"The Flying Mouse" is a 1934 Silly Symphonies cartoon produced by Walt Disney, directed by David Hand, and released to theatres by United Artists on July 14, 1934.
The short starts with a young mouse testing homemade wings made out of leaves, to the great amusement of his brothers. When his attempts to use them fail, the mouse gets blown and his rear end crashes into a thorn, falling into a tub that ruins the laundry and shrinking her sister's clothing, resulting in the poor mouse getting spanked by his mother.
After getting punished, he overhears a butterfly calling for help and rescues her from a spider. When the butterfly proves to be a fairy, the mouse wishes for wings, much to the surprise of the fairy, who tells him that mice aren't supposed to fly, but still grants his wish. The flying mouse initially enjoys his wishes, but his bat-like appearance causes him to become a pariah among the birds he worshipped as well as being unrecognizable by his family who locks themselves inside the house and don't let him inside his home by throwing water and stuff to him. Not even the bats are merciful of him as they mock him, making a point that he is "Nothin' But A Nothin'".
Upon seeing the flying mouse crying and trying to get rid of his new wings, the butterfly fairy reappears and removes the mouse's wings, telling him: “Be yourself and life will smile on you", with the short ending with the mouse returning home to reunite with his mother and brothers.
"The Flying Mouse" provides examples of:
- Abusive Parents: After the boy mouse tries to fly with 2 leaves, he gets blown backward and his rear end gets poked by the thorn. He then dives and falls in the bathtub and splashes his mouse mother and his mouse sister. After his sister's yellow dress shrinks. The boy mouse is embarrassed and tries to run away only to have his mother grab his tail and spank his exposed bare bottom until it turns red. Later on, when the mouse boy is granted bat wings, he flies down and knocks at the door only to have his mother mistake him for a bat and attack him with a mop and throw objects at him. After the boy mouse has the bat wings removed from him, he runs home, and his mother accepts him back. It's strange that the Mouse Boy's mother would suddenly love the boy mouse and hug him after spanking him earlier for ruining his sister's dress and attacking him earlier.
- Aesop Enforcer: The fairy intentionally gives the flying mouse scary bat wings that give him nothing but trouble in order to teach the mouse that mice aren't supposed to fly.
- All of the Other Reindeer: The flying mouse is mocked by his peers for his desire to fly. Unfortunately for him, it gets worse when he gains his wings as he's shunned by everyone for being perceived as a dangerous bat or a "nothin but a nothin".
- Animated Adaptation: This short is based on Jean De La Fontaine's "The Jay Dressed Up in the Peacocks Feathers" (1668), which was in turn inspired by Aesop's "The Bird in Borrowed Feathers".
- Be Careful What You Wish For: The mouse's wish to have wings to fly makes him a pariah among the birds and alienates him from his family, who refuse to let him inside his house.
- Be Yourself: This is the principal Aesop of the short.
- Call of the Wild Blue Yonder: The protagonist attempts to fly by making homemade wings out of leaves. Later on, he manages to get his wish granted by magic, but ends up regretting his experience.
- Corporal Punishment: The mother mouse punishes the flying mouse by spanking his butt with his tail for ruining the laundry.
- Damsel in Distress: The fairy, who got herself trapped in a spider's web while having her butterfly form.
- Literal Genie: Due to not specifying his wish, the fairy gives the flying mouse ugly bat wings.
- Mama Bear: Zig-Zagged with the mother mouse. While she is antagonistic towards her flying son, she makes sure her other children are protected when they mistook their brother for a menacing bat.
- Pain to the Ass: This happens to the boy mouse twice. A big thorn pinches the flying mouse's butt. And after falling in the tub his mother grabs his tail and spanks his exposed rear end until it turns red.
- Shaped Like Itself: The "Nothin' But a Nothin'" song demonstrates this:You're nothin' but a nothin', a nothin', a nothin', you're nothin' but a nothin', you're not a thing at all!
- Shrunk in the Wash: After the mouse falls on the washtub and splashes water on his sister, her yellow dress shrinks to the size of a bikini.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Delivered by the bats to the mouse, although it's more of a Reason You Suck Song.
- Villain Song: The bats mockingly sing "You're a Nothin' But A Nothin'" to the titular mouse when he denies being a bat.
