Mickey's career starting to recede by the late 1930's as more well rounded cartoon personalities became more popular with audiences. Disney started to focus more on feature films during that time as well, which led to less remarkable cartoon shorts. Donald's cartoons quickly became formulaic, while the Pluto and Goofy shorts were the best source for comedy. Yet, the Mickey cartoons still had the remarkable charm as they always did. One memorable aspect of this short, is that this is one of the few shorts in the 1940's that features Mickey's original supporting characters from his early career, Horace Horsecollar, Clarabelle Cow, and Clara Cluck. Not counting the remake of ORPHAN'S BENEFIT (released a few months earlier), this is sort of a reunion of all of Mickey's regular supporting cast (although Pluto is conspicuously absent). Ken Muse and Riley Thompson do a terrific performance of animating Mickey doing a solo dance number. True to the classic Mickey-Donald-Goofy setup, there's intercutting comic situations involving Donald dancing with Clara and Goofy baking a cake and having troubles with an oven with a mind of its own (I wonder if Volcanic Heat was an actual oven setting in those days; it made for a hilarious gag). The latin beat that the party goers dance to is likely a subtle nod to the Good Neighbor policy that Disney had a hand in while this short was in production.Donald may have been a box office draw for Disney in the 1940's and 50's, but Mickey is the legacy for the cartoon shorts. This is a quintessential Mickey at his best.

Feeling a bit low that no one has really done anything for his birthday, Mickey is overjoyed to find that Donald, Minnie and a group of other friends have set a surprise party for him at his house! Now, all it needs is for Goofy to finish that cake.Although I'm not a fan of this period of Disney I did enjoy this short. Usually when I see the wholesome comedy of Disney I begin to yearn for the slightly cleverer WB cartoons of Bugs et al. However this film does what it does well and didn't make me wish it were anything else.The central scene of the short is the party, where Mickey and guests dance with Minnie continually breaking away to check Goofy's progress with the cake. Each time she checks him, he has just managed to destroy his most recent effort. While it isn't exactly cutting edge humour (even then) it has energy to it that makes it seem funnier. The ongoing dance feeds into Goofy's movements in the kitchen and makes it all feel joined up.Overall this isn't the height of comedy and isn't consistently laugh out loud funny. However it has rhythm and is fun to watch and well worth a 5 minute slot of your time.

A Walt Disney MICKEY MOUSE Cartoon.Minnie gets help from Donald Duck, Goofy, Clarabelle Cow, Horace Horsecollar & Clara Cluck to make MICKEY'S BIRTHDAY PARTY a big success.Lots of fun in this little film, with much amusement derived from watching Madame Cluck nearly dance the feathers off Donald and seeing hapless Goofy turned loose in Minnie's kitchen. Also of interest is enjoying Horace, Clarabelle & the formidable Clara in their virtual swan song performances. Subsequently, Clara would make only the most fleeting of curtain calls 41 years later in MICKEY'S CHRISTMAS CAROL (1983), while it would be another 48 years until Clarabelle & Horace had substantial roles again, in THE PRINCE AND THE PAUPER (1990). Blame must regrettably be laid at Disney's door for allowing these talented thespians to be forcibly retired from the screen. Clarence Nash & Florence Gill provide the unique voices for the Duck & the Cluck. For the record, Mickey turned 14 in November of 1942, the year this cartoon was released.Walt Disney (1901-1966) was always intrigued by drawings. As a lad in Marceline, Missouri, he sketched farm animals on scraps of paper; later, as an ambulance driver in France during the First World War, he drew figures on the sides of his vehicle. Back in Kansas City, along with artist Ub Iwerks, Walt developed a primitive animation studio that provided animated commercials and tiny cartoons for the local movie theaters. Always the innovator, his ALICE IN CARTOONLAND series broke ground in placing a live figure in a cartoon universe. Business reversals sent Disney & Iwerks to Hollywood in 1923, where Walt's older brother Roy became his lifelong business manager & counselor. When a mildly successful series with Oswald The Lucky Rabbit was snatched away by the distributor, the character of Mickey Mouse sprung into Walt's imagination, ensuring Disney's immortality. The happy arrival of sound technology made Mickey's screen debut, STEAMBOAT WILLIE (1928), a tremendous audience success with its use of synchronized music. The SILLY SYMPHONIES soon appeared, and Walt's growing crew of marvelously talented animators were quickly conquering new territory with full color, illusions of depth and radical advancements in personality development, an arena in which Walt's genius was unbeatable. Mickey's feisty, naughty behavior had captured millions of fans, but he was soon to be joined by other animated companions: temperamental Donald Duck, intellectually-challenged Goofy and energetic Pluto. All this was in preparation for Walt's grandest dream - feature length animated films. Against a blizzard of doomsayers, Walt persevered and over the next decades delighted children of all ages with the adventures of Snow White, Pinocchio, Dumbo, Bambi & Peter Pan. Walt never forgot that his fortunes were all started by a mouse, or that simplicity of message and lots of hard work will always pay off.

This short is aptly titled: it is a birthday party for Mickey. Disney released much more interesting and engaging shorts than this, but it is quite a collection of the majority of significant characters in Disney shorts and is at least worth seeing on that score. The animation, as is typical, is excellent. Worth seeing at least once.