Ideas for a Mickey Mouse Feature Film

[Dr Frankenollie]

Fairly recently, brilliant Disney animator Burny Mattinson has said that he's working on a concept for a feature-length Mickey/Donald/Goofy film. It may be the Walt Disney Company's second step in re-branding Mickey Mouse (the first being the mildly successful Epic Mickey), and could help make Mickey popular again.

Does anyone have any ideas for a feature film? I expect Oswald the Lucky Rabbit would make a cameo at least, although I hope he has a prominent role. Perhaps the plot of Epic Mickey could be adapted or re-worked. I hope Donald and Goofy don't get very large parts and remain only supporting characters, as they usually overshadow Mickey. I'd love to see the Mad Doctor make an appearance.

This may surprise some, but I wouldn't mind if it was done in CGI. Why? Even though I prefer hand-drawn animation, it might appeal more to modern audiences and also I love the long computer-animated cutscenes in Epic Mickey (not the Mary Blair-esque cutscenes, but I love those too).

So...does anyone have any ideas?

[Escapay]

I like when Disney takes an established story and re-tells it with the trio. It's worked quite effectively already in Mickey and the Beanstalk, The Prince and the Pauper, and to an extent in The Three Musketeers. It'd be nice to see them tackle another classic. When "Mickey Mouse Works"/"House of Mouse" did a version of Around the World in 80 Days, it was pretty cool. I could definitely see that as something that could work well as a feature-length Mickey/Donald/Goofy story.

At the same time, I wanna see some sort of new and original story for the gang, that re-establishes their theatrical presence without having to already hook an audience by re-telling a classic story.

Regarding the CGI vs. Hand-Drawn, I don't really have a preference. Both have their own strengths and weaknesses, and I'll fully support whichever style the filmmakers think is most effective.

albert

[milojthatch]

I'd rather it been done in hand drawn. However, if it were the same quality as "Tangled," I may be able to get over it.

Oswald NEEDS to be a big part of this film, period. I agree, "Epic Mickey" should be the jumping off point to making Mickey matter again. I think he can be a bit mischievous and still be a hero.

I also agree re-telling a classic story could be a good jumping off point. With any luck, there would be more Mickey films in the future. He needs to mater again and I for one am happy that it seems as if Disney is trying to do just that. For all the good or bad of modern Disney, got to give them that much!

[Victurtle]

I really wouldn't mind a movie adaption of Epic Mickey (I really love the title). It'd be really good to be able to realise the original concept art/story without the limitations of the Wii console. It's very Roger Rabbit meets the black cauldron.

[milojthatch]

I really wouldn't mind a movie adaption of Epic Mickey (I really love the title). It'd be really good to be able to realise the original concept art/story without the limitations of the Wii console. It's very Roger Rabbit meets the black cauldron.

I have not yet played "Epic Mickey" (sadly, just haven't found the money yet, but i hope to change that soon), but from what I have seen of it, that could be cool!

[singerguy04]

I personally would like to see something along the lines of "A Goofy Movie" where the characters are playing themselves in a whole new original musical adventure. I'd also love for Clara Cluck, Clarabelle Cow, Horace Horsecollar, Oswald, and Peter Pig to have some kind of role. Maybe even throw in some more obscure characters as well.

IMO if they were to have the characters playing a role in a story that somehow already exists, then it wont really do much for the actual characters since people will only see them as the characters in the story... if that makes sense. If the intention is to re-introduce these characters and make them appealing to a new generation then I just think that would be better accomplished using them as they are.

[Dr Frankenollie]

I personally would like to see something along the lines of "A Goofy Movie" where the characters are playing themselves in a whole new original musical adventure. I'd also love for Clara Cluck, Clarabelle Cow, Horace Horsecollar, Oswald, and Peter Pig to have some kind of role. Maybe even throw in some more obscure characters as well.

Whilst I think it would be great to reintroduce Oswald, I don't think putting Clara, Clarabelle, Horace and Peter Pig into the film would work well; they all have little personality (perhaps not Clara or Peter so much, but definitely Clarabelle and Horace), and also Disney should concentrate on making Mickey more popular. Epic Mickey did try to do both, and it mostly succeeded, but a video game can have a longer and more complex story and more settings and characters as it's not a film, but a game.

Whilst the musical Tangled was big at the box office, I think making it a musical adventure would be off-putting for audiences (they might think it's a cinematic version of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.) Besides, only a few classic Mickey cartoons had songs, and his brief appearances in the 1980's didn't have songs either, so I don't think it would be necessary.

I'm not sure whether an adaptation of an existing story would work well; Escapay is right in saying it's worked well in the past, but singerguy04 has a point.

I'd love to see something like a feature-length Runaway Brain; that brilliant short had a relentless sense of excitement and adventure and a mix of adapted and original ideas.

