Mickey: The Story of a Mouse (2022) on Netflix

Plot summary

For nearly a century, Mickey Mouse has acted as a mirror in which audiences see their own values reflected. The documentary traces his history and his filmography, from the 1928 short Steamboat Willie, which made him an overnight sensation, through the decades of changing designs and personalities. Each era's Mickey reflects the career of the man who created him along with shifts in the country he came to stand for. He stands as an emblem of joy and childhood innocence, so widespread that he can be easy to overlook, and shared by people everywhere, each with private memories of him. A companion short shows Mickey walking the halls of an animation building, pulled into a poster from an older cartoon, and carried back through his earlier screen roles.