when I was a kid ('60s) if something was "mickey mouse" it was inferior, low quality junk.
Looks like it's comin' round again.
I didn't think of that. One still hears "mickey mouse operation" when people are describing something amateurish. But I haven't heard nine year-olds doing that!
Maybe the journalist just fabricated the quote!
by age 12 (i'm 22 now) "disney" and "g-rated" were both pejorative terms for corny and amateurish. now disney is more of an academic pejorative term for superficial american culture (as in "disneyfication").