Aquamania (1961)

To me, this movie is perfection.

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

Disney have many classics under its belt, shorts and feature films, and Goofy- the funniest and most well developed of the popular re-occurring characters- has been in some of them. Aquamania is interesting for the use of Xeroroxing(the first use of it in a Disney short) and that it was Goofy's first short since 1953. However, while watchable it's not up there with the classics. The animation is not very appealing here, the Xeroroxing technique worked very well in the 1960s feature films but here it was such a departure from the usual Goofy animation style that if it weren't for Goofy being in it and the documentation format that the How to...series adopted you wouldn't be sure whether it was a Goofy short or not. Instead of bright, colourful and bouncy, it is rather flat, scratchy and not as careful. The story doesn't generate that much spark, it is rather routine and not as crisply paced and doesn't quite seem to sustain its 8 minutes(or so) length. And there does seem to be too much of a re-hash feel to it, yes. The music is lively and characterful with luscious orchestration and a great ability to be in sync with the gags and such. The documentary-like narration entertains and teaches, still delighting in how Goofy manages to do the opposite of what the narrator is saying, it's a very familiar format but one that works. The gags are at least amusing if not particularly exceptional, Goofy is still a likable and funny character and the vocals are done with enthusiasm at least though they've had more inspired material. In conclusion, disappointing for Goofy but as an overall short it is still watchable. 6/10 Bethany Cox

Yeah, Goofy is in a boat race and totally turns the whole thing into a disaster. The problem is that Goofy has covered the same ground before in an episode called HOW TO SWIM which was infinitely funnier. This feels more like a weak re-hash.It's far too long and relies almost entirely on an anthropomorphic octopus for comic relief. Also, the style of the early 60's with Disney with lots of really rough sketchy edges (like 101 DALMATIONS) does not fit Goofy at all. It feels a lot less fun and a bit sloppy and messy. I think this is his only cartoon from the period and certainly feels incongruous from his better (more hilarious) work from the 40's and 50's. Particularly, stick with HOW TO SWIM.

This is one of Disney's later animated short cartoons, featuring Goofy!!!!! "Aquamania" was released back in 1961 (Now that's late!), and it's a very good short. It's been a while since seeing it, but I do remember a part where Goofy was trying to get a boat into the water!!!!! Good stuff!!!!!I've seen this first on VHS back in the early 90s (it was green and had sports shorts on the tape) because they didn't have my usual red "Fun on the Job" tape. Then I've seen this on the Old Disney Channel as a short by itself and on "Walt Disney Presents" (the part where that scientific duck (Is it Prof. Von Drake?) puts a little water on a microscope slide and we see boats shooting across the slide was seen before the cartoon started)."Aquamania" - good short, good times!!!!!10/10

A Walt Disney GOOFY Cartoon.Although happily suffering from AQUAMANIA, `Mr. X' (Goofy) is about to enter the water for the scariest experience of his life...This little film is a friendly poke in the ribs of anyone who's ever been consumed with water sports. The quality of the animation is not up to the standard of the classics of earlier decades, but the story is whimsical & amusing. Both Goofy, Jr and the terrified Octopus add to the fun.Walt Disney (1901-1966) was always intrigued by pictures & drawings. As a lad in Marceline, Missouri, he sketched farm animals on scraps of paper; later, as an ambulance driver in France during the First World War, he drew comic figures on the sides of his vehicle. Back in Kansas City, along with artist Ub Iwerks, Walt developed a primitive animation studio that provided animated commercials and tiny cartoons for the local movie theaters. Always the innovator, his ALICE IN CARTOONLAND series broke ground in placing a live figure in a cartoon universe. Business reversals sent Disney & Iwerks to Hollywood in 1923, where Walt's older brother Roy became his lifelong business manager & counselor. When a mildly successful series with Oswald The Lucky Rabbit was snatched away by the distributor, the character of Mickey Mouse sprung into Walt's imagination, ensuring Disney's immortality. The happy arrival of sound technology made Mickey's screen debut, STEAMBOAT WILLIE (1928), a tremendous audience success with its use of synchronized music. The SILLY SYMPHONIES soon appeared, and Walt's growing crew of marvelously talented animators were quickly conquering new territory with full color, illusions of depth and radical advancements in personality development, an arena in which Walt's genius was unbeatable. Mickey's feisty, naughty behavior had captured millions of fans, but he was soon to be joined by other animated companions: temperamental Donald Duck, intellectually-challenged Goofy and energetic Pluto. All this was in preparation for Walt's grandest dream - feature length animated films. Against a blizzard of doomsayers, Walt persevered and over the next decades delighted children of all ages with the adventures of Snow White, Pinocchio, Dumbo, Bambi & Peter Pan. Walt never forgot that his fortunes were all started by a mouse, or that childlike simplicity of message and lots of hard work always pay off.