Mickey: The Story of a Mouse

Last updated

Mickey: The Story of a Mouse
Mickey The Story of a Mouse poster.png
Official release poster
Directed byJeff Malmberg
Produced by
CinematographyAntonio Cisneros
Edited by
  • Jake Hostetter
  • Aaron Wickenden
Music by Daniel Wohl
Production
companies
Distributed by Disney+
Release dates
  • March 19, 2022 (2022-03-19)(SXSW)
  • November 18, 2022 (2022-11-18)(United States)
Running time
93 minutes [1]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Mickey: The Story of a Mouse is a documentary film directed by Jeff Malmberg. The documentary had its world premiere at the South by Southwest film festival on March 19, 2022, and had its worldwide release on November 18 of the same year, on Disney+, on the same day as Mickey Mouse's 94th birthday. [2]

Contents

Premise

The documentary follows the history and filmography of Mickey Mouse. [3] Mickey Mouse is presented as a worldwide symbol of joy and the innocence of childhood. He became an overnight sensation after starring in the 1928 animated short film Steamboat Willie . Over the decades that followed, versions of the character evolved that reflect both the career of their creator and the changes in the country Mickey came to symbolize.

Production and release

By October 2019, the documentary was in production, with Jeff Malmberg as director. [4]

The documentary had its world premiere at the South by Southwest film festival on March 19, 2022, [5] before its debut on Disney+ on November 18 in the same year. [3] [2] The documentary is accompanied by the short film Mickey in a Minute, animated by Eric Goldberg, Mark Henn, and Randy Haycock. [6] The short follows Mickey Mouse, voiced by Bret Iwan, as he tours the halls of the Disney Animation building, ends up sucked into one of his old cartoon posters and takes a "whirlwind" trip through his past performances. [7] The short appears near the end of the documentary. [7]

Critical reception

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes , 89% of 19 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.8/10. [1] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 66 out of 100, based on 7 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". [8]

Fran Hoepfner, of TheWrap , gave a positive review, saying it is an "interesting exploration of a global phenomenon that goes out of its way to let Disney (the man and the company) off the hook". [6] Daniel Fienberg, of The Hollywood Reporter , also gave a positive review, saying: "Offering 93 minutes of radiant rodent hagiography, Mickey: The Story of a Mouse is maybe the most polished of Disney+'s recent documercials". [9] Stephen Silver of Tilt gave 4 stars out of 5. He considered the documentary to be "a blatant act of self-mythologizing by Disney", but also called it "a fascinating examination of Disney history and a must-watch for anyone who's a big Mickey fan". [10] Ross Bonaime, of Collider , gave a mixed review, saying the documentary is "an intriguing look at the century-long history of Mickey that can't help but try to avoid the biggest questions of Mickey and Walt Disney's past". [11]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mickey Mouse</span> Disney cartoon character and mascot

Mickey Mouse is an American cartoon character co-created in 1928 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. The longtime icon and mascot of The Walt Disney Company, Mickey is an anthropomorphic mouse who typically wears red shorts, large yellow shoes, and white gloves. Inspired by such silent film personalities as Charlie Chaplin and Douglas Fairbanks, Mickey is traditionally characterized as a sympathetic underdog who gets by on pluck and ingenuity in the face of challenges bigger than himself. The character's depiction as a small mouse is personified through his diminutive stature and falsetto voice, the latter of which was originally provided by Disney. Mickey is one of the world's most recognizable and universally acclaimed fictional characters.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ub Iwerks</span> American animator and special effects pioneer (1901–1971)

Ubbe Ert Iwerks, known as Ub Iwerks, was an American animator, cartoonist, character designer, inventor, and special effects technician, known for his work with Walt Disney Animation Studios in general, and for having worked on the development of the design of the character of Mickey Mouse, among others. Born in Kansas City, Missouri, Iwerks grew up with a contentious relationship with his father, who abandoned him as a child. Iwerks met fellow artist Walt Disney while working at a Kansas City art studio in 1919.

<i>Plane Crazy</i> 1928 Mickey Mouse short by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks

Plane Crazy is a 1928 American animated short film directed by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. The cartoon, released by the Walt Disney Studios, was the first appearance of Mickey Mouse and his girlfriend Minnie Mouse, and was originally a silent film. It was given a test screening to a theater audience on May 15, 1928, and an executive from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer saw the film, but failed to pick up a distributor. Later that year, Disney released Mickey's first sound cartoon, Steamboat Willie, which was an enormous success; Plane Crazy was officially released as a sound cartoon on March 17, 1929. It was the fourth Mickey film to be given a wide release after Steamboat Willie, The Gallopin' Gaucho and The Barn Dance (1929).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Minnie Mouse</span> Disney cartoon character

