Above is the general public’s first look at an image from Get A Horse, the Mickey Mouse short screened last Tuesday at the Annecy Animation Festival in France. On June 11th, Walt Disney Animation Studios filmmakers – producer Dorothy McKim, director Lauren MacMullan, animators Eric Goldberg (that’s him with the yellow shirt, below) and Adam Green – presented the world debut of the film which features Walt Disney himself as the voice of Mickey Mouse and Billy Bletcher as Peg Leg Pete.
Marcin Sobczak, an international publicist, journalist and production designer, sent in his observation of the screening:
“All the tickets were
gone and all the seats taken in Salles des harras, where even the slight delay
of the show, wasn’t something disturbing. When Mr. Eric Goldberg appeared on
the stage to talk about the history of Mickey Mouse, the crowd went crazy. We heard a story, about how the Disney Team has found pieces of a Mickey Mouse storyboard. They then screened Plane Crazy and Steamboat Willie on the big screen. You could see the faces of people smiling and laughing off their
chairs. It seems like the audience has seen the shorts more than a thousand
times – but they still react like the first-timers.“The screening room
changed into the place of great respect when the Disney’s Team were back to
announce a “never-seen-before” short. The suspense was growing and
then finally we saw something completely incredible. The old-style Disney short
combined with the latest 3D technology. To say that it was remarkable, it’s not
even the beginning of the description. At the end of the screening, the one
could feel the joy in the air. Almost a standing ovation. Complete madness!”
Matthieu, at Cine Coulisses writes:
“In view of the reactions from the audience after the screening, I think few people expected that we saw, and that Disney’s talking about “a very big surprise” was no exaggeration. The short film begins as an original short from 1928, when suddenly the screen starts to vibrate and Mickey comes out … color and 3D. Get A Horse! is indeed a clever (and impressive) blend of traditional 2D animation and CG animation for a simply stunning result.
“The animators Eric Goldberg and Adam Green have worked together to restore the original look of Mickey 1928. Goldberg is well trained (and were shown with remarkable ease, live) to draw and animate a Mickey in the original style. To complete the illusion, aging and blur filters have been added to the image. For the 3D part, the directors have created a whole new character models, faithful to character-designs of 1928 … so true that the passage of the characters from 2D to 3D is stunning with a natural, like this scene round where the characters jump from one setting to another.
“After Paperman, Walt Disney Animation Studios we prove once again that they know their heritage and intend to use it. A technical bid, they prefer the technical (new or not, but always used cleverly) serving a true story, touching and moving.
“Mickey, Minnie, Horace, Pete, they are all there … and we offer a great moment in cinema and emotion.
“Get A Horse! is a great surprise, a clever mix between 2D and 3D animation (with two legendary animators such as Eric Goldberg and Adam Green), a short film in 2013 in a 1928 environment … a new nugget not to be missed!”
Get A Horse is expected to be released this winter with Disney’s Frozen.
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