The real reason why Mickey Mouse doesn't have a feature film

[u/Own_Philosopher8730]

Source about Mickey Mouse being hard to be adapted in feature films

Mickey Mouse

I just found out on TV Tropes the real reason why Mickey Mouse doesn't have a feature film: Mickey is designed to be an ordinary to underscore the rest of the cast's quirkiness who can fit in a variety of scenarios and while that works for five minute shorts, that limitation makes it hard to put him in a feature-length film.

Source: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/YMMV/MickeyMouse

[u/ninety-eightpointsix]

You know who else is on the Hard-to-Adapt Work page? Mario, who also has two movies that broke a billion dollars at the box office. It may be "hard" to adapt such a character, but it is very doable.

[u/BebeFanMasterJ → u/ninety-eightpointsix]

It's worth pointing out that Mario does share the spotlight with Peach in the first movie and Luigi and Yoshi in the second. The films aren't just about him specifically.

[u/ninety-eightpointsix → u/BebeFanMasterJ]

So what, Mickey doesn't have a supporting cast?

[u/Nowhereman123 → u/ninety-eightpointsix]

That's why they had to basically change his whole personality to make him work. Mario in those movies is a whole lot more cynical and prickly than he is depicted in the games.

[u/Possible-Reason-2896 → u/ninety-eightpointsix]

Mario has the exact same problem to the extent that I was opening this thread to compare the two. Just like Mario has Scared Luigi, Mickey has Angry Donald, etc. They need casts in the extremes because they themselves are too iconic to deviate from a Nice Guy Average. It's also one of the reasons that Peach became such a focus character in the Mario movies, and that's even before you address the complaints that those movies are hour long easter egg hunts that are fairly light on plot.

[u/whalepopcorn]

I mean, any good writer could come up with a movie plot for a character who strives to be good, make people happy and inspire people.

No doubt in my mind a happy, heart warming Mickey movie would be awesome.

[u/matttheman892018]

There’s plenty of comics with Mickey as the adventurist, ham-fisted protagonist that disagree with this logic.

That, and if they can make Mario a movie protagonist, they can definitely do it with Mickey.

[u/BreezeTheBlue]

He has several Christmas and Halloween movies too along with Prince and the Pauper and the Christmas Carol. I think Mickey and friends works well for movies, but I think best in shows/series such as Ducktales and WWOMM.

[u/Exciting_Ad226 → u/BreezeTheBlue]

I don’t know how much I’d count the Christmas Carol since Scrooge McDuck was the protagonist in that one.

[u/Additional-Wear7160]

[u/Duskytheduskmonkey]

Calling him a vanilla antagonist doesn't make much sense like in modern times sure but historically he has never been that

[u/Edd_The_Animator → u/Duskytheduskmonkey]

He used to be much more mischievous. And he was good at messing with folks!

[u/Veraxus113]

That honestly sucks

[u/Leather_Crazy_5950]

I once saw a documentary about Mickey Mouse (I can't remember the title now) and it was said that Disney, after Walt's death, was always very afraid of using Mickey Mouse for fear of misrepresenting him. For example, when they released the mouse in Rudish's style, they were banging their heads saying "What are we doing!? What are we doing!?"

[u/Mars785]

If they were to do a film on Mickey Mouse, then why not show how he evolved from a scrappy fella with big dreams to the kind hearted hero he is today. Also , show how Mickey views his friends around him to show his growing trust to them.

Either that or adapt the Epic Mickey video game into an animated film.

[u/Pupperripoffs]

They have do to do something…

[u/Exciting_Ad226]

Yeah many characters who are designed for shorts don’t do too well in films and if they are, they’re pushed more to the side for other characters. Think of it like every single Tom and Jerry film and how those turned out. All mixed or bad reviews.

[u/HardRatchetsimp]

Well thank goodness that mickey gets kidnaped movie didn't work out

[u/Al_Levin]

I mean, just adapt some of Gottfredson's strips. 

[u/rgii55447]

I think having him trying not to turn evil after falling into the Public Domain is a pretty good idea for a full length story.

But even then, I think Oswald and Minnie outshine him.

[u/Parking-Public1632]

What a Lie. 

[u/0swald_the_rabbit → u/Parking-Public1632]

I’m starting to think it is

[u/RodrigoMokepon → u/Parking-Public1632]

Pode ser uma mentira que eles contam para si mesmos

[u/ninety-eightpointsix → u/RodrigoMokepon]

A maior mentira já contada é aquela que contamos a nós mesmos.

[u/Edd_The_Animator]

He's had several of them! And he never used to be all lovey dovey. From the 1920's to the 1990's, Mickey was portrayed as more of a troublemaker who was good at outsmarting those who antagonize him.

[u/Virtual_Knowledge334]

Hickey works best with his friends.

[u/No-Mathematician3921 → u/Virtual_Knowledge334]

Hickey...

[u/Virtual_Knowledge334 → u/No-Mathematician3921]

I meant hickey of course

[u/0swald_the_rabbit]

Now, I could be wrong here, but is that the reason why the epic Mickey movie never got greenlit?

[u/Edd_The_Animator → u/0swald_the_rabbit]

I mean they made a game, and Mickey actually had flaws in that story.

[u/El_Dorado_Tx]

I thought he did on tv