This is a cartoon that features, in a rare move, all three of Disney's biggest stars: Mickey, Donald and Goofy. They work on a ship and each run into scores of mishaps. Mickey couldn't get his bucket of water to dump into the ocean; Donald's can't have a moment's peace during his lunch break; and Goofy is having trouble firing a cannon. Things get worse when they run into a whale that resembles Monstro from Pinocchio.It's a story full of slapstick comedy and misadventures. Good for laughs but I think it leaves you wishing that the three guys would get a break from all the misfortune once in a while. Even though this is labeled a Mickey Mouse cartoon, he doesn't have any dialog in the short and Donald and Goofy take more center stage in the plot. In addition, the animation is great and the voice talents of Clarence Nash and Pinto Colvig brought charm and uniqueness to the characters.Grade B

Like all the Mickey Mouse films of the late 1930s, this one featured absolutely stunning animation—the sort that set Disney apart from all its competition. Mickey, Donald and Goofy are wonderfully animated but the backgrounds are what really stood out for me—with its exquisite details and colors.This particular short features the trio involved in an especially politically incorrect job—whale hunting! I guess things were a lot different back then, as such behavior today would be seriously frowned on in a kids movie! Regardless, it's a lot of fun to see the three in action—in particular, Goofy. The Goof is up to his usual stupid hijinks and I found myself laughing out loud several times when he was trying to fire the harpoon gun. Overall, a lot of fun and well worth seeing.

Mickey, Donald and Goofy are whale hunters? How disgusting! But this was made back when Disney was non-PC. Which is really how it should have stayed if you don't mind me contradicting myself.Obviously, because of their clumsiness, they aren't actually going to kill any whale and you can bet your bottom dollar that their whaling ship ain't gonna be afloat by the end.In the usual hijinks Donald is tormented as seagulls eat his sandwiches and Goofy can't fire a harpoon to save himself (am I the only one who saw pretty strong phallic imagery with that cannon?) and Mickey does...nothing. Why is this even categorised as a Mickey cartoon? The bit inside the whale is cute, the rest never rises above adequacy.

A Walt Disney MICKEY MOUSE Cartoon.Mickey, Donald & Goofy go looking for the elusive leviathan.THE WHALERS is an excellent little film, with lots of laughs and topnotch animation propelling its plot. Outside of a hilarious sequence attempting to empty a bucketful of bilge, Mickey has very little to do. The Goof & the Duck dominate the proceedings - delightfully. Donald's frustrations with hungry seabirds and Goofy's ineptitude with the harpoon cannon are just two of their misadventures. Clarence Nash supplies Donald's unique voice.Walt Disney (1901-1966) was always intrigued by pictures & 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 comic 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 childlike simplicity of message and lots of hard work always pay off.