The Prince and the Pauper is a 1990 animated short film from Walt Disney Animation Studios, loosely adapting Mark Twain's original story, starring Mickey Mouse as both the prince and the pauper. It was shown in theatres with The Rescuers Down Under. Notably, it was the final Disney animated short to use hand-painted cels, as well as the final appearance of Elvia Allman as Clarabelle Cow before her death in 1992. It was directed by George Scribner, with the screenplay by Gerrit Graham, Sam Graham and Chris Hubbell.
The film served as the setting of the final level of the video game Mickey Mania.
Tropes used by the film:
- Adaptational Intelligence: The Prince here isn't so dumb as to just claim he's royalty to everyone while wearing Mickey's rags, as he was in the book. He shows Mickey that he has a ring with the royal crest that proves his identity and will use it in case of an emergency. It helps in commandeering a food wagon to return the stolen food to the people; it even gets Goofy to finally believe him.
- Adaptational Karma: Benevolent example; Mickey and Goofy help the prince when Pete tries to kill him. Rather than let Mickey and Goofy leave with a token of thanks, they've all become Fire-Forged Friends, and the end narration confirms that the Prince has employed Mickey (as a new member of his royal court) and Goofy (as the new captain of the guard), so they can provide more positive influence to his new reign as King.
- Adaptational Nice Guy:
- Mickey doesn't gain Tom Canty's Acquired Situational Narcissism from living the royal life. Suffering a Humiliation Conga with the lessons helped with that. The most he does is play-fence with the statues, which the Prince was doing anyway, and immediately wants to find the real Prince when the king dies.
- Donald is nowhere near as hot-tempered as he is in previous canon material. While he gets mad at the prince, he doesn't end up in a Hulking rage.
- Anachronism Stew: Among the foods Mickey wants to eat are turkey, potatoes and corn, all of which originated in the Americas and people in Medieval England wouldn't know about them. Also, Goofy wants ice cream, which wouldn't be introduced to Europe until the 17th century.
- And I'm the Queen of Sheba: When the Prince divulges his identity to the Royal Provisioner in order to commandeer and donate a cart of stolen food to the villagers:Prince: HALT!! I am the Prince, and I command you to surrender your entire inventory!
Royal Provisioner: And I'm the Queen Mother! BE OFF WITH YA!!
Prince: (angrily shows his ring) Will THIS help?!
Royal Provisioner: (gasps in complete shock) - And Your Little Dog, Too!: After the king's death, Pete confronts Mickey, having figured out that he's not the prince, and orders him to do whatever he says. To make sure Mickey cooperates, Pete shows him that he and his guards have captured Pluto. They have Pluto tied and chained up with a pile of sticks at his feet, so apparently they were going to burn him at the stake. This doesn't stop the guards from giving these silly grins when they show Pluto tied up.
- Animals Not to Scale: The cast of anthropomorphic animals has the usual issues with sizes of the Disney shorts, but adds a new one in the owl who serves as archbishop: he is taller and bulkier than Horace (a horse).
- Awesome Moment of Crowning: The Prince, once he finally manages to make it back to the throne room in time for the ceremony. Mickey was about to be the subject of one in spite of his protests, so he was quite happy to have it interrupted.
- Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: In spite of his annoyance toward the prince for his pranks, Donald hugs the prince in relief when he sees the latter tossed into the dungeons by Pete. It's implied he figured out the switch and was worried that the prince was killed by the guards. Even the prince himself demanded for the patrolling weasel guard to release him and Donald from the dungeon immediately, only for the weasel guard to refuse by telling him to shut up.
- Be Careful What You Wish For:
- It is obvious that Mickey desires of living in the castle and being treated like a king for a better life. However, when Pete announces his true plan of making Mickey a Puppet King in order to gain full control of the kingdom and get away with his corruptive acts, Mickey is not pleased with this.
- It is obvious that Donald hates the prince for playing pranks and wants to get him punished. However, upon witnessing the prince being violently thrown into the dungeon by Pete, Donald gets very pissed off at Pete for this, finding it to be a little too far.
- Beware the Silly Ones: Against all odds, Goofy is scary with an executioner's ax. He knocks out the guard with the keys by accident with it, which buys time for him and Donald to figure out which one will open their jail cell before they're caught.
- Big Bad: Pete, Captain of the Guard.
- Big Damn Heroes: The Prince makes a dramatic entrance just as Mickey seems done for. Pluto also saves the Prince from Pete when he has him cornered.
