Rating: 
Summary: Trippy "Melody Time" came 15 years too early!
Review: Similar to "Fantasia" in concept, this film uses popular music from the 50's to underscore it's fabulous animation. And like "Fantasia," I'm sure this film was FAR more popular in the trippy '60's than when it was originally issued. This film may be hard for some to sit through entirely, but each of the individual segments feature animation and design at the peak of the Disney Animation Department's powers. One "PC" problem: Disney has digitally removed Pecos Bill's cigarette throughout that particular segment--and yet, in the very next segment, there's an animated parrot smoking a cigar and swimming around in a martini (through the entire segment!!). Zowie! What's next? Removing the scene in "Bambi" where his mother gets shot??
Rating: 
Summary: It keeps getting worse
Review: The original pieces making up this DVD are good or average Disney. Donald Appleseed is a masterpiece in my opinion. And I was pleased that the shorts were not embodied in some of those awful Disney "frame" stories. BUT as always I started getting angry for the 3 compulsory FBI warnings (how many criminals repent after seeing them I wonder), and I got positively furious for the five minutes or more of compulsory trailers. Just what I need with a DVD which I am supposed to keep and see from time to time! Finally Idiscovered that the stories had been edited in order to be politically correct. ! Poor Walt. And poor me. These hypocrites OWN the stuff. Where shall I be able to find those beloved cartoons of my infancy? Could not Disney publish a RATED (original) version of his movies? I would pay extra for them Mario
Rating: 
Summary: Better than Make Mine Music but doesn't equal to Fantasia.
Review: The third attempt to remake Fantasia Disney comes across better. In this film they are telling little stories than really little musical dittys that we saw in Make Mine Music. The plots are more gripping, and the characters are more iconic. The highlights of the movie are Pecos Bill and Johnny Appleseed. I highly reccomend this for a whimsical good time.
Rating:
Summary: Better than Make Mine Music but doesn't equal to Fantasia.
Review: The third attempt to remake Fantasia Disney comes across better. In this film they are telling little stories than really little musical dittys that we saw in Make Mine Music. The plots are more gripping, and the characters are more iconic. The highlights of the movie are Pecos Bill and Johnny Appleseed. I highly reccomend this for a whimsical good time.
Rating:
Summary: Anouther censored piece of art.
Review: This film has been censored just like Fantasia and Saludos Amigos and Make Mine Music. I really hate when someone tries to tell me what I can and cannot see. I don't see the reason why Disney can't release 2 versions. The same way Dragonball is released edited & uncut version.
Rating: 
Summary: The original sequel to Fantasia?
Review: This fine collection of short subjects was obviously done to be a sequel of sorts to Fantasia. Here's what to expect:In "Once Upon a Wintertime" one can almost believe that you have stepped over a threshold into a greeting card come to life. In "Bumble Boogie" we are treated to a jazzy version of "Flight of the Bumblebee" complete with a bee and flowers, and the ever more surreal adventures he has. This is one of the most obvious nods to "Fantasia" in the movie. There are no words. Just the Bee and his music. "Johnny Appleseed" is one of the main reasons to buy this disk, however. The story of this American Folk Hero has never been done better. I still get a little choked up every time I get to the end. "Johnny Appleseed" will always be one of my very favorite Disney shorts. In "Little Toot" we are treated to a Disney version of this great Children's story. The story of the "Little Tugboat that Could" gets the young ones chanting right along - "You can do it, Little Toot!" "Trees" is a marvelous animated rendition of Joyce Kilmer's famous poem. "Blame It On The Samba" seems to be left over from the recent releases of "Saludos Amigos" and "Three Caballeros". An infectious Latin American rhythm and Donald Duck make this a wonderful way to introduce both "Saludos Amigos" and "Three Caballeros". Finally, "Pecos Bill". Another American legend, this time more in the flavor of Paul Bunyan, "Pecos Bill" does not suffer from the limited amount of retouching they did to remove almost all references to Bill's cigarette. I think this is a wonderful addition to the "canon" of Disney Animated movies, and a great addition to a library of children's films.
Rating:
Summary: The original sequel to Fantasia?
