This is an early Mickey Mouse cartoon produced by the Disney studio. There will be spoilers ahead:This short features cannibals as characters for most of the short, so it will offend quite a few people. There are probably more skulls in this short than in The Skeleton Dance, which is appropriate given the fact that these are cannibals.The animation is good and the cannibals use musical instruments in decidedly unusual ways, but beyond that, there's not much that's terribly interesting. Mickey and Pluto are traveling down a river with a load of trade goods (apparently, Mickey intended to sell this stuff, although to whom is a mystery) when they are surrounded by cannibals almost immediately upon grounding their craft.Clearly, Mickey and Pluto are on the menu, but they come upon Mickey's stuff and start basically playing with it, in abnormal and arcane ways, until Mickey takes a saxophone and starts playing. The cannibals then start making music, but again in atypical fashion. That's it to the cartoon.This short is available on the Disney Treasures Mickey Mouse In Black and White, Volume Two DVD set and the set is worth tracking down.

If anything, Trader Mickey is on par with Mickey's Man Friday and is vastly superior to Cannibal Capers, of which you can definitely see some influence here. The native cannibals are stereotypical and may offend some people like with the giant lips, and while fun to see the Ballyhoo gag is rather dated. However, the rest of the gags are very funny, the best revolving around the misuse of the instruments by the cannibals. The animation is crisp and smooth overall, with the opening sequence having so much kinetic energy and the ending visual with the chief(who laughs just like Goofy) falling in the soup pot is fun. The story is thin, but elevated by the gags and the cleverly choreographed dance sequence forming the second half of the cartoon. The music flows wonderfully, enhancing the action just as effectively as you'd expect. Mickey is very likable and has more to do in a way than Mickey's Man Friday, while Pluto is as cute as ever even if his shining moment is in the opening scene and for perhaps the first time plays secondary to Mickey and the cannibals. All in all, very interesting. 8/10 Bethany Cox

The title "Trader Mickey" is a play on the title to another film that debuted about the same time, "Trader Horn"--a film where Harry Carey is a big game hunter and adventurer living in Africa. So, not surprisingly, this finds Mickey in Africa on safari. Unfortunately, he's soon captured by headhunters--and they would love to add Mickey to their collection. How will Mickey manage to avoid certain death?! While the plot is about as thin as you can find in a cartoon (about half of the film is a long dance number), this isn't the main problem with this cartoon. The problem is that the natives are a giant-lipped and VERY negative stereotype of Black people. It's not just that they eat people but they look ridiculous and are sure to offend MANY people--not just the overly politically correct. Overall, one of the poorer Mickey cartoons and I am pretty sure you WON'T see Disney airing on television!! You gotta see it to believe it! So why did I still give the film a 3? Because even with its many problems, the short is very beautifully animated. Also, listen to the Chief's laugh--it's Goofy's!

In this cartoon, Mickey Mouse and Pluto are traveling down an African river with a bunch of cargo. They are then captured by cannibals. Most people have not gotten the chance to see this cartoon because it has never been released on video,laserdisc, or DVD and is not (but may have been at one time) shown on the Disney Channel or Toon Disney. The reason for this is because of its strong use of cannibalistic caricatures that Disney might consider offensive to people. After one of the cannibals dips a saxophone into the pot he's cooking Mickey in, he sips the soup out of it. Mickey grabs it and soon they're all jamming to "The Darktown Strutter's Ball." I did notice that the king cannibal's laugh was quite similar to Goofy's and he may have been voiced by Pinto Colvig as well.EDIT: This cartoon is now available on the Walt Disney Treasures set Mickey Mouse in Black and White Volume 2.