The Prince and the Pauper (1990) Reviews

I think that by this point Disney has reinterpreted just about every classic English tale one can think of. Typically in animated form with their most beloved and iconic characters in the leading roles. Case in point: "The Prince & the Pauper," a 1990 animated short in which Mickey and co. act out the well-known Mark Twain tale of a peasant and a royal trading places and seeing how the other half lives.

"Prince" is pretty solid from top to bottom, perhaps a bit too rushed and an ending that is too neat and tidy, but still the studio was only barely beginning to operate back at its peak form in the early 90s. What's most lasting and noteworthy about this film though is how somber, emotional and serious it can get. Often times the slapstick humor feels a little too forced and rammed in to balance out scenes like Mickey meeting late at night with the dying King or the prince discovering the gross amounts of misused power and poverty outside of his hermetically sealed world.

While it may not stack up with the best shorts that the studio has to offer like "Mickey and the Beanstalk" or "Three Little Pigs," it's still holds a place at least as equal to "Mr. Mouse Takes a Vacation" or "Brave Little Tailor." It's also probably one of the best shorts that the studio has put out in the past twenty-five years.