This short was traditionally the first one aired
before “Mickey’s Christmas Carol” on The
Wonderful World of Disney. The rest of the set
will be reviewed between now and Wednesday. Again,
although it was originally seen in theatres, it’s
being listed under TV, as that’s the source that
really made it as popular as it is now.

Cast and Crew

Pinto Colvig as Goofy and Pluto

Walt Disney as Mickey Mouse

Marcellite Garner as Minnie Mouse

Clarence Nash as Donal Duck

Directed by Ben Sharpsteen

Complete information is
available from this
IMDB
page.


Buy from: Amazon.com
or Amazon.ca
as a part of Walt Disney Treasures: The Complete
Pluto
Vol. 1. It’s also included in Walt Disney
Treasures: Mickey
Mouse in Living Colour Vol. 1 (which is the copy
I watched for
this review), but the Pluto set just came out on
December 7, so it’s a
lot easier to find.

Past TV reviews can be found here.

Original Airdate

On Ice premiered in theaters in 1935.

Synopsis

Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Pluto, and Goofy go skating.

High Point

Pluto’s expressive talents. It’s easy to see why
this was rereleased
as a part of his collection.

Low Point

Mickey’s sole purpose in this cartoon is to be
perfect. That’s a
pretty boring character.

The Review

Cartoons about people skating aimlessly generally
aren’t done, so it
is original in that respect. Personally, I
think that has
more to do with the boring nature of the subject
matter than anything
else. This was also produced shortly after movies
were created just
to show typical moments in daily life, because the
novelty hadn’t worn
off yet. I give it 3 out of 6.

The animation is excellent. Mickey’s “round
the corner”
animation when skating around rocks and such is
extremely impressive,
as are Pluto’s facial expressions.
I give it 6 out of 6.

The story is a series of nearly unrelated
character clips,
tied together in the last two minutes by a
combination of luck and the
perfectness of Mickey. I give it 3 out of 6.

The voice acting is the standard Disney
stuff. 4 out of 6.

The emotional response is weak. If this was
a strong
cartoon, it wouldn’t have been the one chosen to get
pulled from the
Mickey’s Christmas Carol lineup when they
started using the
last few minutes to promote the next big movie. (I
think that
practice began with a Lion King preview, but
I could be
mistaken.) I give it 3 out of 6.

The production is not as finely tuned as it
was later, or even
as fine tuned as the Fleischer stuff that came out at
the same time.
I give it 4 out of 6.

Overall, it’s a good cartoon to watch for
technical aspects,
but not a great piece of entertainment. I give it 3
out of 6.

In total, On Ice receives 26 out of 42.