Customer Reviews

Walt Disney Treasures - Mickey Mouse in Living Color, Volume Two

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Mickey Mouse in Living Color Volume 2 is great. It features a multitude of Mickey/Pluto shorts and some really cool extras. Each cartoon has its good points and bad points (some more than others) but overall a very, very awesome set. The best part is having Mickey and the Beanstalk, Mickey's Christmas Carol, and The Prince and the Pauper all together in one set :)

Unfortunately, when you use the Play All feature, it doesn't just play the cartoons. Many of the cartoons feature a brief introduction from DVD host Leonard Maltin. Now, you would think these introductions would tell you a bit about the history of the short, how the story was conceived, who directed it, whatever. But, no, all these introductions are for is to warn viewer about possible "offensive" material found in the shorts. It really saddens me that we live in a world where people cannot see the past as past and accept they way things were at the time. Instead, we have these really annoying clips of Maltin telling us how much more "enlightened" we are nowadays. He says the same repetitive things in each intro.

The public domain releases of old cartoon from the '30s and '40s that you can get at Wal-Mart for a dollar have the same type of supposedly offensive material (actually, probably more of it than anything Disney would ever have). We don't, however, have Leonard Maltin there warning us of the dangers of supposedly un-PC material. Whatever. Aside from that, this set is awesome! :)

According to a mail that Diney Consumer Services sended me, the following are the contents of this set:

"The following information is tentative for MICKEY MOUSE IN LIVING COLOR 2.

BONUS FEATURES:
Disc One:
***Leonard Maltin Introduction***
***"The Sorcerer's Apprentice" with Introduction***
***Deleted Animation from "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" with Introduction***
***"Mickey and the Beanstalk" with Introduction***

Disc Two:
***Leonard Maltin Introduction***

***Mickey's Cartoon Comeback***
***The Voice Behind the Mouse***
***Mouse Mania with Introduction***
***Mickey Cartoon Physics from "The Plausible Impossible" with Introduction***
***Mickey on the Camera Stand from "Tricks of Our Trade" with Introduction***
***Mickey Meets the Maestro with Introduction***
***Color Titles from "The Mickey Mouse Club" with Introduction***
***The Making of "Mickey's Christmas Carol"***
***Publicity & Memorabilia Gallery***
***Story & Background Art Gallery: ***
- The Little Whirlwind
- The Nifty Nineties
- The Pointer
- Symphony Hour

______________________________________________
PROGRAM:
Disc One:
***Society Dog Show***
***The Pointer***
***Tugboat Mickey***
***Pluto's Dream House with Stereotypes Introduction***
***Mr. Mouse Takes a Trip with Stereotypes Introduction***
***The Little Whirlwind***
***The Nifty Nineties with Uncharacteristic Behaviors Introduction***

***Orphan's Benefit***
***Mickey's Birthday Party***
***Symphony Hour with Stereotypes Introduction***
***Mickey's Delayed Date***
***Mickey Down Under***
***Mickey and the Seal***
***Plutopia with Uncharacteristic Behaviors Introduction***
***R'Coon Dawg***
***Pluto's Party***
***Pluto's Christmas Tree***
***The Simple Things***

Disc Two:
***Mickey's Christmas Carol with Introduction***
***The Prince and the Pauper with Introduction***
***Runaway Brain with Introduction***"

In other words... yes!, it will contain "Runaway Brain" (tentatively, of course)

This volume in the Disney Treasures series features the latest work from studio icon Mickey Mouse. This set covers the longest time period, starting in 1939 and running up to his most resent short, "Runaway Brain."

Disc One features the remaining color shorts. There are 18 of them here, ranging from 1939 to 1953. In many of them, Mickey plays a supporting role, usually to Pluto. He still gets chances to shine in such shorts as "Mickey's Delayed Date" and "Mickey and the Seal." I especially enjoyed "Tugboat Mickey," although here Donald and Goofy get to shine more then Mickey does. Especially interesting was "Orphan's Benefit," a complete update of the Black and White classic including color and the current look of all the classic characters. Disc one includes Mickey's early big screen appearances, including "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" and "Mickey and the Beanstalk." This second one is the original version. I was hoping it would be the one I grew up watching on TV, but it makes sense it wouldn't be. There's also a fun Easter Egg to find.

