Mouse Madness

CROSSOVER SPECIAL! 

It's been well over a month since Mouse Madness ended, and I still can't believe that The Emperor's New Groove was the overall winner!  By all accounts, it doesn't make sense!  ...or does it?    

In this special episode, we're joined by Micah Hirsh from The Emperor's New Podcast to discuss the movie's success, critical re-evaluation, and legacy in celebration of the film's 20th anniversary.  We talk about the film, the spinoff TV show, the production, the actors, and just about anything we can related to this movie.  Feel free to leave any opinions about the movie down in the comments below.  Once again, thank you for joining us on this incredible tournament!  I'm IrishHuskie, and I'll see you when I feel like it!

Happy 20th Anniversary Emperor's New Groove

Original Airdate: November 4, 2020 

Well folks, this is it!  Mouse Madness is officially over, and the honor of the most popular Disney movie of all time (given our small sample size) has been handed out!  To celebrate this monumental occasion, we here at the Mouse Madness podcast decided to list off our Top 10 favorite Disney movies, restricting ourselves to the 58 films in the Disney Animated Canon (sorry, Cinderella 3: Twist in Time).  

As mentioned in this very podcast, I'll be uploading a more detailed version of my list some time in the near future, hopefully before Christmas.  Also, be on the lookout for a brief stats episode regarding the tournament's progression.  I'm a stats nerd, what can I say?  Thank you so much to everyone who's been a part of this.  Even if you only showed up for one podcast, or if your only contribution was voting, none of this would have been possible without your help.  I can't tell you how grateful I am to get this kind of turnout for the final matchup (149 votes!).  

Stay tuned in January when we begin our next tournament, PIXAR Panic!  Which follows the same format as Mouse Madness, but with the PIXAR movies instead.  It'll be hosted by Wes, one of the podcast's regulars and the only one to be present for every Mouse Madness recording.  We're starting in January so that we don't exclude "Soul," which I'm really looking forward to!  Once again, thank you everyone for making this show possible!  

P.S. For context for the last 30 seconds, Carrick told us that if a certain film won the tournament, he would eat a bag of chips on stream.  It ended up winning, so yeah.  Chips.

Original Airdate: October 28, 2020

IMPORTANT:  VOTE ON EITHER STRAWPOLL OR TWITTER, BUT NOT BOTH!  ONE OR THE OTHER!  Ladies and gentlemen, this is it.  The moment you've all been waiting for: the final round of Mouse Madness!  58 movies entered, two remain, but only one will go home as the ultimate champion.  Who will take home the gold?  Llama or lion? Meme or masterpiece? Which Disney film will take home the title of the objectively most popular Disney movie ever made?  We discuss which one we think will win, which one we think deserves to win, and which one Carrick should vote for.  And you can vote too!  Use the Strawpoll links below to place your picks for the championship round.  I've also included a link for the Final Four losers' bracket, Aladdin vs. Fantasia.  The winner of that poll will earn the bronze medal for the tournament.  You have until Sunday, November 1 at 5 PM EST to vote.  This is for all the marbles, so make sure you're absolutely certain of your decisions.  Good luck, and happy voting!

Strawpolls 

The Emperor's New Groove vs. The Lion King: https://strawpoll.com/9zzyv34ac

Aladdin vs. Fantasia: https://strawpoll.com/q82f5qeef

Original Airdate: October 21, 2020 

Ladies, gentlemen, and everybody in between!  We're approaching the endgame here!  We've only got two more rounds to go before Mouse Madness officially ends, and we determine which Disney Animated film is objectively the best (in the public's opinion)!  

We've already talked about all of these movies at length several times throughout this tournament, so I won't repeat myself here.  All I can say is that the Final Four selection is about as ideal as I could have imagined.  That doesn't mean that these are my favorite Disney movies (in fact, none of them are in my top 10), but it does mean that I'm having a hard time thinking of a better representation of Disney animation as a whole.  We've got an old-school masterpiece with "Fantasia," perhaps the company's most ambitious artistic endeavor and often considered to be Walt's magnum opus.  We've got "The Lion King," which was a mega blockbuster in 1994 and was the final step in re-establishing Disney's prominence as a pop culture icon.  We've got "The Emperor's New Groove," which shows Disney's ability to take risks with new styles and genres, taking the company in a direction it hadn't really been before.  And then we've got "Aladdin," which is the only thing I'd change for the perfect Final Four.  It basically did what "The Lion King" would do just a couple years later but even more so.  Looking at the other films in Class C, the obvious replacement would be either "Frozen" or "Zootopia," because they represent Disney's greatest successes after making the shift to 3-D animation.  Plus, they're just better movies than "Aladdin." #sorrynotsorry 

The matchups for the semifinals are as follows: we've got the Class A champion "The Emperor's New Groove" going up against the Class B champion "Fantasia."  Then we have the Class C champion "Aladdin" facing off against the Class D champion "The Lion King."  Voting ends on Sunday, October 25 at 5 PM EST.  I'd really like to see a large turnout for these final movies, so if you know anyone who loves Disney movies, feel free to link them to the polls.  Good luck, and happy voting!

