Boobirt Stylish but barely mediocre overall

Manthast Absolutely amazing

Lollivan It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Brendon Jones It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

Michael_Elliott The Barnyard Battle (1929) *** 1/2 (out of 4) A war is about to break out so Mickey Mouse goes down to enlist. Once he gets approved he finds himself on the front lines going up against a large cat. THE BARNYARD BATTLE is one of the best of the early Mickey shorts as it contains some great animation, a wonderful score and plenty of funny action. The action mostly takes places on the battlefield where the animation really gets the shine because of all the stuff going on from mice running around to cannonballs flying. Another highlight happens towards the end when Mickey must get creative to knock off some of the bad guys (a trick used in an earlier Walt Disney film). If you're a fan of Mickey Mouse or animation from this era then THE BARNYARD BATTLE is certainly a classic and a must-see. The film runs a very quick seven minutes and there's really not a dry moment to be found.

Robert Reynolds This is an early Disney cartoon featuring Mickey Mouse. There will be spoilers ahead:There's a basic plot here of a battle between mice and cat armies, but it's just there as a framing device for visual gags. This is one of Ub Iwerks' best Mickey Mouse shorts. It's my opinion that Iwerks did a better job directing the Silly Symphonies than he did with Mickey Mouse cartoons, but he had his moments with Mickey as well.The visual moments here are many and Iwerks did some good to great animation here. The "physical" Mickey goes through when he goes through recruiting is priceless. The fact that the battle "flag" of the mouse army is a pair of bloomers is also a nice touch.There are interesting gags involving a cannon, Mickey firing a machine gun and the keys to a piano, but there are two somewhat longer bits which are the best parts of the short. Mickey has a standoff of sorts with Pete involving a pop gun and the slow burn by Pete coupled with Mickey mounting sense of discomfort and fear is beautifully done. Then there's the climax to the battle (to "The Anvil Chorus") is predictable but fun. Excellent cartoon.This short is available on the Mickey Mouse In Black and White, Volume Two Disney Treasures DVD set and is well worth tracking down. Recommended.

MartinHafer This was a well made but rather morally dubious cartoon from the early days of Mickey Mouse. Like most of these early films, they are in black and white and feature sound effects and occasional voices, but are (for the most part) like a silent film with added sound effects.The film begins with Mickey and his fellow mice all running to volunteer for a war against the....well,...whatever those other Pete-like characters are supposed to be. Oddly, the mice all dance to "Dixie" and wear Confederate-style uniforms while the enemy wore helmets that looked like WWI Germans. Why they were fighting is uncertain but it sure looked fun...and very violent. For 1929, this played pretty well but today it felt a bit unsavory--with the allusions to the South and the way it portrayed war as great fun! It's probably a film you best watch with and explain to your younger kids, but as an adult I enjoyed and appreciated the artistry of the film--Disney Studios was miles ahead of the competition in quality.

Coolguy-7 In this short, Mickey Mouse plays a soldier whose farm is being attacked by an army of cats led by Pete (who else?). I believe that this short is supposed to take place during WWI, which ended 11 years before it came out. In fact this cartoon was at one time banned in Germany because the Germans thought that the helmets the cats wore were insulting to German national dignity. One thing that was interesting was that all the soldiers looked like Mickey. This usually happens in the Goofy shorts (where all the characters seem to look like Goofy).