"You've had your fun, you've made your play, but every rodent has his day!"
"Raise your mugs, you thieves and thugs!
Join the rabble-rousing crowd!
It's our house now!"
Join the rabble-rousing crowd!
It's our house now!"
Mickey's House of Villains is a 2002 Direct to Video Horror Comedy compilation movie based on Disney's House of Mouse, and is a sequel to Mickey's Magical Christmas: Snowed in at the House of Mouse. Like that film, Mickey's House of Villains links newly produced footage set at the House of Mouse proper with recycled short cartoons from either Mickey Mouse Works or from Disney's theatrical short library. The included cartoons are:
- "Trick or Treat" (1952)
- "Mickey's Mechanical House" (Mickey Mouse Works, 1999)
- "Lonesome Ghosts" (1937)
- "How To Haunt A House" (Mickey Mouse Works, 1999)
- "Dance of the Goofys" (Mickey Mouse Works, 1999)
- "Donald Duck and the Gorilla" (1944; edited)
- "Donald's Halloween Scare" (Mickey Mouse Works, 1999)
- "Hansel and Gretel" (Mickey Mouse Works, 1999)
The overarching story is that it's Halloween at the House of Mouse, and the Disney villains have tired of Mickey Mouse's run of the place. Jafar forms a Legion of Doom consisting of some of Disney’s nastiest that help him overthrow Mickey and take over the House at midnight, albeit while still showing cartoons as entertainment. Mickey and his staff now have to battle Jafar for control of the House.
Not to be confused with the House of Mouse episode, "Pete's House of Villains," which was not Halloween themed, but parts of the film were used in four other episodes, all premiering after the movie came out. Followed by the all-original Mickey, Donald, Goofy: The Three Musketeers in 2004, and in a Halloween context, via the 2006 Halloween episode of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.
Mickey's House of Villains contains examples of the following tropes:
- Adaptational Villainy: Tick-Tock, the crocodile from Peter Pan, is presented as one of the villains in House of Villains. This is the opposite of his characterization in Peter Pan, where the only person he ever antagonizes is Captain Hook; Disney's Villains' Revenge even classifies Tick-Tock as a hero.
- Adaptational Wimp: The Disney heroes, outside of Mickey and the main gang, don't fight back against the villains. At all.
- Advertised Extra:
- The DVD and VHS cover features Kaa and the Queen of Hearts along with the main villains, even though they don't do much of anything in the actual movie.
- Likewise, the blurb on the back of the DVD and VHS mention Maleficent among the villains who take over the House of Mouse, even though she's just a background cameo character.
- The game on the DVD bonus features use Shenzi, Banzai, and Ed as the representing villains from The Lion King, when only the latter two made fleeting appearances in the film. Kaa is also used despite his aforementioned small role.
- Balloon Belly: In "Donald's Halloween Scare," Donald is noticeably fatter after eating the candy he scared out of the nephews. In "Hansel and Gretel," Mickey and Minnie are visibly stuffed after being fed by the witch.
- Big Bad: Jafar is the leader of the villains and the main antagonist.
- Big "NO!": Jafar says this as Mickey uses Aladdin’s lamp to trap him in the climax.
- Big Damn Movie: Downplayed, as the "movie" is just a compilation of shorts with new framing animation, but the stakes are a bit higher in this story than usual House of Mouse episodes, as the Disney villains taking over the House by force is a bit more epic than the usual mundane issues of running the club.
- Bullying a Dragon: Every single time Donald tries to scare someone with his costumes counts—especially when he tries Beast. During "Trick Or Treat," his tangling with Witch Hazel also counts.
- Cast as a Mask: Seen in "Donald's Halloween Scare" when Huey, Dewey and Louie disguise themselves via Totem Pole Trench and Latex Perfection as Chief O'Hara. Louie's real voice is by Tony Anselmo, but he is able to perfectly imitate Chief O'Hara's voice by Corey Burton.
- Compilation Movie: Qualifies as a movie made from shorter material edited together, as it's mostly comprised of not only old shorts from the Golden Age and Mickey Mouse Works, but even pre-existing material from the show itself (like Mickey's opening monologue and the bits where Donald Duck attempts to scare guests.)
- Conforming OOC Moment: In "It's Our House Now!", a crowd Villain Song sung by several of Disney's villains, Lucifer the cat and Tick-Tock the crocodile are seen singing with the others—that is, actually moving their mouths to speak, despite the fact that neither of them speak in their respective films. Tick-Tock is also seen sitting upright like the other villains at one point, as if he was a Funny Animal, even though he's more of a Nearly Normal Animal in the original movie.
- Covers Always Lie: The cover artwork for the film portrays Ursula as the most prominent villain in the center of the group ominously looming over Mickey, Donald and Goofy, suggesting she is the Big Bad. It’s actually Jafar who leads the villains, which the blurb on the back of the VHS/DVD spells out.
- Dance Line: The villains form one during "It's Our House Now!", though Stromboli can't hold onto anyone, since the villain in front off him is Lucifer the cat.
- Darker and Edgier: To coincide with Jafar’s takeover of the House, "Donald's Halloween Scare" and "Hansel and Gretel" are cartoons with somewhat grimmer tones than the ones shown by Mickey. The film itself is Darker and Edgier than most Mouse episodes.
- Demoted to Extra: Pete, the landlord of the club and Big Bad of the series, is reduced to a few minor cameos during the "It's Our House Now!" number despite trying to get the House shut down in every one of his appearances during the series. This is even more ironic when you consider that an actual episode of House of Mouse was titled "Pete's House of Villains" and was plotted very similarly, if not seasonal to Halloween.
