Horst in Translation ([email protected])
"The Hockey Champ" is an American 7-minute cartoon from 1939, so this one is from the year WWII began and almost 80 years old, maybe even older depending on when you read this review. If the names King and Nash don't make it obvious to you already that here we have another Disney cartoon, then the moment you see Donald really should. The first minute is about his figure skating talent, but the moment the nephews enter the picture, it quickly all becomes about hockey and for European audiences I maybe should say "ice hockey". The most baffling thing is how talented the usually clumsy and incompetent Donald really is on the ice here. Who'd have guessed. The rest is basically about the three boys annoying and pranking their uncle, but there is never really any fun or wit in terms of the comedy to be found in here. It may be as fast as you think from the title, but yeah well I did not find it entertaining at all. The animation is of course as good (maybe even better) as you'd expect from that era of cartoon filmmaking and that makes it the short film's best aspect. Shame. I normally love the Donald/nephews cartoons a lot more than this one. Even during the days of Christmas/winter, it is only a mediocre watch, perhaps because the nephews are bullies here really. Donald may be a showoff, but that justifies none of their actions. I cannot even recommend it to the big Donald Duck fans (they've seen it already anyway I suppose), as I am one of this group too and I didn't like it. My suggestion is to skip this one. Not recommended.
ccthemovieman-1
Donald Duck is out by himself, skating on his pond having a good time when his three little kids come racing out onto the surface, ready to play hockey. Donald is arrogant and tells the kids they know nothing about the game, they he will have to show them. He takes them on: one and against three, and kills them. He hams it up so bad it's embarrassing - the ultimate showoff. He rubs it in afterward, too. The kids are not happy. Donald then offers to play the kids again, this time blindfolded. That turns out to be a mistake as they beat him around like a hockey puck. This animated short is really for little kids, and no one else. The humor might make them laugh a lot but I doubt older kids and adults wound find much funny. I know I didn't.
Shawn Watson
I'm always partial to the Disney cartoons set in winter with the quaint Victorian looks to the countryside and enchanting atmosphere (such as 1935s 'On Ice'). It looks brilliant here in this cartoon and I'm pleased to say it's one of the more inventive and clever Donald Duck shorts.This time round the irritable duck is skating around on a frozen lake when his nephews appear for a game of hockey. He shows off to them his hockey trophy (kept in his jacket) and brags about how he's the best hockey player in the world. As you can guess already, he gets too big for his boots (err...webbed feet) and Huey, Duey and Louie play no end of tricks on him.If only he would keep his big mouth shut once in a while huh?
Ron Oliver
A Walt Disney DONALD DUCK Cartoon.Donald, THE HOCKEY CHAMP of Duck Swamp, gets himself into trouble when he brags of his prowess on the ice to his Nephews.This enjoyable little film boasts fine animation & a funny storyline. Early on, Donald does an impression of Norwegian skating queen Sonja Henie, a big movie star at the time, even replicating her trademark tiptoe ice dancing. Clarence "Ducky" Nash supplies the unique voices of Donald & the Nephews.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 always pay off.
