I am very much in support of short films getting into cinemas, even if it mostly occurs either as part of festivals, or as large studio projects which accompany a main feature film; so it is cheering how many people would have seen this short film ahead of the film Frozen – albeit as they would have seen it as a free cartoon rather than having their eyes opened to the world of short film as a form. Anyway, this short opens in the frame size and animation style of the 1930's cartoons, with a simple scene of Mickey and Minnie Mouse heading out on their wagon, only for the "wave of the future" to come up behind them in the form of Peg-Leg Pete in his motor car, and start to make trouble.Watching this short without any knowledge of what it does is quite a lovely experience, because just as you start to accept the rather small square image in the middle of this larger screen, suddenly the 4th wall gets broken and we have action occurring within the theatre itself as well as back inside the 1930's cartoon. It is cleverly done so that the animation transitions between modern CGI style, and black & white drawings, as the characters move between the sides of the screen. I also enjoyed the way the screen itself moved and was affected by the action – I really am not interested in watching films in 3D, but it would have been fun to see what this played like if you were not expecting it.The action itself is a good lot of slapstick and, while I wasn't roaring with laughter throughout, I found it consistently amusing and fun, which is all I was really looking for. Perhaps understandably it won the Best Animated Short and, as much as I prefer that the big players do not dominate these smaller categories, I don't begrudge Get a Horse! because it is cleverly done, and delivered with a lot of energy and cheer.

I watched this short for the first time today when it was included as a bonus feature on my 'Frozen' DVD. At first it looked like an old black and white cartoon (reminiscent of 'Steamboat Willie') that barely filled my screen but when Pete throws Mickey and Minnie out of the screen in another world, it became more colourful and filled my screen.The use of hybrid animation here is the asset that surprised me the most. While the black and white animation was smooth with a classical look, the CGI animation looked cheap for Disney but was bright and colourful. I liked how the antics of the characters combined with those in the audience, such as a lady's nachos being knocked over and Mickey answering an iPhone. It was funny when Mickey and other characters spun the screen around to replay Pete getting electrocuted and falling onto a gardening tool etc and also when Pete chased the characters around the screen and the cinema, thus causing their animation styles to alter.All in all this is a funny cartoon with a decent use of hybridity albeit its cheap-looking CGI. 8/10.

Get a Horse! (2013) *** (out of 4) This winning short from Disney was originally released and played before the FROZEN feature. The story is quite simple and Mickey and Minnie are trying to battle Peg-Leg Pete who eventually throws Mickey off the "movie" and into the movie crowd. Once in the crowd Mickey has to use some imagination to try and rescue Minnie who is still in the movie. GET A HORSE! was rather remarkable to see on the big screen because it starts off in B&W just like the original Mickey Mouse shorts and I thought this was a great way to show younger kids a bit of the past. Once the characters start falling from the movie, Mickey then turns to color and he even makes the screen wider to fit today's movies. For the most part I thought this 6-minute short contained a lot of wonderful imagination and especially once the characters were off the screen and seeing how they could defeat the villain. There were a lot of great laughs throughout the picture and especially with some of the harmless violence that was in so many of the original cartoons.

. . . currently coupled with FROZEN, "GET A HORSE" is a winner in its own right. With its ever-quicker transitions from black & white old-style Stick Figurish type 'Toons to a full-color cartoon environment of more full-figured characters, this 5-minute, 56-second exercise in sophisticated animation not only keeps the viewer entranced, but also guessing what might happen next. Though the bullies in attendance may find Minnie's torture of Peg-Leg Pete beyond the pale, people of this ilk are the single American subgroup that currently is lucky to have even ONE leg left to stand on. Now that Disney has purchased the Marvel Comics movie money-making machine, it is no surprise to find an instance of cross-marketing here, as one of these retro characters is wearing a CAPTAIN AMER!CA T-shirt. However, product placement aside, this short tops messages to turn off your cell phone and ads to buy $40 worth of pop, candy, and popcorn at the concession stand any day of the week.