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Walt Disney Animation Collection DVDs:
Wave 1: Volume 1: Mickey and the Beanstalk • Volume 2: Three Little Pigs • Volume 3: The Prince and the Pauper
Wave 2: Volume 4: The Tortoise and the Hare • Volume 5: The Wind in the Willows • Volume 6: The Reluctant Dragon
Walt Disney Animation Collection: Classic Short Films - Volume 1: Mickey and the Beanstalk DVD Review
In 2005, Disney met the hour-long cartoon compilation DVD. It appeared to be a match made in heaven. Disney had several hundreds of animated shorts featuring characters still popular today. The hour-long DVDs were cheap and easy to produce and market. People liked the pairing, buying over a million copies of its sleek byproducts. Disney kept the hour-long cartoon DVDs coming, under a variety of names: twelve Classic Cartoon Favorites, three Timeless Tales, four It's a Small World of Fun, and four Funny Factory discs.
Then in 2007, Disney's love for the format seemed to cool down. Not only were they bored with repackaging their vintage shorts, they weren't even excited by DVD, instead spending time and money on this intriguing new Blu-ray. Over a year has passed and while Disney still remains in love with Blu-ray and all its high-def, higher-profit-margin glory, This time around, Disney has developed yet another new line: Walt Disney Animation Collection: Classic Short Films. It doesn't exactly roll off the tongue, particularly when a volume number and standout short are attached to the title. But it befits the different approach the studio is now taking, choosing a stately, more collector-friendly look over the bright colors and kid-tailored artwork of the old series. The basic design hasn't really changed. The studio is still wisely sticking with the most famous of cartoons and stars. And they're still coming in around the one-hour mark, well under a standard DVD's capacity. But, between the "vibrant foil O-Sleeve" and "fun collectible lithographs", there is the illusion that this line is different. Plus, the $19.99 list price is $5 more than most of the earlier compilations.
The star attraction of Volume 1: Mickey and the Beanstalk is the most remembered part of 1947's anthology feature Fun and Fancy Free. This marks the half-hour short's fourth time on DVD, following Fun and Fancy's 2000 Gold Collection DVD, bonus feature status on the second Mickey Mouse in Living Color Walt Disney Treasure, and experiment subject of the criticized first wave of Disney Learning Adventures. There are at least three different versions of the short: its original form from the package film, a 1963 TV presentation narrated by Professor Ludwig von Drake (the one employed on the Disney Learning Adventure DVD), and a cut narrated by legendary voice artist Sterling Holloway (the original Winnie the Pooh). We get the second incarnation here, with Paul Frees' excitable Austrian duck telling the story.
Beanstalk is accompanied by four older one-reel Mickey Mouse cartoons, ranging from 1934's Gulliver Mickey to 1940's Mr. Mouse Takes a Trip. The selection yields a theme of scale, as three of the five deal with relative giants. Since every short in the classic Mickey series made its way to the Treasures line in the course of four two-disc tins, none of these creations is new to DVD. "Mickey and the Beanstalk" (1947/1963) (29:20)
"Brave Little Tailor" (1938) (8:55)
"Thru the Mirror" (1936) (8:50)
"Gulliver Mickey" (1934) (7:49)
"Mr. Mouse Takes a Trip" (1940) (7:47)
VIDEO and AUDIO
As is typically the case for such releases, picture and sound are a mixed bag. All are presented in 1.33:1 fullscreen and Dolby 2.0 Mono, but that's where the common ground ends. Mickey and the Beanstalk looks especially poor, with its dark, drab colors and several layers of artifacts. Brave Little Tailor is also troubled, showing lots of grain, a distracting quantity of white specks throughout (mostly on dark colors) and some flickering. Eldest short Gulliver Mickey is more presentable (maybe it helps that artifacts are harder to notice in black & white) and even sounds better than much of its company. Much of the monaural soundtrack, which the case inaccurately calls Surround, is flat, thin, and marked by age-revealing distortion. Some sound effects call attention to themselves, as do some specific shortcomings like a prominent pop in Beanstalk. I guess Disney couldn't clean up these cartoons and their recordings without frustrating those owning the Treasures, but the studio clearly made no effort on the semi-debuting Ludwig cut of Beanstalk. It doesn't even look like Tailor uses its Treasures restoration. And the DVD's target audience, casual consumers who may not have reasonable expectations, quite likely will be disappointed on the whole.
BONUS FEATURES, MENUS and PACKAGING
The only bonus feature included is a physical one. This set's collectible lithograph depicts Mickey, Donald, Goofy, and the golden harp. It's not clear where exactly this artwork comes from, but it obviously promotes Mickey and the Beanstalk. The print measures 4-3/8" wide x 7-1/8" high and has the consistency of a standard postcard. I can't see many people seeking greater prominence than inside the case for this.
The side-snapped white keepcase sits in a reflective foil cardboard slipcover that is extensively embossed. Besides the lithograph, one finds a Disney Blu-ray promotional booklet and your Disney Movie Rewards code sheet.
The static menus give us a pleasant collage of imagery, with a single piece of old score looped on each page.
The disc loads with ads for Disney, Snow White, The Princess and the Frog, Up, Bedtime Stories, and Disney Movie Rewards. Post-playback with FastPlay or from the menu on your own, the second batch of previews showcase My Friends Tigger & Pooh: Tigger & Pooh and a Musical Too, "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse": Mickey's Big Splash, Monsters, Inc. Blu-ray, The Black Cauldron: Special Edition, Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure, and Disney Parks.
CLOSING THOUGHTS
If you've been collecting Disney's classic animated shorts religiously over the past several years, then obviously this Mickey and the Beanstalk DVD |
Related Reviews:
Mickey Mouse's Shorts in the Walt Disney Treasures: Black and White • Black and White, Volume Two • Living Color • Living Color, Volume Two
Mickey Mouse Hour-Long Compilations: Classic Cartoon Favorites Starring Mickey • Funny Factory with Mickey • Vintage Mickey
Fun and Fancy Free • Disney Learning Adventures: Mickey and the Beanstalk • Mickey's Christmas Carol (Classic Holiday Stories)
Alice in Wonderland (Masterpiece Edition) • The Sword in the Stone (45th Anniversary Edition) • WB Academy Awards Animation Collection
New to DVD: Schoolhouse Rock! Earth • Bolt (Deluxe Edition) • Bedtime Stories (Deluxe Edition) • Follow That Bird (25th Anniversary Deluxe Edition)
Mickey Mouse Clubhouse: Mickey's Great Clubhouse Hunt • Walt Disney Treasures: Disney Rarities • The Princess Bride
UltimateDisney.com | DVD Reviews | DVDizzy.com: DVD & Blu-ray Schedule | Upcoming Disney DVDs | Walt Disney Treasures | Search This Site
Reviewed March 30, 2009.