Walt Disney's Classic Cartoon Favorites Vols. 1-4 (2004)
Mickey Fun
By Jeffrey M. Anderson
Buy Walt Disney's Classic Cartoon Favorites: Vol. 3 on DVD.
Disney has already released several hundred of its cartoons in fancy,
special edition DVD box sets with metal covers. Those editions are for
hard-core collectors, but these four new single-disc editions are for
fun.
Volume 1 features
Mickey Mouse, Volume 2 is
Donald Duck, Volume 3 contains
Goofy and Volume 4 collects
Chip 'n' Dale. Each disc runs about an hour and contains between 7-9
cartoons each. For some reason, though, none of the discs contain
anything close to a classic; they're all just middle-of-the-road
favorites.
99% of these shorts involve some kind of repetitive chase, which can
get tedious when watching more than a couple of cartoons in a row.
Remember that these shorts were originally meant to be seen one at a
time in front of feature films.
For my money the Goofy disc is the best, and then only for the "How
to" series. These hilarious cartoons ("How to Fish," "How to Swim," "How
to Dance," "The Art of Skiing," etc.) are among Disney's cleverest, due
to their use of juxtaposing sound and image. For example, the narrator
describes the grace and beauty of a particular high-dive, but Goofy's
actual onscreen execution is something entirely different. The Goofy
disc comes with nine cartoons, but unfortunately omits my all-time
favorite, "Motor Mania." You may remember that one from your Driver's
Ed. Class in high school.
January 19, 2005
