Mickey Mouse Short: Swimmin' Hole

​Season 4, Episode 1: “Swimmin’ Hole” 6/9/17
Starring: Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Goofy and Pete
Setting: The great outdoors
Plot: When Pete absconds with the gang’s swimmin’ hole, Mickey, Donald and Goofy fight to get “holey” back.

​Short Stuff:
 
This is the first time any of the shorts’ characters have crashed the title card.
 
This episode’s release actually coincided with many o’ kids’ real life last day of school and start of summer vacation so the decidedly first day of summer feel to it is quite topical.
 
The short opens with a fun song with some GREAT lyrics… “No matter what your troubles… financial, legal or women.”
 
Is this the first time we’ve seen Pete’s home?  It’s fitting that he’d live in a trailer out in the middle of the woods with a drift of pigs.
 
Is that a beer inside of Pete’s koozie??? Maybe!
 
With the trailer, pigs, monster truck and overalls, Pete definitely cuts the figure of a rural country boy (i.e. redneck).
 
Donald has troubles and he needs to forget them :/
 
We don’t get a classic movie character cameo but we do get a song in Bambi’s “Little April Showers” (the shot of the raindrops hitting the leaves is almost shot-for-shot identical from the movie). This is the first time I remember getting a song cameo since Snow White’s “I’m Wishing” from Wish Upon a Coin.
 
This is actually the second Bambi reference in a row with Bambi and Thumper appearing in the Christmas Special Duck the Halls.
 
This is Pete’s ninth appearance and first since Season Three’s Sock Burglar and only the second time after Tapped Out that Mickey, Donald and Goofy have faced off against their rival.
 
The short ends with the trio now a quarto with Mickey inviting a dejected Pete to enjoy the new swimmin’ hole with the gang.

​Final Grade: B+
 
After going nearly a year since its last episode, I feared Season Three would be our last with only the occasional holiday special like Duck the Halls to keep the series afloat.  But, alas, Season Four is here with many more episodes to follow!   This short did a good job capturing the excitement and feel of the first day of summer while also mixing in a good amount of action with the tractor and monster truck battle for “holey.”  But what really made this short sing was its music!  A fantastic opening number along with an ode to Bambi saved this one from an otherwise pedestrian story.