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Mickey, Donald, Goofy: The Three Musketeers

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Mickey, Donald, Goofy: The Three Musketeers
VHS and DVD cover
Directed byDonovan Cook
Screenplay by
Based on
Produced byMargot Pipkin
Starring
Edited byBret Marnell
Music byBruce Broughton
Production
company
Distributed byBuena Vista Home Entertainment[2][a]
Release date
  • August 17, 2004 (2004-08-17)
Running time
68 minutes[1]
CountryUnited States[1]
LanguageEnglish

Mickey, Donald, Goofy: The Three Musketeers, or simply Walt Disney’s The Three Musketeers is a 2004 American animated direct-to-video musical adventure film based on the film adaptations of the 1844 novel The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas and the Mickey Mouse film series by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. As the title suggests, it features Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and Goofy as the three musketeers in their first full-length feature film together. This film was directed by Donovan Cook, produced by Walt Disney Pictures and the Australian office of DisneyToon Studios. It was released directly to VHS and DVD on August 17, 2004, by Walt Disney Home Entertainment, and was later re-released on Blu-ray Disc on August 12, 2014, coinciding with the film's 10th anniversary.

The film received generally mixed reviews from critics, who praised its musical numbers, action sequences, and faithfulness to the original material, but was critical on other aspects.

Plot

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Troubadour, a French-accented turtle, works with a storyteller, who injures himself just before a live broadcast. Troubadour is hastily made to take the storyteller's place, so he takes out his comic book and tells the audience his favored version of The Three Musketeers: Mickey, Donald, Goofy: The Three Musketeers.

In 17th-century France, street urchins Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Goofy, and Pluto are one day harassed by the Beagle Boys but are saved by royal musketeers. Mickey is gifted one of their hats, inspiring him and his friends to follow their example and become musketeers themselves. Years later, the trio are employed as janitors at the musketeers' headquarters, headed by Captain Pete, who mocks the trio's desire to become musketeers and deems them too unfit for the job. In addition to that, the three of them do not do any of the janitorial jobs correctly without messing it up and always end up destroying parts of the headquarters. They are ordered to work in the laundry dungeon as punishment for an earlier incident.

Meanwhile, Princess Minnie narrowly avoids a large safe being dropped on her by the Beagle Boys. Captain Pete, revealed to be their boss, chastises them for attempting to assassinate her, as he wants her kidnapped so that he can take over the kingdom on the night of the Opera. In response to the attempt on her life, Minnie summons Pete, demanding he produce musketeer bodyguards for her. Realizing that giving experienced musketeers the job will put his plan at risk, Pete decides to falsely recruit the incompetent Mickey, Donald, and Goofy as musketeers since he believes that they will be easy to get rid of, eliminating the trio. Minnie falls in love with Mickey at first sight.

While on a carriage ride, the Beagle Boys ambush Mickey, Donald, and Goofy, easily defeat them, and kidnap Minnie and her lady-in-waiting Daisy. Mickey encourages his friends to not give up and they all hurry to rescue Minnie and Daisy from an abandoned tower. Goofy rushes in first, running up all the stairs and out a window into a series of events that catapult him back into the tower. The musketeers then engage the Beagle Boys in another fight. Donald hides, leaving Mickey and Goofy cornered, but Goofy manages to come up with an idea to jump out the window with Mickey to engage in the same events as before to force the bandits out of the tower and into the river. Minnie and Daisy are rescued, and Minnie and Mickey spend time together and fall deeper in love.

Realizing that the trio is more of a threat than he originally anticipated, Pete plans to get rid of them individually. While on night patrol, Goofy is lured away from the palace by Pete's lieutenant Clarabelle, using a shadow puppet of Mickey. Donald is chased by the Beagle Boys and delivered to Pete, who reveals his true nature after trapping him in a guillotine, though Donald manages to escape, causing Pete to lose his peg leg after he tries to stop him. Donald returns to the palace to inform Mickey what happened. While Mickey chooses to remain and stop Pete, Donald is too frightened and abandons him. Pete then ambushes Mickey, locks him in a dungeon at Mont Saint-Michel, and leaves him to die when the tide comes in to flood the cell.

