Mickey's Mechanical House is an animated short originally featured in an episode of Mickey Mouse Works. It was later featured in the House of Mouse episode "House of Genius" as well as in Mickey's House of Villains.
Plot[]
This story for this cartoon is told in rhyme. Mickey's old house is ragged and broken all the time. He is fed up! So he finds a new house. It is brand new, just right for our mouse. It's all automatic from the tub to the phone, but Mickey finds out this house isn't home.
Synopsis[]
The episode begins at Mickey Mouse's house, but Mickey couldn't sleep because his house had several flaws: the roof creaked constantly, the wind rushed around, the pipes rattled when the boiler was turned on, and the shutters slammed open and shut repeatedly. Mickey comments that he can't last a second, so he goes to the bathroom to wash his face, but the water comes out of the drain rather than the spout. Mickey is outraged and chooses to move out. He packs his baggage and, along with Pluto, leaves the house, but not before locking the front door.
While passing past modern houses, Mickey and Pluto were drawn to one in particular. It was not a regular house, but rather an electronic house. The house's owner shows Mickey all of the designs, controls, and amenities, including folding furniture, a robot cook, and a vacuum machine that cleans even the smallest bit of dust. Mickey even asks the seller whether there is anything that creates noise, and the seller responds that he will not hear anything because the place is safe. Finally, Mickey signs the agreement and accepts the opportunity to live in his new home.
After settling in, Mickey decides to relax, and with a few button presses, he receives a snack tray, a recliner with mechanical hands that massage him, surround sound, and dimming lights. With a yawn, Mickey decides to take a bath before bedtime. The recliner transports him to the bathroom, where he gets an instant bath. It then takes him to his bedroom, where he was tucked in and read a bedtime story. Mickey, however, is unable to sleep because he is so amazed by all of the machines in the mechanical house. He decides not to sleep in the morning and goes out to play with the devices. When he tries to leave his room, the robot refused to let him stay awake because he needs to sleep, so he grabs Mickey by force and tries to put him to bed, but Mickey escapes.
Mickey's attempts to flee the robot are futile because the robot is always waiting for him when he leaves his room. Mickey sets up a trap for the robot in the kitchen, using a bucket of water to short it out. When the robot reaches the kitchen, where the trap was, Mickey pulls a rope, and a bucket of water falls on top of the robot, destroying it.
Unfortunately, the destruction of the robot had unfavorable effects. The circuits malfunctioned, and the food in the refrigerator flew out, splattering Mickey in the process. The recliner drags Mickey to the bathroom and bathes him against his will, leaving him covered in suds. Mickey flees and comes across the vacuum machine, which starts sucking everything around it. Mickey tries to battle it, but the recliner attacks from behind and begins to squeeze him, but he eventually overcomes it and tosses the chair at the remote, shattering it. The house was about to collapse, so Mickey went to fetch up Pluto. They safely exit, where they see how the house has been entirely destroyed. While pleased to be safe, Mickey and Pluto went down the street, saddened that they now have no place to live.
As soon as dawn broke, Mickey and Pluto returned to their old house. Although the former recognizes that it is not perfect and advises Pluto that they should stop there on a whim, he sleeps quietly in his bed, despite the house's noises, because he knows that his old house is ideal for him.
Characters[]
- Mickey Mouse
- Pluto
- Robot
- House Salesman
Voices[]
- Wayne Allwine as Mickey Mouse
- Jeff Bennett as Salesman
- John Cleese as Narrator
- Bill Farmer as Pluto
Trivia[]
- The robot in the cartoon is actually the same robot that was featured in "Mars and Beyond", an episode of the Disneyland show. The footage was later reused for an episode of Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color featuring Ludwig Von Drake called "Inside Outer Space". The robot would also appear in House of Mouse and its spin-off film Mickey's House of Villains.
- There have been cartoons in which we see Mickey in his underwear, but this is first time we see him wearing tighty whities.
- This is the only Mickey Mouse short to have a narrator.