. . . controversial. The DVD upon which I watched it gives it the equivalent of the dreaded "black box warning." It's not hard to see why this precaution was deemed to be necessary. Spelling out each and every deplorable detail evoking such corporate caution just plays into the hands of those attempting to turn a quick buck on sensational material. Certainly no one would question the fact that this cartoon is inappropriate for children. Could a well-balanced adult survive a viewing without being fundamentally harmed? That's a risky proposition.

Mickey is shown getting ready to board a train. However, he's told that he cannot take the dog aboard, so he spends much of the cartoon trying to sneak the mutt on the train. Unfortunately, Pluto barks and makes a nuisance of himself and the conductor, Pete, is always one step away from discovering the animal. But, again and again, Mickey and Pluto manage to avoid his grasp. In the end, they are caught AND Pete manages to catch them.

All in all, a pleasant but rather unremarkable Mickey short. Like all shorts from the late 1930s, the animation is great (with wonderful colors and lovely details that practically scream 'quality') and the story brisk and enjoyable.

"Mr. Mouse Takes a Trip" is a 7.5-minute cartoon from 1940, so this one is over 75 years old and was released during the early stages of World War II already and looking at it, you will probably see how old it is because it really looks this way too. The title gives away that this is a Disney production of course and Walt himself is lending Mickey his voice here. The rest of the cast and crew also worked on many other Disney films, some classics as well. But back to this one here: The story is basically that Mickey is not allowed by the conductor brute to take Pluto on the train, but the two belong together, so Mickey hides his dog in the suitcase. When the conductor finds out (and I am glad he does because stupid main antagonists) suck, a real cat-and-mouse (and dog) chase starts through the entire train and back where Mickey manages repeatedly through the help of costumes to get away from his follower. But he is only successful temporarily. The ending was still good though and helped me in forgetting my criticism that honestly this one single story was not enough even for under 8 minutes. All in all, it is a close call, but I think the positive is more frequent than the negative here and that's why I give out a positive recommendation to cartoon lovers. Everybody else can maybe skip it though.