Mickey, Donald, Goofy: The Three Musketeers

Mickey · Donald · Goofy: The Three Musketeers
Directed by	Donovan Cook
Written by	David M. Evans Evan Spiliotopoulos
Starring	Wayne Allwine Tony Anselmo Bill Farmer Russi Taylor Tress MacNeille Jim Cummings John Fiedler Ken Sansom Jon Walmsley Rhys Williams Charlie Adler Jess Harnell Candi Milo Rob Paulsen Jeff Bennett Maurice LaMarche
Music by	Alan Menken Stephen Schwartz
Cinematography	Paul Finn
Editing by	H. Lee Peterson
Distributed by	Buena Vista Home Entertainment
Release date(s)	August 17, 2004 (2004-08-17)
Running time	68 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

Mickey · Donald · Goofy: The Three Musketeers (also known as simply The Three Musketeers) is a direct-to-video animated film adaptation of the novel The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas, père. As the title suggests, it features Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and Goofy as the three musketeers. This film was directed by Donovan Cook, produced by DisneyToon Studios, and released directly to VHS and DVD on August 17, 2004, by Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment.

Plot

Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Goofy, and Mickey's dog Pluto are street urchins, who, while being robbed by masked bandits (played by the Beagle Boys) and are saved by the Royal Musketeers, Athos, Aramis, Porthos and d'Artagnan. Afterward, Athos gives his hat to Mickey as a souvenir. The urchins are inspired to be great musketeers some day. Years later, the three are working as janitors in the palace, still dreaming of becoming musketeers, despite their flaws: Donald is a "coward" (who turns into a chicken whenever he is frightened), Goofy is a "doofus", and Mickey is "just too small", according to Captain Pete of the Royal Musketeers. This leaves the three downhearted.

Meanwhile, Minnie Mouse, princess of France, and her lady-in-waiting, Daisy Duck, are in a palace discussing Minnie's obsession with finding her "one true love". Daisy says that she must marry someone who is of royal blood, and Minnie insists that she cannot marry someone she does not love. Minnie says she will know that he is "the one" when he makes her laugh. Minnie then takes a walk in the palace garden and barely escapes with her life when the Beagle Boys attempt to drop a safe on her.

The Beagles run to tell their boss, Captain Pete, that they were not successful in dropping the safe on Minnie. Pete gets upset, because the assignment was to kidnap the princess and keep her "safe" before the opera The Pirates of Penzance, which is when he plans to take over the kingdom. (This is accompanied by a running gag: whenever Pete says "...before the opera" or "...at the opera"or "...the opera's tomorrow night", a poster of the opera is shown, and an operatic voice sings.) Just then, Pete's lieutenant, Clarabelle Cow, tells Pete that Princess Minnie requests his presence. Pete goes to the princess, who tells him that she wants musketeer bodyguards. Pete, knowing that skilled musketeers would jeopardize his kidnap plans, appoints Mickey, Donald, and Goofy to protect her.

While Minnie and Daisy, protected by Mickey, Donald, and Goofy, go on a journey, they are ambushed by the Beagle Boys. Donald hides and is eventually thrown off the carriage, and Goofy is easily defeated, leaving Mickey to fight the intruders. Mickey is also defeated, leaving the three heroes stranded. Mickey encourages his friends not to lose hope and they rush to rescue Minnie and Daisy. At the entrance to a tall tower, Goofy tells his fellow musketeers to stand back so he can break down the door, but Mickey opens it before he can stop, which sends Goofy rolling past the Beagle Boys and out of the tower. Outside, Goofy bounces off a tree, gets kicked by a cow and is thrown by a windmill back into the tower, and goes rolling past the Beagle Boys again. When Mickey and Goofy are trapped with the Beagle Boys, Goofy gets the idea to do the same thing again with Mickey and they manage to knock the Beagles out of the tower and rescue Minnie and Daisy. After Mickey unties Minnie and makes her laugh, the two fall in love. Pete is furious that the Beagle Boys failed in their task and realizes that the three protagonists are more of a threat than he originally anticipated. While on night duty, Goofy is lured away from the palace by Clarabelle. The Beagle Boys capture Donald, but he escapes. Donald discovers that Pete is actually trying to kidnap Minnie and rule France. He tells Mickey Pete's true personality and leaves him by himself. Mickey is then captured by Pete, who chains him up in a dungeon in Mont Saint-Michel that will flood when the tide comes in.

Meanwhile, Clarabelle is about to throw a chained up Goofy to his death off a bridge. Goofy flirts with her, and wins her heart with his "numbskull charm". She pulls him up and they kiss. The two plummet towards the river, but land on Donald's boat safely. Goofy tries to convince Donald that they have to save Mickey but he is too scared to try. An insulting song by Troubadour, however, makes him change his mind and Donald decides to rescue Mickey before he drowns and they manage to rescue their friend. Outside the Paris Opéra, Minnie is captured by the Beagle Boys. The smallest one poses as her, announcing to the public that she is handing the crown over to a gleeful Pete. Mickey, Donald, and Goofy arrive and battle Pete onstage, finally defeating him and saving the Princess. Mickey and Minnie finally declare their love for one another, as do the others. Mickey, Donald and Goofy are dubbed royal musketeers.

Reception

Mickey, Donald, Goofy: The Three Musketeers received generally negative reviews from critics, earning a 33% approval rating from review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes. John J. Pucclo of DVDTown.com stated in his review, "The whole thing feels like an old Disney short subject than the full length movie it's advertised to be."

Soundtrack

1. "All For One and One For All (The Galop from "Orpheus in the Underworld")" – Troubadour (Rob Paulsen) and the Musketeers
2. "Love So Lovely ("Dance of the Reed Flutes" from The Nutcracker, and "Romeo and Juliet Overture")" – Troubadour (Rob Paulsen)
3. "Petey's King of France ("In the Hall of the Mountain King")" – Peg Leg Pete (Jim Cummings)
4. "Sweet Wings of Love ("Blue Danube") – Troubadour (Rob Paulsen)
5. "Chains of Love ("Habanera" from Carmen)" – Goofy and Clarabelle (Bill Farmer and April Winchell)
6. "This Is The End (Beethoven's "Symphony No. 5")" – Troubadour (Rob Paulsen)
7. "L'Opera (excerpts from "The Pirates of Penzance")" – Ensemble
8. "All For One (reprise)" – The Musketeers (with Mickey, Donald and Goofy)

External links

• Mickey, Donald, Goofy: The Three Musketeers
• Mickey, Donald, Goofy: The Three Musketeers at the Internet Movie Database
• Mickey, Donald, Goofy: The Three Musketeers at the Big Cartoon DataBase