- Bond Villain Stupidity: Downplayed. When Pete discovers that the Prince and the Pauper have switched places, and the real Prince is in the village, he initially plans to make sure that the Prince "doesn't come back alive." But when he and his minions capture the Prince, they bring him back to the castle and put him in the dungeon alive. It eventually turns out that what Pete meant is that he doesn't want the Prince to come back in power alive as he secretly plans to execute the Prince while forcing Mickey to take the crown at the same time, so that no one else will know about the switch and that Pete and his men can continue their terrorizing acts scot-free. Fortunately, Goofy, who survived being attacked by Pete's guards, disguises himself as the executioner to sneak into the castle, rescue the Prince and Donald, and allowing them to save the day.
- British Stuffiness: Horace as the prince's teacher.
- Butt Biter: Pluto, to Pete in the climax.
- By the Lights of Their Eyes: When Donald and the Prince are put in the dungeon.
- The Cameo: Clarabelle as a peasant woman.
- Carnivore Confusion: The Royal Provisioner is a pig and one of the food items he's seen transporting is a ham leg.
- Cassandra Truth: Mickey tries to protest that switching places isn't a good idea, but the Prince doesn't listen. Guess how well it goes.
- Chandelier Swing: The prince does one when he first confronts Pete. Donald and Goofy also do this when they arrive moments later.
- Character Development: The Prince in this version starts off as a bit of spoiled snob who torments his valet for fun and runs off to slum it as a peasant, even after being told that his father is gravely ill. However, after witnessing the captain of the guard's corruption and abuse of power (stealing food from peasants) and learning that his father died when he wasn't there to say goodbye, he becomes much more kind, noble, and determined to end the injustices that Pete and his men have caused. That means he realizes he has to return to the palace and become coronated.Prince: Now it's up to me to right the wrongs I've seen: children going hungry.... corruption everywhere....
- Chekhov's Gun:
- The prince's ring. He uses it to prove to Goofy, the Royal Provisioner and the villagers of his true identity. Downplayed with Pete, Donald and Pluto, as they already knew about the Prince's identity without the usage of the ring.
- Dog in this case; Pluto waited faithfully by the palace knowing that the mouse in Mickey's clothes was not his master. This allowed Pete to capture Pluto and use him as a hostage against Mickey. However, when the prince exposes Pete's scheme to save Mickey, the dog returns the favor and saves the prince by biting Pete in the butt. This allows the prince to gain an advantage in the fight. When the owl archbishop still gets confused on whom to crown, Pluto helps out by happily licking Mickey, who is relieved his dog is safe.
- Chekhov's Skill: The prince is established as someone who fences for fun. He actually manages to fight thanks to practicing with the knights' armor.
- Combat Pragmatist: Works both ways. The prince challenges Pete to a swordfight to save Mickey in the climax. He was established to be practicing with stationary knight statues. While the prince is competent, Pete has years of experience and a propensity to fight dirty. He soon has the prince on the ropes until the prince fights dirty in turn.
- The Comically Serious: Horace is the Prince's stuffy and stoic teacher, whose monotone voice and inability to realize that the Prince is the one causing trouble rather than Donald is hilarious.
- Crashing the Coronation: Mickey is about to be crowned the Puppet King for the corrupt Pete to take control of the kingdom, but the real prince, Goofy, and Pluto storm the castle to prevent Mickey's coronation.
- Creepy High-Pitched Voice: The weasel Mooks, especially the ones voiced by Charlie Adler, have high-pitched voices that fit their thin, gangly appearances. This contrasts with their boss, Pete, who has a deep, booming voice. However, there is also at least one weasel voiced by Bill Farmer who has a deeper Simpleton Voice.
- Darker and Edgier:
- The original novel is a satire about royalty, with Tom and Edward each learning that one's life is not easier than the other and they prefer being back in their proper lifestyles. In the Disney version, the captain of the guards is taking advantage of the king's illness to be a tyrant in his name and locks up the real prince to hide witnesses about the switch.
- This interpretation of Pete is an abusive captain of the guard who sullies the king's reputation by doing acts of extreme abuse of power under his name and made a Sadistic Choice to Mickey that he'd kill Pluto if he didn't become a Puppet King. When the Prince exposes Pete's scheme for all to see, Pete seemingly surrenders gracefully — then viciously attacks the Prince when he lets his guard down, basically trying to flat-out murder him. He would likely have succeeded if Pluto hadn't intervened and given Pete even better than he got.
- Also a sad death scene of the possibly kind king who can't even tell the difference between Mickey and his own son as he was dying, Mickey plays along for the sake of making him die happily.
- Dark Reprise: The weasel guards sing an altered version of the Mickey Mouse March to better fit Pete as they drive back to the castle in a coach.
- Decomposite Character: Mickey's different personalities are divided amongst the titular characters—Pauper Mickey is a meek Nice Guy, while the Prince is a naughty, but good-hearted action hero.
