Review: 'Mickey Mouse Clubhouse: Super Adventure!' lives up to its name

Posted Monday, December 2, 2013 at 3:24 PM Central

by John Couture

If you are a parent of a child whose age falls somewhere between 2 and 12, then I don't need to tell you about Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. I often quip that while my toddler tends to watch the same things over and over again, at least I'm lucky she's too young and missed the boat on some of the worst child entertainment imaginable like The Teletubbies and Barney.

Actually, I've had it pretty good all things considered. When we were kids, the only TV programming that we got was usually just the Saturday morning block of cartoons, with perhaps an occasional "after-school special" thrown in for fun. These days, kids are spoiled with not only about 10 channels specifically geared for them, but the advent of DVRs means that there are episodes waiting for them whenever they want.

Who am I kidding? This sort of entertainment at their fingertips mostly keeps our sanity in check as parents. However, with DVR storage limits and having to share the space with everyone else in the family, it's always good to have a nice collection of DVDs, just in case - not to mention to tie the little ones over during long road trips.

It is with this in mind that I relished the opportunity to sit down with our little one and review the DVD for Mickey Mouse Clubhouse: Super Adventure! together. Now, while I'm an adoring proud parent who thinks that his daughter is well-adjusted and mature beyond her years, I won't force you to read her garbled baby-esque reviews. But suffice to say, she gives the DVD two enthusiastic thumbs up and a pacifier for good measure.

Sierra is just getting into that stage where she will sit still and watch an hour or so of programming, so this DVD came to us at a wonderful time. It also doesn't hurt that she's in the middle of crazy Mickey/Minnie phase currently that led to a Minnie-themed birthday party this past weekend and many gifts baring Disney's iconic visages. Needless to say, Disney has fine-tuned their pitch to kids of all ages and my daughter is hooked. Not a day goes by where she doesn't request to watch Mickey.

Seeing her eyes light up when I presented the DVD to her was enough of a moment for me as a parent to give this DVD a glowing review sight unseen, but thankfully (and predictably) she wouldn't simply be satisfied with holding the DVD, she wanted to watch it. This also represented the first DVD opening that my daughter and I shared. Being two years old, she was absolutely fascinated by everything in the package, no matter how insignificant.

Given that we dabble in the packaged media business, it warmed my heart to see her get so excited about holding a DVD and discovering its contents for the first time. Along with the DVD, the film comes with a pack of Mickey and Friends collectible cards. She needed some help in opening them, but once she got them out, she proceeded to tell me all of their names, over and over and over and over again.

I know that for you non-parents out there this sounds like the most excruciating torture, but I promise that when it's your kid, they are the most precious words ever uttered in the English language. Shakespeare has nothing on my little one saying "Mickey!" or "Minnie!" or "Pruto!" (she still has some difficulty with her "l"s but we're working on it). This was also her first time taking in a lenticular design and like many things that we take for granted, she was blown away by it and laughed maniacally as I manipulated the image to go through its various states.

As for the film itself, there is nothing bigger these days than super heroes and it seems like everyone is getting into the act. It isn't enough that Disney owns Marvel and The Avengers, but they are also turning their existing characters into super hero teams too.

The good thing is that it completely works under the guise of the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse banner because imagination and a penchant for the mystery and make-believe make up the very foundation of Mickey's impressive little clubhouse. If you haven't seen the show, trust me when I say that it is very watchable as an adult, especially as someone who also grew up a big fan of Mickey and friends.

In this "feature-length" episode (still under an hour), Mickey and pals are turned into bonafide super heroes and must battle the new mouse on the block, Megamort, who is shrinking everything in sight. Needless to say, there are plenty of action sequences that look like they literally jumped right out of a comic book.

I won't spoil it for you, but if you've ever seen anything that Mickey Mouse is in, then I bet you have a pretty good idea how things turn out. For my daughter and I, we got two hours of fun and a memory that will at least last a week until the big thing catches her attention. But hey, at this age, I'll take a week.

The DVD also includes three other Mickey Mouse Clubhouse episodes "Aye, Aye, Captain Mickey!", "Mickey’s Mousekersize!" and "Mickey’s Little Parade." Thanks to the constant replay and recording on Disney Junior, we have seen this episodes at least a dozen times each, but that didn't stop us from watching them again.

All in all, there are far worst ways to spend a couple of hours with your kids and if you child is as big of a Mickey or Minnie fan as mine then it's well worth the investment. Mickey Mouse Clubhouse: Super Adventure! is available this week and would make a great stocking stuffer for the Mickey fan in your life.