Rating: 
Summary: A comprehensive collection of Technicolor wonder
Review: "Somewhere in Dreamland" is a 2-disk set featuring over 30 Technicolor animated shorts by Max Fleischer. The DVD mainly collects the "Color Classics" series, which were produced to showcase the Fleischer's "Stero-optical Process," whereby the animators placed cells over three-dimensional backgrounds to create the illusion of depth. The cartoons have undergone both digital picture and sound restoration, and the disk is packed with bonus features. Included are commentary by animation historian Jerry Beck, production artwork still frame gallery, a documentary about the Fleischer studio including excerpts from additional Color Classics cartoons. Also, a separate Mono audio track is available, preserving the sound as originally presented. Highlights of the set include "Greedy Humpty Dumpty," "The Cobweb Hotel," "Ants In The Plants," "Dancing On The Moon," "Hold It," "An Elephant Never Forgets," and "Small Fry" and "The Fresh Vegetable Mystery." Betty Boop appears in "Poor Cinderella" and Grampy shows up for "Christmas Comes But Once a Year." Also included are two Academy Award Cartoon Short Subject nominees - "Educated Fish" (1937) and "Hunky and Spunky" (1938). Of course, "Somewhere in Dreamland" is also included. The Fleischer studios have not been treated well by DVD. Let's hope "Somewhere in Dreamland" is the start of a new trend.
Rating:
Summary: A comprehensive collection of Technicolor wonder
Review: "Somewhere in Dreamland" is a 2-disk set featuring over 30 Technicolor animated shorts by Max Fleischer. The DVD mainly collects the "Color Classics" series, which were produced to showcase the Fleischer's "Stero-optical Process," whereby the animators placed cells over three-dimensional backgrounds to create the illusion of depth. The cartoons have undergone both digital picture and sound restoration, and the disk is packed with bonus features. Included are commentary by animation historian Jerry Beck, production artwork still frame gallery, a documentary about the Fleischer studio including excerpts from additional Color Classics cartoons. Also, a separate Mono audio track is available, preserving the sound as originally presented. Highlights of the set include "Greedy Humpty Dumpty," "The Cobweb Hotel," "Ants In The Plants," "Dancing On The Moon," "Hold It," "An Elephant Never Forgets," and "Small Fry" and "The Fresh Vegetable Mystery." Betty Boop appears in "Poor Cinderella" and Grampy shows up for "Christmas Comes But Once a Year." Also included are two Academy Award Cartoon Short Subject nominees - "Educated Fish" (1937) and "Hunky and Spunky" (1938). Of course, "Somewhere in Dreamland" is also included. The Fleischer studios have not been treated well by DVD. Let's hope "Somewhere in Dreamland" is the start of a new trend.
Rating: 
Summary: Pretty good compilation
Review: Despite "OK" video quality and rather vanilla audio commentaries, this is the only DVD I know of that took the effort to preserve these rare master works. Good for kids or animation collectors. 3/5
Rating:
Summary: Pretty good compilation
Review: Despite "OK" video quality and rather vanilla audio commentaries, this is the only DVD I know of that took the effort to preserve these rare master works. Good for kids or animation collectors. 3/5
Rating:
Summary: cheesy
Review: i am a cartoon fanatic, especially old ones. but these are dumb and cheesy for the most part. they're all based on fairy tales with happy endings, and they all have dancing and singing.
well, i take it back a little... they're not ALL really cheesy, but mostly.