- Deliberate Values Dissonance: Pete realizes that if word gets out that he manhandled the Prince, whom he mistook for peasant Mickey, he'll lose his job at best and at worst be tried for treason. It's actually against the laws at the time to lay a finger on royalty, especially if you are in their employ. However, Pete decides to work this way out by employing Mickey as a puppet king and executing the real Prince at the same time in order maintain his control of the kingdom.
- Died in Ignorance: The king passes away about halfway through the film without knowing that two important figures in his life are not who they seem:
- Pete, the captain of the guard, is using the king's poor health and lack of awareness as an excuse to heavily tax the townspeople and keep it all for himself. Worse still, he's claiming that the king is the one who ordered these taxes, thus slandering the king's name.
- Mickey, the Pauper, is posing as the Prince. The king imparts his dying wishes to a lookalike of his actual son.
- Dirty Coward: Pete. He throws his weight around and hides behind his men. Once he's backed into a corner, he's actually quite the pushover.
- Disney Villain Death: How Pete and the weasels presumably meet their end after getting entangled in a rolling chandelier that rolls out a window. They could've survived the fall, only to be imprisoned later on.
- Doesn't Know Their Own Child: Played for Drama. The king has been ill for so long that he's delirious, which allowed Pete to take advantage of the power vacuum. When Mickey is summoned to talk to him, the king can't tell that his "son" is an unwilling impostor.
- The Dog Bites Back:
- A literal example: Pluto does this to Pete in the climax after the latter used him and Mickey as pawns for his schemes — and not a second too soon, as Pete has the Prince cornered and is about to do him in once and for all.
- Pete threatened Mickey to make him a Puppet King. When he's distracted, Mickey and the prince put out their feet to trip him and defeat him once and for all.
- Dramatic Irony: Employed by Pete to maintain his hold on the kingdom. Just as the citizens believed that all of his actions were ordered by the King, everyone in the palace was unaware of how he was truly managing the kingdom. It wasn't until the Prince decided to get out of the palace for a day that his plan started to unravel.
- Dying Candle: As the king of England brings Mickey, who he thinks is his son, to his room in his final moments, he makes Mickey promise to be a just and wise ruler. Mickey, unable to bring himself to tell the truth, promises as the candle goes out.
- Everyone Has Standards:
- While Mickey desires to have a happy lifestyle like the prince, he refuses to be crowned king knowing that he wasn't born of royalty. He stalls for time during the ceremony and happily gives the mantle to the Prince when the latter proves his identity to everyone.
- While Donald hates the prince for pulling pranks on him and being a Spoiled Brat, he rightfully thinks that it's wrong of Pete to use Mickey as a puppet ruler; he finds himself extremely distressed upon seeing Pete capturing and confining the real prince in the dungeon with him; even hugging the prince after seeing him right through his beggar disguise. He and Goofy even help as best as they can to thwart Pete's coup at the coronation.
- While the Prince started out as a Spoiled Brat who likes to play pranks on Donald, he finds it very appalling of seeing the guards manhandling people.Prince: Even the lowliest subjects of the kingdom deserve respect! Have him brought to me at once!
- Even during his tenure posing as a pauper, he is disgusted to see that Pete's soldiers are slandering the dying king's name to justify their acts of stealing and pillaging against the poor citizens, which motivates him to put an end to the injustices. He is even distraught finding himself and Donald being locked into the castle dungeon by Pete, angrily vowing to punish Pete and his men for their crimes and treachery.
Prince: When I return to the palace, you'll PAY for this!!
- Evil-Detecting Dog: A downplayed example. While the prince is not evil Pluto sees him as not the real Mickey and shrugs him off.
- Evil Laugh: Pete does a deep, bellowing laugh a few times, while the weasels have more high-pitched cackles.
- Pete does an especially loud laugh when he reveals his next plan to kill the Prince.
- In the scene where they take the Prince to the dungeon while explaining their plot, Pete and the weasels all laugh together.
- Exact Words: Mickey tries to Take a Third Option near the finale by invoking the law that since he's the prince, and every order the prince gives must be obeyed and tries to have Pete arrested. It doesn't work, but thankfully at that moment, the real prince shows up.
- Fat Bastard: Guess a hint: Captain Pete of the Guard.
- Faux Affably Evil: When Pete acts like a humble servant to the King and Prince (or the Pauper in disguise), he does it in a very condescending way that makes it clear to the audience just how phony his loyalty is. When he has the upper hand, he drops all formalities and gloats loudly at his success.
