This review originally ran March 19, 2022, in conjunction with the film’s world premiere at SXSW.
It is easy, perhaps, to take Mickey Mouse for granted, both as an icon and a character. His image, as Disney parks fans will tell you, is everywhere: on the sides of buildings, in nooks and crannies, on t-shirts, in flower beds, up in the clouds.
Though omnipresent, Mickey has had a rich, tumultuous journey, on and off screen, and Jeff Malmberg’s new documentary “Mickey: The Story of a Mouse” takes viewers on a winding road through Mickey’s almost 100-year-old journey.
In 1928, a pioneering little critter manned a river steamboat in a charming little animated musical titled “Steamboat Willie” — the first of its kind to be set to sound.