Pretty Good

Good concept, poorly executed.

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

This is one of Mickey's first cartoons, he and Pegleg Pete fight for Minnie's affections to go out dancing. In an unusual move, Mickey gets quite the share of bad luck in the story, unlike many of his other cartoons where he ends up being the hero or the goody two-shoes.Minnie gets mad at Mickey in this one a lot, so, it's quite interesting to watch. The dance numbers were pretty catchy as well. Not an extremely funny cartoon though, but, one with an interesting plot.Grade B-

This is an early Disney short featuring Mickey Mouse. There will be spoilers ahead:The dynamic in this one reminded me of the Popeye, Olive Oyl, Bluto dynamic from the early Popeye Flieschers, where Olive was just as likely to pick Bluto as she was Popeye. Minnie is rather fickle in this one, often for tolerably obvious reasons. Mickey openly displays jealousy and it colors his behavior.The visual gags are quite good here and Mickey's personality is quite different from the one he's best known for to most people. He's a self-absorbed and inattentive clod at points here and it's hardly surprising that he loses out to Pete (who's no prize himself here, but better behaved than Mickey for a change).Pete has his own moments of crude and obnoxious behavior, but they aren't as obvious and pronounced as Mickey's. Minnie, for her part, isn't above petty choices, as she first chooses Pete because he has a car versus Mickey's horse-drawn cart, only to abandon Pete rather rudely when his car falls apart. Not exactly an example of charm and consideration herself in that regard. Mickey winds up on the short end of the stick here.This short is available on the Mickey Mouse In Black and White, Volume 2 Disney Treasures DVD release and is well worth tracking down. Recommended.

I did enjoy The Barn Dance, but of the Mickey Mouse cartoons of that particular time it is one of my least favourites. The animation is not bad, but the characters at times do look crude, and while I enjoyed the music selections there are other times when the music is more repetitive than usual, not as varied as it was in Steamboat Willie, Plane Crazy and Galloping Gaucho. While I did like that Mickey was more fleshed out than usual, and I did feel sorry for him at the end, the characters have been much more likable before(especially Minnie who is almost the complete opposite of how she usually is), with the exception of Pete who is by far the most likable he's ever been after many cartoons as a villain or a foil. However, there are some good gags like Mickey's horse going into a trot and the buggy's wheels does the same and Mickey's donkey face when he is confronted by Minnie about his clumsy feet(which also grow larger and larger). I also liked seeing the parrot from Steamboat Willie on Mickey's porch, and the nifty, fun choreography of the actual barn dance itself. The voice acting is I think an improvement over the cartoons before it, while relying on cues and squeaks it is more dynamic and perhaps better recorded. So all in all, not a favourite but interesting enough for the gags especially. 7/10 Bethany Cox

This is a very early Mickey Mouse cartoon. The version I saw was not the original form, as it had been colorized (not bad looking--most black and white films colorize well).This film features Mickey and Pete (who is a cat in the earlier Mickey Mouse cartoons). The film consists of Mickey stealing Minnie away from Pete as well as Mickey's behavior at the barn dance. Surprisingly, although Mickey is the star, he's rather mean to Pete and Pete is amazingly civil. Pete is not the cranky guy he was in STEAMBOAT WILLIE and you kind of feel sorry for this big guy, as Mickey is pretty nasty to him--unlike the beloved Mickey we know today. Plus, in a scene that would not please PETA, Mickey is also a bit mean to his horse. Oh, well--it's an early Mickey cartoon and they hadn't yet hit their lovable stride.Overall, typical animation and quality for an early short, though the story lacks the charm of most of the films in the series.