- Fire-Forged Friends: The Prince at first tries to get away from Goofy, not knowing he is Mickey's best friend. But when Goofy rescues him from Pete's guards while commandeering a food wagon, the Prince is grateful towards him while revealing his true identity to him. When the Prince is captured, Goofy shows up to rescue him and Donald from being executed. Mickey also does his best to help the Prince during the coronation fight against Pete, and hugs him in relief when the villain is defeated. By the end, Mickey and Goofy all become new members of the Prince's inner circle alongside Donald, Horace and the archbishop.
- For the Evulz: This, along with greed, is Pete's raison d'etre for his tyranny. He is not given a Freudian Excuse for any of his actions.
- Furry Confusion: Aside from Pluto and Goofy, the featurette shows Horace Horsecollar and normal horses.
- Furry Ear Dissonance: Horace Horsecollar has ears like cows ears in this featurette.
- Glad I Thought of It: According to the Prince, that phrase and "Guards, seize him!" is all you need to fake it as a ruler. It turns out the Prince was wrong when Mickey tries it to save his dog and avoid being crowned king, but fortunately, the Prince shows up to Mickey's rescue before a bigger mistake could be made.
- The Good King: The Prince's father, the unseen ruler of England, to the point that the country flourished and all the people were happy. It was his falling ill that triggered the plot, enabling his greedy captain of the guard to finally act as he wished. After learning of what was happening outside the castle walls, the Prince resolved to be this like his father, and follows through with it after being crowned.
- Good Smoking, Evil Smoking: Only the Big Bad, Pete, is smoking. None of the good characters smoke and neither do Pete's weasel henchmen.
- Goofy Print Underwear: Sported by both Pete and Goofy.
- Grass Is Greener: Both Prince Mickey and Pauper Mickey fall under this. With that said, Pauper Mickey immediately realizes that switching places is a bad idea; he was just thinking what it would be like to be royalty in terms of being out of the cold with regular meals. The Prince is the one who realizes the slum life is not all that cracked up to be.
- He Who Must Not Be Seen: The king, although one can imagine his appearance based on solely how his hand (in shadow) appears to be gloved just like both Mickey and the Prince.
- How They Treat the Help: The Prince starts as a Spoiled Brat who deals with boredom by tormenting his valet Donald. Horace explicitly tells off the Prince for this, saying he needs to be kinder. With that said, the Prince stops the captain from bullying Mickey, who only came onto the palace grounds to find Pluto and is quite civil to the "peasant". While exploring the streets in Mickey's clothes, the Prince gets righteously furious on seeing how the guards are stealing food in the king's name and eventually realizes he needs to return to the palace to stop these abuses. He even makes up with Donald in the dungeons, implicitly apologizing for mistreating him, and makes the trio part of his royal court.
- Humiliation Conga: Pete and his henchmen. Firstly the real prince shows up just as Mickey is about to be crowned, outing Pete as a treasonous would-be usurper, then a battle ensues where Pete and his whole freaking guard get their butts handed to them by Mickey, Donald, Goofy and Pluto, as well as the Prince. Pete tries to pull an I Surrender, Suckers! move on the Prince, but only with short-lived success. And if that wasn't humiliating enough, Pete endures an incredibly embarrassing moment in front of the whole court and exits by being caught up in a chandelier and crashing through a stained glass window, his frilly underwear still on show.
- The Hyena: The weasel mooks laugh a lot, especially when attacking.
- Identical Stranger: As per the original The Prince and the Pauper, the Prince and the Pauper are both Mickey Mouse; the only difference is that the Prince carries a fair British accent.
- I Have Your Wife: Pete captures Pluto and tells Mickey to do exactly as he says, or the dog gets it. Mickey at first plays along but realizes he can't be crowned king and tries to stall for time at the coronation.
- I Owe You My Life: After Goofy helped the Prince escape from the corrupt guards that were chasing him, the Prince gratefully says this word-to-word to Goofy; even assuring that he will be rewarded for his assistance. Even in the end, it was implied that after the Prince was declared King, he kept true to his word by happily appointing Goofy as his new captain of the guard, as Goofy is last seen wearing an attire identical to that of Pete's.
- I Surrender, Suckers!: During the Final Battle, Pete admits defeat and asks the Prince spare him, after which Pete bows down before him, saying, "Your Majesty is too kind...". But the Prince (and not Pete) is standing on a rug, which Pete then pulls out under the Prince's feet, and then viciously goes on the attack.
- Intermission: Not in the movie proper, but in the film's theatrical release with The Rescuers Down Under, a 10 minute intermission started during this film's end credits to allow people to get up and take care of business before The Rescuers Down Under started, as shown here.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: The Prince in this version starts off as a bit of a snobby brat who torments his valet for fun and runs off to slum it as a peasant at the first opportunity, but he does have a good heart, since he's horrified to see Pete rough-handle a random peasant from his classroom window, and later when he sees the guards steal from peasants. He grows out of the "jerk" part later.
