Mickey Mouse (1994 film)

Mickey Mouse is an 1994 American animated comedy film directed by John Lasseter and produced by Burny Mattinson and Brad Bird. It is based off of Walt Disney’s character of the same name debuting in the 1928 short, Steamboat Willie along with various other characters such as Donald Duck and Goofy.

The film is about Mickey Mouse trying to get Oswald the Lucky Rabbit back after a evil kid named Finn Veltcher kidnaps him after mistaking him for a toy. The film stars Wayne Allwine, Russi Taylor, Tara Strong, Tony Anselmo, Bill Farmer, Kath Soucie, and Corey Burton. The people in this cast list (with the exception of Strong) their roles from various Mickey Mouse media.

The film was pitched out to veteran Disney animator Burny Mattinson, who was originally set to direct the film. However, Mattinson declined and John Lasseter signed on as the director. Production of the film began in 1991 with Walt Disney Pictures, named after Mickey Mouse creator, distributing the film and also with Walt Disney Animation Studios signing on as the key people behind the animation.

Synopsis
In a world of Disney characters designed by Walter Elias Disney, Mickey Mouse must save Oswald the Lucky Rabbit after him getting kidnapped by a evil kid who thought of him as a toy. Mickey, along with his other friends Donald and Goofy, use a time machine from Ludwig Von Drake in order to save the poor rabbit from being tortured. They must also get him for a movie made by an Disney employee named Peter Olyle, whom Oswald is his favorite character.

Plot
In the world of Disney characters, Mickey Mouse is named as one of the most beloved Disney cartoon stars along with his girlfriend Minnie Mouse and his friends. Meanwhile, a worker at Walt Disney Pictures named Peter Olyle decides to make a film about Oswald the Lucky Rabbit after not being seen on cinema for a very long time. Mickey decides to drive all the way to California to meet up with Oswald for him reprising his role as himself. Oswald agrees the role and decides to drive back to the studio with Mickey.

Meanwhile, Mickey and Oswald are practicing for the set, before filming starts in three days. While they are performing to not move on the set for a scene, a boy named Finn Veltcher sees them and takes Oswald and not Mickey since he hates mice. Mickey tells everybody about the incident causing everybody to go in panic.

Mickey decides to take Donald and Goofy, his two best pals, to go retrieve Oswald, causing a delay in the film’s production. Minnie volunteers to calm down everyone until they get Oswald back. Mickey, Donald, and Goofy’s plan is ruined when they find out that Finn Veltcher was going on a plane trip to live in London for a week. They get help from Ludwig Von Drake, who builds a portal machine all the way to London to get Oswald back from Finn.

While Minnie is trying to calm the people down, many Disney fans raid the studio with Peter asking everybody to evacuate the building. The studio than gets destroyed with fans taking their money back on every Disney move they’ve payed for. Meanwhile, Mickey gets a call from Peter and Minnie saying that the building has been destroyed. He than grunts in worries saying that he let Walt down, but Donald and Goofy encourage him to get back up and get Oswald back. In London, Finn shows Oswald to his parents and his sister named Dana dresses Oswald up for a tea party with her dolls. Finn sees Oswald move and refers to him as a moving toy with Oswald whispering to him that Finn is dumb.

After many hours of traveling through the portal, Ludwig von Drake finally announces that they are at their destination, London. At the destination, Mickey, Donald, and Goody get surrounded by guards who later take them to Queen Elizabeth II. She then realizes that Mickey Mouse is her childhood star, she officially announces them as the royal guests of London, with them needing to go find Oswald and save them from Finn Veltcher.

Meanwhile, while Minnie is breaking down about the company being destroyed, Ludwig Von Drake calms Minnie and asks her that Mickey, Donald, and Goofy are at their destinations. This makes Minnie get excited but it also makes her sad that the movie is delayed, with Daisy and Peter Olyle cheering Minnie up.

They then find the temporary apartment of Finn where he is torturing Oswald with inappropriate stuff on the Internet. He then leaves Oswald in his room after his father calls him for dinner, giving Mickey, Donald and Goofy enough time to go and get Oswald away from here. Meanwhile, Peter sadly announces that the film is delayed, leaving the Walt Disney fans more angry and upset. While Mickey, Goofy, and Donald are trying to free Oswald from a toy prison that Finn made, Finn comes in the room, only to see them.

