I was remarking to someone earlier in my review of the 1951
shorts that they all seemed very stale.
There was nothing new or exciting, which is somewhat disappointing
considering what would be forthcoming.
After all, Alice
in Wonderland is right around the corner, and that’s definitely different. Things like Sleeping Beauty and other films
were coming soon as well. So why wasn’t
that sort of experimentation showing up in the shorts?
As of Plutopia, we see something completely different than
what we have experienced before. Early
on, though, it doesn’t appear that way.
The sort opens just like any other Disney short and seems normal. It shows a freshly designed Mickey driving
Pluto out into the middle of the woods to a cabin for a vacation. This is a familiar set up and made me feel
like we were in for more of the same.
Even the appearance of a cat adversary seems fairly routine.
And as it unfolds, the routine short is what you get until
about halfway. As Mickey discovers that
there is a strict “no dogs allowed” policy in the cabin, he is forced to put
Pluto outside and put him on a muzzle.
The cat comes back by to exact revenge by taunting Pluto and eating his
food before nuzzling down next to the dog.
It’s after Pluto falls asleep that the real fun begins, however.
Immediately, we are transported away from the solid
backgrounds and fully drawn figures of the real world and into an abstract
world of dreams – Plutopia. The
backgrounds disappear into a wall of solid colors. The shapes are mere color lines that form the
idea of a doghouse or a pole. It’s
abstract animation at its core. This is
something we’ve seen in Dumbo, but not in the shorts. It’s a crazy, fun and inspired departure from
the typical Disney filmmaking.
The dreamscape is where Pluto can escape from reality, as
you’d expect. The cat develops the
ability to speak, begs for Pluto to bite him and feeds Pluto steaks, bones, and
more. It is a wonderful change of pace
from what we have seen prior to this.
Even once Pluto wakes up, I wanted to just go back to Plutopia and see
the amazing art continue on and on, with more crazy backgrounds and new
ideas. It’s fantastic to see, and one
that I could watch over and over again.
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