- Karmic Jackpot: Despite being peasants who only knew him for a day, Mickey and Goofy do what they can to help the real Prince during the coronation; even Donald does the same (despite not liking how the Prince treats him) because he thinks it's wrong for Pete to place an impostor on the throne. As a reward for helping him defeat Pete, the Prince happily earns Donald's respect and appoints Mickey and Goofy as new members of his inner circle (even allowing Pluto to remain with Mickey), ensuring that they will never starve or be mistreated again.
- King Incognito: In this version, the Prince is smart enough to take along his royal ring as identification when necessary.
- Kitchen Sink Included: Among many other weapons thrown at the Prince, Donald and Goofy in the dungeon, a kitchen sink is also included.
- Knight of Cerebus: This film's version of Pete is significantly darker than other interpretations of the character. To wit, he's the corrupt captain of the royal guard who takes advantage of his ruler's terminal illness by plundering the kingdom to his heart's desire while making everyone think he is only doing it under the king's orders, thereby ruining the monarch's reputation in the eyes of his citizens. To add to that, after realizing the Prince has traded places with an identical-looking commoner (Mickey), he decides to blackmail Mickey into becoming a Puppet King for him by threatening Pluto's life while planning to execute the real Prince to ensure nobody will believe Mickey is not the true heir to the throne. And when the Prince arrives to expose Pete, Pete flat-out tries to murder him in full view of everyone else.
- Laser-Guided Karma: For all the pillaging that they have done against the people and smearing the King's name, Pete and his weasel henchmen end up being exposed by Mickey and the Prince and thrown out from the castle on a fallen chandelier. And given to the ending narration that Goofy is appointed as the new captain of the guard, it can be theorized that Pete and his henchmen were dismissed and arrested; even one of the movie's storybook novelizations depicts Pete being hauled away to prison by angry villagers on the Prince's orders.
- Lessons in Sophistication: The Prince is first seen sitting through a boring trigonometry lesson, passing the time playing tricks on his assistant Donald. When he trades places with Mickey, the latter has to endure the various lessons set for the Prince, all of which he fails miserably, much to Donald's amusement.
- Let's Get Dangerous!:
- The prince in the climax. Up to that point, he was a goofy prankster that only cared about having fun. Then he finds out Pete was going to use Mickey to usurp him and gets angry on seeing the guards threaten the disguised mouse. The Prince pulls out his sword, reveals himself, and shows he is a capable fencer. While Pete is better in terms of experience, the prince uses his prankster attitude to gain an advantage.
- Goofy of all people pulls this. When the Prince gets imprisoned in the dungeon, Goofy disguises himself as the executioner, knocks out the guard who has the keys, and busts the prisoners out. Then he and Donald storm the coronation and free Pluto (by accident), which allows the Prince to get an edge over the guard.
- Let No Crisis Go to Waste: Pete is a master at this. He finds out from the guards that a mouse with the royal crest stopped a riot, which makes him realize the peasant claiming to be the Prince was telling the truth. Except, he tossed the Prince out, which means he's in trouble for manhandling royalty. Pete doesn't panic, however; he logically concludes that only the Prince and the guards know about this manhandling, so they only have to tie up one loose end. As an added bonus, he has an impostor at hand who can be easily persuaded to do Pete's bidding, thanks to a certain dog who's been waiting outside the palace.
- Let Them Die Happy: When Mickey is summoned to meet the dying king, the king can't tell the difference between Mickey and his own son. The king's final words are to "rule with your heart, justly and wisely". Mickey can't bring himself to tell the king that he's not the prince, only saying "I promise" before the king passes away.
- Loophole Abuse: Mickey tries to Take a Third Option during the Prince's coronation, to avoid being wrongfully crowned or becoming Pete's Puppet King, by invoking how the Prince's every order must be obeyed. He then tries to have Pete arrested, but unfortunately for him, the guards are loyal to the captain, not him.
- Mocking Sing-Song: When Pete realizes he accidentally kicked the Prince out of the castle, one of his weasel mooks mocks him by singing "you're gonna get it, you're gonna get it, na-na-na-na-na-na." However, Pete angrily grabs the mook by the neck for this, stating that he plans to have the Prince killed.
- Mooks: Pete has an army of weasel soldiers, who are lifted from The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad.
- Morton's Fork: Mickey faces one after the good king dies. Either he can be Pete's Puppet King and let him terrorize the kingdom unchecked, or see his beloved dog Pluto killed if he refuses. He tries to Take a Third Option, but thankfully the real Prince shows up soon anyway.
