Category — Mickey Mouse

The El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood is the pinnacle of the Disney movie watching experience.  It is old Hollywood meets new, with restorations to both the exterior and interior, and equipped with Dolby SR-D digital sound, film and digital projectors, and 3-D capability. It is a Disney stage production.  It is excellent ice cream.  What’s not to love?

The El Capitan is located in the heart of Hollywood, right across the street from the Kodak Theatre- you know, the Academy Awards place.  It originally opened in 1926 as “Hollywood’s First Home of Spoken Drama.”  In the ten years following its opening it featured over 100 stage productions starring the likes of Will Rogers, Joan Fontaine and Clark Gable.  In 1941 Citizen Kane made its World Premiere at the El Capitan Theatre.  Basically, the place has history.

Then there is the ice cream.  Disney’s Soda Fountain and Studio Store features an old fashioned ice cream parlor (with actual soda jerks!) serving Bakersfield’s famous Dewar’s and homemade candies.  They also make a mean peanut butter and jelly sandwich (Mickey-shaped, of course).

The store portion is basically a small Disney Store with DVDs and character merchandise, but with a strong emphasis, including theming, on the film currently featured in the adjacent theatre.

We saw WALL-E (my review here, and my kids’ review here).

One of the cool things about the theatre is that they overlay everything to fit the movie, and by everything I mean from the marquee to the ATM (it was space-themed, not a robot).  This is carried next door into the ice cream parlor where my son and I shared a WALL-E sundae, and by share I mean I had two bites and he went into a sugar-fueled eating frenzy (see above).

For WALL-E the El Capitan teamed with NASA and JPL.  The lobby was decorated in models and information regarding various satellites, robotics, and other milestones of space exploration.  It was out of this world (sorry, I couldn’t resist).  WALL-E runs through August 27th.

Prior to WALL-E there was a live stage show that incorporated scenes from classic Disney/Pixar movies into dance numbers featuring the characters from the corresponding films.  The show is called “Disney’s Flight of Fantasy” and the crowd went wild.

My family and I had a blast and I can’t recommend the experience enough.  If you’re visiting for a Disneyland Resort vacation you should really consider adding this to your itinerary, and if you’re local you’ll appreciate this: clean bathrooms in Hollywood.  That’s the Disney touch.

Upcoming shows include Sleeping Beauty, TinkerBell, Beverly Hills Chihuahua (Chihuahua!), The Nightmare Before Christmas (3-D), High School Musical 3: Senior Year, and Bolt (3-D).

You can call 1-800-DISNEY6 or visit www.elcapitantickets.com for tickets and information.

I was just about to log off for the night when this story came across my radar. A Fox News station in Tampa Bay is back on the old story that the Walt Disney Company is refusing to authenticate what a gentleman claims is the original drawing of Mickey Mouse. Well, duh. It’s obvious to anyone with the slightest knowledge of Mickey’s early films that this isn’t an original Mickey.

I thought we put this one to bed last year, but now I’m so riled up to see it hit the airwaves again that I had to make another attempt at setting the record straight.

Someone get the local FOX news affiliates on the horn and ask them to do the slightest bit of research on this story about this confused gentlemen Steve Stein who thinks he has an original Mickey Mouse drawing from the 1920s. A simple search for “SteamBoat Willie” (Mickey’s first released animated short film) or “Plane Crazy” (the first film to feature Mickey, but not the first released) will reveal that: Mickey didn’t develop gloves on his hands until later in his life, he didn’t get the famous pie-eyes until the 30s, and the phones in the 20s didn’t use those curly phone cords either. Best of all, Walt wouldn’t have been drawing Mickey Mouse at that point anyway, it was Ub Iwerks who did almost all the drawings of Mickey Mouse for the Disney Brother Studios.

Thing is we already debunked this story in February of 2007 when the same Fox Tampa Television station ran this story. If the current reporter had just Googled “Steve Stein Mickey” my February story is the 4th result. Lazy reporting, exactly what I expect from Fox.

What’s inside the Cathay Circle Theatre replica at Disney’s Hollywood Studio? Why vintage Mickey Mouse toys, of course.

Concept art for the re-made entrance plaza to California Adventure shows them getting their own Cathay Circle Theatre replica. I hope they leave this collection alone.

