Mickey Mouse Short: Springtime

Season 4, Episode 16: “Springtime” 5/12/18
Starring: Mickey Mouse and Pete
Costarring: Minnie Mouse
Appearances by: Humphrey the Bear
Setting: Nature

Plot: Mickey and Pete engage in a timeless battle, pitting spring against winter.​

Short Stuff

Mickey is playing Pan, the Greek god of nature (among other things) and associated with spring and fertility.

Pete is depicting Boreas, the Greek god of the north wind and bringer of winter.  Appropriately, he’s known for being very strong and violent.

This is Humphrey the Bear’s second appearance but still has yet to get any meaningful screen time.

Minnie’s dress is modeled after Persephone’s (the Greek goddess of spring and wife of Hades) from the classic short, The Goddess of Spring (1934).​

Final Grade: B

In the spirit of Fantasia (1940), for which the short is paying homage to, we get no dialogue and no sound effects.  It’s a simple story about the stubbornness of winter and the inevitability of spring.  This episode gets its marks for trying something different and mostly executing. But, without the subtle nod to a Disney Classic, I’m not sure what else it brings to the table.