- My God, What Have I Done?: The Prince whispers "Father" when he learns that the king has died. He looks out of Mickey and Goofy's slums with a Thousand-Yard Stare, realizing that if he had stayed in the palace as Mickey had suggested, he would have been there. This makes him determined to prove to Goofy that he is the prince and they need to return to the palace.
- Mythology Gag:
- While Captain Pete and his gang of weasel soldiers pass by Mickey and Goofy in the beginning of the film (which Pluto chases due to the sausages hanging off the carriage), the weasel soldiers sing praise to Pete to the theme tune of the The Mickey Mouse Club.
- As the Prince is leaving the castle after switching places with Mickey, he whistles to the tune of "I'm Henery the Eighth, I Am". In the original story, Henry VIII was the Prince's father.
- Named by the Adaptation: Inverted. In the original novel, the King and the Prince are Henry VIII and the future Edward VI respectively. Here, both come with No Name Given. Furthermore, the King is described as "a wise and good king", which is a bit of a Historical Hero Upgrade assuming he is still Henry VIII which is not for sure.
- Narrator: Roy Dotrice narrates the film.
- Near-Villain Victory: Pete becomes determined in his intent to remain in power by appointing Mickey as a Puppet King (through threatening Pluto) and executing the real Prince at the same time. It would've worked if he would've checked that Goofy survived the ambush and disguised himself as a executioner to free the Prince. Even in the climactic sword fight between the Prince and Pete, the latter corners the former and knocks the sword out of his hand and is then about to deliver the coup de grace when Pluto rushes up and bites Pete in the ass.
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain!: At the coronation, the real Prince shows up to save Mickey and rightfully exposes the Captain as a traitor by exposing his plot. Pete starts going I Can Explain, so the Prince waits to hear his reasons, not wanting to be a Royal Brat anymore. Pete could have tried to turn the crowd against the prince, but instead, Pete seemingly surrenders gracefully — then pulls the rug from under the prince's feet and goes after him with a sword. This reveals to the entire crowd that Pete is indeed a traitor and none help him or his guards when Donald, Goofy and eventually Pluto join the fray. It also means that Mickey is given a silent pardon for impersonating the Prince since he helped save him, making Pete's plan moot.
- Non Sequitur, *Thud*: After Goofy accidentally maces a weasel on the head with the back of the axe:Weasel Guard: Thank you.... (kisses Goofy on the nose) have a lovely evening..... (falls unconscious)
Goofy: (perplexed) Gwarsh! - Not Quite Dead: Upon capturing the Prince inside Mickey and Goofy's home, Pete gets his guards to throw Goofy to his death in the river thru the window. All that's left of Goofy is his underwear caught in one of the guards' spears before it plunges into the water, much to the Prince's distraught. Fortunately, Goofy survived the plunge and infiltrated into the castle by impersonating the executioner in order to free Donald and the Prince.
- Not So Above It All: It is clear that the weasel guards are in full cahoots with Captain Pete of his intent to continue plundering and terrorizing the country, but one of them proceeds to taunt Pete of a potential punishment upon hearing out that he threw out the Prince by mistake; even performing the shame motion with his index fingers on Pete to prove a point. However, this only prompted a furious Pete to grab the weasel guard by the neck and announcing that he'll just kill the prince.
- Not So Stoic: The one time Horace's collected demeanor ever breaks is when the Prince continues to provoke Donald, causing him to fire a projectile that hits Horace in the buttocks. Without missing a beat, he reprimands Donald in his usual proper manner, only snapping when Donald protests. He then tells the Prince to behave himself and gets on with the lesson right where he left off.
- Novelization: A storybook adaptation was released with three scenes added.
- Donald offers to taste "the Prince's" dinner to make sure it's not poisoned, only to eat all of it.
- The Prince grieves over his father in the dungeon, with Donald comforting him.
- An alternate ending where Pete is arrested instead of getting entangled in the chandelier with the weasels.
- Ode to Food: Mickey and Goofy sing "I'd Like To Live Just Like a King", to the tune of Donna è Mobile:Goofy: Give me a suckling pig, to make my belly big.
Mickey: I'm just a little guy, give me a pizza pie. - Oh, Crap!:
- Donald when he realizes he accidentally hits Horace in the buttocks with a projectile that was meant for the Prince.
- The Royal Provisioner when the Prince uses his ring to prove his identity in order to commandeer and donate a cart of food for the citizens, though this doesn't stop him from informing several of Pete's guards about the situation.
- Goofy and the prince when Pete stops them from returning to the palace.
