Cleveronix
A different way of telling a story
Dynamixor
The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.
Allison Davies
The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.
morrison-dylan-fan
Originally expecting this title to be another in Goofy's "Art of" series,I was shocked to discover,that this movie was in fact Goofy's entry film into a collection of Disney short movies that were designed to help the war effort.The plot:With America suffering from a rubber and fuel shortage due to the on going WWII,Goofy is chosen to test a number of designs by fellow Americans of vehicles which can help get people around,the the minimum use of rubber and fuel.View on the film:With the film having been made after the bombing of Pearl Harbour,I was pleased to see that the current Disney studio had decided not to censor the film's strongly worded lines against Japan,but to instead put an intro at the start to explain the historical events/time period that the short was made in.Along with the bold and shining animation of the vehicles,director Jack Kinney also shows a keen eye for subtle sight gags and in jokes,which go from a delightful cameo for an as yet un named dog, (who would later become Pluto!) to a newspaper having the headline "Ties not necessary to human life,says Prof. Da Gradi. ",as an in joke to Disney layout artist Don DaGradi.
Shawn Watson
Okay, it's WWII. And there's a gas and rubber shortage. So America compensates by inventing loads of wacky vehicles that are powered in more eccentric ways. The narrator says that the money we save could be dropped on Tokyo or Berlin. Such a nice thing to say in a Disney cartoon. There is also a road sign saying 'SAVE YOUR SCRAPS TO BEAT THE JAPS.' How lovely. I'm sure the Japanese will appreciate this today. God forbid they get the Disney channel.It's primarily a Goofy cartoon. And I don't find him all that funny. Though there is a lot of invention and imagination put into it. Shame it had to be so Xenophobic. But I guess it was okay to be so at this point in history.
Robert Reynolds
This is a wartime animated propaganda short that was made to offer arguments for the rationing of materials for the war effort, primarily gas. Civilian use was curtailed and this short rather whimsically posits the use of pogo sticks as the principal replacement for the automobile. A perfect pairing with Goofy, it's doubtful that it would have worked with any other character. Well worth watching. Recommended.
Ron Oliver
A Walt Disney GOOFY Cartoon.Various bizarre & unusual VISTORY VEHICLES are demonstrated by Goofy as possible ways to provide locomotion despite the wartime rubber shortage.This very humorous little film pokes gentle fun at the serious transportation problem faced on the World War Two American Home Front due to the rationing of rubber. The Disney animators obviously had much fun coming up with the highly imaginative vehicles. Pluto makes a cameo appearance as the method of propulsion for a dogcart. The sprightly tune "Hop On Your Pogo Stick" deserves to be revived by the Disney folks.Walt Disney (1901-1966) was always intrigued by drawings. As a lad in Marceline, Missouri, he sketched farm animals on scraps of paper; later, as an ambulance driver in France during the First World War, he drew figures on the sides of his vehicle. Back in Kansas City, along with artist Ub Iwerks, Walt developed a primitive animation studio that provided animated commercials and tiny cartoons for the local movie theaters. Always the innovator, his ALICE IN CARTOONLAND series broke ground in placing a live figure in a cartoon universe. Business reversals sent Disney & Iwerks to Hollywood in 1923, where Walt's older brother Roy became his lifelong business manager & counselor. When a mildly successful series with Oswald The Lucky Rabbit was snatched away by the distributor, the character of Mickey Mouse sprung into Walt's imagination, ensuring Disney's immortality. The happy arrival of sound technology made Mickey's screen debut, STEAMBOAT WILLIE (1928), a tremendous audience success with its use of synchronized music. The SILLY SYMPHONIES soon appeared, and Walt's growing crew of marvelously talented animators were quickly conquering new territory with full color, illusions of depth and radical advancements in personality development, an arena in which Walt's genius was unbeatable. Mickey's feisty, naughty behavior had captured millions of fans, but he was soon to be joined by other animated companions: temperamental Donald Duck, intellectually-challenged Goofy and energetic Pluto. All this was in preparation for Walt's grandest dream - feature length animated films. Against a blizzard of doomsayers, Walt persevered and over the next decades delighted children of all ages with the adventures of Snow White, Pinocchio, Dumbo, Bambi & Peter Pan. Walt never forgot that his fortunes were all started by a mouse, or that simplicity of message and lots of hard work will always pay off.