[Wonderlicious]

I like when Disney takes an established story and re-tells it with the trio. It's worked quite effectively already in Mickey and the Beanstalk, The Prince and the Pauper, and to an extent in The Three Musketeers. It'd be nice to see them tackle another classic. When "Mickey Mouse Works"/"House of Mouse" did a version of Around the World in 80 Days, it was pretty cool. I could definitely see that as something that could work well as a feature-length Mickey/Donald/Goofy story.

At the same time, I wanna see some sort of new and original story for the gang, that re-establishes their theatrical presence without having to already hook an audience by re-telling a classic story.

This really sums up my feelings. My own nostalgic gene makes me warm to an adaptation of a classic story starring Mickey and the gang. After all, some of the best old Mickey shorts were versions of classic legends and fairy tales, whether that means a fairly straight adaptation (Brave Little Tailor, "The Sorcerer's Apprentice") or a general farce (Thru the Mirror, Giant Land). Mickey, Donald and Goofy were originally characters meant for shorter entertainments of nothing more than 10 minutes, and placing them in a classic story with a strong backbone is a good way to provide them substantial material to keep going for an hour or more, as well as name recognition in marketing. However, part of me can't help but feel that the adaptation route is ultimately a bit of an easy way-out (and one already done numerous times), and that they should probably look to creating an original story, even if it does use a fairly fantastic setting.

If they were to go with adaptation, at least at the feature length, I'd aim to place Mickey and any other appropriate characters as part of the original story's universe, where they are known by their original names and act like their regular selves (as opposed to Mickey's Christmas Carol, where Donald Duck was given a very soft role). I'd also aim to keep characters other than the protagonists left largely alone and not have random Disney characters fill up theirr oles like with Mickey's Christmas Carol (think how, for example, the giants in Brave Little Tailor and "Mickey and the Beanstalk" in Fun and Fancy Free are big humans akin to their fairy tale ancestors as opposed to big versions of Pete).

I would also like to see a Mickey feature preferably in 2D, though like milojthatch, I could perhaps get over CG so long as it's of the Tangled variety.

[2099net]

But haven't they already made Mickey more mischievous in the Mouseworks/House of Mouse shorts?

Seriously, MW/HoM was the best thing to happen to Mickey for decades (yes, even better than Mickey's Christmas Carol IMO) and Disney did nothing to capitalise on it. Those TV shorts took Mickey back to his roots: He could be jealous, petty and sarcastic. But at the same time he was also the Mickey we knew - kind, generous, a leader and heroic (look at the stories featuring The Phantom Blot).

I was looking forward to the Three Musketeers, but was sad to see that all the TV development of the character was all but disregarded.

Personally, I'd do a whole new story - no adaptation - and have The Phantom Blot as the villain (and this is coming from the Pete fan). Mickey needs to represent the "ordinary everyman". That's his strong point.

He shouldn't be a hero at the start - like in the Brave Little Tailor perhaps his own ill-advised actions could lead him to being seen as a hero. But when the time comes and Mickey's forced into becoming a hero he absolutely should be the best damn hero available. Courageous, authoritative and just.

That said, I haven't got an idea for a story, perhaps it needs to reflect current issues to some extent - pet napping for example could subtly point out issues around "stranger-danger", but hopefully not in a overtly preachy or didactic way - the last thing we need is an "after-school special" type of story. But Mickey having Pluto dog-napped by the Blot, perhaps for some sort of slave labour with hundreds of other dogs and cats, could explain why Mickey would come out of his shell and become an adventurer.

[Fidget1234]

They should make a movie based on Fantasmic!

[RIPJoeRanft]

I personally would like to see something along the lines of "A Goofy Movie" where the characters are playing themselves in a whole new original musical adventure. I'd also love for Clara Cluck, Clarabelle Cow, Horace Horsecollar, Oswald, and Peter Pig to have some kind of role. Maybe even throw in some more obscure characters as well.

IMO if they were to have the characters playing a role in a story that somehow already exists, then it wont really do much for the actual characters since people will only see them as the characters in the story... if that makes sense. If the intention is to re-introduce these characters and make them appealing to a new generation then I just think that would be better accomplished using them as they are.

These are my feelings. One of the reasons A Goofy Movie was a creative success to me is because it felt modern. It was very fresh, original, and relateable, portraying characters like Goofy, Pete, and Max in a new musical adventure. It not only had good songs and a smartly written script, it had legitimate emotion (exploring the relationship between a rapidly maturing son and his wistful father) and really didn't pander to the kiddies. Mickey's potential film should be as close to that mold as possible.

Telling an already told story with the Micky character would accomplish nothing. We've seen it done before, and there's really no need for it to be done again. I like the idea of Micky interacting with and making characters like Horace, Oswald, and Clara Cluck relevant again. That's an exciting idea that builds off what Epic Mickey accomplished. Make it contemporary as possible, set in the present day. Even if it's something relatively simple like Micky having to save the Disney company from an evil corporate takeover could be interesting if executed correctly, with the proper amounts of tongue-in-cheek humor, emotion, charm, and adventure. I think it'd be cool to have the movie hand-drawn, and then have the evil corporation figures be in 3D/computer animated.