Disney's House of Mouse

I'm a father of 3 children aged 7, 4 and 2. Most of what they watch on tv either comes from Disney or Noggin - basically because my wife and I feel it's 'safe'.



They've watched the House of Mouse many times - it's a fun show, one of their favorites. Then we sat down and watched Episode 13 of Season 2 - "Dennis the Duck." This episode has a neat premise: it shows the old black and white cartoons from Walt's early years. One of the characters from the old b/w's is Dennis the Duck. I believe he is an early version of Donald.



In this episode, Dennis tries to make Donald laugh. After several attempts, Dennis becomes very sad and goes into the storage area underneath the theater (if you watch the show, you'll know what I mean). Once there, he decides that his life is not liveable and takes a large pencil (an old prop) and tries to erase himself. Donald finds him in the process and tries to stop him.



I truly could not believe this was a Disney show - a children's show - advocating suicide as a solution to being sad. It's aimed at ages 4-7. I googled the episode trying to see if anyone else was as outraged as I was. Nothing. So - here I am writing this review in an attempt to caution and warn parents about its content.



The House of Mouse is a great series. However, this one episode makes me wonder what the writers were thinking. Makes me wonder even more that this passed by the many people working on the show from animators to the executives. Walt would never have let this episode air. Someone's asleep at the wheel.

The Dennis the Duck episode, which I’d seen today for the first time, was a great one! The two cartoons shown were black-and-white classics from before I was born. It’s nice to see that House of Mouse shows cartoons ranging from Walt Disney’s days, all the way up to just recently created. The first cartoon shown was pretty good, but I loved the second one, which featured a black-and-white Mickey, Minnie, and Mortimer Mouse. The storyline of the show was a good one as well, with Donald once again trying to make amends after his temper gets the best of him.