Puzzle & Sling: Boredom Killers

Anika Price's LCAD Experimental Animation Senior thesis film.

L'enfant au grelot

Grand-Jacques the postman watches a mysterious wicker basket slowly float down from the sky and discovers a baby holding a small bell, and the adventure starts.

Patate Et Le Jardin Potager

Straight Shooters

Donald runs a shooting gallery. His nephews come by and he offers them a free shot, but when the first one hits all the targets, the notoriously cheap Donald switches a cheap prize for the correct one. He then gives the other two boys gimmicked guns; the last one is empty, but the targets break anyway because one boy is hitting them from behind. Donald chases them off; they use the mystic's booth next door to get revenge.

Symphony Hour

Mickey guest-directs a radio orchestra. The sponsor loves the rehearsal, but come the actual performance, Goofy drops all the instruments under an elevator, so they sound like toys. The sponsor hates it, but the audience loves it anyway.

Teachers Are People

As the narrator explains, educating children is one of the most important things today and the heroic man who takes on this role is "the school teacher" (Goofy, naturally). After taking role call, Goofy tries to teach the class but keeps having to deal with a mischievous trouble-maker named George who enjoys sneaking out of class to go fishing, eating the teacher's apple, squeaking chalk, making faces while teacher gives a geography lesson, and terrorizing the other students with his water pistol. In the end, George's mischief goes too far when he destroys the school with an exploding bomb and is forced to write "I will not bomb the school again" 100 times!

Tennis Racquet

Two Goofys play a tennis match in typical Goofy style. The announcer sometimes has trouble following the action. The groundskeeper seems to always be present, trimming the grass, filling in holes (in one case with a tree), and delivering the oversized trophy.

Test Pilot Donald

Donald flies his model airplane into Chip 'n Dale's tree. Dale climbs in and proceeds to cause trouble.

Wide Open Spaces

Donald is travelling the countryside and decides to rest for the night. He refuses to stay at the motel because of its $16 fee so he sets up camp in a woodland area. First he has problems blowing up the air mattress, then by a troublesome boulder, and finally after the air mattress is blown up, it deflates sending Don riding through the air back to the motel where it is presumed he changed his mind and slept there for the night and must pay the $16.

Winter

In the last of the Silly Symphonies season cycle, bears hibernate (or try to), raccoons sneeze, moose swim, and pretty much everyone ice skates. Everyone gathers around the groundhog to see what happens.

Winter Storage

It's October 7th and Chip is working industriously to store enough acorns in the tree for the winter. Dale would rather sleep in his matchbox, but an angry kick from Chip gets him working furiously. But there's only so much they can do. Their tree is nearly out of acorns. Luckily, the two semi-intelligible chipmunks happen to see the half-unintelligible Donald Duck, a park ranger, planting acorns. They immediately set to steal his bag of the precious nuts. Donald soon realizes what they are up to, and sets out a box propped up with a stick. It's a crude trap, with an acorn as bait; but it's not too crude to fool Dale, who upsets it and traps Chip. Soon, Donald finds he can have fun instigating a fight between these two quarrelsome chipmunks, but he underestimates their friendship and their ability to work as a team against a common enemy: in this case, a bad-tempered duck.

Ye Olden Days

The princess is to wed the Prince against her wishes. When she refuses, the king locks her in the tower. Minstrel Mickey sees her and rescues her, making a rope from the clothes of lady-in-waiting Clarabell. The king spots them and prepares to chop off Mickey's head until Minnie intercedes. The king calls for a joust. Mickey wins and they live happily ever after.

Hatch Up Your Troubles

A baby woodpecker mistakes Jerry for his mother. The mouse rejects the newly hatched bird but soon finds himself protecting it against his feline nemesis, Tom.

Découpages

A young man enters a mysterious house and witnesses surreal images including a wolf man, a man in a fast vehicle speeding through the halls, and an insane surgeon who severs people's limbs.

The 2000 Year Old Man

When Carl Reiner and Mel Brooks stepped onstage for the first time to perform their now-legendary skit "The 2000 Year Old Man," they turned live comedy on its head with their irreverent, cutting-edge humor. Done in animated style, catch the dynamic duo riffing on everything from Robin Hood to Saran Wrap in this crowd-pleasing performance as straight-man Reiner interviews a centuries-old Brooks, who shares his wickedly funny musings and opinions with the usual aplomb.

The Hockey Champ

Donald shows his nephews the moves that won him his hockey trophy. But the boys have a few moves of their own.

Mr. Mouse Takes a Trip

Mickey is heading out on vacation from Burbank to Pomona, taking the train. The conductor, Pete, won't let him on with Pluto, so he hides Pluto in his suitcase, and tries to hide him all throughout the trip without much luck. But Pete wins when Pluto is hooked by a mail hook. Or does he?

No Hunting

Donald is inspired by the spirit of his forefathers to take up a gun and go hunting for his food.

No Sail

Donald and Goofy rent a sailboat. This boat is a bit unusual: to rent it, you put a nickel in a slot, and the mast and sail pop up. Unfortunately, after a while, they pop back down. When Donald runs out of nickels, they are marooned. Goofy waves his shirt at a passing cruise ship, but they (and he) mistake this for a friendly greeting. A flying fish lands in the boat; while the boys fight over it, a gull grabs it. They try to bash the gull, which lands atop their heads, with predictable results. Finally, as the sharks circle, they try fishing, with Donald as the unwitting bait. He eventually lands back in the boat, where his bill lands in the coin slot and gives them a way home.

No Smoking

Goofy (again playing George Geef) is a nicotine addict to the extreme. He smokes while doing income tax, before going to bed, after waking up in the morning, and at work. Finally, he decides to quit. He soon learns it's not as easy as that and everywhere he looks, he is tempted to start again until he finally cracks. He runs everywhere yelling, "Smoke! Smoke! Smoke!" but with no luck. Finally, he asks a man for a cigar and the man gladly gives him one...an exploding cigar which finally has Goofy vowing, "I quit!".