"Hard to Swallow" is the third episode of The Wonderful World of Mickey Mouse.[1]
Synopsis
Mickey runs into trouble trying to make Pluto swallow a simple little pill.
Plot
Mickey is reminded why he circled this date when a flea bites his knee. His response is to eject his leg off his body and quickly regrows another. Only the best for Mickey’s pal Pluto with “Flea Gone,” which uses Walt Disney Script font for it’s packaging. It boasts a “New Flavor,” Mickey says that Pluto is going to love it. It turns out he doesn't. Mickey tries to trick Pluto into eating the medicinal treat, including karaoke and offering him a pancake buffet. While tempting Pluto, the table starts to spin, becoming a computer generated effect. Okay, technically the entire show is animated in a computer, but what I’m talking about is a three-dimensional computer generated object in a two-dimensional world, like some of the hybrid sequences employed during the Disney Animation renaissance. After wolfing everything down, Pluto coughs the Flea Gone back up and gets mad at Mickey. “Egads! How did that get in there? Those pancake people!” With Pluto losing Mickey’s trust, Mickey witnesses the flea that bit him earlier calling all his pals to come have a feast. His friends, by the way, are currently living on Goofy’s butt. He answers the phone and then holds it to his rear for the fleas to talk. Looks like Goofy could use some Flea Gone! This is a beautifully composed shot with Minnie Mouse and her dog Fifi on the wall because the next thing Mickey does is give her a call. At Minnie’s apartment. Mickey sees her feed Fifi her Flea Gone disguised inside a flower-shaped treat like the one on her pillbox hat. Then Pluto whispers something into Fifi’s ear and she ejects the Flea Gone, getting mad at Minnie, too! My favorite gag of this short is when Fifi holds the treat in her paw, which turns into an angry fist and she crushes it. Returning home defeated, the original flea uses a bugle horn to call all his friends. The sky in these shots appears to be live action time lapse footage of storm clouds, which makes for a great effect. With the fleas attacking Pluto, a medieval tower appears out of nowhere, which Mickey climbs to fight off some of the fleas. When the chomping bugs assemble into an oven, Mickey throws the treat into Pluto’s mouth, which bounces around like a basketball in a hoop for suspense before going in. Almost immediately, a huge explosion decemates all the fleas and leaves Pluto in a crater. So that’s how Flea Gone works!
Mickey and Pluto celebrate with some pancakes and a kiss. While Mickey and Pluto’s flea troubles are over for now, the short ends on a cliffhanger for Minnie and Fifi with the fleas assembling to form a giant monster.
Cast and Characters
- Chris Diamantopoulos as Mickey Mouse
- Bill Farmer as Pluto, Goofy, Fifi the Peke
- Kaitlyn Robrock as Minnie Mouse
- Paul Rudish as Fleas
Gallery
Trivia
- The Steamboat Willie steamboat makes a cameo as a picture on Mickey’s wall.
- You can also see cameos as a picture of Minnie from Springtime, the background from Carnaval, and Mickey's parents from Duck the Halls.
- When Pluto first appears, the theme from his pre-1947 cartoon shorts is played.
References
- ↑ "FULL LIST: EVERYTHING THAT’S COMING TO DISNEY+ IN NOVEMBER (US)". Disney Plus Informer. Retrieved on October 16, 2020.
