Pluto's Judgement Day (Mickey Mouse)

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Pluto's Judgement Day (episode 78)
"Always chasing cats, aren't you? Well you gotta have a lot to answer from on your judgement day."
Directed by: David Hand Produced by: Walt Disney Release date: August 31, 1935 Franchise: Mickey Mouse Prequel: Mickey's Fire Brigade (previous short) Sequel: On Ice (next short)

Pluto's Judgement Day is a Mickey Mouse cartoon released theatrically in 1935. Although labeled as a Mickey cartoon, the main star is Pluto. It was the 78th short in the Mickey Mouse series to be released, the seventh of that year.

Plot

After Pluto chases a cat inside the house, Mickey scolds him for always chasing cats, and adds that he will have "plenty to answer for on [his] judgement day". Pluto then falls asleep and dreams of judgement day in which he is tried by a hellish court composed entirely of cats. Just as the cats are about to burn Pluto alive, he wakes up and discovers a new appreciation for cats.

Bad Qualities

1. Simlar to "Pluto's Party", this short is basically an 8-minute-long torture episode for Pluto, but unlike Pluto's Party, his butt-monkey status here has been taken to a more disturbing degree.
   • In fact, the short feels more like a rehash of "Pluto's Party", considering that both of these shorts are torture episodes to Pluto.
2. The plot, while nice and all, has is very dark and frightening, even for Mickey Mouse standards, because it has Pluto being banished to hell just for being mean to cats.
3. Of course, Mickey Mouse may have been some shorts such as "The Mad Doctor" that deal with characters getting tortured, but never to this extent of a character being banished to hell!
4. . All of the cats in Pluto’s dream are unlikable and despicable as they all give Pluto a very unfair trial by going straight to a verdict after the prosecution rests it’s cases, has a complete lack of a defense attorney, and refuses to let Pluto explain himself to the court and defend himself.
5. False advertising: Despite being marketed as a Mickey cartoon, the short mostly focuses on Pluto rather than Mickey himself.
6. Speaking of Mickey, he barely serves any purpose in this cartoon, meaning that you could replace Mickey with some other character and nothing will change.
7. The part where Mickey scolds Pluto for chasing cats was as bit harsh, even though it was kinda deserved due to Pluto's nasty attitude towards cats.
8. The designs for the cats are very grotesque, nightmarish, and disturbing, especially the cat prosecutor.
9. There is also a segment in Pluto’s trial that is racist and it uses African American stereotypes by having three young kitten witnesses and the souls of Uncle Tom wearing blackface.
10. The infamous scene where Pluto dangles from a large pit of hellfire while yelping in agony as he is about to get burned to death by the demon cats. We sure wish we were joking.

Good Qualities

1. Pluto is the only likable character in this episode.
   • Mickey is also somewhat tolerable in this episode, despite being pointless.
2. Good ending: After Pluto gets burned in the rear by a hot cinder and jumps into the bathtub to stop the burn, Mickey urges Pluto to make up for what he did to the kitten, and he does, thus ending the short on a positive note.
3. The animation and voices is still great.

Trivia

• The episode was censored in most of its TV airings by removing the scene involving the blackface kittens and Uncle Tom due to racism but it can still be found on several VHS tapes. However, the episode cannot be found on Disney+, which many fans believe that it is banned from that streaming service due to disturbing and racist content.

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