'Goofy' short an eye-opener for Disney fan

After the myriad trailers that preceded "National Treasure: Book of Secrets" at our friendly neighborhood movie house one evening last week, an old-style logo for a Goofy cartoon came up on the screen.

"There's a cartoon?" my wife whispered.

"Wow," I said softly. "I hope this is the beginning of a trend."

Then the title came up: "How to Hook Up Your Home Theater."

"Uh oh," I muttered.

A feeling of dread came over me. The term "home theater" is too contemporary for this to be an old cartoon.

Just what we need, another TV-type knockoff that can't hold a candle to such classic Goofy cartoons as "Motor Mania" or "How to Play Golf." Another seven minutes of boredom before the movie kicks in.

Then the cartoon began in earnest and I perked up. The style of animation was certainly patterned after the originals, it was fast-paced, the gags seemed inventive.

But I think they won me over with the title of the Best Buy-type store where Goofy goes to purchase his entertainment center — a retail outlet named "Shiny Stuff."

The plot has Goofy giving in to a pitch for a big-screen TV so he can watch football as if he's right there in the field. Then he has to go through everything we've all gone through — waiting all day for the delivery truck to pull up, ridiculously complicated instructions, boxes that are impossible to open, tangling up too many cords, all kinds of stereo-speaker options, the living room being too small, etc.

The gags are fast and furious — and best of all, they're funny.

It's an old-fashioned cartoon in the best sense, with a style that matches Disney's heyday, a frantic sensibility that captures the best of vintage 'toons' comic timing, and contemporary trappings for a modern audience.

When it was over, I found myself saying aloud: "Holy cow! They nailed it!"

This is a genuine return-to-form for Disney, something I wasn't sure I'd ever see again. Especially on the big screen.

So I did some research, and this is apparently the first salvo from Disney/Pixar animation's top dog, John Lasseter, to announce that Disney is back in the business of cartoon shorts, and that the 2D look — in this age of computer animation taking over — is not dead.

The writing-directing team of Stevie Wermers and Kevin Deters purposely pursued the look and feel of the Goofy cartoons of the 1940s and '50s, with a 21st-century spin. (But you'll have to be a bigger cartoon buff than I am to catch the in-jokes of characters and icons taken from early Goofy cartoons.)

Best of all, there is the promise of more to come, including a short with Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck joining Goofy, a la "Boat Builders" or "Clock Cleaners."

The one unfortunate misstep may have been putting this cartoon in front of "National Treasure."

"Enchanted" might have been a more logical choice.

Following "How to Hook Up Your Home Theater," "National Treasure" pales in comparison.

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E-mail: hicks@desnews.com

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