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JERRY BECK
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AMID AMIDI
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How to Hook Up Your Home Theater
by amid
September 25, 2008 5:50 am


There are multiple copies of Disney’s 2007 Goofy short How to Hook Up Your Home Theater floating around on YouTube. Read Jerry Beck’s review of the short.

(Thanks, Matt Jones)

09/25/08  6:15am
William Massie says:

Pure Awesome-ness. Not only is it great from my animation nerd perspective, it’s doubly great from my causal viewer perspective too. I have a dad and grand-dad that are so into this high tech home entertainment stuff, it kills me.

09/25/08  6:16am
Saturnome says:

Saw it a week or two ago - loved it. Some things felt flat (like the delivery waiting) but most of it is wonderful. Anything related to packaging was funny. The animation was wonderful, really. It was old-school Disney but still new. Not so sure about the sound though I can’t say why, but Goofy’s voice was great.

Overall it’s such a great work it shows that Disney still can do it. So, Disney: do it.

09/25/08  6:27am

That is soooooper-doops….and lightening comedy!! Was it for the cinema or that fantastick tv show, “House of Mouse!” Those films are gorrrrrrrrrrgeous…hard to believe they’re made-for-tv!!

Thank YOO!

09/25/08  6:42am

Is this going to be released on dvd or bluray or iTunes or whatever it is nowadays? I missed it at the theatres (but on the upside, I also missed National Treasure 2). I haven’t seen it and I’m hesitant to press play. I’d prefer to watch it for the first time on something a lot bigger and sharper than the YouTube.

09/25/08  6:51am
Diego says:

oh, I thought this was going to be much worst. Eddie Fitzgerald wrote once THIS thing on his blog, and today I think he wasn’t right, and I hope he’s happy about being wrong.

Anyway, the whole short feels like a unnatural copy of the Kinney’s shorts, and the animation doesn’t feel right. Things keep moving like the Disney’s home video sequels you can find on video clubs, but maybe I’m exaggerating.

It’s a nice try, and as Jerry said “It’s the perfect film to start the new shorts program with.”

09/25/08  7:04am

Awesome.
Thanks for posting this- this is the first time I’ve had a chance to see it- and I loved it. Sure wish they were doing more of these.
Any idea when and if it will hit DVD?

09/25/08  7:13am

You can get a high res. mp4 version of this from iTunes for only $1.99.

(also Pixar’s “Presto” and a whole lot of other Pixar and Disney shorts)

Image quality is much better than YouTube , and you can step through it frame-by-frame.

09/25/08  7:25am
matt says:

It’s funny because it’s true!

09/25/08  7:54am

I love this.

It’s a cartoon.

That’s a rare thing in this day and age and it should be celebrated.

09/25/08  7:57am
FP says:

That was great. I got the COMPLETE GOOFY set and this felt just like the best classic GOOFY how-tos - only this time I can relate to the subject matter, since my place is festooned with PC network and audio/video wiring. The sports/yard work/car repair cartoons were funny but I never did that stuff. The impenetrable cable package and the giant TV “I love you” were killer gags. The huge retro cars in the parking lot are beautiful. Good way to launch the Disney short revival.

09/25/08  8:22am
Aleksandar Vujovic says:

I’ve been looking forward to seeing this. Thanks much!

09/25/08  8:24am
yoob says:

About time!

I would love to see a new Donald vs Chip & Dale short!

09/25/08  8:39am
KyleB says:

This is excellent, can’t wait to watch it when I get home.

09/25/08  8:50am
Brandon says:

Allan Turner, you missed National Teasure 2? Damn, you missed a good movie.

I like this short, but watching the YouTube quality doesn’t do it justice. It really is a short that must be viewed on a big screen to see the hidden jokes.

My only gripe is the cartoon is way too short. It reall should have been 7 minutes. Damn budget cutbacks…

09/25/08  9:13am
Daryl T says:

That was awesome!!! Everything I hoped for. I love it.

09/25/08  9:28am
Lippy says:

I was thoroughly IMPRESSED. I didn’t think anybody knew how to do these “non-ironic” bits of entertainment anymore.

Congratulations, team.

09/25/08  9:43am
Kyle says:

Beautifully done. I’m a film student and total sound geek, but this animation handled the idea of a technology overload wonderfully without being patronising. And of course, it moves, sounds and looks just great.

09/25/08  9:45am
Kyle says:

Also, I’m curious to know if this animation was mixed in surround at all.

09/25/08  10:05am
Fred Cline says:

Yes! I’d like to see more like this. Very impressive work by everyone involved.

09/25/08  10:14am

Brilliant.

But… I can’t help to view this wonderful short through the lens of the ongoing economic meltdown. Sorry, the tiger can’t hide its stripes ;-)

09/25/08  10:23am
Mr. Semaj says:

I hope they make cartoons featuring Disney’s classic characters. Somebody has to keep the theatrical short tradition alive.

09/25/08  10:55am
Splag says:

Brillant! It would be great if they (Disney) created a new character to front some new shorts instead of playing it safe with established Disney characters.

09/25/08  10:59am
Keith Paynter says:

So glad to finally see this, and nice to see the touches of classic Goof in the short such as the march from “How To Play Football”, and the classic opening and closing images that made kids and adults alike smile for decades, which would be adopted by Pixar for “Prest-o!”