Review: This fine collection of short subjects was obviously done to be a sequel of sorts to Fantasia. Here's what to expect: In "Once Upon a Wintertime" one can almost believe that you have stepped over a threshold into a greeting card come to life. In "Bumble Boogie" we are treated to a jazzy version of "Flight of the Bumblebee" complete with a bee and flowers, and the ever more surreal adventures he has. This is one of the most obvious nods to "Fantasia" in the movie. There are no words. Just the Bee and his music. "Johnny Appleseed" is one of the main reasons to buy this disk, however. The story of this American Folk Hero has never been done better. I still get a little choked up every time I get to the end. "Johnny Appleseed" will always be one of my very favorite Disney shorts. In "Little Toot" we are treated to a Disney version of this great Children's story. The story of the "Little Tugboat that Could" gets the young ones chanting right along - "You can do it, Little Toot!" "Trees" is a marvelous animated rendition of Joyce Kilmer's famous poem. "Blame It On The Samba" seems to be left over from the recent releases of "Saludos Amigos" and "Three Caballeros". An infectious Latin American rhythm and Donald Duck make this a wonderful way to introduce both "Saludos Amigos" and "Three Caballeros". Finally, "Pecos Bill". Another American legend, this time more in the flavor of Paul Bunyan, "Pecos Bill" does not suffer from the limited amount of retouching they did to remove almost all references to Bill's cigarette. I think this is a wonderful addition to the "canon" of Disney Animated movies, and a great addition to a library of children's films.
Rating:
Summary: The original sequel to Fantasia?
Review: This fine collection of short subjects was obviously done to be a sequel of sorts to Fantasia. Here's what to expect: In "Once Upon a Wintertime" one can almost believe that you have stepped over a threshold into a greeting card come to life. In "Bumble Boogie" we are treated to a jazzy version of "Flight of the Bumblebee" complete with a bee and flowers, and the ever more surreal adventures he has. This is one of the most obvious nods to "Fantasia" in the movie. There are no words. Just the Bee and his music. "Johnny Appleseed" is one of the main reasons to buy this disk, however. The story of this American Folk Hero has never been done better. I still get a little choked up every time I get to the end. "Johnny Appleseed" will always be one of my very favorite Disney shorts. In "Little Toot" we are treated to a Disney version of this great Children's story. The story of the "Little Tugboat that Could" gets the young ones chanting right along - "You can do it, Little Toot!" "Trees" is a marvelous animated rendition of Joyce Kilmer's famous poem. "Blame It On The Samba" seems to be left over from the recent releases of "Saludos Amigos" and "Three Caballeros". An infectious Latin American rhythm and Donald Duck make this a wonderful way to introduce both "Saludos Amigos" and "Three Caballeros". Finally, "Pecos Bill". Another American legend, this time more in the flavor of Paul Bunyan, "Pecos Bill" does not suffer from the limited amount of retouching they did to remove almost all references to Bill's cigarette. I think this is a wonderful addition to the "canon" of Disney Animated movies, and a great addition to a library of children's films.
Rating:
Summary: Hypo(or is it Hyper?)-criticism in the Disney studios
Review: This is a nice glimpse of what Disney passed as a "feature" during and after the war, and it shows a willingness by whoever's in charge of the Disney studios to be faithful to Disney's original intentions(it would have been easy for the money men to chop up this feature, "Make Mine Music", "Salugos Amigos" and other collections, bundle them up with other shorts and release them separately). BUT... That honour only goes so far! They're willing to reissue a feature as Walt originally intended, but that feature has been "edited for content"(as the green screen at the beginning of the feature says). And it's not just "Melody Time"; "Make Mine Music", "The Three Caballeros" and others all carry that familiar distinction. Why do they persist in "homogenizing"(for lack of a better word)Disney's classic works, while the modern studios are going full force in what they're censoring from the past? I mean, they take out a few seconds worth of Pecos Bill's cigarette, but the old lady character from "Atlantis" smokes like a chimney! This says to me that there are too many cooks in the kitchen; doesn't everyone wish that there was someone who could be the strong head of Disney the way Walt was? Overseeing everything from story construction in animated features to the foundation and expansion of Disneyland, all without missing a step?
Rating:
Summary: Hypo(or is it Hyper?)-criticism in the Disney studios
Review: This is a nice glimpse of what Disney passed as a "feature" during and after the war, and it shows a willingness by whoever's in charge of the Disney studios to be faithful to Disney's original intentions(it would have been easy for the money men to chop up this feature, "Make Mine Music", "Salugos Amigos" and other collections, bundle them up with other shorts and release them separately). BUT... That honour only goes so far! They're willing to reissue a feature as Walt originally intended, but that feature has been "edited for content"(as the green screen at the beginning of the feature says). And it's not just "Melody Time"; "Make Mine Music", "The Three Caballeros" and others all carry that familiar distinction. Why do they persist in "homogenizing"(for lack of a better word)Disney's classic works, while the modern studios are going full force in what they're censoring from the past? I mean, they take out a few seconds worth of Pecos Bill's cigarette, but the old lady character from "Atlantis" smokes like a chimney! This says to me that there are too many cooks in the kitchen; doesn't everyone wish that there was someone who could be the strong head of Disney the way Walt was? Overseeing everything from story construction in animated features to the foundation and expansion of Disneyland, all without missing a step?
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