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Cast: Thomas Ian Nicholas, Jon Heder, David Henrie, Jodie Sweetin
The inspiring, heartwarming biographical film chronicles Walt Disney’s early years and his career leading up to his visionary creation of Mickey Mouse.
"Walt before Mickey" Tells the story of Walt Disney, it begins when Walt is only seven years old and he already had the animation bug. The story spans the early years of Walt's career from 1919 to 1929. During that time Walt opens his first animation studio, Laugh-O-Gram. One thing that always rings true is there is always going to be failure before success and Walt had his fair share of Failures before finally creating Mickey Mouse and the rest is history.
Based off the book of the same name by Timothy Susanin and a forward by Diane Disney Miller. The story really shows Walt's struggles as he attempted to get his animation business off the ground. Most of his animators early on not only quit on him once for not being able to pay them but they quit twice. And then there was Charles Mintz, the owner of the biggest animated company at the time and his shady dealings with Walt that finally hit a boiling point.
But everything wasn't bad, during those early years Walt had the pleasure to work with Ub Iwerks who stuck by his side through all the bad times. Ub went on to become the greatest animator in history. And then there is Walt's lovely wife whom he met when she came in for a job interview. Lillian Disney stuck beside Walt during those times of struggle and the two remained together for 41 years. And last but not least was Walt's brother Roy who suffered from TB but later went on to become chairman of the Walt Disney Company until 1971. The two had a bound in a harsh industry that lasted all their lives.
"Walt Before Mickey" is an entertaining and engaging film but it is not without some flaws. First some of the acting wasn't all that great and secondly the film felt like a made for television production rather than a theatrical film. But there were more good things in the film than not so good and I really enjoyed the story. Thomas Ian Nicholas(American Pie) gave an excellent performance as Walt and Jon Heder was also very good as his brother Roy.
Everyone knows and loves Walt Disney and all the amazing films he gave us so if you are a fan and I believe you are I recommend checking out "Walt Before Mickey," you will be glad you did. Available now on DVD and VOD.
Released by Vision Films
*** 3/4 Out Of *****