- The weasel guard when Goofy (disguised as the executioner) inadvertently throws his axe at him.
- Donald when he realizes that the nearby guards are going to capture Goofy while he's trying to release him and the Prince, prompting him to grab the keys and use the correct one to open the door.
- Some of the weasel guards when they just got themselves thrown out of the tower while chasing Goofy, Donald and the prince.
- Goofy when he accidentally uses Donald as an arrow, though this was enough to knock out several of Pete's guards.
- Even Pete gets his moment after his plot (and his underwear) is exposed to everyone and that he's about to be run over by a falling chandelier with some of his guards stuck in it.
- Out-of-Character Alert:
- When a peasant in rags is tossed out of the palace, Pluto goes to greet his master. He gets bewildered when "Mickey" starts kissing him and saying "I'm free!" Goofy is similarly bewildered that his best friend doesn't remember his name and tries to get away from him; even so, it takes the prince showing his ring to convince Goofy he is not Mickey. Meanwhile, Pluto waits at the palace, fearing the worst for his master. You may be able to fool Goofy, but you cannot fool a dog like Pluto. Unfortunately, Pluto's decision to wait at the palace gets him captured by Pete's mooks.
- Donald starts noticing that "the Prince" is behaving during his lessons rather than pranking him. At first, he starts chuckling at how inept Mickey is, but eventually deduces out that he's not the real Prince. It eventually turns out that Pete tossed Donald into the dungeon because he's one of the few people (besides Pete and Pluto) who could identify which mouse was which without the usage of the royal ring. Donald even lampshades himself as he manages to see right through the Prince's beggar disguise in the dungeon, something which the Prince didn't expect to learn.
Donald: (seeing the Prince in his pauper disguise and hugs him) Your Highness, Your Highness, we're saved!! (realizing that they are still locked up in the dungeon) Wait a minute... you're in here, too?! We're DOOMED!! - Out-Gambitted: During the coronation, Mickey faces a Morton's Fork: Agree to be Pete's Puppet King or see his beloved dog Pluto killed. He tries to Take a Third Option by invoking the law's Exact Words that a prince's every order must be obeyed, and tries to order Pete arrested. Unfortunately for him, the guards already know about the switch; Pete puts a stop to this by ordering the guards to seize him instead by outing Mickey as an impostor. Thankfully for Mickey, the real prince shows up that exact moment.
- Pet Positive Identification: Pluto runs up to the Prince pretending to be Mickey, but after licking him and sniffing him, Pluto instantly realizes that the Prince is not his loyal master and leaves him in a huff. Despite this, during the climax, Pluto happily barks in support for the Prince when the latter comes to Mickey's rescue during the coronation; even saving the Prince's life by biting Pete in the ass. To make things better, Pluto manages to prove to everyone of the difference between Mickey and the Prince by running up to Mickey and smothering him with kisses.Mickey: (chuckles) I guess there's no fooling you, boy.
- Pig Man: A fat pig is briefly shown working as the Royal Provisioner, as well as a loyal enforcer for Pete.
- Pragmatic Villainy: Pete prefers to maintain power beneath the shadows, or in other words, behind the throne. His decision in having Mickey becoming the new king instead of taking the crown for himself is only for two reasons: (1) Pete knows well that he himself is despised by the people and that they will likely rebel against him if he officially takes over, and (2) Mickey is the perfect, but weak figurehead who'd do anything (especially taking the rap for Pete's acts) to ensure that his dog never be killed.
- Prince and Pauper: A loose adaptation of the original Mark Twain story.
- Private Tutor: The prince is introduced receiving instruction on Trigonometry from the chamberlain (Horace), who seems to handle the prince's education as well, and bored out of his mind. The prince begins to amuse himself by tormenting Donald Duck.
- Puppet King: Upon realizing that he cast out the real prince by mistake and that the latter has seen the corruption that he himself caused, Pete decides to take action by having Mickey take the crown and getting the real prince executed afterwards, so that he can control the kingdom under the shadows. And to ensure that Mickey doesn't back out, Pete holds Mickey's dog Pluto hostage, threatening to kill the poor dog if Mickey doesn't do what Pete says.Pete: Now that our dearly departed king is out of my way, you're gonna do every little thing I say. 'Cause if you don't.... (points to a captive Pluto being threatened by Pete's guards)
Mickey: But... Pluto!!
Pete: Get the picture?! - Reasonable Authority Figure:
- The king was this before he fell ill. The narration mentions that he was loved for this. When he's dying, he asks who he thinks is his son to rule from his heart, justly and wisely.