This causes him to get angry, and get a broom to squish them. Finn locks the window with Mickey, Oswald, Donald, and Goofy having nowhere to go. Oswald uses his stretchy arm and grabs Mickey, Donald, and Goofy and turns it on, causing it to make them go through the window, breaking it. He than goes outside only to see Mickey, Donald, Oswald, and Goofy escaping through the portal, causing him to get angry that his “toy” ran away.

Mickey, Donald, Oswald, and Goofy than go back to their homes where they officially announce that the movie is now back in development, leaving the people happy. 3 years later, the movie had released in the Disney Cinema, receiving many positive reviews. Peter Olyle than thanks the people for their help and then celebrate.

Voice cast

 * Wayne Allwine as Mickey Mouse
 * Russi Taylor as Minnie Mouse
 * Tara Strong as Oswald the Lucky Rabbit / Waitress
 * Tony Anselmo as Donald Duck
 * Bill Farmer as Goofy / Pluto
 * Kath Soucie as Daisy Duck
 * Jim Cummings as Peg-Leg Pete
 * Paul Rugg as Peter Olyle
 * Erik von Detten as Finn Veltcher
 * Katy Perry as Dana Veltcher
 * Joe Alaskey as Finn and Dana’s Father
 * June Foray as Queen Elizabeth II

Development
The film was pitched out to veteran Disney animator Burny Mattinson, who was originally set to direct the film. However, Mattinson declined and John Lasseter signed on as the director. Mattinson then announced that a Mickey Mouse film was officially in development at Walt Disney Pictures with many people excited. Stated earlier, production of the film began in 1991. Originally, Ralph Bakshi, an famous Hollywood film director, originally set to direct the film, as stated by producer Brad Bird in 2013.

Story and script
The film's screenplay was written by Mattinson, Tom Ruegger, and Eric Goldberg. Goldberg is best known for creating Genie from Aladdin, one of the directors of Fantasia 2000, and directing the animation for Warner Bros. Pictures' Wikipedia:Looney Tunes: Back in Action while Ruegger is best known for creating an Warner Bros. series, Animaniacs. According to Ruegger, the script took 342 hours to complete with Chris Savino (creator of Nickelodeon's The Loud House) provided the story along with Pete Docter. Docter would later go on to direct various Pixar films.

Casting
It was announced that Wayne Allwine, Russi Taylor, Bill Farmer, Tony Anselmo, Kath Soucie, and Corey Burton would be reprising their roles as Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Donald, Daisy, and Ludwig Von Drake. With new cast members such as Tara Strong, Paul Rugg, June Foray, and Erik von Detten starring as Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, Peter Olyle, Elizabeth II, and Finn Veltcher.

Release
The film was originally set for release on June 18, 1995 but was pushed back to January 4, 1994 due to the release date being too long to wait for Disney fans.

Theatrical
The film released in Dolby Cinema on the same day of January 4, 1994.

Box Office
The film’s box office in America scored over $100M viewers worldwide, but however in Canada, Mexico, Peru, and Rio, got only $40K viewers worldwide.

Critcial response
The film scored a high rating on IMDb with it earning a 97/100 on the website. On Rotten Tomatoes, it has a 89% on the app, but it was originally at 54% due to it’s website glitching. On Google for the film's reviews, the film had earned several approvals from many critics and users around the world with it earning a 79/100 on the website.

Marketing
To promote the film, a teaser trailer was released on February 8, 1993 in the 1993 San Diego Comic-Con. Happy Meal toys from McDonald’s were also made for both children and adults.

Mickey Mouse shorts
Main article: Mickey Mouse shorts (1994-1995)

In 1994, three months after its release, an advertisement popped up on television showimg Mickey, Donald, and Goofy being chased by their enemy, Peg-Leg Pete. This ad was revealed to be an new Mickey Mouse short film (ever since The Simple Things released in 1953) titled Opening of Kids The Movie, which follows Mickey, Donald, and Goofy trying to kick Pete out mainly because of him making noise.

The film premiered on August 12 of the same year that this film was released and received mostly positive reviews and was a box-office success, grossing $48 billion dollars at the box-office. As a result of this, nine more shorts were made, ending in 1995. These shorts were included in the home media collection of A Goofy Movie.

Soundtrack
In addition, the soundtrack was composed and recorded by Mark Mothersbaugh, who did work for other films and franchises such as, Hotel Transylvania.