Disney should follow the Pixar example, and continue to make full-motion 2D shorts to open their family features.

09/25/08  11:51am

I just love how he gets rid of the pictures of Walt to make way for the speaker.

09/25/08  12:05pm

I was thoroughly excited when I heard about this. As far as I know, direct-to-video/DVD movies aside, Disney seems to be the ONLY animation studio who can bring back their old characters with the same breath of style and personalities that made them so loveable - Mickey Mouseworks and House Of Mouse are prime examples - while at the same time improving them slightly without the need for pop-culture references or fart jokes. Not like WB’s various fouls ups with keeping Looney Tunes alive - Larry Doyle anyone?

And I can tell you, when NT2 came out in the UK, I was miffed beyond miffed when this short didn’t come before it! But thanks to YT, I got my wish. Loved every minute of it, even right down to the classic narrator, who also played the same role for the above Disney shows. I only wish more people like John Lasseter could take charge of WB, guys who know, love and especially appreciate the characters we grew up with :)

09/25/08  12:49pm
Killroy McFate says:

Great fun. Honors the spirit of the old Kinney shorts, feels contemporary without being pandering. Kinda like…well, Pixar.

09/25/08  12:54pm
Sam Filstrup says:

I remember seeing this in the theater I almost flipped out of my chair I had no idea this was in production. Not being alive during the Golden Age never getting to see the old Disney and Warner cartoons on the screen was always a craving I had. It was almost like getting a taste of what it was like in the old days. I can’t wait to see more of this.

09/25/08  1:07pm

That one joke where Goofy was handed out all of these equpitment at the store was as realistic as possible, mentioning cable terms such as “HDMI”. I wonder if they did research on home theater systems.

I think outsourced U.S.-produced television animation (mostly TV-Y and TV-Y7 in US ratings) should learn from this joke, when using technology, even if technology changes fast. Most video games don’t use beeps and bloops or other synth sound effects anymore. Most pinball machines don’t go ding-a-ling anymore. New computers don’t use CRT screens or are plain white anymore.

Allthough Calvin and Hobbes creator Bill Watterson says that out-of-date stuff is funnier when he commented on a Sunday comic in an exhibit reprint book, it’s just ain’t funny anymore.

09/25/08  1:08pm

and to countine my comment…when I meant not funny anymore, I mean most of today’s TV animation’s out-of-date technology, even if cartoons aren’t real.

I didn’t mean the Goofy short embeded on this post.

09/25/08  4:54pm
udx says:

I wanna email Disney and let them know that I will approve of their revival of the classic 6-minute shorts that they did since the 1930s. Man this was funny.

09/25/08  6:41pm
Brian says:

While I really really loved this cartoon, I think I’m not the person who should be commenting on it here. Instead, I yield the rest of my time to my 10-year-old self:

YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYY!

09/25/08  7:39pm
Bugsmer says:

That was fantastic. It exceeded my expectations. Somehow, top modern animators were able to capture the magic and humour of the old Kinney shorts. They did an excellent job.

09/25/08  7:53pm

I made a special trip to the theater to see this, and thoroughly enjoyed it… then left before National Treasure 2 started!

09/26/08  4:55am

That Disney-Lasseter reference was real subtle…

09/26/08  7:43am

Did anyone else think that fish in the scene with the speakers being “installed” looked a lot like the fish from Pinocchio? Surely another subtle reference.

Anyway, to reinstate what everyone has pretty much said: I loved it, and want, no…NEED more new shorts like this. This is the Disney I fell in love with.

09/26/08  10:22am
Emilie says:

I had the privilege to attend a conference given by Andreas Deja last Monday. Everybody was amazed and hypnotized by him talking about animation, the 9 Old Men and his career. Thanks for sharing the short! I was so much looking forward to see Deja’s latest masterpiece! (And I can’t believe the animation credits in there… the dream team!)

Pure joy! I’m happy for a while now :)

09/26/08  1:27pm
Adam says:

As gorgeous and enjoyable this was to watch, I can’t help feel a lack of a subtle nature might have hampered this somewhat. I know it’s nit-picking, but I think Goofy speaking was somewhat detrimental (only slightly, mind). But yeah: more please!

09/27/08  9:57pm
Graeme says:

Now, that is someone who knows how to make a video look good on YouTube!.

It was YouTube! And looked incredible.

09/28/08  3:29am

That was quite good, and true to the original how-to guides starring Goofy. It reminds me of Mickey Mouseworks, the short-lived but outstanding revival of the Mickey Mouse cartoon shorts.

09/28/08  9:49am
Alex says:

Mildly amusing.
No problem with that, quite a lot of money and talent to invest on just ‘mildly amusing’ though.

09/30/08  7:33am

Its fun to watch.

10/1/08  10:48am
Stefan says:

unfortunately, Youtube removed it today. )-;

10/3/08  7:28am

That was pretty damn good, and featuring two subjects which are incredibly close to me as well (animation and AV).

10/7/08  12:47am
Dan says:

As good as any of the Goofy shorts. I never cared for the misc. characters in Goofy shorts, but the animation is spot on and fun to watch! Awesome job!

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