The Safari So Good Animals are characters featured in the Mickey Mouse short Safari, So Good.
Role in the series[]
At the beginning of the short, giraffes and zebras are seen grazing on a patch of grass just before they hear the sound of a bus whose engine was broken, leading Minnie worried that she would be stuck in the savanna. Mickey, however, tells Minnie to look for something majestic a pride of lions on a large rock formation where they disguise themselves as lions wearing fake manes made from leaves. However, a surprised Minnie notices that the bus is leaving without them, waking up the lions and causing them to react in shock. Having missed the bus, Minnie is worried that they will remain with the wild animals forever, which Mickey tells her that they can walk back to Arusha by thinking of all the animals they see in the savanna. Amongst the animals they see are a flock of flamingos flying around them, springboks pronking together, a giraffe walking by itself, and a herd of zebras.
As Mickey and Minnie are enjoying their moment in the savanna, they encounter a dik-dik about to be preyed on by a leopard, which Minnie grabs the antelope while the leopard hits its head on a rock, losing its teeth. Minnie then grabs a horn from a wildebeest, causing him to react in shock while Mickey uses a hippo's teeth as a xylophone. Mickey and Minnie then encounter three hyenas that are laughing and Mickey asks them about a joke about a one-legged hippo, which they don't find it funny as they make a bored reaction. Mickey takes a picture of Minnie standing next to Bobo and as Mickey suggests taking a picture of her with a mother elephant, she leaves in fright. Mickey and Minnie later drink water from a watering hole, causing the animals to react in surprise.
As Mickey and Minnie are on their way to Arusha, they find themselves riding on zebras, just before they crash into various animals (leopards, cheetahs, zebras, giraffes, lions), causing them to lose their distinguished appearances. Mickey and Minnie decide to replace the distinguished details by repainting them, causing them to react to their unusual colors. The tour guide arrives and tells Mickey that he was looking for them. Minnie tells him that she could literally stay in the savanna forever, causing the animals to react as they rush towards the tour bus. As the tour bus leaves, Mickey and Minnie arrive to the spot where the meerkats would be.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Some of Mickey and Minnie's interactions with the animals in the episode contain homages to The Lion King:
- When Mickey and Minnie go up to the lion's den resembling Pride Rock, they wear leafy manes like young Simba does in the "I Just Can't Wait to Be King" sequence.
- There was originally a gag where after the elephant is frightened by Minnie and Mickey, it would fall onto Simba, Timon, and Pumbaa from the beginning of the "Simba growing up" montage in "Hakuna Matata".
- The three hyenas' gray coloration are a possible reference to the standard designs of most hyenas from the Lion King franchise, such as Shenzi, Banzai, and Ed, Janja, Cheezi, Chungu, Jasiri, and many other hyena characters with a standard gray coloration.
- When Mickey and Minnie repaint the animals, one of the cheetahs is given the stripes and color scheme of the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland. Additionally, while not directly referencing specific figures, the patterns and spots painted on the other animals are inspired by some of the colorful animals found in "It's a Small World" at the Disney Parks.
- Mickey and Minnie using animals as musical instruments as in playing a wildebeest's horn or playing xylophone on a hippo's mouth is a reference to Steamboat Willie.
- Bobo the Elephant appears with one of the animals in the short, along with his mother.
- This episode marks the first time Bobo's mother has ever appeared in animation (she had originally debuted with her son in the 1935 Bobo the Elephant comic strip storyline).
