Watch Mickey Mouse Save The Day In Disney Channel's New Animated Short Series

Croissant de Triomphe on Disney Video

The mouse is back in the house! Or he will be soon enough. For decades, Mickey Mouse has served as the face of all things Disney. In terms of his presence as a cartoon character, he's a bit overshadowed by so many other film and television animated humans, animals and the like. It looks like Disney Channel's looking to remedy that with a series of 19 cartoon shorts that showcase the iconic mouse, beginning this summer.

Disney Channels Worldwide president and chief creative officer Gary Marsh had this to say, on the new series:

"By bringing Mickey's comedic adventures to life with vitality, humor, inventiveness and charm, the entire Disney Television Animation team of artists, animators and directors have worked to capture the essence of what Walt Disney himself created 85 years ago."

Along with the announcement about this new short-form series of 2D comedy cartoons, Disney offered us a sample of the Mickey Mouse series with a preview, which features Mickey and Minnie in Paris. Minnie is in desperate need of croissants and Mickey comes to her rescue, which takes him on an exciting and funny adventure through Paris as he tries to deliver the baked goods to her.

What I love about the preview episode is that it captures the timeless quality of the lead character and the other supporting roles, setting Mickey in an adventure that doesn't even require an English word spoken in order to be followed and enjoyed by people of all ages. It's not attempting to redefine Mickey or his relationships with his friends, nor is it really attempting to update him in any way, beyond the look of the animation, which is a good thing. As I said, Mickey's iconic. He's been the cartoon face of all things Disney for decades, and he holds a special place in the hearts of Disney lovers across the globe for that reason. He doesn't need an elaborate origin story or personal conflict in order to be relevant or of interest to today's audience. He just has to be charming, funny and friendly. The preview captures those qualities perfectly, working some other Disney characters and references into the story in the process.

The animation does appear to be altered from traditional 2D animated Mickey cartoons (like Fantasia for example), which may appeal to younger audiences and the animation style they're used to from other cartoons. If you thought the series looked a little familiar, you might be a Dexter's Laboratory or Powerpuff Girls fan. A few of the people involved with this series have one or both of those cartoons among their credits. Mickey Mouse is executive produced and directed by award-winning wrist and director Paul Rudish. Aaron Springer and Clay Morrow are also directors, while Joseph Holt serves as the art director.

The preview uses Paris as the backdrop, but we can expect to see Mickey in a variety of settings for future shorts, including Santa Monica, New York, Beijing, Tokyo, Venice and the Alps. We should also look forward to other silly circumstances and physical and visual gags, not to mention appearances from Mickey's pals, including Minnie, Donald Duck, Daisy Duck, Goofy and Pluto.

The 19 cartoon shorts for Mickey Mouse officially begin rolling out Friday, June 28 on Disney Channel.

Kelly West
Assistant Managing Editor

Kelly joined CinemaBlend as a freelance TV news writer in 2006 and went on to serve as the site’s TV Editor before moving over to other roles on the site. At present, she’s an Assistant Managing Editor who spends much of her time brainstorming and editing feature content on the site. She an expert in all things Harry Potter, books from a variety of genres (sci-fi, mystery, horror, YA, drama, romance -- anything with a great story and interesting characters.), watching Big Brother, frequently rewatching The Office, listening to Taylor Swift, and playing The Sims.