Runaway Brain is a 1995 American animated comedy horror short film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation. Featuring Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse, the short centers on Mickey attempting to earn money to pay for an anniversary gift for Minnie. He responds to an advertisement to work for Doctor Frankenollie, only to find out that he is looking for a donor to switch brains with the monster he created. Featuring animation by animator Andreas Deja, it was first released in 1995 attached to North American theatrical showings of A Kid in King Arthur's Court and in 1996 attached to international theatrical showings of A Goofy Movie (1995). It would be the final original Mickey Mouse theatrical animated short until Get a Horse! in 2013.

The short received mixed reviews from audiences. Later references to the cartoon have been made in Disney related media, such as the video game Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance.

Plot

thumb|left|The short's title card

On a dark and stormy evening, Minnie Mouse arrives at Mickey Mouse's house and discovers that he has forgotten about the anniversary of their first date. Mickey then comes up with the last-minute idea to take her to a miniature golf course and shows her a newspaper advertisement for it, but she instead notices another ad for a trip to Hawaii, which is overpriced, and mistakes it for the gift. After Minnie leaves, Mickey panics over how he can make that much money when Pluto shows him the want ads and Mickey sees one from a chimpanzee mad scientist named Doctor Frankenollie to earn the amount of money that he needs for "a mindless day's work". Upon arriving at Frankenollie's residence, Mickey is dropped down a trapdoor into the scientist's laboratory, where he reveals his plan to switch his donor's brain with that of his enormous Pete-resembling monster, Julius. Although the experiment takes Frankenollie's life, it is a success nonetheless, as Mickey and Julius' brains are switched.

In his new body, Julius finds Mickey's wallet and notices a photo of Minnie, with whom he instantly becomes smitten. He escapes from the laboratory and finds Minnie while she is shopping for swimsuits. After Minnie immediately mistakes Julius for Mickey, the latter arrives to save her, but Minnie becomes terrified of him due to the appearance of Julius' body and panics, until Mickey convinces her of who he is and places her on the top of a skyscraper for safety. As Julius continues to pursue Minnie and a battle between him and Mickey occurs, they land on a telephone line and become electrocuted, sending their brains back into their proper bodies. Continuing their fight at the skyscraper where Minnie is, Mickey manages to subdue Julius using a billboard advertising the trip to Hawaii there and save her. The couple eventually travel to Hawaii together on an inflatable boat pulled by Julius, who is goaded by Mickey into chasing after the photo of Minnie in his wallet.

Voice cast

  • Wayne Allwine as Mickey Mouse
  • Russi Taylor as Minnie Mouse
  • Kelsey Grammer as Doctor Frankenollie
  • Jim Cummings as Julius
  • Bill Farmer as Pluto

Production

After Disney celebrated Mickey Mouse's 60th anniversary in 1988, Mickey starred in the featurette The Prince and the Pauper, which was directed by George Scribner and released in theaters with The Rescuers Down Under in 1990. The Rescuers Down Under however failed at the box office, so a new project was sought for the character. The director of Runaway Brain, Chris Bailey recalled: "If you were a director or part of the development, if you were between assignments, you were asked to develop Mickey shorts". The general plot of the cartoon refers back to Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, with Doctor Frankenollie and Julius being heavily inspired by the titular character and his monster. The composite name "Frankenollie" comes from the names of animators Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston, who were two of Disney's Nine Old Men.

Mickey's wallet contains a photo of him from Steamboat Willie (1928). In addition, Mickey whistles the short's primary theme, Steamboat Bill, before he is dropped down into Frankenollie's laboratory and a Polynesian-styled rendition of it also plays in the credits.

The film was screened out of competition at the 1996 Cannes Film Festival. It was first released in North America on August 11, 1995, alongside theatrical showings of A Kid in King Arthur's Court, then on September 12, 1996, with The Hunchback of Notre Dame in Australia and on October 18, 1996, attached to A Goofy Movie in the UK. The short was to be re-released with 101 Dalmatians, which was sent to theaters with the short attached in 1996, but Disney asked theater owners to cut the short off all film prints and replace it with trailers for then upcoming Disney films. In addition, the short was released with theatrical screenings of George of the Jungle in 1997.

The cartoon was nominated the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film at the 68th Academy Awards, ending up losing to A Close Shave starring Wallace & Gromit.

It is also available as a Movies Anywhere-exclusive digital download with the Walt Disney Animation Studios Short Films Collection (but is not included on the Blu-Ray/DVD disc set).

It was also released on Super 8 film by Derann Film Services.

In other media

  • Julius appears as an optional secret boss in Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance in Traverse Town.
  • A newspaper clipping of Dr. Frankenollie's advertisement is inside of the ticket booth of the El CapiTOON Theater at Disneyland, which houses the Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway attraction.

See also

  • Mickey Mouse (film series)

References

  • Runaway Brain at The Encyclopedia of Disney Animated Shorts