Jungle Rhythm (1929) User Reviews

Not a bad little musical.

[OllieSuave-007 · 7/10 · 13 March 2018]

This is not a bad little musical, with Mickey playing all sorts of instruments with a band of animals in the jungle. There's quite a bit of toe-tapping music, including the Blue Danube, Turkey in the Straw, Aloha 'Oe, and Yankee Doodle.

There's really not plot to the cartoon, just plenty of songs and dances.

Grade B-

These Are Pretty Much the Same

[Hitchcoc · 6/10 · 6 April 2018]

I would say that half or more of these early Mickey Mouse cartoons involve his turning animals and inanimate objects into musical instruments. Here he faces off with dangerous characters but subdues them with tunes. He also seems able to pull their whiskers or twist their bodies without consequences. This one is loaded with these clever manipulations and comes across pretty well. No plot. Just Mickey doing his thing.

Pretty old fashioned but oddly charming...

[planktonrules · 6/10 · 11 August 2010]

Inexplicably, this cartoon short finds Mickey in the jungle. And, like most of the early Mickey cartoons, there is an absence of dialog and lots of music. While today this all seems pretty campy, it was state of the art in its day.

For the most part, there really isn't any plot--just lots of jungle creatures parading past the screen--singing and dancing like they are on stage. Then, you get to hear Mickey sing--and it's pretty sad--but fortunately he mostly avoids singing and plays various animals like musical instruments--and abusing them a bit in the process.

Far from a classic, there is still an odd charm about this. And, interestingly, Mickey once again plays (among other songs) "Turkey in the Straw"--the same tune he played in "Steamboat Willie" the year before--which was the first cartoon with sound.

Everyone is dancing

[AnonymousbutDilpreet002 · 4/10 · 24 August 2020]

Tiger dances, monkeys dance, birds dance, mickey dances, and that's the whole story. Maybe it was good in its day, but its length might still be a problem. A film that features only music and dancing should not be long, but it keeps repeating it again and again to an extent that it becomes boring.

Dizzy Nature has been associated with . . .

[pixrox1 · 5/10 · 19 December 2021]

. . . animal misinformation and abuse since its inception, as JUNGLE RHYTHM provides further proof from the Early Days. This short-circuiting cartoon lumps together critters from at least three continents, apparently outside of any animal preserve or zoo setting. Malicious miscreant Mickey is lucky there are no zookeepers or game wardens around to perform a needed summary execution, as he abuses an elephant, a buzzard, a bear, a lion, some monkeys, a pair of ostriches a leopard cub and five cats, not to mention an endangered tree. If you love teaching your tykes to pull the wings off dragonflies, than JUNGLE RHYTHM is the film for your family.

Jungle jingle

[Horst_In_Translation · 4/10 · 27 August 2016]

"Jungle Rhythm" is a black-and-white short film from 1929, that is almost 90 years old already. The title of course requires that this 7-minute production by Walt Disney has sound and this is what it is mostly about: the music. We don't (really) hear Mickey Mouse speak yet and this one is still from the early days of the world's most famous mouse character. This is not the only film from back in the days that takes place at the jungle and has a cartoon character make music with the help of everything he can find there, especially the animals. Still i must say the music was not too good except one or two occasions and the story was basically non-existent which was a frequent problem in animation before the 1930s. The animation is okay and shows that Disney was among the very best the genre had to offer, also at this point already. But the other components were just too weak for me to recommend it. Thumbs down.

I personally did find Jungle Rhythm charming

[TheLittleSongbird · 8/10 · 11 September 2012]

By all means this is not Mickey's best, but is fun and charming still. Some of the backgrounds have a somewhat sparse and primitive look, and the cartoon is virtually plot-less with an abrupt ending. However, the character designs do flow well especially with the lion and also the jungle cat's cute facial expressions. The music is energetic and very catchy, it was nice to hear Turkey in the Straw again, and the dancing shows nifty choreography and flowing movement especially with the lion's hula dance. There are some fun gags, such as Mickey grabbing a branch off a tree and starting to play it like a saxophone and with the Monkeys. Mickey is very likable as ever, and the animals are colourful characters in their own right. Overall, a charming and amusing short if not one of Mickey's best. 8/10 Bethany Cox

Nice little musical short with essentially no plot

[llltdesq · 8/10 · 16 August 2014]

This is an early Disney cartoon featuring Mickey Mouse. There will be spoilers ahead:

The only thing even remotely giving the appearance of a "plot" is the indication early on that Mickey is on safari hunting big game, but that blows away with his weapon disintegrating on him first time out.

The cartoon turns musical shortly thereafter. While Mickey is trying to be nonchalant in a tight spot, a monkey starts playing a squeeze-box and off we go.

Everyone instantly starts getting along except for three monkeys who become music critics in a riff on the old "see no evil" bit. Mickey seems to find musical "instruments" in everyone and everything, from a tree limb to varied and various animal body parts, on occasion engendering anger along the way.

It's a fun ride which goes absolutely nowhere-and it's well worth the trip! This short can be found on the Mickey Mouse In Black and White, Volume Two Disney Treasures DVD set and is well worth tracking down. Recommended.

Mickey's Musical Menagerie

[Ron Oliver · 10/10 · 29 November 2002]

A Walt Disney MICKEY MOUSE Cartoon.

Mickey shows true JUNGLE RHYTHM in the wilds, making merry music using the bodies of various & sundry creatures.

This early black & white Mouse film is almost completely plotless, its action entirely driven by the soundtrack. Music mavens will recognize 'The Blue Danube,' 'Aloha Oe' & 'Yankee Doodle' among other tunes.

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.