Jun 25, 2013

Watch Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck's new short film "No Service"

The second new Mickey Mouse short, "No Service," has been released (for American viewers) on Disney's website. This short is different from the first "Croissant de Trionf" that was released. It has a solid setting, fast-paced but clear direction, character-driven conflicts and gags, and most importantly, it is funny.

A few weaknesses also stand out. Like nearly all other contemporary animated films, this short is padded with unnecessary dialogue. What does the audience get out of hearing Donald Duck say, "That's not funny," after seeing him fuming after Mickey makes fun of him? As an illustration, it is lovely, but it does not serve the original purpose of the short story, which is to create characters and gags. The background textures and details are random and get in the way of the characters' action in almost every scene. In some cases, the backgrounds even get in the way of the jokes. For example, there is a gag with Mickey's tail in the panel layout below, which I missed completely the first couple of times due to the haphazard placement of dark shadows where the gag takes place:

I do not know the production sequence of the shorts, but "No Service" is a vast improvement over the first film. These could be more interesting works with classic cartoon characters.