Cartoon Discussion of the Week - 9-29-2012 - "Runaway Brain"

[eutychus]

Runaway Brain (Disney / 1995)

Since we're seeing new Disney shorts coming now with a "new" Mickey Mouse I thought we should look back to where they tried it before. "Runaway Brain" featured a Mickey much more anarchic and slapstick that he was normally allowed to be. But then cam "Mickey Mouse Works" where he went back to being the same old, ebullient, happy go lucky, but let's face it, bland character that he became because of his status as a corporate mascot.

But this cartoon was also much more enjoyable than anything you saw on "MouseWorks" which is why the new shorts coming out give me home that maybe they're actually going to let the character breathe and evolve a little bit more.

YouTube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbT7lhl9kpU
IAD Link: http://www.intanibase.com/shorts.aspx?shortID=609&studioID=1

Let us know what you think!

[ForumDocXV]

I love all three Mickey shorts. Mickey's Christmas Carol was great, The Prince and the Pauper is good, and this short is mostly funny (since at this time, they started to almost act like WB Animation from the 40's and 50's, one Disney film "The Emperor's New Groove" is very heavy on the Looney Tunes humor).

I hated when they turned Mickey into a Dora the Explorer rip-off character in MICKEY MOUSE CLUBHOUSE! But thank god they the new recent Mickey shorts are better since they're really like the classics.

[Mac]

I always liked Runaway Brain. I saw it when it was first released theatrically in the UK with A Goofy Movie and then many times over when it was released on the VHS 'Mickey's Greatest Hits'. For the most part, I actually liked how Mickey was portrayed in MouseWorks. Not all the cartoons were great, but Mickey didn't seem too bland to me – the episodes with Mortimer particularly bring out a side of Mickey that's fun to watch. However, the big thing that Runaway Brain holds over all the Mickey cartoons released since are the fantastic production values and what must have been a massive budget – it just looks great with tons of little details and gags which make it worth a re-watch and lots of pauses. When Runaway Brain was released, I hoped they'd be more theatrical Mickey cartoons, but we've had to wait 18 years for 'Get a Horse', which will be the first Mickey cartoon to get such a deluxe treatment.

I think Runaway Brain is exciting and fun. I don't need every Mickey cartoon to be so loud and fast paced, but this one stands out as its own special big-budget thing, something that's a lot of fun and a little unexpected.

One thing this cartoon can't boast though is the catchy music I associate with Mickey Mouse cartoons. The score does its thing for sure, but the only catchy memorable melodies are quotes from other songs and heard in little snippets (e.g 'Steamboat Bill' used to reference 'Steamboat Willie'). The lower budget TV cartoons have had some perfect Mickey music – there's been some really great stuff to whistle in both MouseWorks and the new 2013 series.

[Mister Bighead]

This was an excellent short. The animation and backgrounds were great. Like eutychus said, this short was unusual for a Mickey Mouse cartoon. It had a rather dark theme. (Which is why Disney seems to pretend this short was never made.)

I do like a lot of the gags and inside jokes in this short such as the "Just Say No" poster with the mousetrap, the Zasu cameos, the "Snow White" video game, and Mickey's wallet. There was even a nod to Disney animators Frank Thompson and Ollie Johnston. The evil monkey scientist was named Dr. Frankenollie.

The short was produced at Walt Disney Feature Animation Paris, one of the former satellite studios of Walt Disney Feature Animation (now Walt Disney Animation Studios). There was another satellite studio located in Walt Disney World which produced other shorts such as Off His Rockers, John Henry, and some Roger Rabbit cartoons. They also produced features such as Mulan and Lilo & Stitch.

I believe this short's only home-video release was (in America at least) on Walt Disney Treasures: Mickey Mouse in Living Color Volume 2.

[ParamountCartoons]

The short was fun, but personally did they have to shove "Steamboat Willie" and "Snow White" down our throats? (I have nothing against those classics).

Older classics worked best in remakes and cheaters during the Golden Age of Animation.

[NicKramer]

They're called in-jokes, Paramount.

Anyway, I thought this was a great Mickey cartoon ("You need moola to hula!").  Is it true that the director of this later created "Kim Possible"?  If so, I kinda wish he did a Mickey series after Kim, particularly one based on the Disney comics (with Gerstein's help).  Some of the oversea ones even had some action plots similar in tone to the later series.

[ParamountCartoons]

They're called in-jokes, Paramount.

still classic cartoons' in-jokes were more subtle.


Sorry if I was a little harsh, that's kinda how I felt- Disney fans know about steamboat willie and snow white from every history book and documentary. if they were to do in-jokes could they probsbly add something obscure? there are hundreds of other classic shorts starring mickey.


Again, it's nothing against steamboat willie and snow white and I'm sorry if that's how you interpret it, but I wanted to discuss my own opinion. The cartoon is fine and really suspensef, and I do kinda like the Snow White in-joke (after all it reflects the late Super Nintendo era quite well, when you could see a game like that unlike today). Steamboat willie, ehh, not so much......

[eutychus]

But that's a good point, and I think it illustrates the difference between the older Mickey shorts and the newer ones. In the older ones, you may have seen an animator's name carved in a tree trunk or something (which you would only catch if you were sharp eyed AND knew what to look for.) In the newer shorts, they're fishing for a wider audience and I think they're more willing to throw subtlety right out the window for a cheap laugh.

[NicKramer]

What about Bambi and his mom in "No Hunting" (1955)?

[ParamountCartoons]

What about Bambi and his mom in "No Hunting" (1955)?

that was a special ocassion...like popular songs from cartoons that sold lots of sheet music.


Classic cartoons don't often look back their past triumphs, it only worked in small doses or special ocassions.

[Mac]

I agree with Patrick, Runaway Brain has inside jokes that not everyone will get (e.g Dr Frankenollie) and freeze frame bits to spot after several viewings (e.g Zazu), but it needs to have humour that everyone can get for it to be entertaining – and that's what the Steamboat Willie and Snow White gags are. The reference to Snow White is funny because you don't expect to see those characters in that style of fighting game. People often have old photos of themselves where their younger self looks different, so it's a nice gag for Mickey to say "Ah, that's old" about a photo that happens to be of him in his most famous vintage role. If Runaway Brain referenced more obscure films for those gags then most audiences wouldn't get it.

Whether you think these kind of jokes are cheap or not depends on personal taste. It's true that this particular kind of referential humour is much rarer* in the old Disney cartoons, but it's partly a sign of the times. By the time Runaway Brain was made, self referential jokes were common place and popular in cartoons (just think of The Simpsons) and it continues to this day.

* NicKramer already mentioned the best example of a joke like this, but to name a couple more admittedly subtler examples then how about when we hear part of "The World Owes me a Living" during the evil grasshopper scene in Mickey's Garden, as a reference to the character in "Grasshopper and the Ants" or when Donald ends up looking like a puppet in 'Chef Donald' and we hear the tune "I've got No Strings"?

[NicKramer]

Another example I just thought of are the two Mickey Mouse cart toys that parade out of Santa's sack in "The Night Before Christmas" (1933).

[Mister Bighead]

I do kinda like the Snow White in-joke (after all it reflects the late Super Nintendo era quite well, when you could see a game like that unlike today).

That's exactly how I feel about the joke because I am a sucker for video-game parodies. I too am a fan of games from that era.