This volume is worth reading and owning for Disney fans of any age. It's got single- or double-page profiles or Disney and Pixar characters from almost every major feature since Snow White (a notable omission that jumps to mind is The Black Cauldron--incidentally the only classic film I missed as a child and had to find and watch as a young adult. LOVE it!) Naturally, to cover every last one in great detail would require numerous volumes much thicker than this one, but they did a fine job of trying to profile at least the main character(s) from each film, and then mentioning or including an image of some other significant, connected ones. Yes, many of the entries consist of basic descriptions and plot summaries that are fun to read but don't reveal anything unknown--but the entries that do build upon your Disney knowledge are what really make the whole book worth a close look.
Some have "Fun Facts" (again, certain ones more obvious than others) or "Cool Quotes" (perhaps "Not-So-Cool Quotes" if the speaker's a villain, or it's something the authors deem negative), and the basic layout for a page is: Character name, film title and year, large image, smaller image(s) with captions, main text, and any other little features or factoids they decided to include. A few characters are combined with (an)other(s) who are closely related or go along with them. Though everything and everyone can't be mentioned, the ones that are covered will remind you and make you start thinking about all of the various other beloved characters and animations there are, and comparisons you can draw. Many of the less common movies (classic/older and more modern) are featured, and various short films are named. (The Princess and the Frog and Tangled are too recent to have been included.)
Even a diehard Disney fanatic and self-proclaimed expert (such as myself, lol) can learn something new, and be reminded of other things, by reading this. In fact, I was able to tell that some of the quotes and statements or lists are incomplete, or even slightly inaccurate. But the very simplistic nature of some entries--which is great for kids, but might seem a tad pointless to adults, except that it's enjoyable to read the way they're written--is made up for by the very nice images and still frames. A lot of them are quite interesting and different, whether in style, purpose, origin, or content--for instance, the picture of Tito kissing Georgette's paw that is clearly not derived from the "Oliver and Company" film, or the main drawing of Pongo and Perdita in two unusual collars.
The entries range from the relatively simple to the more detailed, but the writing quality is uniformly very good. They even got the word "toque" for Ratatouille. Sequels and their new characters aren't usually profiled, but some are mentioned or alluded to, and a handful of the pictures come from sequels. I noted almost surprisingly few errors, and the ones I did find are hardly serious. A few examples: The "goldfish" from Lady & the Tramp isn't a goldfish; Aunt Sarah's description is written very negatively as though she hadn't changed her tune and sent dog biscuits for Christmas at the end of the film; Squirt didn't "swim out into the mighty East Australian Current"--he tumbled out of it, and Crush trusted in his ability to get himself back in; Dory is technically a Regal Blue Surgeonfish, not Tang, even though they're commonly called that (Tangs are actually a specific genus of Surgeonfish--Bubbles is a Yellow Tang); Pug is not capitalized when Percy is mentioned; Rafiki is said to be a Baboon, when in fact he is a Mandrill--a close relative of the baboons; Rita (Oliver & Company) is still called an Afghan hound, although she is actually a Saluki (also closely related and forgivable. As an animal nut, I just like to see the full educational potential of these films reached by making things as accurate as possible.)
Personally, some of my favorite characters (besides the original "Mickey gang" of classic stars) given individual entries/profiles--or portions of one--in this book are Georgette, Ariel, Megara, Esmeralda, Tramp & Lady, Jasmine, Pocahontas, Kida, Mulan, Dory, Copper & Tod, Violet, Chip & Dale, Basil of Baker Street, Miss Bianca and Bernard, Slim, Gypsy, Manny, Rosie, Fauna, Flora, Merryweather, Zazu, Bagheera, Scar, Yzma, Cleo, Cody (from The Rescuers Down Under--an exception to the general sequel rule in the book, although that one is undoubtedly among the best sequels), Kronk, the dwarfs (especially Bashful and Grumpy and Doc and--oh heck, I love all seven!), Rosetta, Fawn, Vidia (along with Silvermist, Iridessa, & Tink), Jon Darling, and the Lost Boys (especially Slightly & Nibs). That's just a small portion of the ones I really, really like.
A few other top favorites of mine, or ones that I'd have liked to see profiled, are simply mentioned or pictured (e.g. Rita from Oliver & Company, the Lion King hyenas, Finding Nemo's Tank Gang members, or those of the Atlantis crew), and this is necessarily the case for many--so I really can't complain too much due to the size and intent of the book. If they expanded it and made a complete Encyclopedia of Disney Characters, they might not have to entirely neglect anyone, and that'd be pretty darn awesome. But, as it is, this book is plenty cool. The writing and/or quote selection are particularly good for some characters (e.g., Lilo, Tigger, and Pooh.) Pooh's pages feature a very clever interview with the bear of very little brain, and my only major complaint would be the failure to drop Gopher's name.
I found these points interesting: A) Cinderella's mice friends are named Gus, Jaq, Bert, Mert, Luke, Perla, and Suzy--Mary, who featured prominently in "Dreams Come True," is not named, nor is the "Blossom" I've seen listed elsewhere. B) Someone in the Disney company loves the name Penny--there are the girls from The Rescuers and Bolt, of course, but do you recall that one of the Dalmatian pups shares it too? (And could you name five of her siblings?) C) Piglet's love for haycorns is mentioned ("Half a Haycorn Pie" remains a favorite childhood story), though his somewhat mysterious species is unaddressed. I feel that he must be an armadillo, or a pig/armadillo hybrid (armadillig?) Ah, it's sort of like Marc Brown's Arthur character; some are still willing to call him an aardvark, but take one look at a capybara and you should learn that you can't always take even a creator's word for something. (Arthur originally was an aardvark, but no more.)
So, if you want to read up on: which combination of creatures equals the Beast, which Monsters, Inc. character was originally going to be the opposite sex, the names of seven of Captain Hook's pirates (besides Smee), the actual name of Cinderella's prince, Bobble's full name and the term for male fairies, a surefire way to tell Huey, Louie, and Dewey apart, what makes Jasmine so lucky (okay, I added that one--it's the technique she used to "distract Jafar when he takes the magic lamp"), why the Hundred Acre Woods residents had initially feared Kanga and how she can make Tigger feel, which character's catchphrase is taken directly from a Walt Disney quote, the name of Maleficent's crow, Mickey's and Minnie's birthdate and the reason for it, the name of the Queen in The Great Mouse Detective, the name for the type of mythical creature Ursula is, which dwarf is legit crushin' on Snow White or how many nights she spent at their cottage, or other curious and fascinating Disney facts--check out this great book.
