User Reviews

. . . of Hollywood History--an all-purpose song which is even more relevant Today than 87 years ago, when THE FLYING MOUSE was released. In this Our Modern 21st Century, when every square peg is trying desperately to pound itself into a round whole, the tale of a mouse that tries to fly is super timely. (As the fairy tells him, "Mice are not MEANT to fly!") Immediately shunned by all the birds and his own mouse family, the misguided wing-flapper eventually finds himself in a bat cave. Reacting to this wrong-headed rodent's incongruous bat wings, the ACTUAL vampirish nocturnal fliers launch into a rousing chorus of "You're nothing but a nothing, a nothing, a nothing--you're nothing but a nothing; you're not a thing at all!" If only this was mandatory listening for schools of Today and Tomorrow, there would be absolutely no need to construct expensive lavatories for each and every student!

If there was any doubt as to Walt Disney's role as the benevolent dictator of American Popular Culture, "The Flying Mouse" dispels it.

In it, our protagonist, a mouse dressed in a hat and waistcoat, fantasizes about being a bird and learning to fly. Apparently this occurs in the far future, where mice have mastered the arts of construction and tailory, but have not yet developed the glider.

The mouse rescues the Blue Fairy (who had apparently abandonned Pinnochio and Gepetto) from a futuristic, hideously deformed spider with a badly soiled derby hat.

As a reward, the fairy grants the mouse the gift of wings. However, these aren't nice, pretty bird wings, they are nasty evil looking bat wings. The local birds look down their nose at him, and his brethren mice think he is evil. Instead of using his wings to fly away from the podunk town he lives in to someplace that is perhaps more urbane about these things, the mouse falls in with some bats, who are, of course, evil, and soon the flying mouse regrets his decision to wish for wings.

I won't reveal the ending here, but the message of the film that seems to shine through is: Mistrust new things. Don't aspire to dreams which are above your station. Change is bad. And buy your #$%*$ "Mulan" videos! Messages which shine through in Disney films to this very day, no matter how hard they try to sugar-coat them.

This is a color short in the Silly Symphonies series produced by Disney studio. There will be spoilers ahead:

A little mouse who wants to fly like the birds does a good deed, thereby rescuing a good fairy. When granted a wish, he wishes to be able to fly. The fairy tries to dissuade him, saying mice were never meant to fly, but he's adamant that he wants to fly and so she gives him bat wings.

The middle of the short is where the little mouse learns that getting what you wish for isn't necessarily a good thing. This is a change in the essential nature of what he is, not merely "rising above his station". Had he asked to be faster or have keener eyesight, that's one thing. Neither would go against the essence of being a mouse.

Mice don't fly, they aren't designed to fly, they aren't birds or bats and they won't magically become either simply because they add wings to a mouse body. Wings can't make a mouse into a bird. This he learns the hard way. If a mouse wants to fly, he should take lessons in flying a plane.

Strong animation and well developed characterizations make this short memorable. This short is available on a number of DVDs and is well worth tracking down. Most recommended.

I remember seeing this short on the 2006 DVD of Dumbo. This and Elmer the Elephant. I believe they chose these two as on revolves around flying and the other elephants. But both revolve around misfits like Dumbo. But we're discussing The Flying Mouse here, and even at the young age of 10, the two shorts but especially The Flying Mouse hit close to home.

The Flying Mouse revolves around a young mouse who wants to fly like the birds. After several failed attempts that caused him to be laughed at by his brothers and spanked by his mother, the little mouse saves a butterfly who was about to be eaten by a spider. The butterfly reveals herself to be a fairy who offers him one wish, he wishes for wings and she grants it. But it doesn't turn out as well as he hoped.

Now the short really resonated with me even to this day as the character of the mouse was very relatable to me. He was shown to have dreams deemed impossible, he was different than the other kids, he embarrassed himself and was laughed at, he got in trouble without meaning to. But was also very kind. He just wanted to be loved and admired. He's very easy to feel for and identify with.

The whole short may seem like a simple cut and try story about a mouse who gets wings and flies but it's not. The overall theme I feel is about a mouse who simply just wants to be loved. And he feels that by having the wings, he'll get that from the birds and his family. But what happens is the birds stick up their beaks and shoo him from their young. The mouse's family thinks he's a monster and throw things at him. And when he runs away into a cave under a tree, bats find him and call him a nothin.

The poor little mouse tries to pull the wings off, the thing he thought would give him the love he craved only gave him pain. He tries to pull them off but they won't. And then the poor little mouse cries. Thinking to himself "What have I gotten myself into? I didn't mean for all this trouble. I just wanted to be loved." Which is one of the saddest moments as we all have a moment where we think we wanted something, only to be let down.

And then the fairy comes back asking him why he is crying. And he tells her that he's not a mouse, he's a nothin, and that he wishes that he was dead. Which is literally the saddest thing a child could say and think. And then the fairy tells him that he learned his lesson, and to be himself and do his best and that life will smile upon him. With the message being, don't be something you aren't, be the best you you can be, it might be tough for now, but what makes you different could be thing that will make you succeed in life. Which is wonderful message to give. Which was what the mouse really wished for all along.

And after giving the Fairy kisses on the hand, the little mouse runs back home to his mom. Who despite spanking him, still loves him and is happy to see him home safe and sound. The little mouse showers his mother with kisses while his brothers dance when they see him. They may have laughed at him but they still love him. This ending always makes me a crying mess. As it makes me think of my own mom and family, how we may have our moments where we get frustrated with each other, but no matter what we still love each other.

The Flying Mouse is sweet, touching and an extremely relatable short that even in the year 2021, years and years since 1934, still touches the heart. It's my favorite Disney short and I've seen lots of em, but this was the one that resonated with me the most, and if you haven't seen it yet, I can't recommend this short enough.

Go watch it!

This is a Disney cartoon short that's about a mouse who daydream about flying like a bird. He makes his first attempt to fly but putting on 2 leaves on his arms and then tries to fly. But his 3 mouse brothers laugh at him when he falls in the mud.

The boy mouse gets up and tries again on a rose but the wind blows him backwards and the boy mouse can't control himself and then his rear end gets poked by a tree thorn and falls into the tub as his mouse mother puts a dress on his mouse sister, getting both his mother and sister all wet, then shrinking his sisters dress.

The mouse is embarrassed by this and tries to run but his mother grabs him and whips his furry exposed rear end with his tail until his butt turns red and his mother let's him go, his 3 mouse brothers laugh at him again and the boy mouse is embarrassed, crying and walking away.

Then the boy mouse hears a butterfly crying for help from the spider and the mouse rescues the butterfly from the spider. But the butterfly turns out to be a fairy and grants him a wish, the boy mouse wants to fly so the fairy gave him bat wings and the boy mouse tires it out and flies. but gets rejected by everyone including the birds, his family and cave bats.

The mouse boy cries and the fairy appears asking him why he's crying. The boy mouse tells the fairy he's a nothing so the fairy makes his bat wings disappear and the boy mouse is excited and runs home to his mouse mother and 3 brothers. Where's his sister mouse I don't see her anywhere?

I find this short entertaining but I find it silly and cute that the boy mouse and his 3 mouse bothers wears a waistcoat, Mickey Mouse gloves and slippers but no pants. I find it embarrassing that the boy mouse gets his furry butt poked by the thorns and then getting his butt spanked by his mother, especially when he doesn't have any pants on. I don't think it was nice of his family and birds to reject his dream of flying, they should have treated him better and not get scared of him.

I wish there had been more of the cartoons featuring this unnamed mouse boy, although he and his mother are featured in Mickeys Polo Team.