Disc Two brings us Mickey's comeback of the 80's and 90's. Here we get three cartoons, "Mickey's Christmas Carol," "The Prince and the Pauper," and "Runaway Brain." Personally, I'm thrilled to have the first on DVD since I watching it every Christmas. The second is a fun reworking of Mark Twain's classic. I remember not being impressed with the final one when I saw it in the theater, and my impression still holds up today. All three are presented in wide screen since, being more modern, that's their original aspect ratio.

The second disc is where you'll find the majority of the bonus features. These include interviews with current animators who have worked on Mickey and an interesting interview with the current voices for Mickey and Minnie. Other highlights include Mickey's appearances on "The Mickey Mouse Club" opening, two "Tricks of our Trade" episodes of Disneyland, and a special from the 80's on the making of "Mickey's Christmas Carol."

For those looking for more Mickey Mouse shorts on DVD, this will certainly fit the bill. Some will argue that this isn't Mickey's best work. Personally, I loved going through everything on here. It's nice to see Disney preserving and releasing its history for all of us to enjoy.

I have most all the Disney Treasures DVDs. Watching these over and over, I get tired of the Leonard Maltin apologies for the content. First, the content doesn't offend me. I guess that must mean I need to know why it should. The Maltin intros tell me every single time I see each offending short. I hope those in charge will consider putting one disclaimer at the beginning of the entire set, which can be bypassed with the ff button in the future. I really get tired of seeing them over and over.

Beyond that, and that's no small thing, the content I bought the DVDs for is the best. Thank you, Disney for releasing them.

For Pluto fans, this DVD would be good to complement Pluto's Walt Disney Treasures DVD. A lot of the cartoons not only feature, but in my opinion, star the hilarious mutt. Many of these cartoons I found more entertaining than those contained on the Pluto DVD. The DVD also features "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" and "A Christmas Carrol," two classic half-hour Mickey Mouse cartoons that I thouroughly enjoyed. Although I did not enjoy "The Prince and the Pauper" and "Runaway Brain," two other longer than normal shorts, children might enjoy them for the amount of action contained. I cant compare this DVD (volume Two) to the first DVD (volume one) because I have not seen Vol 1. In fact, one bad thing about these DVDs is that the Disney Corporation labels them as "collectibles," charges more than they are worth, and if you are unlucky to not get the DVD when it firsts comes out the only place you will find it is used on the internet, in "acceptable" condition, and for a rediculous amount of money. So if you think that you would want these cartoons, be sure to grab the DVD soon. (Or on the other hand, you could wait about 10 years for Disney to re-release the Treasures Collection and **** over all the people who paid outrageous prices for them)

The Disney treasures collection is the best and cheapest way of getting the entire series to their golden age shorts.
I must warn you not to buy any of these mini DVDS if you are someone who would love the full collection being the mini DVDS are just repeats or shorts due on future Disney treasures.

As you know Black and white cartoons are only normally seen these days on a fan basis or history basis which is why the general audience since the 1960's have not seen many old and original Mickey mouse cartoons because the Studio wants the general audience to see coloured cartoons only these days, plus black and white do not suit the general audience anymore.

Mickey Mouse Was created in 1928 and was Walt Disney's very first cartoon as well as the first cartoon with sound in it, at first they just starred Mickey, Mini, Pete and others, but did not feature our familiar Disney characters till the early 1930's including Donald, Pluto and Goofy. 75 black and white cartoons were made from 1928-35, Mickey Mouse's cartoons turned fully into color in 1934/35 and still stared his new friends who were seen is his last few black and white cartoons including Donald, Pluto and Goofy. They were still all just Mickey Mouse cartoons but all of them except 3 starred at least one out of Donald, Pluto & Goofy. By 1936 14 colored cartoons had been made of Mickey Mouse and his friends. In 1937 In the late 1930's Walt Disney for the very first time created a cartoon classified as one of Mickey's friends(DONALD DUCK) Then in 1938 they started doing spin off classifications called DONALD AND GOOFY, then in 1940 they done PLUTO'S very first own short. In these cartoons not classified as Mickey Mouse, they did not star Mickey Mouse when all of Mickey's cartoons starred them which was because in the late 30's the audience was complaining about Mickey's mean character not going with his nice friendly personality which is why from 1937-53 Walt Disney realised he was limited on stories to suit Mickey's character and that he better make Mickey's popular friends turn into cartoon superstars who were bigger stars than Mickey physically all along as you are about to read as well as the fact that they starred in all of Mickey's own cartoons when did not star in there's who also had an enormous lot more cartoons made alone per character than Mickey did at all. Mickey was and still is today in the present just what made Disney start and become what it turned out to be and is used today as we speak like it always has been since the 1940's like an advertisement for WALT DISNEY, but Mickey is not a cartoon star like all think he is.

