Hot 888 Mama . . . for Clues about what MAY have motivated Steve Paddock to embark upon the deadliest shooting spree in U.S. History, need one look any further than THRU THE MIRROR? Psychiatry long has taught us about the "Irresistible Impulses" sometimes laid down in the brains of susceptible individuals (not unlike "ticking time bombs") by the subliminal programming messages fiendishly embedded within some mass market products. Exactly 7:15 into THRU THE MIRROR, Mickey Mouse begins mowing down scores of "playing cards" (all of whom have tiny human faces, arms, and legs) first Machine-gunning them with a fountain pen, then blowing them away with a fan. By 7:49, the only thing that you hear are frantic cries of "Help! Help! Police!!" Mickey's violent, unprovoked attack on the Little People "playing cards" (what better symbol for a crowd of tourists in Las Vegas?) did NOT come from the mind of THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS author Lewis Carroll. Rather, it stems from Walt Disney's demented id! Since I don't have access to very many Disney cartoons, please help me in screening the whole deplorable mess in order to inform the FBI of the specifics about the NEXT attack upon America. (After all, it's your Civic Duty!)

MisterWhiplash In full Technicolor, and with music by Frank Churchill, Leight Harline, and Paul J Smith (all uncredited), Thru the Mirror is one of the masterworks of the era when Walt Disney studios could have a lot of fun while keeping toes from the silent era. A lot of what happens in this story could have been one of the black and white silent/early sound-era Mickey Mouse movies, where Mickey finds himself in some bizarre situations with cartoon things that have come to life in ways that make him dance, fight and run in chase-mode. Only here the animation has become sophisticated, due to years of practice and trial and (minimal) error, with moments like Mickey eating the walnut (aka the mushroom) that makes him grow really big and then really small.And of course there's everything with the cards, which at first are like dancers from a Busby Berkley musical (I'm sure the animators had influences from those movies, in full formation they do it up), and then the way that Disney and his writers bring in the Queen of Hearts and the King (the latter on both bottom and top levels with swords). It's also wonderful to see all the cards chasing after Mickey; I have to wonder if the animators (or just Disney himself) knew the potential to have mass figures overpowering the flagship character, and brought it over when doing something like Fantasia, as the cards have that unstoppable-holy-crap quality of the ravenous brooms.The imagination here is boundless, and when there are gags (the chair and its baby, the umbrella, the radio that shouts out "Calling All Cards") they work well, but ever since I saw this as a kid - and through some repeat, partly from the first Mickey Mouse VHS and play from back when the Disney channel actually played these old-time cartoons I've seen it many times - I knew it had a special quality. The pacing is electrifying, the comic timing excellent, and the music combines Big-Band Jazz, musical and adventure/chase music. In a way this is one of the great Alice adaptations, distilled to just a few points like a song, and the notes played by some smart people. Did I mention in that bright, excellent early cartoon-Technicolor to boot?

Foreverisacastironmess A little imagination goes a long way, and what a wonderfully vivid one the collective Disney animators had at this time... This is one of my all-time favourites, it's hands-down one of those timelessly special Disney shorts that seem to only get better with age, and that have the rare ability to make you feel like a little kid again for a moment while you're watching them. And this one, clearly inspired by Lewis Caroll's "Through the Looking Glass", is a real strange and entertaining little ride from beginning to end! Mickey falls asleep and enters a topsy-turvy dream mirrorland wherein many enchanting sight gags abound. Almost everything is alive and has a personality. Soon to be mean! Mickey shrinks down to the size of an actual mouse, but doesn't seem too troubled by it, and engages in a little dance with a pair of magician's gloves in one fabulously charming sequence... That's the part I always remembered about this short. Everything's just swell until Mickey also dances with the Queen of Hearts and makes the king jealous - at which point the fun 'trip' turns into a perilous flight for freedom! Ha, I love how he just tosses the alarm clock back in the drawer without a second thought and goes straight back to sleep! This is my favourite incarnation of Mickey with the iconic little red pants and yellow shoes and the adorable black dot eyes! At the start he's just kind of an observer, than a musical star in the middle, and an action hero by the end. I love the ink-pen machine gun! It's the playful innocence and heroic spirit of Mickey that made him such a lovable and endearing character. The lasting nature of this short and in particular the elaborate scene with the gloves had apparently not been lost on the Disney company because the gag with the gloves would later be imitated by the genie during the "Friend like Me" sequence of 1992's "Aladdin". Also there's a dog-like foot stool that's a little precursor to the one that appeared way down the line in "Beauty and the Beast", and then of course, there are those beautiful cards which make the short feel somewhat like a testing ground for "Alice in Wonderland" which came 15 years later. The entire deck of cards is especially well detailed and fascinating to look at. Undoubtedly, it must have been a gruelling nightmare animating, inking and painting all the cards featured here, but it was well worth it for the effect they achieved. The way they fold and scatter and leap in a coordinated line looks just amazing. The gloves and the cards are the short's strongest points in my opinion. The madcap structure is slightly reminiscent of the surrealism of the most fantastic Fleisher animations, only a lot less dark and threatening, and a whole lot easier on the eye. Practically every richly detailed and gorgeously animated moment of this looks excellent. I especially like the strange membranous effect when Mickey passes through the mirror. Still so utterly magical, even now. Not crude, not bland, nor dull but perfect. A little treasure!

Shawn Watson After falling asleep reading Alice Through the Looking Glass, Mickey dreams about walking through the mirror and entering and opposite world where almost everything is alive and has a personality. Sort of in the same way as all those annoying, singing teacups in the awful Beauty and the Beast movie.There are many references to Alice in Wonderland of course, some subtle, some obvious and some intelligent. Though it's all great fun and wildly imaginative. It's these sort of cartoons that made Disney Studios and Mickey Mouse legendary. In a way, it's the success of cartoon like this that are to blame for the existence of stuff like The Haunted Mansion.But that's just the pessimist in me.