Trail Mix-Up

“Trail Mix-Up,” the 1993 Disney cartoon short that was shown before “A Far Off Place,” reunites Roger Rabbit (Charles Fleischer), Baby Herman (April Winchell and Lou Hirsch), and the luxurious Jessica Rabbit (Kathleen Turner) in a new series of misadventures in the not good outdoors.

During a camping trip to Yellowstain National Park, Mom, in high-heeled hiking books (Winchell), goes hunting, leaving Baby Herman in Roger’s care. As you might have guessed, trouble happens as Herman casually crawls from the edge of one disaster to another, leaving Roger to pick up the pieces.

Charles Solomon said in his review, “The frenetic bunny confronts a swarm of angry bees, a destructive beaver, a thick-witted bear and a roller-coaster ride down a flume and into a murderous Rube Goldberg-esque sawmill.”

Solomon continued, “Director Barry Cook accelerates the pace of the gags as the film progresses, and by the time Roger and Baby Herman land in the sawmill, the images are whizzing by at a breakneck speed that makes MTV look sedate. There’s plenty of cartoon mayhem and wild, Tex Avery-style takes: At one point, Roger’s eyes pop out of his head, leaving grooves in the dirt.”

Made by a team of 220 artists as the Disney animation studio in Orlando, FL, “Trail Mix-Up” claims richer backgrounds and more polished animation than other recent studio cartoons. Its one major flaw is the plot.

“Trail Mix-Up” is the third Roger Rabbit short after four years, and all of them have followed the sequence made in the opening scene of the 1988 film, “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” – only the individual jokes and the setting have been changed.

I don’t think Disney artists have made new story lines for the characters, seeing how there is now no talk about the sequel.

All of that aside, this is another short you can see on Disney+. Check it out if you have been a fan of everything Roger Rabbit related. You will still like this one and get lots of laughs.

Tomorrow I will be looking at a 90s comedy classic that I just checked out earlier this year, and can’t believe I missed out on, in “Disney Month 2025.”