Movie Type: Children's Entertainment, Children's Educational
Main Cast: Tony Anselmo, Wayne Allwine, Russi Taylor, Bill Farmer, Tress MacNeille
Release Year: 2006
Country: US
Run Time: 30 minutes
Plot
Produced for the Disney Channel, this half-hour educational series marked two "firsts" in the Disney canon: the first time that studio icon Mickey Mouse headlined a show designed specifically for preschoolers, and the first time (outside of a few commercials) in which Mickey, Minnie, Donald Duck, Daisy, Pluto, Goofy, Chip & Dale, and the rest of the studio menagerie was animated via CGI rather than traditional "cel" cartoonwork. The program utilized the familiar Disney characters to help the kids at home with their cognitive skills, to learn how to help others, and to develop strong moral and ethical values. Each time a new word or phrase was introduced, a mouse-shaped "toolbox" appeared onscreen, through which the kids at home could interact with the characters onscreen as part of the basic learning process. Trademarks of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse included the magic words "Meeska, Mooska, Mickey Mouse" (a variation on a familiar incantation introduced on the original Mickey Mouse Club way back when) and a sort of signature tune, "The Hot Dog Song," performed by They Might Be Giants. Mickey Mouse Clubhouse debuted worldwide over the many Disney cable- and digital-TV outlets on May 5, 2006. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Cast
Tony Anselmo - Mickey Mouse
Wayne Allwine - Donald Duck
Russi Taylor - Minnie Mouse
Bill Farmer - Goofy
Tress MacNeille - Daisy Duck
Credit
Roberts Gannaway - Executive Producer, Bradley Bowlen - Producer
Production of the show was put on a four-month suspension in the spring of 2009, due to the death of voice artist Wayne Allwine, the long time voice of Mickey Mouse. Bret Iwan will be the voice of Mickey Mouse in forthcoming new episodes.
Each episode has the characters help viewers "solve a specific age-appropriate problem utilizing basic skills, such as identifying shapes and counting through ten."[citation needed] The series uses Playhouse Disney’s "whole child" curriculum of cognitive, social and creative learning opportunities. Once the problem of the episode has been explained, Mickey invites viewers to join him at the Mousekadoer, a giant Mickey-head shaped computer whose main function is to distribute the day's Mousekatools - a collection of objects needed to solve the day's problem - to Mickey. Once the tools have been shown to Mickey on the Mousekadoer screen, they are quickly downloaded to Toodles - a small, Mickey-head shaped flying extension of the Mousekadoer. By calling, "Oh Toodles!" Mickey summons him to pop up from where he's hiding and fly up to the screen so that the viewer can pick which tool Mickey needs for the current situation.[1][2] One of the tools is a "Mystery Mouskatool", which is a surprise tool represented by a question mark.
The show features two original songs performed by They Might Be Giants, including the opening theme song, in which a variant of a Mickey Mouse Club chant ("Meeska Mooska Mickey Mouse!") is used to summon the Clubhouse. They Might Be Giants also perform the song used at the end of the show, "Hot Dog!", which echoes Mickey's first spoken words in the 1929 short The Karnival Kid.
This is the first time the major Disney characters have appeared on television in computer-animated form (except for Donald, who appeared in CG in the Mickey Mouse Works short "Computer.don"). The characters debuted in CG form in 2003 at the Magic Kingdomtheme park attraction Mickey's PhilharMagic, then in the 2004 home videoMickey's Twice Upon a Christmas. However, in this latest incarnation, Mickey's and Minnie's 3D renderings are truer to their original hand-drawn likenesses, in that their ears remain distinct perfect circles regardless of which way their heads are turned. Along with improved animation for the second season, the series is now available in HD on Disney Channel HD.
