As Good As It Gets

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

This cartoon is kind of a precursor to two other giant cartoons featuring Mickey Mouse - The Brave Little Taylor and Mickey and the Beanstalk, which I thought were both more entertaining this this one. However, this short does have some excitement value, particularly the part where Mickey tries to escape from the inside of the giant's mouth. Animation was quite good as well. Grade B-

This is an early Mickey Mouse cartoon produced by the Disney studio. There will be spoilers ahead:This is a beautifully animated short, with some excellent visual bits. Unfortunately, it serves an "idiot plot" (the plot only works if every character is, at some point, an idiot). Too bad, because it would have been so simple to make a few changes to have a plot equal to the visuals.It starts promisingly with a framing device, where Mickey is telling a story to a group of orphans-Jack and the Beanstalk, with Mickey actually taking the lead role. Climbing the beanstalk, he reaches the top to see Giantland. There's a beautiful bit with a butterfly involved in Mickey reaching a huge castle.As Mickey is looking in the lock on the door (he's about to commit unlawful entry) the giant comes striding up, singing a song which is mercifully brief. He unlocks the front door, unwittingly pushing Mickey into the castle through the lock.Mickey winds up in a sugar bowl on the kitchen table. The giant comes to the table and puts spoon into sugar bowl. Mickey wisely puts a cube of sugar in the spoon. The second time, instead of doing the smart thing he did the last time, he winds up on the spoon and then in the coffee. He manages to get out of the coffee unnoticed.Now, a smart mouse would head back to the sugar bowl, since the giant probably wouldn't go back there, being as his coffee is gone. Mickey heads for a huge wedge of cheese. Okay, he is a mouse, so maybe he couldn't resist. Mickey winds up in a cheese and mustard sandwich. Twice, Mickey barely avoids being eaten. Does he even try to get out of the sandwich, even though he could? No! He goes back into the sandwich! Now he's in the giant's mouth. Even though Mickey's standing on his tongue (at one point he hangs from the uvula) somehow the giant never notices that part of his sandwich has stubbornly refused to be swallowed. Mickey ultimately comes out through a pipe and finally, the giant notices him.Mickey finally does something smart and blasts pepper in the giant's face, leading to an incredible climax. Mickey and the giant wind up at the beanstalk, Mickey gets away and we return to the framing device. I concur with the little mouse in the high chair! This short is available on the Disney Treasures Mickey Mouse In Black and White, Volume One DVD set. The set is worth getting, the short is for die-hards.

Giantland is a truly excellent short. The giant's character design does occasionally lack consistency but that is the one quibble I have with Giantland. The animation aside from what I mentioned above is just great, I loved the crispness of the backgrounds and shadings and I thought Mickey was very well drawn. There are some standout sequences also, Mickey riding on the giant butterfly and the scene in the giant's mouth are delightful but the most spectacular bit of animation was with the giant's fall, what was done to make this sequence even more interesting was really clever. The music has the characterful energy you'd expect from a Disney short, while the gags are fun. The funniest part was Mickey inside the giant's mouth, the ways in which Mickey tries to avoid getting swallowed are very inventive and as I've said before it is also a great piece of animation. The story is largely familiar to us, but told to us in a fresh way in the form of a story-book structure, which I felt was appropriate for the telling of this story. Mickey is very likable, the giant suitably antagonistic and the Orphans were very cute and not as rascally or annoying as they could be. One might wish that there was also Goofy, Donald and Pluto on hand, but I think Mickey did wonderfully without them, despite them being perhaps stronger characters in the humour department. In conclusion, a great short. 9/10 Bethany Cox

In many ways, "Giantland" is similar to "Gulliver Mickey". Both cartoons find Mickey caring for a HUGE number of little mice and both times these mice interrupt him while he's reading and both times he tells them a story with him in the leading role--and it's based on the book he was reading. In this case, he was reading "Jack and the Beanstalk" and instead of Jack, his story stars himself. What follows is a somewhat traditional retelling of the old story. And once again, when he's finished, one of the cute mice indicates they think the story is bunk! Because the story is so similar, I will deduct one point. However, it's still very, very good. The style of the story is quite nice and one you'll enjoy. In addition, the animation is great--especially the part where the giant falls into the earth--you gotta see this one to believe it. A lovingly created cartoon--this is one to see.