Rating: 
Summary: An Essential Fleischer Collection
Review: Republic Entertainment should be indicted for cultural crimes since they refuse to release first-generation prints of Max and Dave Fleischer's "Color Classics" series. As a result of this neglect, VCI and Kit Parker Films have compiled "Somewhere in Dreamland" -- a fine collection of public-domain Fleischer cartoons from 1934 to 1941. Most of the "Color Classics" are represented in this two-DVD set, with the print quality ranging from excellent to poor. The series is decidedly uneven, but it contains several Fleischer gems, including Betty Boop's "Poor Cinderella" (1934), "The Kids in the Shoe" (1935), "The Cobweb Hotel" (1936), "All's Fair at the Fair" (1938) and "Ants in the Plants" (1940). Though influenced by the success of Disney's "Silly Symphonies," the Fleischer spirit is evident in many "Color Classics," particularly the lesser-known entries such as "Chicken Ala King" (1936), "A Car-Tune Portrait" (1936) and "Hold It!" (1937). The DVD set also features two Oscar-nominated shorts, "Educated Fish" (1937) and "Hunky and Spunky" (1938), which are enjoyable but do not represent the Fleischers' best work. Until Republic gets its act together, "Somewhere in Dreamland" will remain the definitive "Color Classics" collection and is highly recommended to aficionados of vintage animation.
Rating:
Summary: An Essential Fleischer Collection
Review: Republic Entertainment should be indicted for cultural crimes since they refuse to release first-generation prints of Max and Dave Fleischer's "Color Classics" series. As a result of this neglect, VCI and Kit Parker Films have compiled "Somewhere in Dreamland" -- a fine collection of public-domain Fleischer cartoons from 1934 to 1941. Most of the "Color Classics" are represented in this two-DVD set, with the print quality ranging from excellent to poor. The series is decidedly uneven, but it contains several Fleischer gems, including Betty Boop's "Poor Cinderella" (1934), "The Kids in the Shoe" (1935), "The Cobweb Hotel" (1936), "All's Fair at the Fair" (1938) and "Ants in the Plants" (1940). Though influenced by the success of Disney's "Silly Symphonies," the Fleischer spirit is evident in many "Color Classics," particularly the lesser-known entries such as "Chicken Ala King" (1936), "A Car-Tune Portrait" (1936) and "Hold It!" (1937). The DVD set also features two Oscar-nominated shorts, "Educated Fish" (1937) and "Hunky and Spunky" (1938), which are enjoyable but do not represent the Fleischers' best work. Until Republic gets its act together, "Somewhere in Dreamland" will remain the definitive "Color Classics" collection and is highly recommended to aficionados of vintage animation.
Rating: 
Summary: Asking too much for the content.
Review: These are fine cartoons but no better than your cheap VHS copies... they essentially dust off the old copies, transfer them and sell them at a much higher price.
Rating:
Summary: Great cartoons... but the DVD's has technical glitches.
Review: These are wonderful cartoons that I grew up with as a child and I'm only 25. It's amazing how cartoons nowadays have become so self indulgent and garish. It seems that the majority of these newer animated series have lost perspective of it's target audience and have been putting out mellowdramatic garbage since the mid-nineties. I think children of this generation would appreciate something lighthearted and refreshing like a collection of Fleischer cartoons.
There is one little flaw to this specific collection, though. In the middle of the first DVD it continues to play the same episode repeatedly... and from what I've read here in these previous reviews it's not only my DVD. Granted, it's not that big of a deal. All you have to do is return to the menu and select the next episode to play. Glitches and all, I think it's worth having these great cartoons on DVD.
Rating:
Summary: The definitive collection ¿ for now
Review: These cartoons are not restored in any real sense, and a few are pretty rough - to the point of being unwatchable. One has the audio and video out of sync by two seconds. I wish Greedy Humpty Dumpty was in better shape, which is near the top of my list of Fleisher cartoons. My copy snags on disk 1, item 7, and I have to go back to the menu to prompt it along. Fans of Fleischer will nevertheless embrace this collection and thank the producers for making available in any form what we would not otherwise have. I enjoyed the audio commentary provided by the producers. Fleischer videos and DVDs come and go, and I suspect it will just be a question of time before Republic or someone invests the money to fully restore the Color Classics - probably not in my lifetime, though. My children, as well as I, love this DVD collection. Although the price is a little steep, it's still a good value for 4.5 hours of Fleischer magic!
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