Only 14 colored cartoons classified as Mickey Mouse had been made upto 1936. They only made 28 new cartoons classified as Mickey Mouse from 1937-53 when his last original short was made, which makes 42 colored shorts in total which all starred atleast one of his friends out of Donald, Pluto and Goofy except for 3 of his own shorts out of all 42 that just Starred him and Minnie. Donald starred in 130 Shorts of his own from 1937-67, Goofy starred in 48 cartoons of his own from 1939-67, Pluto starred in 48 shorts of his own from 1940-51 which makes 226 colored shorts not classified as Mickey Mouse which he only appeared in ten of, other than that he appeared in 2 special Shorts and one WAR commercial which also starred his friends and makes 55 colored shorts in total starring Mickey Mouse. Meaning 39 out of Mickey's own 42 colored shorts star Donald, Pluto or Goofy which is why I would rather call these DVDS Mickey, Donald, Pluto, Goofy and Friends. Being Mickey is not the star. Then you see there is 226 cartoons of the stars seen in Mickey's cartoons which do not star Mickey meaning Mickey's cartoons were like an origin to the real stars who starred in 226 shorts of their own which did not star Mickey.

after the last short in 1967, they did not produce anything till 1981 because TV was taking over and the theatre customers was reducing in cartoons due To Hanna Barbera and lots of other TV cartoons that were making cartoons popular as TV Series, Studios like Disney and Warner were not willing to create TV Cartoons till the late 1980's early 90's when Animated TV as well as taken over Theatrical cartoons had become a massive popular thing to the whole world. In 1981 they Did a Special called Mickey's Christmas Carol which again starred all his friends plus friends of Donald's that were introduced in Donald cartoon shorts. Then next in 1987 a Goofy Special was made called Sport Goofy in Soccermania that did not star Mickey. Then in 1987 A TV Series of Donald's Uncle and Nephews was made. Chip-N-Dale who were introduced in Donald Cartoons had A TV Series done in 1988. Goofy had a TV Series of his own Done in 1992. Donald had a TV Series of his own done in 1996. a Few Specials of Mickey were made from 1990-97 but all stared his friends when his friend's specials and TV Series did not star him. The finally in 1998 they started a new TV Series called Mickey Mouse works which was show with scenes that made Mickey and all his friends the presenters of lots of brand new shorts which again in Mickey's cartoons they starred his friends when Donald, Pluto and Goofy's new shorts did not star Mickey. It is all because Mickey is not an easy character to write stories in cartoons up for with good humour and adventure, which is why he never starred in all his friends cartoons as well as when getting a show that did star him it featured all his friends being Mickey is nothing when it gets to screen entertainment other than a way of advertising Walt Disney productions and cartoons like a cartoon advertising Toys.

Mickey Mouse only starred in 55 colored shorts
Below is a complete list of all his appearances. it comes in 4 columns: first the episode number, then the date, then the official classification of the series it comes under, then the title.

Any classified as Pluto/Donald/War are seen on these Treasures: Donald Duck/Pluto/On The Front Lines.

