History WesternAnimation / ThePrinceAndThePauper

** [[spoiler: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, slandering the king's name.]]

** 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, 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.

* ChandelierSwing: The prince does one when he first confronts Pete. Donald and Goofy also do this when they arrive moments later.

* DoesntKnowTheirOwnChild: PlayedForDrama. 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 impostor.

* ExactWords: Mickey tries to TakeAThirdOption 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.

* GrassIsGreener: 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 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.

* CharacterDevelopment: 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 [[NeverGotToSayGoodBye when he wasn't there to say good bye]], he becomes much more kind, noble, and determined to right the wrongs he's witnessed. That means he realizes he has to return to the palace and become coronated.

* NiceJobFixingItVillain: At the coronation, the real Prince shows up to save Mickey and outs the Captain as a traitor. Pete starts going ICanExplain, so the Prince waits to hear his reasons, not wanting to be a RoyalBrat anymore. He could talk his way out of it or try and turn the crowd against the incoming king. Instead, Pete 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'' a traitor and none help him or his guards when Donald and Goofy 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.

* LetThemDieHappy: When Mickey is summoned to meet him, the dying king can't tell the difference between Mickey and his own son and tells the boy whom he thinks is his son to rule justly and wisely. Mickey can't bring himself to tell him the truth and plays along for the sake of making him die happy.

''The Prince and the Pauper'' is a 1990 animated short film from Creator/WaltDisneyAnimationStudios, loosely adapting Creator/MarkTwain's [[Literature/ThePrinceAndThePauper original story]], starring WesternAnimation/MickeyMouse as both the prince and the pauper. It was shown in theatres with ''WesternAnimation/TheRescuersDownUnder''. 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.

* HeWhoMustNotBeSeen: The king, although one can imagine his appearance based on solely how his hand (in shadow) appears to be gloved just like both Pauper!- and Prince!Mickey.

* CreepyHighPitchedVoice: The weasel {{Mooks}}, especially the ones voiced by Creator/CharlieAdler, have high-pitched voices that fit their [[LeanAndMean thin, gangly]] appearances. This contrasts with their boss, Pete, who has a [[EvilSoundsDeep deep, booming voice]].

** In the scene where they take the Prince to the dungeon, and Pete and the weasels all laugh together.

'''Pete: Not if he doesn't come back ALIVE! '''BWA HA HA HA HA!'''

* EvilLaugh: Pete does a deep, bellowing laugh a few times, while the weasels have more high-pitched cackles. Most notable is the scene where they take the Prince to the dungeon, and Pete and the weasels all laugh together.

** Pete's sclerae also gain a yellowish tint in a few scenes, such as when he confronts and threatens Mickey after the king's death.

* KnightOfCerebus: 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 [[JustFollowingOrders doing it per the orders the king himself]], 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 PuppetKing by threatening Pluto's life while (presumably) 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, [[IllKillYou Pete flat-out tries to]] ''[[IllKillYou murder]]'' [[IllKillYou him in full view of everyone else.]]

* TheGoodKing: 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, and follows through with it after being crowned.

* TheGoodKing: The Prince's father, the unseen ruler of England, to the point that the country lived in peace. 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, and follows through with it after being crowned.

* KnightOfCerebus: 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 doing it under orders from the king himself, 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 PuppetKing by threatening Pluto's life while (presumably) 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, [[IllKillYou Pete flat-out tries to]] ''[[IllKillYou murder]]'' [[IllKillYou him in full view of everyone else.]]

* KnightOfCerebus: This film's version of Pete is significantly darker than other interpretations, being a corrupt captain of the guard who takes advantage of his dying ruler's ailment by raiding and pillaging the kingdom to his heart's desire while making everyone think he is doing it under orders from the king himself, 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 PuppetKing by threatening Pluto's life while (presumably) 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, [[IllKillYou Pete flat-out tries to]] ''[[IllKillYou murder]]'' [[IllKillYou him in full view of everyone else.]]

* NiceToTheWaiter: The prince starts as a SpoiledBrat who deals with boredom by tormenting his valet Donald. Horace explicitly tells of 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.

* MythologyGag: 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 ''Series/TheMickeyMouseClub''.

A 1990 short film from Disney loosely adapting Creator/MarkTwain's ''Literature/ThePrinceAndThePauper'', starring WesternAnimation/MickeyMouse as both the prince and the pauper. It was shown in theatres with ''WesternAnimation/TheRescuersDownUnder''. 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.