Goofy and Wilbur (1939)

the audience applauded

Pretty Good

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Talking to a friend recently,I was shocked to discover,that despite them being a fan of films by the Disney studio,he had never actually seen any of the short movies titles starring a Disney character called Goofy.With there only being 3 weeks to go before my friends Birthday,I decided to introduce him to the world of Goofy,by picking up the epic-sounding complete DVD,which features every single one of Goofy's (solo) short films.The plot:Going in his rowing boat with a grasshopper best friend Wilbur,Goofy gets excitingly gets prepared for him and Wilbur to grab their catch of the day.Initially having great success with their fishing,Goffy and Wilbur soon discover that the fish are ready to fight back,and make Goofy and Wilbur the catch of the day.View on the film:Despite this being the character's first ever solo short feature,voice actor George Johnson gives a tremendously sharp performance as Goofy,with Johnson's perfect delivery making the character appear well established right from the start.Being given not a single line of dialogue in Otto Englander's charming screenplay,director Dick Huemer closely works with composer Paul J. Smith to make Wilbur's personality hop across the screen,thanks to Huemer's lush animation allowing for a strong bond to be felt between Goofy and Wilbur,which is emphasised by Smith's atmospheric score,that help to make Goofy's first short feature appearance,a far from "goofy" debut.

As I aim to do with all Disney shorts, I found myself really enjoying Goofy and Wilbur. It is an interesting change of pace from the How To...shorts(which I personally do find funnier and more creative), and works very well on the whole. It does get a little too sentimental at times, but this is occasional. The animation is truly lush and colourful, with all the characters beautifully drawn, not just that but they also have depth in the designs. The music is energetic and enhances the action, which is always a plus when it comes to animation and shorts especially. The gags are clever, Goofy using Wilbur as bait is the main crux of Goofy and Wilbur but it is not the only trick that the short uses, the fishing deal is very creative as is the stuff with the bullfrog and the stork. The gags with the fish colliding, Goofy's net breaking and the fat fish weighing down the net are also very well done. The story has drama, fun, suspense and action rolled into one and skips along nicely. Goofy and Wilbur's friendship is charmingly realised and does feel very real. The bit though where Wilbur hatches out of the egg has always perplexed me, particularly how he manages to get inside it, though maybe that is just me looking too much into things. Goofy is likable and endearingly clumsy, though he does work better when he is confronted by a solution that is obvious to us but not to him, but the real jewel is Wilbur, his adorable yet spunky presence is enough to make us wonder why we never saw him again after Goofy and Wilbur. In conclusion, great cartoon if not quite a masterpiece. 9/10 Bethany Cox

This is an important film because it is the first cartoon that starred Goofy. While he'd been around for many years (since 1932), he'd only been a recurring character in the Mickey Mouse cartoons. By the mid to late 1930s, he and Donald were major supporting players with Mickey but he still didn't get his own cartoon until 1939. And, considering what a great cartoon character was and how important 1939 was to the history of film, this timing seems very fitting.GOOFY AND WILBUR is a cute little cartoon. It begins with Goofy rowing his boat onto a lake. Then, his pet grasshopper, Wilbur, jumps out of the boat and tries to instigate the fish to chase him--at which point Goofy nets the fish. This works great for a while, but eventually Wilbur makes a wrong move and is subsequently swallowed by a fish, then a frog and finally a bird! Life is tough for Wilbur but by the end of the film, he and his friend Goofy are reunited.I liked this cartoon because although it is pretty cute and a little bit sentimental, it also is funny and unique. Well animated and written--just like you'd expect from Walt Disney Studios in this classic era.

A Walt Disney GOOFY Cartoon.GOOFY AND WILBUR, his tiny grasshopper buddy, go fishing and encounter danger in & out of the water.Goofy had his first solo starring role in this very funny little film. The animation is first-rate and the laughs are genuine as the Bug acts as bait to entice fish for the Goof to catch - the bullfrog & stork simply add to the fun. Although full of spunk and obvious talent, this was to be Wilbur's only appearance in a Disney cartoon.Walt Disney (1901-1966) was always intrigued by pictures & 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 comic 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 childlike simplicity of message and lots of hard work always pay off.