Thru the Mirror

"Thru the Mirror" was one of many early incarnations and uses of the Alice in Wonderland books by Disney before finally making the movie outright. And it's a charming little variation of the story. The only characters who occur from the books in this short are the playing cards, but that doesn't really matter much. The sheer amount of visual whimsy and sense of play and parody on display is more than enough to enchant.

The animators strongest efforts are probably the sequences in which Mickey changes sizes. In one instance he grows very large before promptly shrinking down to the size of a normal mouse, and in another he grows back to his usual size while running. It's a pretty smooth transition and the amount of technique and skill required to keep him even relatively consistent while in such fast motion and changing through so many sizes is pretty staggering. Truly, they had some great artists working behind the scenes to craft these shorts.

There's not too much in the way of story -- Mickey dreams up walking through his bedroom mirror and entering into an alternate version of his living room, one in which all of the household objects are alive. He engages in a bit of Fred Astaire style choreography with a match, top hat, gloves and a cane. The match in particular is flourished with some nice touches, like smoking with each frantic dance move before finally lighting itself on fire. There's also a Busby Berkley-like dance number with playing cards.

All in all, it may be light on plot and not as humorous or gag heavy as other shorts, but there's a lot of great craft on display. It's more enchanting and whimsical than anything else. And it's one of my personal favorites.