(The Disneycember logo is shown, before showing clips from The Prince and the Pauper)
Doug (vo): I've referenced this short a couple times, but never did a full-on review of it, and I really should, because truth be told, it's a very, very, very impressive short. If you were to show me any part of this, I would swear this was a feature-length film. The animation, the tone, the pacing, the epic scale, this has the feel of a traditional hand-drawn animated feature from Disney, and not just a little 25-minute short before The Rescuers Down Under. For years, everybody I knew didn't even know about it, because...well, not a lot of people saw The Rescuers Down Under. But now that Disney+ is around and it's showing a lot of shorts, this is definitely an impressive feat to check out.
Story[]
Doug (vo): The story goes pretty similar to the original, with, of course, a few Disney twists. England is ruled by a kind king, but when he falls ill, his captain of the guards, played appropriately by Pete, takes advantage of his illness and takes as many things as he wants from the good people, claiming it's all for the king. Mickey and his friends, Donald and Goofy, are peasants in the kingdom, but when they stumble into the castle, they see the prince...who, I just realized is only called Prince, they never gave him a name...looks exactly like him. Mickey, of course, yearns for the palace life and the prince yearns for a life of freedom, so they decide to switch places, seeing both the pros, but especially the cons of being in a different environment.
Review[]
Doug (vo): The idea of switching out the human characters with Mickey Mouse characters is not a bad one, as Mickey for this story is very likeable and is a decent lead. Obviously, Goofy and Donald are good side characters. And I just realized, did I say Donald was one of the peasants? I just put together this is one of the only times you see Mickey, Donald and Goofy, and they're not a trio. Donald is actually kept apart from them for most of the short, which is so uncommon. Like I said, I actually got that backwards. Well, that definitely works if both side characters have a lot of funny comedy, but you'd expect that from a Mickey, Donald and Goofy cartoon.
(Footage focusing on the backgrounds and the animation is shown)
Doug (vo): What you may not expect is how grand this short is. Look at these backgrounds, look at the time they take to really soak in the size and gigantic scale of these places. This reminds me of that old Mickey's Christmas Carol, they don't have a ton of time to tell a lot of the story, so they cram in a lot of information and a lot of character, but, man, they balance it out well. You really get a feel for all the characters, all the dilemmas, yet you never feel cheated by the environment, either. Like I said, they really take the time to have some grand moments of great music and beautiful backgrounds to really make this feel like a large story. This is probably the most ambitious Mickey Mouse short I've seen since Fantasia. This so easily could have been told half-assed, and I think everyone will be okay with it, "Yeah, Mickey Mouse, Prince and the Pauper, whatever. We'll take just a cute little short before the movie". But they go out of their way to make this especially cinematic.
(Footage focusing on the characters is shown)
Doug (vo): Part of why it probably works in such a short time span is that we are already familiar with these characters. You show us Mickey Mouse, we know his personality. You show us Goofy, we know his personality. The same with Pete and Donald and everyone else. They're very easy characters to understand and they're also very easy to enjoy. So when you do have to get to the more dramatic moments, like, say, the king dying or a group of people being oppressed, the emotions get across very quickly. But again, the backgrounds and the animation help fuel the emotion. I love when the prince hears that his father is dead. Just look at this animation here.
(A scene is shown, showing the Prince, still disguised as the pauper, hearing the news of the passing of the king)
Peasant: The king is dead and the prince is to be crowned at once!
(The Prince is stunned)
Prince: (quietly) Father.
(He sadly closes his eyes and walks away)
Doug (vo): That's all you need. They really work in a lot without having to cram in too much dialogue or exposition. It's so good, I do wish it was longer. Like, after that moment I mentioned with the king dying, I really want that sadness to take its time. Like, look at this background of Mickey just walking towards the window and staring out at the kingdom. That is so powerful, but it's only a few seconds. Imagine if you worked in a few minutes of that or maybe even a song here or some nice musical score or something. I feel like you could really do more with this. But I will admit, I saw this when I was a little kid, and I remember that moment being longer. Like I mentioned in other reviews, sometimes, time is askewed when you're younger. So just small fragments of really good artistry can go a long way. And like I said, these backgrounds and that music, it does tell a lot of the story, even when the dialogue can't.
(Footage focusing on the action scenes and comedic sequences is shown)
Doug (vo): It also does make time for the traditional sword fighting, and villains being evil and hanging out in their evil lairs, and slapstick comedy, good wordplay, all that fun stuff. I do feel bad it doesn't get more attention because, like I said, Rescuers Down Under didn't do very well, it showed before then. And when the movie came out, they didn't have the short show with it.
(Footage focusing on the theater-only intermission shown in between the short and The Rescuers Down Under is shown)
Doug (vo): In fact, somewhere on YouTube, you can actually find some lost media of The Prince and the Pauper saying, "Get ready to watch The Rescuers [Down Under], here's an intermission", which I remember seeing because we were one of the few families that actually went to see The Rescuers Down Under, and had a great time. That's another great bit of underrated animation.
Final thought[]
Doug (vo): I feel like shorts are kind of coming back a little bit. I think everyone figured with Pixar putting shorts before their movies, there's going to be a huge resurgence, and it's not huge, but it is there. Between YouTube having a lot of animated shorts and streaming services now starting to work in a lot more shorts, it's nice to see more people having an interest in seeking them out, because there really are a lot of great ones out there. Okay, I'm not going to pretend this is, like, a brilliant one or anything, but it is one of the most cinematic ones I've ever seen. It was released just at the beginning of the Disney Renaissance, and it has that look and feel, yet it's a production not a ton of people know about. So if you want a Mickey Mouse short that's animated great and feels big and epic and funny and adventurous, then...okay, after you see Sorcerer's Apprentice, check this one out. It may not be seen as a classic yet, but maybe if we get enough people looking at it, it will in the future.
(The final scene, showing everyone celebrating the prince's coronation as king, is shown)