Minnie Mouse is a cartoon character created by The Walt Disney Company. As the longtime sweetheart of Mickey Mouse, she is an anthropomorphic mouse with white gloves, a red or pink bow, blue polka-dotted dress, white bloomers and low-heeled shoes occasionally with ribbons on them. The Mickey Mouse comic strip story "The Gleam" by Merrill De Maris and Floyd Gottfredson first gave her full name as Minerva Mouse, although this is seldom used.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Walt Disney Animation Studios</span> American animation studio

Walt Disney Animation Studios (WDAS), sometimes shortened to Disney Animation, is an American animation studio that creates animated features and short films for The Walt Disney Company. The studio's current production logo features a scene from its first synchronized sound cartoon, Steamboat Willie (1928). Founded on October 16, 1923, by brothers Walt and Roy O. Disney, it is the oldest-running animation studio in the world. It is currently organized as a division of Walt Disney Studios and is headquartered at the Roy E. Disney Animation Building at the Walt Disney Studios lot in Burbank, California. Since its foundation, the studio has produced 62 feature films, from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) to Wish (2023), and hundreds of short films.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eric Goldberg (animator)</span> American animator

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<i>Mickey Mouse Clubhouse</i> American animated childrens television series

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<i>Brave Little Tailor</i> 1938 Mickey Mouse cartoon

Brave Little Tailor is a 1938 American animated short film produced by Walt Disney Productions and released by RKO Radio Pictures, being shown in theaters with Fugitives for a Night. It is an adaptation of the fairy tale The Valiant Little Tailor with Mickey Mouse in the title role. It was directed by Bill Roberts and Burt Gillett and features original music by Albert Hay Malotte. The voice cast includes Walt Disney as Mickey, and Eddie Holden as the Giant. It was the 103rd short in the Mickey Mouse film series to be released, and the fifth for that year.

<i>Mickey Mouse in Vietnam</i> 1969 animated short film

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<i>Steamboat Willie</i> 1928 American animated short film

Steamboat Willie is a 1928 American animated short film directed by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. It was produced in black and white by Walt Disney Studios and was released by Pat Powers, under the name of Celebrity Productions. The cartoon is considered the debut of both Mickey and Minnie Mouse, although both characters appeared several months earlier in a test screening of Plane Crazy. Steamboat Willie was the third of Mickey's films to be produced, but it was the first to be distributed, because Disney, having seen The Jazz Singer, had committed himself to produce one of the first fully synchronized sound cartoons.

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<i>Blue Rhythm</i> 1931 Mickey Mouse cartoon

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<i>Mickeys Rival</i> 1936 Mickey Mouse cartoon

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References

  1. 1 2 "Mickey: The Story of a Mouse (2022)". Rotten Tomatoes . Archived from the original on February 26, 2023. Retrieved February 18, 2023.
  2. 1 2 "Mickey Documentary Film Released Date". Twitter. Archived from the original on December 7, 2022. Retrieved September 11, 2022.
  3. 1 2 Taylor, Drew (March 16, 2022). "'Mickey: The Story of a Mouse' Director Jeff Malmberg Was Surprised Disney Let Him Keep These Controversial Moments". TheWrap . Archived from the original on March 20, 2022. Retrieved March 20, 2022.
  4. ↑ Low, Elaine (October 18, 2019). "Disney Plus Fleshes Out Nonfiction Slate, Including 'Howard', 'Science Fair', Mickey Mouse Docu". Variety . Archived from the original on December 8, 2019. Retrieved March 20, 2022.
  5. ↑ "SXSW Schedule". Archived from the original on April 3, 2022. Retrieved March 20, 2022.
  6. 1 2 Hoepfner, Fran (March 19, 2022). "'Mickey: The Story of a Mouse' Film Review: Disney Doc Explores Character, Icon, Ubiquitous Mascot". TheWrap . Archived from the original on March 20, 2022. Retrieved March 20, 2022.
  7. 1 2 "Disney Animator Eric Goldberg Talks the Return of 2D". April 27, 2022. Archived from the original on November 13, 2022. Retrieved November 18, 2022.
  8. ↑ "Mickey: The Story of a Mouse Reviews". Metacritic . CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on November 18, 2022. Retrieved November 18, 2022.
  9. ↑ Fienberg, Daniel (March 19, 2022). "'Mickey: The Story of a Mouse': Film Review". The Hollywood Reporter . Archived from the original on March 27, 2022. Retrieved March 27, 2022.
  10. ↑ Silver, Stephen (March 25, 2022). "'Mickey: The Story of a Mouse' Explores a Century of Disney's Greatest Icon". Tilt. Archived from the original on March 25, 2022. Retrieved April 16, 2022.
  11. ↑ Bonaime, Ross (March 21, 2022). "'Mickey: The Story of a Mouse' Review: Fascinating Look at an Icon That Tries to Avoid the Problems of the Past". Collider . Archived from the original on March 27, 2022. Retrieved March 27, 2022.
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