Meanwhile, Clarabelle is about to kill Goofy by throwing him into the Seine. However, the two instantly become smitten with one another and Clarabelle has a change of heart. Clarabelle informs Goofy that Mickey is in danger. Pluto leads Goofy to Mickey's location, with Donald being dragged along. When Donald is still too scared to help save Mickey, Troubadour musically berates Donald for his cowardice, angering him into going with Goofy and Pluto. The duo narrowly saves Mickey. When Mickey despairs that their status as musketeers was all a lie, Goofy encourages him by stating that despite their flaws, they always accomplished many things successfully because they always worked together. Rejuvenated, Mickey leads his friends to stop Pete and save the princess.

At the theater, Pete and the Beagle Boys then capture Minnie and Daisy, imprisoning them in a chest. One of the Beagle Boys impersonates Minnie and announces Pete as the new king of France to the public. Mickey, Donald, and Goofy arrive and battle Pete and the Beagle Boys onstage. Mickey, Donald, and Goofy come together and defeat Pete and the Beagle Boys, allowing them to rescue Minnie and Daisy, who profess their love for Mickey and Donald, respectively. Minnie later officially dubs Mickey, Donald, and Goofy as royal musketeers in an official ceremony, fulfilling their dream.

Voice cast

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Production

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An adaptation of Alexandre Dumas's The Three Musketeers, with Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and Goofy as the Musketeers, was planned during the 1980s at Walt Disney Animation Studios. In 1983, storyboard artists Steve Hulett and Pete Young developed the project with Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Goofy, and José Carioca as the Musketeers, but it fell into development hell.[4] In 2002, in honor of Mickey Mouse's 75th anniversary, a featurette entitled The Search of Mickey Mouse was announced. The project was about Mickey who gets kidnapped by unknown forces, forcing Minnie Mouse to enlist Basil of Baker Street to investigate his disappearance, and later encounters one character from Disney's animated film canon such as Alice, Peter Pan, Robin Hood, and Aladdin.[5] The project suffered script problems with the multiple cameos being thought to be too gimmicky.[6] After the cancellation of the latter project, a feature film based on The Three Musketeers with Mickey, Donald, and Goofy in the lead roles was greenlit instead, indicating that Hulett and Young's project had been revived but the film did not include José Carioca as in the early development.

Reception

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As of November 2024, Mickey, Donald, Goofy: The Three Musketeers had a rating of 42% on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes based on 12 reviews with an average score of 4.84/10.[7]

Release

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The film had a limited theatrical screening in El Capitan Theatre.[8] The film was first released on DVD and VHS on August 17, 2004. At the time of release the three main characters appeared as costumed characters in Fantasyland at the Disney parks.[2][9] The DVD was the first to include Disney's FastPlay, which imitates VHS operation by starting play automatically rather than waiting at the main menu for user input.[10] For the film's 10th anniversary, it was released on Blu-ray on August 12, 2014.[3]

Video games

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A world named Country of the Musketeers based on the film appears in Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance.[11][12] This is the first time a world in the Kingdom Hearts series has originated from a direct-to-video feature.[13] Like the Timeless River world in Kingdom Hearts II, it is featured as a period of Mickey Mouse's past. All the characters except Daisy, Clarabelle, and the Troubadour appear.

Soundtrack

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The soundtrack for the film, titled Mickey, Donald & Goofy: The Three Musketeers, was released on August 13, 2004, by Walt Disney Records.[9] In addition to seven classical pieces reinterpreted with new comedic lyrics,[14] it also features a rewritten cover of the Schoolhouse Rock classic "Three Is a Magic Number" by Stevie Brock, Greg Raposo and Matt Ballinger.[9] In 2018, Mickey, Donald and Goofy: The Three Musketeers became the first direct-to-video Disney film to have its full musical score, released on CD by Intrada Records. Like the original album, Intrada's release includes all the songs from the film, though in this release, most of them are put together with the respective pieces of Bruce Broughton's background music that leads up to them. Some of the music cues include pieces of the score that ultimately went unused in the film. The "Three is a Magic Number" cover is also omitted this time.

