Mouse on the Mayflower

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! Let’s review their only Thanksgiving special with The Mouse on the Mayflower.

A church mouse tells the story of his many great grandfathers, Willum as a mouse POV of the Travel on the Mayflower Voyage. They travel from Plymouth Harbor to America.

The crew of pilgrims is including Miles Standish, an old lady named Miss Charity Blake (voiced by June Foray in her Granny voice.), Captain William Bradford (voiced by Paul Frees) and the focus couples of Pricilla Mullins and John Alden.

Eventually, they made it to America, and they’ll meet the natives in human and mice to live in for years.  

There are some trouble makers on the Mayflower, but they’re not worth the footnote. No connection to the deleted scene that only exists in the VHS of Disney’s Ben and Me. This is the only Thanksgiving special Rankin Bass ever did, at least fully.

“Ugh, eggs! I couldn’t eat another bite. I’m stuff for the guild.”

-Father voiced by Paul Frees at a Thanksgiving Dinner in Here Comes Peter Cottontail.

Why it was the only Thanksgiving Special may be obvious, aside from part of the reasons the Pilgrim left to begin with. Unlike Christmas Special, there aren’t many angles to Thanksgiving. There are the Mayflowers, the parade that’s usually for action scenes that would lead to Christmas (as seen in Spiderman Movie, Jackie Chan Adventure, and some horror film), a turkey as long Free Birds is erase from history than their plot, a family dinner, or half to all the above. There has been many Thanksgiving special that that fits the example with Mighty Morphin Power Rangers as Storybook Rangers part 2, The Simpsons or South Park (thrice or quadice), Bobby’s World, Hey Arnold, That 70’s Show, Charlie Brown, Casper, Popeye, Looney Tunes, Animaniacs, and Land of Oz.

“His friend is a talking pie!”

-Ron Howard in Simpsons.

 There’s a rare exception with Planes, Trains, and Automobiles and maybe Berestain Bears.

The narrator and singer is Tennessee Ernie Ford, the singer of Sixteen Ton. So what do you get? You get a dignified narrator and half strong music that help the film, but only half of it. The other half is mostly padding usually the romantic part. Though I swear they used the same choir in Daydreamer.

The animation this time isn’t Mushi Studio, but it’s done by Toei. Yes, the company that made most of the anime, Kamen Rider, and Super Sentai to be as Power Rangers. It looks good and different that stands out from the other specials. Toei has done other Rankin Bass projects such as The Wacky World of Mother Goose, Smokey the Bear show, and King Kong animated series. However, because of creative difference and other complicated detail, this was the last project Rankin Bass did with Toei. The designs of the humans are distinct, more than 3 of the characters that stand out; Pricilla, Willum, and Miles Stanton. It’s funny how Miles went from a stern commander to crazy on hunting turkeys and otherwise of meat and fish.

“Be gone pest, and give me the bird!”

-Miles Stanton voiced by Maurice LaMarche.

“We love to really, but the Fox censors won’t allow us.”

-Yakko Warner voiced by Rob Paulsen.

Yes, I’m aware that CR, a former Channel Awesome member did a review of Top 9 Thanksgiving Cornucopia Review recently including this film. If you haven’t, check it out.

This is nice Thanksgiving special. It can drag in places, the visual quality hasn’t been remaster yet, and the native Americans may rub some people the wrong. It’s an interesting Thanksgiving film to dig up, as long you don’t see what happens after the first Thanksgiving. Enjoy your feast, avoid shopping at Black Friday for your safety, and have a Happy Thanksgiving Day! Stay tune for The Last Unicorn.