Back in the early 1980s, an adaptation of Alexandre Dumas's The Three Musketeers with Mickey Mouse and friends was in development at the Disney studio before getting canned. It wouldn't be until the early 2000s that a feature film would finally be made specifically with Mickey, Donald Duck and Goofy in the lead roles. Known as a fan favorite amongst the Disney crowd, the film has often been regarded as a fairly underappreciated gem in the Mickey Mouse universe, and it's pretty easy to see why. While arguably meant more for a younger audience, the film itself is quite a fun adventure with our three favorite heroes.
The film details best friends Mickey, Donald and Goofy as humble French peasants with dreams of becoming great musketeers. Eventually, the boorish captain of the Musketeers, Peg-Leg Pete, assigns them to guard Princess Minnie, albeit in order to kidnap her and become king. As the film is narrated by a comical French turtle Troubadour, the tone is set up as lighthearted and hysterical, which one would expect from a Mickey Mouse chronicle. As we follow Mickey and his friends becoming musketeers, they have to triumph over their slapstick shenanigans, cowardice and ineptitude. Much of the humor and even stakes lie in the gang being placed in situations where they need to protect the princess and Pete himself embracing his evil schemes, along with his delightfully corny albeit ruthless henchmen the Beagle Boys. It's great to see a range of emotions coming from Mickey Mouse as he faces serious action and turmoil as a musketeer, especially with Donald facing his own scaredy cat persona and Goofy having to prove he is more than just a simple minded fool.
As one would imagine, the film is part musical, with the navigating Troubadour and gang putting lyrics to famous compositions like from Beethoven and Tchaikovsky. By providing fun interludes with familiar sounding themes, accompanied by composer Bruce Broughton, the hysterical lyrics in place of classic music create a soft self-awareness that never mocks itself. They also build on Mickey and Minnie's superficial yet charming romance, showing how love can truly bring people together regardless of their class. On a bonus note, the best modern Disney character voices bring the beloved leads to life with so much charisma, including former husband and wife team Wayne Allwine and Russi Taylor and Mickey and Minnie. Alongside Tony Anselmo and Bill Farmer providing as much warmth as laughs playing Donald and Goofy, Jim Cummings is as delightful as ever embellishing the role of Pete, with nice backup from voice acting veterans Jeff Bennett and Maurice LaMarche as the foolish Beagle Boys and Rob Paulsen's dynamite performance as Troubadour.
Despite being a direct to video feature, the visuals are quite impressive to look at, coming off as refreshingly vibrant and colorful. By replicating the look of a 1940s or 50s Disney short subject, possibly in part by art director Toby Bluh, the overly colorful look presents many bright hues blended within the rough paper looking backgrounds. In keeping with the bouncy cartoony animation style from the modern Mickey Mouse content, the character animation is quite lively and showcases a lot of talent coming from the now defunct lesser studios in Disney's catalog. The effects are a nicely added touch too, putting out a nice contrast in color depending on the sequence, including when our characters are in peril. Admittedly, the lack of shadows and detail is quite noticeable, often resulting in the characters sometimes appearing "melded in" with the environments, proving that keeping a film's look too clean isn't always the brightest idea. Minor issues aside, this film proves how much fun an animation crew can have with any premise involving Mickey and friends on any adventure.
As a 75th anniversary present, Mickey, Donald, Goofy: The Three Musketeers is a good old-fashioned thrill for Disney fans who still keep in touch with the ongoing Mickey universe. Thanks to its fun filled tone, comical musical numbers, delightful cast and colorful animation, there's much to enjoy in this well thought out adaptation of Dumas's popular book. Regardless if you have a stigma against direct to video content or not, this is certainly worth at least one viewing to see how much love and care can be put in any given adventure of the beloved Disney trio.
The film details best friends Mickey, Donald and Goofy as humble French peasants with dreams of becoming great musketeers. Eventually, the boorish captain of the Musketeers, Peg-Leg Pete, assigns them to guard Princess Minnie, albeit in order to kidnap her and become king. As the film is narrated by a comical French turtle Troubadour, the tone is set up as lighthearted and hysterical, which one would expect from a Mickey Mouse chronicle. As we follow Mickey and his friends becoming musketeers, they have to triumph over their slapstick shenanigans, cowardice and ineptitude. Much of the humor and even stakes lie in the gang being placed in situations where they need to protect the princess and Pete himself embracing his evil schemes, along with his delightfully corny albeit ruthless henchmen the Beagle Boys. It's great to see a range of emotions coming from Mickey Mouse as he faces serious action and turmoil as a musketeer, especially with Donald facing his own scaredy cat persona and Goofy having to prove he is more than just a simple minded fool.
As one would imagine, the film is part musical, with the navigating Troubadour and gang putting lyrics to famous compositions like from Beethoven and Tchaikovsky. By providing fun interludes with familiar sounding themes, accompanied by composer Bruce Broughton, the hysterical lyrics in place of classic music create a soft self-awareness that never mocks itself. They also build on Mickey and Minnie's superficial yet charming romance, showing how love can truly bring people together regardless of their class. On a bonus note, the best modern Disney character voices bring the beloved leads to life with so much charisma, including former husband and wife team Wayne Allwine and Russi Taylor and Mickey and Minnie. Alongside Tony Anselmo and Bill Farmer providing as much warmth as laughs playing Donald and Goofy, Jim Cummings is as delightful as ever embellishing the role of Pete, with nice backup from voice acting veterans Jeff Bennett and Maurice LaMarche as the foolish Beagle Boys and Rob Paulsen's dynamite performance as Troubadour.
Despite being a direct to video feature, the visuals are quite impressive to look at, coming off as refreshingly vibrant and colorful. By replicating the look of a 1940s or 50s Disney short subject, possibly in part by art director Toby Bluh, the overly colorful look presents many bright hues blended within the rough paper looking backgrounds. In keeping with the bouncy cartoony animation style from the modern Mickey Mouse content, the character animation is quite lively and showcases a lot of talent coming from the now defunct lesser studios in Disney's catalog. The effects are a nicely added touch too, putting out a nice contrast in color depending on the sequence, including when our characters are in peril. Admittedly, the lack of shadows and detail is quite noticeable, often resulting in the characters sometimes appearing "melded in" with the environments, proving that keeping a film's look too clean isn't always the brightest idea. Minor issues aside, this film proves how much fun an animation crew can have with any premise involving Mickey and friends on any adventure.
As a 75th anniversary present, Mickey, Donald, Goofy: The Three Musketeers is a good old-fashioned thrill for Disney fans who still keep in touch with the ongoing Mickey universe. Thanks to its fun filled tone, comical musical numbers, delightful cast and colorful animation, there's much to enjoy in this well thought out adaptation of Dumas's popular book. Regardless if you have a stigma against direct to video content or not, this is certainly worth at least one viewing to see how much love and care can be put in any given adventure of the beloved Disney trio.