I did it...and then even took it a step further.

I hate these shoes. I never ever bought plasticky sneakers for my children, let alone plasticky shoes with big velcro. And cartoon characters. I have REFUSED, for 15 years, to EVER buy shoes with cartoon characters on them. Because unavoidably, they are plasticky and fat and ugly.
Did I mention I hate the shoes?
Even better, they light up when you walk, so that even if one could avoid looking at the ugly shiny plasticky cartoon character velcro shoes, the flashing light will guarantee your attention. (If you own a pair of these, nothing personal...I know lots of people do...that's why they make them. And if you own a pair that isn't plasticky, I applaud you for your scruples and awesome shopping skills.)
And then...

I let him wear them to church...just to avoid a last minute losing confrontation. He could have a growth spurt, right?! I'm banking on them being as horribly made as they are ugly. With any luck they'll fall apart and I'll have to buy a new pair. And next time, we won't even go near that aisle. There are shoes elsewhere. Or they could be out of his size. (Curses on him learning his numbers, so he can see that they really do have his size, even though I "didn't see it". Kidding about the learning thing...)
One good thing is that they look a lot better with shorts, and we've got lots of shorts time left down here in the south.