Original release date: May 30, 1936

Rating: TV-Y7 due to Mickey hijinks and “It may contain outdated cultural depictions.”

Length: nine magical minutes

Background: Since its 1936 release, “Thru the Mirror” has been one of the most revisited Mickey shorts.

Besides being rereleased about a dozen times on various Disney retail releases, “Thru the Mirror” has been referenced in numerous Disney video games. Most notably, “Disney’s Magical Mirror Starring Mickey Mouse” is based on the short. The hit game “Epic Mickey” also featured elements of the short in the beginning of one of the games.

Review:

We begin with Mickey sleeping well, having dozed off reading “Alice: Through the Looking Glass” and I assume imagining it would one day be a book worthy of Johnny Depp in crazy makeup.

Mickey’s spirit jumps out of him in dream land and goes through his bedroom mirror, discovering a similar bedroom but with living furniture. The footstool barks at him, the umbrella chases him, and the nutcracker… well, cracks nuts.

Mickey eats one of the nuts and grows to gigantic size before shrinking to miniscule, similar to the Alice story and movies. He gets to jump rope with a telephone – they once had cords, kids – and do a Fred Astaire-style dance with a tiny hat and a match.

Hijinks continue with Mickey marching with a deck of cards and playing a game of leapfrog with them. The animation is really fantastic in this short and the color – and HD upgrading – is shown off well.

Anyway, Mickey eventually decides to dance with the cards, doing a number with the Queen of Hearts. The King of Hearts does not appreciate it, jumping down and chasing Mickey with multiple swords. Mickey finds a tool of his own and a swordfight ensues, the King eventually calling all cards to chase Mickey. Not only does the deck he was dancing with chase him, but several other sets appear from throughout the room.

After trying to battle them, Mickey realizes he isn’t winning this fight and makes a run through the room back to the mirror. He gets into a fight with the globe before luckily growing back to size and jumping back through the mirror.

Sleeping Mickey, rejoined with his dreaming side, is woken up by an alarm clock, realizing it was all just a dream… much like that Nelly song from 2010.

I noticed no cultural depictions.

Extras:

Nothing.

Should you watch it?

There aren’t many shorts I’ll give a higher watch it recommendation for, as this one is a classic, looks fantastic thanks to some HD work, and is nine straight minutes of entertainment. There isn’t a dull moment.