No.TitlePerformer(s)Length
1."All for One and One for All ("Can-Can" from Orpheus in the Underworld, by Jacques Offenbach)"Rob Paulsen & Chorus 
2."Love So Lovely ("Dance of the Reed Flutes" from The Nutcracker and "Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture" from Romeo and Juliet, by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky)"Rob Paulsen & Chorus 
3."Petey's King of France ("In the Hall of the Mountain King" from Peer Gynt Suite No. 1, by Edvard Grieg)"Jim Cummings 
4."Sweet Wings of Love (The Blue Danube, by Johann Strauss II)"Rob Paulsen & Chorus 
5."Chains of Love (Habanera from Carmen, by Georges Bizet)"Bill Farmer, April Winchell & Chorus 
6."This Is the End (Symphony No. 5 in C Minor, by Ludwig van Beethoven)"Rob Paulsen & Chorus 
7."L'Opera (The Pirates of Penzance, by Arthur Sullivan)"Jess Harnell & Chorus 
8."Three Is a Magic Number"Stevie Brock, Greg Raposo & Matt Ballinger 

References

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  1. ^ a b c "Mickey, Donald, Goofy: The Three Musketeers (2004)". Allmovie. Retrieved May 18, 2020.
  2. ^ a b Desowitz, Bill (August 17, 2004). "Mickey, Donald and Goofy Become Three Musketeers on DVD". Animation World Network. Retrieved May 21, 2015.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Wolfe, Jennifer (August 12, 2014). "Five Disney Classics Now Available on Blu-ray". Animation World Network. Retrieved May 22, 2015.
  4. ^ Harmetz, Aljean (August 27, 1984). "Animation Again a Priority at Disney". The New York Times.
  5. ^ Harrison, Mark (March 5, 2014). "6 Fascinating Movies From Disney Animation That Never Were". Den of Geek. Dennis Publishing. Archived from the original on March 8, 2014. Retrieved March 7, 2014.
  6. ^ Hill, Jim (December 19, 2002). "Why For?". Jim Hill Media. Retrieved March 7, 2015.
  7. ^ "Mickey, Donald, Goofy: The Three Musketeers (2004)", Rotten Tomatoes, retrieved October 20, 2020
  8. ^ "In His Own Words: Floyd Norman on Mickey, Donald, Goofy: "The Three Musketeers" (2004) |".
  9. ^ a b c Walt Disney Records (August 3, 2004). "Walt Disney Records' Summer Soundtrack to Mickey -- Donald -- Goofy: The Three Musketeers is All for Fun and Fun for All". Business Wire. Retrieved May 21, 2015.
  10. ^
  11. ^ MODOJO (January 11, 2012). "Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance (3DS) Preview". Business Insider Australia. Retrieved August 21, 2016.
  12. ^ Square Enix (July 31, 2012). "KINGDOM HEARTS 3D (Dream Drop Distance) Dives Into Retailers Today" (Press release). PR Newswire. Retrieved August 21, 2016.
  13. ^ Diener, Matthew (May 23, 2012). "Newly released Kingdom Hearts 3D (Dream Drop Distance) screenshots highlight two new game worlds". Pocket Gamer. Archived from the original on May 25, 2012. Retrieved August 21, 2016.
  14. ^ Ehrbar, Greg (August 20, 2014). "Interview: Director Donovan Cook on "Mickey, Donald, Goofy: The Three Musketeers"". Animation Scoop. Retrieved May 22, 2015.
  1. ^ Released through the Walt Disney Pictures banner.
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