Customer Reviews

Fun and Fancy Free (Walt Disney Gold Classic Collection) [VHS]

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

Okay, I have been reading the other reviews on this movie, and they all say things like "went on for too long"..."Way overhyped"...and things like that. I beg to differ. The two movies in this wonderful DVD, Bongo and Mickey and the Beanstalk, are two family classics. As a child, I watched these two movies (on VHS, of course) over and over and over again. Willy the Giant characterizes my childhood in three words..."Potroast! Chocolate potroast!" And now, I know for a fact that my two little brothers have memorized the whole movie of Mickey and the Beanstalk. I don't want to ramble on forever, but I just want to say that these two are the best movies that I have ever seen, and I have seen a lot of movies.

Actually, unknown might be a better word to use. This movie is rollicking fun from beginning to end, and features some wonderful animated moments. This is the original home of the featurettes "Mickey and the Beanstalk" and "Bongo", which are presented in their entirety. If you're looking for something a little different... an alternative to the animated Broadway musical... this is it. Highly recommended.

If like a lot of people you first saw "Mickey & the Beanstalk" not in theaters but on television (usually preceding a feature, like "Dumbo") you are in for a bit of a surprise.

This DVD contains the theatrical version, where the animation is interspersed with live-action footage of people at a party, who are "telling" the story. This also means the wonderfully soothing TV-version narration (provided by Sterling Halloway, also voice of Pooh) is gone. The end result is that the cartoon drags on unnecessarily as the action is constantly interrupted by the live-action segments. Additionally, the live actors tend to get a bit chatty with their narration, and some of the humor they try to inject hasn't aged well. With the capacity of the DVD medium, why couldn't the TV version be tacked on as an extra?

Still worth owning (the beautiful animation and music can't be derailed even by the mediocre live action footage)--but be warned.

I loved Mickey and the Beanstalk as a kid. The version I recall was pleasantly narrated by Disney voice actor, Sterling Holloway (Winnie the Pooh). This edition is narrated and intercut with cheesy comedy relief from live actors and puppets. It was so annoying I couldn't even finish the cartoon. If you enjoyed the cartoon-only Mickey and the Beanstalk, find another version. This one will only frustrate you.

This movie release clasic, comes with two special segments as part of a complete movie. Mickey and the Beanstalk, were Walt Disney lended for the last time the voice of Mickey, and appears with his budies, Goofy and Donald. Everyone will love it, all do you may allready saw it. The second story is Bongo, witch I specialy have a lot of memories of my childhood. With some more shorts and music it mackes a lovable great movie for all.

Fun and Fancy Free is a pairing of two short animations, a forgettable one about a circus bear called Bongo and the much better 'Mickey and the Beanstalk'. Now, having said that Bongo is forgettable I should say that he has proved a great hit with my two young (3 and 4 year old) daughters. Whilst Bongo is something of a throwback to pre-war animation style, 'Mickey and the Beanstalk' is bang up to date (for the time) despite being very much a folk tale. The scene where Mickey and co are so poor they ration out their bread by cutting it into slices so thin they're transparent particularly engauged the attention of my older kid, who immediately wanted me to do it!

Both animations have evidentally been cleaned up and are pretty much flawless, both visually and aurally. There is none of the scratchiness associated with originals of this era. Colours are both vibrant and consistent and the sound quality particularly good and full of body.

Disney animation releases on DVD have been improving (painfully slowly) and this one includes a (very) few welcome extras. The most important extra (for me) is the documentary on the making of F&FF. The kids though prefer the read-along stories that are also included. The Disney archives are massive (I've seen them), one day perhaps they'll see fit to include more related material (stills, deleted scenes, background character info., etc.) on the DVDs. There's certainly plenty of room and since so many of Disneys customers (aka cast) are aficionados, it would do sales no harm at all.

There are still a couple of features I'm not keen on though. Why do Disney releases start with an FBI warning? None of my other DVDs do. Also, why has the ability to skip past the adverts at the beginning been disabled and the adverts not just been placed as a menu option? People will look at them there occasionally but don't need them in their face every time. The DVD has been bought and paid for, so it's not like the adverts are subsidising the price or anything.

Still, over all this is a resonably good package and well worth buying for either Disney fans or young children.

I absolutely love this version of 'Mickey and the Beanstalk'. The interjection of the live action in this is what makes it so absolutely wonderful. I was so pleasantly surprised and ecstatic to see the little skits intertwined with the story because that's what gives it that nostalgic Disney magic! I had seen the version with Ludwig Von Drake and didn't even know this version existed until I read about it. This one is much more magical. I also love Charlie McCarthy, Mortimer Snerd and Luana Patten in this. It reminds me of the way 'Pecos Bill' is done (another favorite Disney short). This will now be one of my favorite Disney shorts. Oh, and I also love how Jiminy Cricket is lying there on the piece of chocolate cake! Live action and animation together just can't be beat.

I am still watching the laserdisc version of this film, so I cannot comment on the quality of the "restored" DVD. I intend to up-date to DVD shortly, if the DVD includes the short, historical "making of" that is on the laserdisc. It is a short, but fascinating look at the Disney Studios in 1947 and contains some brief, but previously unseen footage of Walt, himself, from that time. I would agree with the reviewers who say that the weakest part of the film is the Bongo segment. However, some of your writers need to do their homework before making the statement that the version of Mickey and the Beanstalk presented is an edited version with Edgar Bergen added as narrators. Indeed, this is the original version! It was the various incarnations on Disney's Wonderful World of Color that were re-edited, some with Professor Ludwick von Drake replacing the original Bergen/McCarthy narration. How horrible was that??

In this film Disney dishes out two more stories that are very charming. In feature one you meet lovesick Bongo the Bear, and in the second feature Mickey fills Jack's shoes and climbs the beanstalk with Donald and Goofy behind him. The animation is good, and the music is great. A definate must see. I reccomend this film.

The only reason to get this is for Mickey and the Beanstalk. However, instead of showing that cartoon straight through, it is interspursed with live actors (Charlie McCarthy's dummy), and not just cut scenes to the live actors, but they fade in and out from the cartoon the escapism of the Beanstalk is lost trying to make it 'funny' to see the dummy or kids reaction. What a waste!