News broke recently that Mickey Mouse, the leader of the club that’s made for you and me, will be getting a makeover. Y? Because he needs one!
The flagship Disney character turns 81 this month, and although he still doesn’t look a day over …. um, however old he’s supposed to be …. it’s not his look so much as his personality that will be updated. Disney execs told the New York Times that the venerable, good-as-gold Mickey will be rebranded with a bit more attitude and spunk to help him stay interesting to new generations of tech-savvy kids.
The re-invention of Mickey will be a long process, but the first glimpse of his new personality will come in “Epic Mickey,” a video game to be released in 2010 for the Wii. He’ll still have the red shorts, yellow shoes, and inexplicable white gloves, as well as his spirit of adventure and enthusiasm. But gamers who take on the character of Mickey will also have freedom to make him a little more spicy and cunning, even (dare we say?) naughty.
Some say this will only take Mickey back to his roots. When he debuted in the 1928 “Steamboat Willie” short, he was a high-spirited prankster, something like Bart Simpson. Only later was he shaped into the sweet and earnest “little fellow trying to do the best he could,” as Walt Disney himself described his most famous creation.
Personally, I think it’s about time. I know the world is full of die-hard Mickey fans, but I’ve always found him totally boring. Bugs Bunny, as leader of the Warner Bros. stable of characters, is much funnier. And Kermit the Frog leads the Muppets with infinitely more style and charm than Mickey could ever muster. I can’t wait to meet the new Mouse.
What do you think? Is Disney taking a risk in messing with a sacred character, or does the world need a more modern Mickey?
Comments
Kayla
November 9th, 2009 - 1:13:14 PM
Interesting point. This Mickey WILL be a lot funnier than the old one. Perhaps even able to compete with Bugs. Reactions seem mixed, though. http://www.newsy.com/videos/mickey_gets_a_makeover