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Mickey Mouse Clubhouse
Mickey's Adventures in Wonderland
The
latest edition of this popular kids series finds Mickey and Daffy lost
down the rabbit hole. Mixing education with slapstick humour, it's all
kind of charming, though I imagine the enjoyment factor decreases
exponentially with age.
The
premise this time is that it's Disney's birthday. Daffy has kindly
bought her a cuckoo clock as a present, but the pesky cuckoo bird has
different ideas. The cuckoo, who apparently takes after Alice, fells and
escapes into an alternate dimension, Wonderland. Mickey and Daffy,
naturally, follow in pursuit. Through their adventures they encounter a
variety of characters, including Minnie, Goofy and Pluto and there's
even a cameo from those pesky singing chipmunks.
Primarily an educational show, it covers topics such as basic maths,
telling the time and the recognition of animal sounds. Mickey frequently
directs these specific questions at the audience, inviting them to
become involved. It's more or less spoon-feeding, but as such is
suitable for ages 2 and up. Anyone over the age of about 6 or 7 is
probably going to find these elements a bit condescending.
This
48 minute episode of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse is enjoyable and
inoffensive. The songs are amusing, the content educational and the
animation, while pretty simplistic (this is not exactly Avatar),
pleasant and full of bright colours. The only peculiarity are Mickey's
ears, which seem to only be two dimensions and are always facing the
screen head on. From the side he looks like a shark with a deformed
dorsal fin.
Still,
the target audience are hardly going to be bothered with such details.
There are a two special features including a full 23 minute bonus
episode entitled "Goofy Goofy Goofy" and an "Adventure mode" where
viewers use their DVD remote to answer Mickey's 4th-wall directed
questions.
It's
not exactly a shade on the classic Disney cartoons, but it's not meant
to be. Adventures in Wonderland is both informative and
entertaining and recommended for its target audience.
Special Features:
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Adventure Mode
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Bonus Episode
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