ALL COLORED SHORTS STARRING MICKEY MOUSE
1 1935 MICKEY MOUSE Band Concert
2 1935 MICKEY MOUSE Mickey's Garden
3 1935 MICKEY MOUSE Mickey's Fire Brigade
4 1935 MICKEY MOUSE Pluto's Judgement Day
5 1935 MICKEY MOUSE On Ice
6 1936 MICKEY MOUSE Mickey's Polo Team
7 1936 MICKEY MOUSE Orphans' Picnic
8 1936 MICKEY MOUSE Mickey's Grand Opera
9 1936 MICKEY MOUSE Thru The Mirror
10 1936 MICKEY MOUSE Mickey's Rival
11 1936 MICKEY MOUSE Moving Day
12 1936 MICKEY MOUSE Alpine Climbers
13 1936 MICKEY MOUSE Mickey's Circus
14 1936 MICKEY MOUSE Mickey's Elephant
15 1937 MICKEY MOUSE Worm Turns
16 1937 MICKEY MOUSE Magician Mickey
17 1937 MICKEY MOUSE Moose Hunters
18 1937 MICKEY MOUSE Mickey's Amateurs
19 1937 MICKEY MOUSE Hawaiian Holiday
20 1937 MICKEY MOUSE Clock Cleaners
21 1937 MICKEY MOUSE Lonesome Ghosts
22 1938 MICKEY MOUSE Boat Builders
23 1938 MICKEY MOUSE Mickey's Trailer
24 1938 MICKEY MOUSE Brave Little Tailor
25 1938 MICKEY MOUSE Mickey's Parrot
26 1938 MICKEY MOUSE Whalers
27 1939 MICKEY MOUSE Pointer
28 1939 MICKEY MOUSE Society Dog Show
29 1939 SPECIAL The Standard Parade
30 1939 SPECIAL Mickey's Surprise Party
31 1940 PLUTO Pluto's Dream House
32 1940 MICKEY MOUSE Mr. Mouse Takes A Trip
33 1940 MICKEY MOUSE Tugboat Mickey
34 1941 MICKEY MOUSE Little Whirlwind
35 1941 MICKEY MOUSE Nifty Nineties
36 1941 MICKEY MOUSE Orphan's Benefit
37 1941 PLUTO Gentleman's Gentleman, A
38 1941 PLUTO Canine Caddy
39 1941 PLUTO Lend A Paw
40 1942 MICKEY MOUSE Mickey's Birthday Party
41 1942 MICKEY MOUSE Symphony Hour
42 1942 WAR All Together
43 1943 PLUTO Pluto and the Armadillo
44 1946 PLUTO Squatter's Rights
45 1947 MICKEY MOUSE Mickey's Delayed Date
46 1948 MICKEY MOUSE Mickey Down Under
47 1948 MICKEY MOUSE Mickey And The Seal
48 1948 PLUTO Pluto's Purchase
49 1949 PLUTO Pueblo Pluto
50 1950 DONALD DUCK Crazy Over Daisy
51 1951 PLUTO Plutopia
52 1951 MICKEY MOUSE R'coon Dawg
53 1952 MICKEY MOUSE Pluto's Party
54 1952 MICKEY MOUSE Pluto's Christmas Tree
55 1953 MICKEY MOUSE Simple Things

I love the Disney Treasure series. And I must admit that the constant apologizing of Leonard Maltin got on my nerves. That is until I found out that Disney was originally planning on editing out all of the possibly "offensive" attributes of the cartoons, and the only way that they agreed to keep the cartoons uncut was with the persistent insitence of Mr. Maltin to keep them the way that they were. The execs., however would only agree to the request if Maltin provided "warnings" (or what have you) before some of the shorts. So before you criticize Leonard again, please understand that if it weren't for him the cartoons that wouldn't have been cut completely would be severely edited. So, despite the slight annoyance of the ridiculously PC intros, I would like to thank Mr. Maltin for at least sticking up for Walt's origninal visions, and above all a sense of humor!

Once again, Disney has put together an impressive collection of cartoons; in this case, a wonderful assortment of Mickey Mouse cartoons. (Plus a lot of behind the scenes stuff, and a few easter eggs.)

But Leonard Maltin's commentary hits an all time low on this DVD set. To begin with, he explains to us how these shorts aren't really as good as Mickey's earlier work,(leaving us to wonder why we've just invested our money in them!), but, some of them are kind of cute, so we may actually enjoy them.

