disgusting, overrated, pointless

Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

Mickey gets stranded on an island full of wild animals, and tries to past the time playing music. Not much plot in this one and not much funny scenes either. Kids might find this cartoon short amusing, but the rest of the audience might find it boring somewhat. Grade C-

This is an early Disney cartoon featuring Mickey Mouse. There will be spoilers ahead:This short bears a resemblance to Jungle Rhythm in spots, but with more plot. Mickey is first seen on a raft, one with an interesting sail. He reaches an island with help from a fish.After a few rounds with a bunch of bananas and a spider, Mickey spots a crate which he tries to move, resulting in a repeated gag involving a wave. The crate turns out to contain a piano, which Mickey wrings water out of and removes fish from in between playing (he does something with three piano playing fish which makes three seals rather happy).We meet the first of two scene stealers next, a tiger cub with an ear for music. Mickey doesn't care for this and tries to chase the cub away repeatedly. The tiger cub takes off when the second scene stealer shows up, one rather rubbery ape, which starts out playing the piano but ends up by destroying it instead.Mickey goes from the ape to a lion to an alligator. The ending wraps most of this up and the ending gag is funny. This short is available on the Mickey Mouse In Black and White, Volume Two Disney Treasures DVD set and is well worth tracking down. Recommended.

The Castaway is not one Mickey's very best shorts. I happen to think that there are more original shorts out there, that there are those with more gags and perhaps funnier ones as well. However, of the ones using a jungle/island setting, The Castaway is one of the better ones. The setting and story are nothing particularly new, but it is never dull and is a lot of fun. There are some fine gags as well, The Castaway is not one of those laugh-a-minute shorts nor did it intend to be I imagine, but those that are there do make their mark, that with the tiger cub, the fish inside the piano and especially the hilarious final sequence with the alligator. The piano could easily have been a device for another song and dance number, I thought so as well initially, but actually it isn't used for that. It is used for something fresher and I think cleverer though, as a device for the interaction between Mickey and the animals, and it is used to great effect. The animation is also exceptional, especially the exotic(even for black and white) backgrounds and I loved Mickey's happy then frustrated facial expressions(another example of excellent personality animation), and the music is full of energy. Mickey is very likable, and the animals are colourful. All in all, may not be original in terms of settings and such, but still remarkably good. 9/10 Bethany Cox

This is a very silly and fun Mickey Mouse cartoon. The film begins with Mickey stuck on a raft in the ocean. Soon he comes to land--and some land it is. After all, it comes complete with a piano, a tiger, gorillas and lots of other things you should not find in the same place! But considering it's a cartoon and not a documentary, it's no problem. Throughout, the emphasis is on silly fun--and there is lots of it here in "The Castaway"--not to be confused in any way with that Tom Hanks film.As usual, the Disney folks have exceptional animation and a film that simply is head and shoulders better than the material being released by other companies at the time. And, it's nice to see that over 80 years later, this cartoon still holds up and is as fun as ever. Well worth your time.