Get A Horse – #DisneyFrozenEvent

Disclosure: This event and trip to LA was an all expense paid journey sponsored by Disney. All thoughts, ideas, and ramblings are 100% my own!

Let me start off by stating that the Get A Horse short that is played right before the movie Frozen alone is worth the price of admission.  Seriously!

When I was on my Frozen trip, we got to interview Director Lauren MacMullan, Producer Dorothy McKim, Legendary Disney artist Eric Goldberg (the lead animator for Get A Horse was also the lead animator for the genie in Aladdin and for Phil in Hercules) and CG animator Adam Green interview. We learned that Mickey had just turned 85 (doesn’t look a day over 20 LOL). Eric also gave us our own personal art lesson on drawing one of the Get A Horse characters, Pete. I’m no animator, but I don’t think I did too bad:

Okay, so it’s not great either. The animators jobs are all safe from me. LOL However, what I find most amazing about Get A Horse is that this isn’t lost animation. The entire short is brand new. 1928’s Mickey Mouse was used, so all the animators had to unlearn everything they knew about drawing Mickey Mouse. The Mickey that most of us have been drawing and animating for the last 20 years or so, for the most part has been the 1939 Mickey that was designed by Freddy Moore. It was very cool to see the differences and how “not perfect” animation was back in that time. Get A Horse starts off just like the old time Mickey Mouse cartoons. The same humor was used. However, what changes it is when the CG animation gets added in. Yes, you heard me — Get A Horse has the best of both worlds. Who would have ever thought to take 1928 Mickey Mouse and add in some newer CG animation and come up with one of the best shorts ever?

I’m not going to tell you the whats or whys of the CG animation, because well, that would take away from the short. You really can’t go in knowing everything! Let’s just say that my kids were rolling in the aisles this last weekend when I took them to see it. I will tell you that watching Get A Horse in 3D is worth the extra expense.

OHHHH and another awesome yet interesting tidbit we learned was that yes, that is really Walt Disney’s voice as Mickey. They took all the old movies and found each word he says. (However, they couldn’t find one word and had to take each letter of that world and combine it. If anybody can guess it without being told, I will be amazed.) Can you imagine how long that took? However, it made it all the more cooler!

So have you seen Frozen yet? If you have, what did you think of the Get A Horse short?