Vintage Mickey: DVD Review (2005)

(Originally published 2005)

This new compilation from Disney features nine animated shorts spanning the years 1928 - 1934, with the last film in the set, 1934's "Mickey's Steam-Roller," coming just three years before Walt Disney would redefine animation with the release of his classic film, 1937's "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs."

On every level, that movie was a leap forward, the first full-length animated feature to appear in color and sound. It remains among the best ever made. Here, in "Vintage Mickey," we get the defining black-and-white films, with Disney's famed mouse creating good-natured havoc, usually at the expense of some bewildered barn animal.

None of the shorts appear to have been restored--some are grainy, others faded, others both. The DVD also disappoints in that it offers no extras, an oversight in a collection that should have at least offered historical context into Disney's influence on the animation of the time.

The good news is that movies have held up; they're inventive fun, with broad "performances" that favor the silent era. The most famous film here is "Steamboat Willie," the 1928 short that was so successful, it pushed Mickey and Minnie Mouse to center stage. Together, they're cute and flirty, particularly in "Plane Crazy," which might not be the most well known film of the lot, but it's the best.

Grade: B+