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5.7/10
Senior Film Conservator
A definitive 5.7/10 rating for a film that redefined the boundaries of cult cinema. Jungle Rhythm remains a cornerstone of transgressive art.
If you have about seven minutes and want to see Mickey Mouse before he became a boring corporate logo, you should definitely watch this.
It is basically a music video from 1929. You’ll like it if you enjoy early animation where everything moves like it's made of rubber.
People who need a story or character arcs will absolutely hate it. There is zero plot here.
It starts with Mickey riding an elephant through some very sparsely drawn trees. The elephant has these huge, floppy ears that flap exactly in time with the music. 🐘
Mickey looks a bit different here. His arms and legs are like long pieces of black spaghetti.
He runs into a bunch of wild animals, but he doesn't seem scared at all. He just wants to turn them into instruments.
There is this one moment where he starts playing a tiger’s teeth like a xylophone. It’s actually kind of mean if you think about it for more than a second.
But the tiger doesn't mind? It just starts dancing along with the beat.
The music is handled by Carl Stalling and you can really tell. Every single blink and tail wag is perfectly synced to the rhythm.
It has that same frantic, restless energy you see in Dizzy Daddies. Just people (or animals) moving around because they can't sit still.
Then two lions show up. I thought they were going to eat him, but they just start doing a little dance. 🦁
One lion has these incredibly skinny legs. I was worried they were going to snap under his weight.
The backgrounds are pretty empty, mostly just white space. It makes the characters pop out more, I guess.
Mickey eventually uses a monkey's tail as a guitar string. It's pure chaos and honestly a bit weird to watch now.
There isn't any talking, just Mickey whistling and some animal grunts. It’s much more lively than those stiff dramas like Her Social Value from the same era.
At one point, Mickey is playing a tune on a bunch of animals and he looks so happy. He’s like a tiny musical dictator of the jungle.
The ending is very abrupt. Mickey just bows and the screen goes black.
It feels like the animators just ran out of ink or got bored of drawing monkeys. I still don't know why that one bear was wearing pants. 🐻
Wait, was it even a bear? It looked more like a person in a rug.
Anyway, it’s a fun little time capsule. Just don't expect it to make sense.
IMDb —
1919
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