Video Game Review: Mickey Mousecapade (NES)

I used to play this a lot, as a kid. However, it’s not as good as I remembered it being, especially when compared to the other games Capcom made for Disney properties in this era. This is one of the earlier ones though and I guess it paved the way for the better games that followed.

This is a decent platformer for the most part. It’s just kind of short and overly difficult not because it was meant to be hard but because it had some shoddy design and mechanics.

Some of the boss battles are made to overwhelm you and there really isn’t a way to block or dodge a constant barrage of attacks. You just kind of need to have full life, take damage and hope for the best.

Also, some levels are overly complicated. I remember having problems with the woods level, as there are hidden doors you have no idea are there and you have to access them to advance. When I was a kid, after hours of frustration, I found one of the doors by mistake. I remembered that and that’s the main reason I was able to beat the game this time.

None of the bosses are particularly interesting or fun to fight but you do get to fight Pete from the classic Steamboat Willie cartoon, as well as Maleficent, even though she has an incredibly oversized head and looks more like a Funko Pop than a badass sorceress.

Mickey Mousecapade hasn’t aged well but it’s kind of fun, even if it is frustrating.

Rating: 5.75/10
Pairs well with: other Capcom made Disney games for the original Nintendo: the DuckTales series, the Chip & Dale series, Darkwing Duck, TaleSpin, etc.

Film Review: Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)

Release Date: June 22nd, 1988
Directed by: Robert Zemeckis
Written by: Jeffrey Price, Peter S. Seaman
Based on: Who Censored Roger Rabbit? by Gary K. Wolf
Music by: Alan Silvestri
Cast: Bob Hoskins, Christopher Lloyd, Charles Fleischer, Stubby Kaye, Joanna Cassidy, Kathleen Turner, Mel Blanc, Joel Silver

Touchstone Pictures, Amblin Entertainment, Buena Vista Pictures, 104 Minutes

Review:

“Is he always this funny, or only on days when he’s wanted for murder?” – Dolores

Back in 1988, I saw this movie in the theater. It was a pretty memorable experience, as this was an incredibly unique and enjoyable motion picture. I used to watch this a lot as a kid but I hadn’t seen it in a long time. Watching it again, I realized how much I missed this film. I mean, what’s not to like?

The film uses animated characters in a live action world. When I was young, this was a really cool experience, as I hadn’t seen anything like it before, at least not an entire movie like this. After Roger Rabbit, this would become a technique that was fairly common but this was the first movie to do it on such a large scale.

The really cool thing about the use of animated characters, is that everyone was in on the movie. For the first time, we got to see Disney characters mingle with Warner Bros. characters. One scene, in particular, has both Bugsy Bunny and Mickey Mouse on screen together. The film really is a cool crossover before crossovers even really became a thing.

Roger Rabbit stars Bob Hoskins and Christopher Lloyd, as the main human components of the movie. The film provided iconic roles for both men and they hit it out of the park. Hoskins was tailor made to play a noir type private dick while Lloyd had the perfect balance of being sinister, chilling and completely insane when the reveal of his true identity came out.

Charles Fleischer was perfect as the voice of Roger and he instantly made this character a megastar and worthy of a place alongside the great animated stars of the Disney and Looney Tunes characters he shares the screen with. Roger truly felt like he belonged, which wasn’t an easy feat but Fleischer gave the character real life and comedic charm.

Jeffrey Price and Peter S. Seaman wrote a great script that had elements of film-noir, comedy, fantasy and lightheartedness mixed in with some really dark material. The scene where a character gets steamrollered was pretty harsh stuff for a kid but it is counterbalanced by the fantastic absurdity of how that moment plays out. This is truly a living cartoon.

Who Framed Roger Rabbit is a real classic. It still hits the right notes and being a period piece makes it a pretty timeless motion picture that still works just as well today, as it did in 1988.

Rating: 8.75/10