I am not a lawyer, let alone an imaginary property specialist, however I do not believe that second point is technically true.
Trade marks are intended for consumer protection. As long as you made it abundantly clear (everywhere) that your work was NOT a Disney work, and that it was instead a distinctly branded other work which happened to include Mickey Mouse (even in a leading role), based off of the features of the public domain version of the character (and possibly mixing in elements obvious to contemporary authors in a generic sense), then it would PROBABLY be worth talking to an actual trademark/imaginary property lawyer to see if the idea is uniquely expressive enough to be a new work.
I'm not a lawyer either. You make a good argument. If anyone wants to try it, be prepared for a long, expensive court battle with many appeals. There are many other arguments and I don't think the law is clear enough.
There is also trademark law. You can show mickey mouse movies, but that doesn't mean you can create your own.