World Cup themed episode of Disney's Mickey Mouse shorts debuts

Something amazing happened on June 6th, as the Disney Channel debuted a soccer themed episode of their Mickey Mouse cartoon shorts series which allows me to do something I thought I'd never get to do; talk about my love of Disney on my love of soccer website.

If you aren't familiar with them, let me begin by saying the new Mickey Mouse cartoon series is most excellent. Paul Rudish, also responsible for Dexter's Laboratory, is executive producer and he directed this loving tribute to the world's game. The above video is just a teaser (I'll post the full episode when it's available) but it conveys just about everything that makes me love these shorts so much.

They're definitely a reinterpretation of the Mickey Mouse character. He's got much of his mischievous side from the original shorts of the 30s, but the art has gone through the anime inspired filter of the great 90s Cartoon Network shows. Most importantly, these new shorts are filled with Easter eggs shows Rudish is just as much of a Disney geek as yours truly.

The obscure character cameo in this short is the only one it could be, with Jose Carioca doing the commentary for the match taking place in a recreation of the Maracana with Sugar Loaf in the distance. Jose is a parrot who represented Brazil in two Disney wartime films, Saludos Amigos and the better known Three Caballeros. Excited for the World Cup, I changed my own twitter header photo to feature Jose this afternoon, not knowing he was gonna show up here.

The entire short is in Portuguese, which is something the series has done a few times in the past. A Paris set episode was done entirely in French, and an episode set in Venice made extensive use of Italian.

The short will be available on WATCHDisneyChannel.com, the WATCH Disney Channel app for smartphones and tablets, Disney.com and iTunes tomorrow.

Update: Here's the full short!