How's It Hold Up?

In this season of ghouls, let's watch a short made for a different season. Yes, we're dropping in on Jolly Saint Nick here, but this is more than a tale of holiday fun... it's also a tale of censorship! What could possibly need to be censored in a short about Santa Claus? Listen to find out! The Curtain Rises Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attributi...

It's time to answer a burning question for Kingdom Hearts 3 fans: who's that purple elephant in the Winnie the Pooh world? The answer is "Heffridge Trumpler Brompet Heffalump IV", or Lumpy, for short. He's a child heffalump who was introduced in 2005's "Pooh's Heffalump Movie" and appeared again in "Pooh's Heffalump Halloween Movie" from later...

Did you know that we elected our first woman President all the way back in 1932? In a Fleischer cartoon, anyway. Still not in real life yet!  But anyway, how do ol' Betty's campaign promises and speeches hold up 90 years later? Listen to find out! The Curtain Rises Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/license...

It's time for the sort of film you don't usually see. Stylistically, it's closer to caricature street art than your typical Disney movie. There's almost no spoken dialogue. And the main hero is an old woman and her old dog. Together, they're on a mission to save their son from the mafia, and they just might need some help along the way. Does this oddball adventure hold up almos...

A fun night at the Klondike Bar goes awry, first with a stranger being rescued from the cold, then with a mean brute shooting up the place and kidnapping that same stranger! It's up to Mickey and his pal Pluto to rescue this stranger (Minnie) from the brute (Pete), but does this little mouse have what it takes to take on such a large foe? And perhaps more importantly, is this adventure one wor...

The most expensive animated film created at the time of its release, Metropolis is a movie based partially on a silent film and partially on a manga. It also released in the perfect window for the broadcasting rights to be bought up by Adult Swim, allowing the movie to make its mark on anime-loving American teens of the 2000s. But expensive doesn't always mean good, and neither does nostalgia....

It's time to actually watch a Betty Boop cartoon, instead of a Talkartoon! Yes, Betty has her own series now, having officially taken the reigns as Fleischer Studio's main star. She unfortunately wouldn't actually keep this title for long, but let's enjoy it while it lasts. In this one, Betty and friends are experiencing a certain lack of gravity that's making everything go hay...

If you watched television in the 90s, you may recall the live action adventures of Xena and Hercules, both of whom had their own long-running shows. But did you know that the two teamed up in an animated film, too? Does this animated team-up have the charm that the live-action series had, or is it a flop of epic proportions? Listen to find out! The Curtain Rises Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Lic...

Disney's first technicolor Silly Symphony wasn't originally designed to be in color, but this one was! Does that make it better than Flowers and Trees, or does this one still come up short? Listen to find out! The Curtain Rises Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ Kool Kats Kevin MacLeod (inc...

Goofy and Max are at it again, but more "extremely" this time! And what does "extreme" mean in the year 2000? X-Games, of course! Goofy and Max must both play the X-Games while going to college and once again learning to love each other despite their differences. This movie might not be able to bank on the freshness its predecessor has, but is it still fun enough to warrant its...

Whoopee, another Mickey Mouse cartoon! And this time, Goofy is here and looking like the Goofy we know and love, instead of an old man! Minnie, Horace and Clarabelle are here too, and everyone is having a raucous time. But is it a good time to actually watch? Listen to find out! The Curtain Rises Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://cre...

What if Goofy had a son and lived next door to Mickey's main villain Pete (who also had a family)? That is the premise of the TV series Goof Troop, and this movie takes that premise and elevates it to create the most character-defining movie for Goofy that exists, even to this day. But despite many a 90's kid's nostalgia, does this adventure with Goofy and his son Max still hold up so...

It's time to check in on Warner Bros again, and more specifically with their Looney Tunes mascot Bosko. Is his very existence still racist? Well, yes. But aside from the racism, how is the cartoon? Is it any less boring than Bosko's previous efforts? Listen to find out! The Curtain Rises Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://crea...

It's time to Discover this music album movie extravaganza! This film not only features the entirety of the music from Daft Punk's album "Discovery", but also features no traditional dialogue and animation in the style of Leiji Matsumoto. The album is considered a classic, but does the movie match that level of prestige? Listen to find out! The Curtain Rises Kevin MacLeod (incompe...

Two Silly Symphony shorts in a row? Well, yes! But this one's in black and white again, and rather than the typical musical Silly Symphony fare, it's basically the first solo Pluto short! That's right, Mickey's pal is striking out on his own, or at least without Mickey! Pluto's joined by a bunch of other dogs, with one in particular that just really wants to be his friend. Is t...

Today it's time for another Mamoru Hosoda film!! The one's we've seen previous have been emotional gut-punches - does this follow in the same track? Or is this something different, for better or worse? Listen to find out! The Curtain Rises Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ Kool Kats Ke...

Thus far the shorts we've been watching have been almost entirely in black and white. But here comes Disney with vibrant three-strip technicolor, and a story about sentient trees. It's certainly gorgeous to look at, but what of the story and characters? Is this short worth watching on its own merits, or just as a historical footnote? Listen to find out! The Curtain Rises Kevin MacLeod (inc...

We've got our second movie-based-on-a-television-series in a row! This one was also a financial flop, though two of our hosts remember watching it in theatres back in the day. It's an action-packed movie with heartfelt moments and laughs aplenty, but does it all come together? Listen to find out! The Curtain Rises Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribut...

It's time for another of Mickey Mouse's pals to be introduced! Mickey and company are putting on a show, and in the crowd a character that would eventually come to be named Goofy watches and guffaws. But beyond introducing a legendary character, is this short actually a fun watch? Listen to find out! The Curtain Rises Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attr...

Ducktales, awoooo~! It's time to join Uncle Scrooge and the gang as they go on an Indiana Jones-style adventure, including shenanigans with a genie, an evil sorcerer, and racist stereotypes. Aside from that last thing, is this an adventure worth having, or is DisneyToon studio's first film outing best left in the past? Listen to find out! The Curtain Rises Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) L...

It's time to meet Warner Bros.' last attempt to create a cartoon star for their new Merrie Melodies series! This guy at least looks different from the others, less Mickey Mouse and more Goofy, despite Goofy not coming into existence until later that same year! But really, it's the lanky bodies they have in common, and little else. Ol' Goopy seems way more competent than Goofy ever...

This time we look into another Chinese film, this one an adaptation of the first part of Journey to the West. Given how ubiquitous that story is in Chinese storytelling (and some other Asian storytelling, for that matter), we were eager to check it out. But did it hold our interest? Listen to find out! The Curtain Rises Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attributio...

Pluto doesn't want to be bathed, and in his haste to get away he swallows soap. Cue a mad dash through town with people running in terror and dogcatcher Pete trying to put down the "rabid" dog. Is this one a good showing for Mickey, Pluto and Pete, or should it just be skipped? Listen to find out! The Curtain Rises Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By A...

It's time for our first taste of Masaaki Yuasa's work - a family-friendly version of it, at any rate! This is your classic tale of a boy meeting a mermaid, except she's not actually a mermaid,  her dad is a shark man and if she bites you'll become like her. So fairly different then. The story is wild in this one, as is the animation, and there's plenty of fun music strewn throu...

It's time for the Fleischer Brothers to out-weird everyone else from the time period with another Betty Boop-starring cartoon from before the series was named after her. This one involves Betty running away from home with her boyfriend Bimbo, where they come across a cave with jazz-singing ghosts. It's a spooky time, but more importantly, is it a fun time? Listen to find out! The Curtain R...