The other day I ran across this postcard of Mickey Mouse through the years. I used to have the full size poster up in my room as a teenager. With a few notable departures (CG Mickey in Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Runaway Brain (which hearkens back to earlier Mickey ever so slightly)) Mickey Mouse has remained relatively unchanged in design since the 80s.

Now this NY Times article hints that another shift is coming. Whether it’s just an evolution in wardrobe, as in the later stages of that postcard, or a serious makeover remains to be seen. But I think we’ve already seen some hints and the new Mickey Mouse animated short/featurette that Disney is rumored to be working on will reveal even more.

“I love classic Mickey, but he needs to evolve to be relevant to new generations of kids,” Robert A. Iger, Disney’s chief executive, said in an interview.

Mr. Iger talks about the need to balance “heritage and innovation.” For Mickey and other Disney characters, one method is to keep the core attributes of the characters the same, but to update the world in which they live. For instance, Disney is updating Toontown, the section of Disneyland that Mickey calls home. One plan features an old-fashioned trolley, but Mr. Iger is not sure that is a smart idea. Will modern children know what an old-fashioned trolley is?

I certainly hope modern children will know what a trolley is. If not, one ride on the Jolly Trolley will show them. Even then they can just look it up on wikipedia when they get home (or via their netlink at the parks while standing on line).

Btw, the re-introduction of Mickey Mouse to today’s children is occurring primarily through the “Mickey Mouse Clubhouse” pre-school targeted television series. The Mickey kids meet there is very different than the Mickey I grew up on. He’s much more self-assured, not milktoast, and unlikely to stumble or bumble his way through events. In fact, Mickey is more of a leader these days (although he was always the leader of his two closest friends Goofy and Donald). He’s also a problem solver. Which is what the show aims to install in modern children, the ability to solve problems by thinking thinks through and examining what tools you have at hand.

ArtDaily.org has a pointer to an art show featuring works by Ron English. A painting of ‘Muslim Mickey’ is used to highlight the exhibit of the AGIT-POP artist. It is more than a little eerie. Perhaps, because Mickey has no ears but also because that makes him look more like a mousy Mona Lisa after 72 hours with no sleep. (Link)

Just when you thought Hilary Duff had danced all the Disney out of her system we get word from Disney Mobile that she is the new face of their product- in Japan.

She is currently appearing in a TV spot that features classic clips of Mickey and her new rendition of the "Mickey Mouse March."  No word on whether or not we’ll see these ads on American television.

Glad to have you back in the family, Hilary.

I was a big fan of the Disney Channel House of Mouse show and the Mickey Mouse Works and was very happy to see the mouse that started it all getting some play again. However, the idea of rendering Mickey and his friends in computer generated animation did not settle well with me. Still, when the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse debuted I was won over. Not so much for the quality of the cg animation, but for the stories and lessons in each episode.

The latest DVD for the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse is called "Mickey’s Treat". It packages three already broadcast episodes. In "Mickey’s Treat" Mickey and his pals journey to the Trick-or-Treat Tower for Pete’s big Halloween Party. Many surprises await and The Sensational Six need a couple of tricks to reach the tower in time for the festivities. The additional episodes "Goofy the Great" and "Doctor Daisy, MD" capture the magical spirit of Halloween while showcasing how cooperation and teamwork go a long way in getting out of any sticky situation.

While those episodes may show up on your DVR on a regular basis you won’t find the extras that appear on this DVD so easily. First there is a bonus Halloween episode with the cast of another Playhouse Disney favorite, Little Einsteins. There is also DVD-ROM Halloween Party Planning Activities: "Spooky Clubhouse Cookbook" and "Creepy Clubhouse Character Stencils".

If you don’t own a DVR this DVD is an excellent way to have three of the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse’s more charming episodes available for on-demand viewing. The extra features make this a good buy to build up excitement for some Halloween Trick or Treating too.

There are a few clips available online so you can preview the disc before ordering.
Trailer, Woods, Extended Clip:

Mickey Mouse Clubhouse – Mickey’s Treat is available now!

Full detail details and credits are below the cut.

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In the latest run of Disney mashups the trend is to match modern music with classic Disney shorts. The best so far is this one that matches the Mickey Mouse short "Through The Mirror" with a techno trance version of Pink Floyd’s "Time."

(via Broke Hoedown)