- Horace proves to be this; he's not oblivious to the Prince being a prankster. When the Prince goads Donald into shooting the professor with a spitball, Horace shoos Donald out of the classroom but listens when the duck says that the prince started it. Horace then tells off the Prince for being immature and that he needs to act like proper royalty. He may be oblivious, but he's not stupid.
- Subverted with Pete, as he started off as a supposed loyal servant to the King in the beginning, as he bowed his head in depression at the king's bed. But the moment Pete turns away, he makes a cruel smile, taking advantage of the king's illness to pillage the villagers. Who knows what the king actually saw in Pete and employed him to be the Captain of the Guard?
- The Archbishop gets understandably very annoyed at Mickey's attempts to delay the coronation, but he's willing to put it on halt to let Mickey, using his guise as the prince, tell everyone present at the scene what the truth about Pete.
- After his experience, the prince is determined to become one. He is angry about the guards stealing food from the commoners, who are starving, and how they are bullies. The Prince tells Goofy he needs to return to the palace and rule as a proper king.
- Rodents of Unusual Size: Played straight with Mickey (as usual) and the prince, but averted with a female peasant mouse that shows up for a few seconds of one scene.
- Seize Them!: One of the two phrases the Prince tells Mickey to use while pretending to be prince. Later, Mickey uses it on Pete, only for Pete to turn it around.Mickey: The Captain is an insolent scoundrel! Guards, seize him!
Pete: Seize him! He's an impostor! - The Smurfette Principle: Clarabelle Cow is the only female member of the regular cast to appear, with Minnie Mouse and Daisy Duck being oddly absent.
- Spanner in the Works: If the Prince hadn't decided to make the switch with an Identical Stranger, he wouldn't have seen Pete's guards robbing the peasants of food. It also makes him determined to take Pete down on realizing how corrupt the Captain is.
- Spit Take: A semi-wild take done by Pete's weasel lackey right after Pete realizes the Mickey that he threw out was actually the Prince.
- Spoiled Brat: The Prince is shown to be a bit of one, often tormenting his valet Donald Duck for amusement and switching places with a very nervous Mickey out of snobbish boredom. He gets better after seeing the injustices in the real world.
- Spot the Impostor:
- Obviously, Pete is smart enough to tell the difference between Mickey and the prince; he even uses it to his advantage in hopes of executing the prince and putting Mickey as a Puppet King in order to maintain his control of the kingdom.
- Pluto can tell which one is his master Mickey. This is how he identifies the real Mickey in the climax to clear up the misunderstanding in the end.
- It's implied that Donald found out that Mickey wasn't the prince after seeing him suffer through the lessons. Why else was he in the dungeon and threatened with execution by Pete?
- Storybook Opening: The featurette opens with a shot of a green book containing the story opening to officially start the story.
- Suddenly Speaking: Horace has actual dialogue for the first time here (not counting comic appearances).
- Take a Third Option: Mickey tries this during the coronation. Faced with either being Pete's Puppet King or seeing his beloved dog Pluto killed, Mickey tries to invoke the law's Exact Words that the prince's every order must be obeyed, and orders the guards to seize Pete. Unfortunately for him, a) the guards are loyal to Pete rather than the Prince, b) Pete instantly outs him as an impostor. Thankfully for Mickey, the Prince pulls a Big Damn Heroes.
- Token Human: The trumpeters.
- Took a Level in Badass: The film has what is probably one of the most sinister and least bumbling incarnations of Pete ever.
- To the Tune of…: Mickey and Goofy's song about living like a king is sung to the tune of "La Donna e Mobile" from Rigoletto.
- Undying Loyalty: Pluto waits by the palace for the whole day, realizing that Mickey is still inside. Unfortunately, this allows Pete to grab him and use him as a hostage.
- Unwitting Pawn: Horace, the Archbishop, and everyone else contributing to the coronation (who isn't a weasel guard) are unaware about Pete's plans for Mickey and are unknowingly helping Pete drive England into an even darker age.
- Villainous Glutton: In one scene, Pete is shown messily chowing down on food and drinks stolen from the peasants.
- Wicked Weasel: They appear as Pete's henchmen. However, they're not as evil as the ones who hunt a certain rabbit, only as evil as the ones who swindle a certain toad into trading the deed to his estate for a stolen motorcar.
- Xanatos Speed Chess: Upon learning how the Prince and Mickey had switched places, the Captain decides to use it to his advantage by installing Mickey as a Puppet King after the King's death in order to maintain his control over the kingdom.
- Yellow Eyes of Sneakiness:
- The weasel mooks all have yellow sclerae.
- Big Bad Pete's sclerae are normally white, but they gain a yellowish tint in a few scenes, such as when he growls at Pluto to scare him, and when he confronts and threatens Mickey after the king's death.