Original Airdate: October 12, 2020 

Disney movies are masters of emotions.  They'll make you laugh, they'll make you cry, they'll make you ponder the meaning of life.  But for the purposes of this podcast, they can also mentally scar you for life!  Here, we talk about certain elements of Disney movies (and Disney properties in general) that scared us as children and still send shivers down our spines to this day!  So join us if you dare, as we embark on the Mouse Madness Halloween Special!! MWA HA HA HA HA!!!

Also, the Final Four are The Emperor's New Groove (#9 Class A), Fantasia (#1 Class B), Aladdin (#2 Class C), and The Lion King (#1 Class D).

Original Airdate: October 8, 2020

In the beginning, there were 58 movies.  58 films that had the wonderful honor of being part of the Disney Animated Canon.  58 wonderful feature-length motion pictures of varying style, tone, and quality.  But about four-and-a-half months ago, these films decided to answer the centuries-old question: which Disney film is truly the best?  Which one stands above the rest as the pinnacle of Disney's feature-length animated projects?  So to answer this eternal mystery, they entered a single-elimination bracket-style tournament, and for each matchup they allowed the people to vote on which one was objectively superior (in their opinion).  This has been an ongoing process for many months now, and as of now, a whopping 50 Disney movies have taken the walk of shame, because they know deep down that they can never be the best.  But even though 50 have been eliminated, there are still a few films left vying for that incredible honor.  These films will continue to be judged on popular opinion for at least one more round, and will continue to fight to be named the greatest Disney Animated film of all time.  They are: the Elite Eight!  As always, voting ends on Sunday at 5 PM EST.  Links to the strawpolls can be found at the bottom of the description.  Happy voting!

Matchups: 

Mulan vs. The Emperor's New Groove

Fantasia vs. Cinderella 

Aladdin vs. The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh 

The Lion King vs. Lilo and Stitch

Original Airdate: September 21, 2020

Welcome back to Mouse Madness!  This week I'm joined by Wesley, Carrick, and Jackson once again to discuss the remaining films in the Sweet Sixteen.  We're getting closer and closer to the championship rounds.  Which films will move on to compete for the title of the objectively best Disney animated film, and which ones will go home after a long, hard-fought but ultimately fruitless effort?  That's for you to decide!  As always, links to the polls are at the bottom of the description, and as always, you have until this Sunday, 5 PM EST to make your decisions.  Happy voting, and I'll see you all in the Elite Eight!

This Week's Matchups: 

Pinocchio vs. The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh 

Zootopia vs. Aladdin 

The Lion King vs. Tarzan 

Hercules vs. Lilo and Stitch

Original Airdate: September 15, 2020

Welcome back to Mouse Madness, everyone!  I hope you enjoyed the hiatus as much as I did, but alas, we still have quite a bit of the tournament left.  In this podcast, I and several regulars discuss the first set of matchups in the Sweet Sixteen; specifically, the ones from Class A and Class B.  We talk about which Renaissance-era Disney Princess is truly the best, whether The Emperor's New Groove will continue its streak of dominance, and why you shouldn't bother with the new Mulan remake!

This Week's Matchups: 

Moana vs. The Emperor's New Groove

The Little Mermaid vs. Mulan

Fantasia vs. 101 Dalmatians 

Cinderella vs. Dumbo

Original Airdate: August 31, 2020 

While the host is on vacation, the results of Class 2D are disclosed. Plus information on the Final Four prediction contest. 

Original Airdate: August 24, 2020

It's the final podcast for Round 2!  In one week's time, we'll have officially determined the entire Sweet Sixteen!  Join us as we discuss lions battling for their rightful place as king, an evil queen damning a child to death because she wasn't invited to a party, a young deer losing his mother before jump-cutting to a light-hearted springtime frolic, and of course, racism!  

There are a couple of housekeeping items that I would like to discuss.  First thing's first, I've decided to restart the Final Four Prediction Contest starting next week, after this week's films have been voted on.  The reason for this is that I've barely gotten any responses from anyone the first time I tried it, and I believe part of that may have been because people were waiting for more films to be eliminated before making their choices.  I can respect that, but I feel that also takes the fun out of it.  Nevertheless, I will reopen the contest upon the release of next week's video, and I will accept submissions until the start of Round 3.  

This brings me to the second housekeeping item: there will be no official podcast release next week.  Part of this is because I want to give some time between Round 2 and Round 3, but mostly it's because I'll be very busy dealing with personal matters, especially this weekend.  Without going into detail, there are certain aspects of my career that I need to be on top of, and I've been slacking off for way too long already.  I'll still release a video next week, but it'll a short one where I reveal the results of this week's matchups, and I'll go into a bit more detail about the future of this tournament and the Final Four contest.

This Week's Matchups: 

Lion King vs. Hunchback of Notre Dame

Tarzan vs. Peter Pan

Sleeping Beauty vs. Hercules 

Bambi vs. Lilo and Stitch