Day 4: Baked in a Pie…
October 4, 2022
Dear Disney,
When both of our children were younger, they loved Mickey Mouse, specifically Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. So, when Darling and I watched the 2017 “The Scariest Story Ever: A Mickey Mouse Halloween Spooktacular”, we were unprepared.
“The Scariest Story Ever” is a Halloween special of the most recent Mickey Mouse series. The most recent rendition of Mickey Mouse is both nostalgic and modern. The art style is modern, akin to more mature-themed cartoons like Ren and Stimpy, and that is not a bad thing. The opening title card was reminiscent of the older Disney shorts. We loved each of those small touches.
The story is that after trick-or-treating, Mickey, Donald, and Goofy bring Donald’s Nephews, Huey, Duey, and Luey, and Mickey’s nephew’s, Mordy and Ferdy, back to Mickey’s house so that Mickey can tell the “scariest story ever”. Mickey attempts to tell two stories and fails to tell the scariest story. Finally, after seeing how candy-filled and spoiled the kids are, Mickey, fueled with anger, tells a story in which 5 children get trapped by a witch and get baked into pies. This story scares, not only the kids, but Goofy and Donald as well. Everyone, but Mickey, hid under blankets. Then, Mickey hears his doorbell, opens the door, only to be greeted by a witch with a pie. This scares Mickey and he hides with everyone else. The show cuts back to the witch on the doorstep who happens to be Minnie and Daisy.
As I stated earlier, we had never seen this special before. We had never seen any of the new Mickey Mouse shorts before. I was both astonished and amazed at how risqué the cartoon was. There were moments of body horror that made Darling and I shudder with disgust and horror. This short did exactly what it needed to do for a Halloween special.
Some of the things I noticed were also charming and allowed the part of my brain that likes to say “I know where that is from” to come right out in the open. Since we watched “Trick or Treat” yesterday, it was great to see Huey, Duey, and Luey’s costumes being the same in this Halloween special as they were in 1952. In one of the scenes where we were able to see Mickey’s living room there was a bust that can also be found in Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion ride.
We really liked this special. It is enjoyable to watch Disney shorts and features that we have not watched in a long time or have never watched. This experience, these 31 days of Halloween, makes me feel good and excited for the future.
Sincerely,
Jim Dear and Darling
