Runaway Brain
Oh come on now Disney. Why in the hell would you want to bury this gem of a cartoon from the fans? For the first time in so many decades Mickey and Minnie Mouse are finally allowed to be an average down to earth people with faults and feelings. Yet in the end you decide to throw the film in the vaults because it’s simply too dark and edgy for the audience?! That’s a big shame since not only is "Runaway Brain" a nice clever send up of classic horror films and a great Mickey Mouse short but it was up for an Oscar back in 1995 as well!!! The animation and art direction featured in the short are all around top notch. There is a great sense of color and design applied by the artists to the layouts and backgrounds of the picture. The lighting is used to great effect as it heightens the tension and suspense in the laboratory scenes and in the film’s climax over the cityscape. The character animation is very fluid and fun to watch too. It is has depth with regards to the character’s personality and it contains some wonderfully twisted expressions that fit the horror theme of the story. Lastly the special effects animation involving the smoke, lighting and electricity are just awesome. I think the quality of the picture is reflected by the French aesthetic of Disney Feature Animation in France. Initially they were a part of Disney’s TV Animation division, contributing work to the Disney Afternoon shows of the early 1990’s. As the middle of the decade arrived the suits moved the section over to feature film production where this short and “A Goofy Movie”, a co-production between the French and the American flagship studio, were the first cartoons they tackled under this new agenda. The high quality seen in both works was a huge leap forward for them as it demonstrated that they could meet the standard of the feature length animated films the American division was churning out. Soon afterward they would work on feature films such as “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” (1996) and “Tarzan” (1999) to name a few. There is a lot of stuff to like about the film. Dr. Frankenollie, a clever nod to animators Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston of Walt Disney’s era, is crazily animated and perfectly voiced by Kelsey Grammer. He is always a treat to watch and listen to because he has such a strong and iconic voice. The monster is of course modeled after Mickey’s arch foe, Pete. There is a funny send up to the famous arrival scene of “The Exorcist” as Mickey arrives at the mad doctor’s lobotomy lab. I love the design and animation for Evil Mickey as I always referred to from my childhood. I was always fascinated by him because I had never seen or heard of an evil version of Mickey. He is a great contrast to Good Mickey and I wish they would have used him beyond miscellaneous merchandise to play around with the Jekyll and Hyde conflict between the former and latter.
But perhaps the best part of the film is how the writers and animators playfully explore the relationship of Mickey and Minnie. For far too long their relationship was never taken seriously by the studio so the crew behind the picture decided to update them for the times while still maintaining their integrity and dignity. The two act as you would see any dating couple would in modern times. I liked the argument they had in the beginning when Mickey is too consumed into playing video games to pay any attention to his girlfriend. I love the way Minnie shops around for some sexy outwear to turn on Mickey for their vacation. It was a subtle, cute, and revealing observation on how they do actually like to turn each other on. I thought that was a very good moment that showed they really had a relationship going on which often gets taken for granted sadly by the corporate suits.
