Plane Crazy
March. 17,1929Inspired by Lindbergh's flight from New York to Paris, Mickey builds a plane to take Minnie for a trip.
Similar titles
You May Also Like
Reviews
Please don't spend money on this.
A waste of 90 minutes of my life
A Disappointing Continuation
An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.
In this early Disney film, we have Mickey Mouse attempting to build a plane. All the hard work goes for naught as it crashes into a hundred pieces. But he soon discovers an old jalopy. He adds wings and a propeller to it and off he goes. But before takeoff, who should appear but Minnie. She is invited to fly with him, but he has only one thing on his mind. She holds her own and things play out in an amusing way.
Plane Crazy (1928), the first Mickey Mouse cartoon, offers modern viewers a vision of the character which has been eclipsed by a more family friendly rendition. The old school Mickey was a rascal and a jerk, always looking to cause trouble. Here we see him rough-housing other animals in a barnyard and forcing a kiss on a reluctant Minnie Mouse, something modern Mickey would blush to do.Ub Iwerks' animation is fantastic and chaotic. Around this time, the stiffer animation of the early 1920s/late 1910s was giving way to the looser movement which would reign supreme in the 1930s.Plane Crazy is not as mesmerizing as Steamboat Willie (1928), but it sure is a lot of fun and a great time capsule.
Mickey Mouse is eager to learn to fly, so he builds a strange little airplane and takes Minnie along for a crazy ride. By the end, not unexpectedly, the plane is a wreck and Mickey is in the dog house with his sweetie.This is the very first Mickey Mouse cartoon, though in many ways the short film is very much unlike later Mickey films and was even quite a bit different than the second one (STEAMBOAT WILLIE). Unlike STEAMBOAT WILLIE, the animation quality is a tad crude and in its original form, PLANE CRAZY was a silent film. However, due to the popularity of STEAMBOAT WILLIE and its soundtrack with music and sound effects, Walt Disney decided in late 1928 to add a similar track to PLANE CRAZY. I am not even sure if the totally silent version still exists, but even if it doesn't, try watching the film with the sound turned all the way down to get the effect. You'll probably notice that it just isn't as cute or catchy as STEAMBOAT WILLIE, though you'll still probably see that compared to other cartoons of the 20s, it is still a tremendous film and still very watchable today.While some might poo-poo the film for its simple style, true fans of animation should see this landmark film--especially so they can see just how far the Mouse has come after all these years.
This short is the first one done and this is not the "gosh, aw shucks" mouse Disney so carefully protects today. Mickey early on was a bit of a cad and a rogue. Quite the smart aleck. Interesting glimpse at Mickey. This short holds up well after 70+ years and is well worth watching. Recommended.