Then, he jumps back on the old political correctness bandwagon and feels obligated to explain to us (very often!) how these cartoons are not PC by modern standards, but that, rather than 'putting them on the shelf' (lest someone be ... gasp! ... offended) we should watch them and appreciate how times have changed, and how much more sensitive and understanding we are today. (Yeah ... like contemporary movies NEVER contain stereogypes ...) The commentary before "Mr. Mouse Takes a Trip" (in which he explains that Disney didn't MEAN to be bigoted and prejudiced when he had Mickey disguise himself as an Indian and say "How!") is bad enough -- but when he came on before "The Nifty Nineties" to tell us all that the scene where Minnie and Mickey attend a vaudville show is not PC by modern standards (because it contains comic references to drinking -- and we all know that drunkeness is not funny), but we should just try and accept it in the spirit in which it was intended --I was ready to throw something at the screen.
Maltin occassionally has some interesting things to say, but I'm far more offended by his belief that viewers are too stupid to understand that humor changes with the times and that life was different 60+ years ago than I could ever be by the fact that a cartoon might contain a bit of ethnic/racial stereotyping.

Buy the set, but when Maltin comes on the screen, take a bathroom break.

While most of the shorts in this title are certainly not Mickey's best, there are some definite must-haves in there. "Mickey's Christmas Carol" and "The Prince and the Pauper" alone make this a disc worth owning. "Mickey and the Beanstalk" is the original short from "Fun and Fancy Free", so it would've been nice to have one of the updated (and slightly different) versions--like the one with Ludwig Von Drake. But it's still great.

Disney fans should appreciate this one.

Mickey Mouse in Living Color Vol. 2 is a great dvd package. Included are some very entertaining shorts and featurettes, many of which I had forgotten until I just viewed them again. In my opinion, I prefer the shorts on Vol.1, but it is nice to finally have the whole collection to enjoy forever.
A lot of people have complained here that Leonard Maltin's introductions to some of the shorts are annoying and unnecessary. I agree to an extent, that they can get repetitive. But Maltin was a major player in getting this great material released to the public in all of its uncensored glory. It does seem rediculous that we need to put shorts like "Mr. Mouse Takes a Trip" into perspective when Mickey dresses like an indian, because it was all done in fun and not meant to offend. Personally, I think that anyone who gets offended by a cartoon has bigger issues to deal with in their lives. We live in such a politically correct world though, that if he did not do this we may not be able to see the original versions. So you should thank Maltin for working so hard to get these to us.
Okay, as far as the content goes, it is great and each has its own charm. Highlights for me were "Mr. Mouse Takes A Trip", "The Little Whirlwind", "Orphan's Benefit"(Donald steals the show again), "Mickey and the Seal", and "Mickey's Christmas Carol(my new holiday favorite. Of course that only is the tip of the iceberg. Others are included that were already available, like "Sorcerer's Apprentice" and "Mickey and the Beanstalk" that are nice to have in a complete set. Extras are plenty on this volume as well.Included are the following:
"Mickey's Cartoon Comeback"
"The Voice Behind the Mouse"---The evolution of Mickey's voice
Mickey Mouse Club Titles in Color---5 original openings to the show.(This will be a Treasure in the next wave by the way)
"Mickey Meets the Maestro"
Mouse Mania-- A very strange stop motion short that you gotta see

Mickey Cartoon Physics from "Plausible Impossible"
Mickey on the Camera Stand from "Tricks of Our Trade"
"The Making of Mickey's Christmas Carol"--My favorite extra
Publicity and Memorabilia Gallery
Story and Background Art Gallery
In my area this and the Donald treasure have been the biggest sellers. This has a lot of entertaining content between the shorts, featurettes and the extras, which include great behind the scenes looks at how a lot of this material was brought to the screen. The picture never has looked better and probably never will. Children and adults alike will enjoy what this set has to offer, so get your copy now before they are gone. So far I have viewed this, Donald and Tomorrowland and I would rank this #3 behind Donald(1) and Tomorrowland(2) and I am about to go through On The Front Lines. But I say I rank it third and that is not a bad thing, fans of Mickey and animation in general should appreciate this set. It is definately worthy of bearing the Walt Disney Treasures name.