"Hockey Homicide" is an American English-language cartoon from 1945, so this one is already over 70 years old, which means it is from the last year of World War II. It was made by the Kinneys and Dick Berg and this as well as the inclusion of voice talent Pinto Colvig means that here we have another Disney cartoon and this one is among the many films starring Goofy elaborating on certain situations or sports. When we say hockey here in Germany, we usually mean field hockey, so I was initially a bit surprised to see that the on-ice activity was meant. But my surprise quickly left and turned into laughter and admiration as this is definitely among the better, if not best, Goofy films. The scenes with the audience were maybe the funniest overall and it starts right away with the 2 viewers realizing they have the wrong teams on the sheet after their 100 corrections. But everything on the ice is really funny too, be it the poor referee, the 2 star players who constantly get penalized or the entire team taking place in the stands eventually watching the audience fight down there. Nice writing and narration too. How can you not love Goofy after seeing films like this one. I very much enjoyed the watch and I think from what I have seen this is the best cartoon / short film from 1945 and this means quite something as the year of course falls into Golden Age of Animation, a time that really had a lot to offer in terms of both quality and quantity. It really is a shame that the Academy never really cared for these Goofy cartoons. But we do as they have aged so well. Go see this one now.

The Goofy shorts of the 40's are the zaniest cartoons that Disney ever produced. The fact that this kind of zaniness came from Disney is striking, considering from all accounts he was against brash slapstick of the Warner Bros. or MGM sense.Most of Goofy's shorts from this time frame demonstrated, satirically, how to perform an activity, mostly playing a sport as described by an off screen narrator. In this short, the narrator explains to the audience how hockey is a spectator sport, but not in the context you would expect.Like any sport, with an audience of insanely devoted fans, the arena goes out of control. What makes this the craziest Disney short ever produced, is during the chaos, random clips of climatic scenes from previous Disney features and shorts are edited into the excitement (among them Monstro the Whale from Pinocchio). When watching this for the first time, I was reminded of the Pacers and Pistons basketball riot that took place in Detroit only the players didn't attack the fans in this short.If you thought Disney only produced soft and lighthearted adaptations of fairy tales, watch this short and you'll see that they could do a great range of genres.

Getting caught by surprise with Disney's wonderful Western spoof Goofy short Californy er Bust,I quickly decided to get out of the saddle,and join Goofy for a deadly round of hockey.The plot:Playing in a packed out stadium,hockey teams the Loose Leafs and the Ant Eaters get ready to play the game of their lives in the championship final.As the game reaches the half way point,the over excited crowd reveal that they are not going to allow the 2 teams to be the only people on the pitch,for what may be the most violent hockey game of all time.View on the film:For the animation in the movie,director Jack Kinney disappointingly relies to much on clearly reusing animation from Goofy's past short titles,which leads to the stylish "fresh" animation being snowed in by Kinney's recycled footage.Thankfully giving the film the burst of life that it richly deserves,Doodles Weaver delivers an electric performance as the movie's narrator,with Weaver making Bill Berg and Dick Kinney's screenplay move at an amazing pace,and also giving the film's ending a real shot of lightning.

This could possibly be the greatest cartoon ever made. The usual slapstick comedy found in Goofy cartoons is here combined with the talent of Doodles Weaver as the commentator of this insane hockey nightmare. Like many of Goofy's other outings this cartoon has some great ideas, but this time there is a quiet note of genius in them. You won't have laughed so much at a cartoon since you were a child