Highly Overrated But Still Good

Good movie, but best of all time? Hardly . . .

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

When I was a kid, my grandmother ran a driving school and it worked out of the same office as my mom and uncle's shared insurance office (in other words a family business right in Manhattan). I would sit around without too much to do, except that there was always this short, Motor Mania, on a VHS tape - students had to watch a video as part of the class to get their licenses (still do fyi in New York state) - and I would watch it many, many times to the point where I could recite it by heart. But it wasn't simply boredom and it being the only cartoon-centric thing available (there was also a Phil Donahue special about drunk driving I watched too, but I digress) - this is genuinely brilliant comedy AND as information.Is it exaggerated? Well, yeah, it's a cartoon! But it doesn't mean that there isn't a sense that someone like "Mr. Wheeler" out there (it's a Jekyll and Hyde scenario where a nice guy, "Mr. Walker", leaves the house and as soon as he's behind the wheel he turns into a hideous, rage-filled MONSTER). It's narration over a lot of mad incidents that happen to "Mr Wheeler" as he goes about on the road getting into accidents, getting impatient and horrible while in traffic, and other nightmare scenarios.What makes it so effective is that its a well-paced and quick movie, except that there is a beat where it shows how the monster Wheeler can be an ass even while being slow on the road (at one point he drives slowly as a giant back-up is behind him honking relentlessly), and that the comedy comes from a very real place, almost too real. If you've been in a family where this kind of thing was normal - having family members who get so mad behind the wheel and anxious even as they have been driving their whole lives and can/should know better - it's relatable. It's not something that is out of place to show at a driving school, even as it has its share of gags, all leading up to Wheeler's (relative) demise In other words, it's a great pre-driving ed for a pre-pubescent, and aside from the personal connection to it it's among the finest work Disney studios did at the time.

IN REAFFIRMING THE long standing idea that there are only so many plots, MOTOR MANIA brings our favourite bumbling everyman, GOOFY, into a sort of DR. JEKYLL & MR. HYDE of the mid 20th Century. Instead of the application of some dangerous serum, the transformation comes to our hapless hero due to his being alternately a pedestrian and a motorist.AS WITH ALL of the Disney Short subject cartoons, there is nearly not one frame of film wasted. Characterization is quickly established and the story is off and running. We need only a short trip from the Goofy home in suburbia to downtown to observe the transformation. Comic versions of what we really experience in our driving experiences are paraded forth and we laugh, out loud even.THE NAMES GIVEN to the Goofy split personalities are fittingly: Mr. Walker & Mr. Wheeler. With Walker we have the laid-back, easy going and peacefully stable man next door. He goes out of his way to be kind and genteel to everyone; be they animal, vegetable or mineral. Mr. Walker would not harm a fly or step on an ant, as was demonstrated in on screen action.ONCE BEHIND THE wheel of the car, a sudden and extreme change takes place. Walker the meek becomes Wheeler the constantly irate and overexcited. His is a life of constant competition and racing with any and all drivers who may be near. His every instinct is tuned in on every aspect of the ride. He is keyed on being the first and only one to get where he wants, when he wants.AS WITH ALL well made cartoon stories, we are treated to a morale; which is made all the more palatable by the freely distributed gags that accompany the story. As is usually the case, Goofy pays the price in the end.ONE THING THAT has only now come to our consciousness is how much these GOOFY Cartoons of that period resemble the sort of on screen live action short subjects that were so successful for years. In example we offer the format and style of on screen humor that is the backbone of such exponents of the voice-over and visuals in familiar series such as the ROBERT BENCHLEY Series, the PETE SMITH SPECIALTIES and the JOE McDOAKES (BEHIND THE 8 BALL) Comedies.IN CLOSING, WE were reminded of having viewed this Disney Cartoon so many years ago. It is just a funny, amusing and relevant today as it was in the 1950's when it was made.IT IS OUR verdict that it should be screened by every driver at least 2 or 3 times each year. If I had done this, Lord knows how many of those troublesome fender benders that I could have avoided.

Disney's short Motor Mania concerns Goofy as Mr. Walker, a calm, competent pedestrian who is just your average Joe as he walks down the street every day. But when Mr. Walker gets behind the wheel of a vehicle, he turns into "Mr. Wheeler," a venomous, hateful man, consumed by road rage. Nobody every drives fast enough for Mr. Wheeler, it seems, and it doesn't help his big mouth and reckless driving get him into more accidents than the average person. What happens to Mr. Walker when he gets behind the wheel and how come he can't simply drive without being filled to the brim with malice and hatefulness?Unfortunately, what I will now call "The Walker/Wheeler Complex," some people can be the nicest, most warm- hearted people when they're simply walking down the street but as soon as they get in a car, they become consumed by rage and morose feelings that they lash out at other drivers. It's a sad, true reality Jack Kinney's Motor Mania illustrates very well, with quick-moving action scenes and moments that inspire laughs as well as winces because of true and relevant they actually are. Despite being part of a whole other world, Disney, with their variety of short films offering social commentary on a number of issues, prove once more they were and still are very much in the loop.Directed by: Jack Kinney.

NOTE: CONTAINS BRIEF SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND INFORMATIONDisney here combine two themes to create this cartoon. One is their version of the classic Jeckyl/Hyde story, the other being an exaggerated account of motorists when in their cars. The comedy is brilliant, the animation is superb, and although the cartoon is not the greatest thing since sliced bread, it is certainly one to look out