- Deus ex Machina: Aladdin appears out of nowhere to give Mickey the lamp needed to defeat Jafar.
- Dirty Coward: The villains immediately turn tail when Mickey whips out the lamp.
- Enemy Mine: Sharp-eyed viewers will notice Tick-Tock the Crocodile among the villains taking over the House of Mouse along with the much more prominent Captain Hook, meaning Hook and his other nemesis besides Peter Pan are technically working together.
- Fattening the Victim: Mickey and Minnie are fattened up with a ton of sweets by the witch in "Hansel and Gretel."
- Halloween Special: It's a triple-length episode of House of Mouse focused on Halloween when it comes down to it.
- Harmless Villain: While they succeed in physically removing the good guys, the villains don't do them any permanent harm and spend the night hanging out and watching the cartoons... exactly as they'd done in normal episodes.
- Hostile Show Takeover: The villains succeed in taking the club from Mickey's team by force.
- Hurricane of Puns: Most of Mickey's opening monologue.
- Legion of Doom: Jafar's inner circle consists of Iago, Ursula, Cruella, Hades, and Hook. Chernabog, Big Bad Wolf, the Queen of Hearts and her card army, and Kaa are also active participants in the takeover.
- Mythology Gag:
- The Evil Queen (in her hag form) is the first villain to enter the House at the beginning of the film — a nod to the fact that she was the first major Disney villain (not counting Pete, who mainly appeared in the shorts).
- Whilst trying to scare Donald as a ghost, Goofy at one point appears as his Jacob Marley character from Mickey's Christmas Carol, complete with the piggy bank and chest chained up to him.
- Never Trust a Trailer: The trailers would lead you to believe the film revolves around Mickey battling the Disney Villains over the House of Mouse. The "film" is 90% shorts and the remaining 10% is spent regarding the villains' plot, which is mostly a Villain Song and a brief duel at the end.
- No Ontological Inertia: Zig-zagged; after Jafar is sucked into Genie's lamp, his entire takeover of the House is immediately undone and returns back to its original decor, except for the outside sign and Tinker Bell had to change that back.
- Oh, Crap!:
- Mickey gets one when the lights go out and Jafar begins the villain takeover of the House. He and the whole gang have several of these when the villains attack them and kick them out.
- Jafar gets the best one of the movie when he gets sucked into Genie's lamp.
- Recycled Plot: Pete would later attempt his own Hostile Show Takeover at midnight on Halloween in the episode “House Ghosts,” only this time Pete gets scared after he unleashes the Hitchhiking Ghosts and doesn’t get to occupy the house like Jafar did.
- Red Filter of Doom: The inside of the house takes on a predominantly red-violet hue to reflect Jafar's takeover.
- Rule of Three: The first time Mickey tries to retake the House, he, Donald and Goofy are thrown out by Hades, Ursula, and Chernabog. The second time, Minnie is evicted by Captain Hook. The third time's the charm as Mickey personally challenges Jafar to a duel.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: The villains quickly head for the hills once they realize Mickey has beaten Jafar.
- Ship Tease: Maleficent and Chernabog spend most of the post-takeover night together with the former in her dragon form.
- Shoo Out the Clowns: Inverted. Disney’s darker villains like Scar, Shere Khan, Frollo, and the Horned King are either not in the film (the former two) or only make minor cameos (the latter two). Meanwhile, the hyenas appear to give The Lion King some representation in the villain department.
- Shout-Out: The scene where the villains all slowly look up to the approaching Mickey is one to "The Rite of Spring" when the dinosaurs observed the arrival of the Tyrannosaurus rex.
- Stock Footage: Some of the framing scenes are made up of stock footage from the two Halloween episodes of the series that would eventually air in October 2003, near the end of the series' run. Several background shots are reused with new animation upfront, just with the spookier lighting of the House of Villains. This means that despite all the heroes being locked in the kitchen, Beast randomly shows up in the background when Mickey, Donald, and Goofy try to challenge Jafar the first time.
- Summon Bigger Fish: When Mickey, Donald and Goofy threaten to take the House back by force, Jafar calls Hades, Ursula, and Chernabog. Enough said.
- Tempting Fate:
- Toward the beginning, Minnie is concerned about the large amount of villains in attendance, but Mickey assures her that they aren’t up to any tricks. Cut to Jafar’s Legion of Doom assembling.
- In “How to Haunt a House,” Donald declares he's not afraid of ghosts. Guess who Goofy chooses to haunt?
- Took a Level in Badass: Mickey. When his usual cheerful diplomatic nature is laughed off by the roster of villains, the mouse finds his old Fantasia wizard hat, and starts throwing fireballs in a Tennis Boss match against Jafar.
- Trailers Always Spoil: One of the main pieces of promotional artwork for the film gives away the ending of the film with Mickey trapping Jafar in the lamp while the other villains flee.
- Villain Song: "It's Our House Now!", sung by the majority of the Disney Animated Canon's villains up to 2002.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Pun not intended since it's the House of Mouse; but Clarabelle, Gus, and Horace are absent from the movie, though they were seemingly captured by the villains, since they don't appear post-takeover, and the Big Bad Wolf is running the film projection booth.
- When the Clock Strikes Twelve: Jafar's villain takeover of the House was set to start at midnight.
- The Worf Effect: The collective heroes of Disney are quickly locked in the kitchen by the villains.
