’t be surprised if this short ended being nominated or won Oscar awards. You should see this short because you will be amazed at how great they put this together.

Tomorrow will be the final short that I will look at for “Disney Month 2020.”