Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		3.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		4.0

Mickey & Friends: 10 Classic Shorts - Volume 2 Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman July 7, 2023

Disney has never been overly shy about revisiting its storied catalog time and time (and time) again, and frankly, who can blame them? With an arsenal of both classic animated fare and live action productions that can be trotted out for subsequent generations or even returning patrons every few years, despite some kind of interesting "Debbie Downer" news about the iconic film institution that has crossed entertainment news feeds over the past few days in particular, releases like this second volume of Disney shorts featuring the venerable Mickey Mouse (at least in dribs and drabs this time out) offer more than substantial proof that Disney is probably going to be able to weather any temporary storm it may encounter along the way. That said, when you're on your umpteenth re-release of material, how do you provide potential consumers with a "value add", especially if any particular disc is not going to include official supplements? And it's here that some may feel like I do that newly produced interstitials featuring what basically amount to shadow puppet versions of iconic Disney characters being voiced by modern day performers are at best indicative by way of comparison of how artful so many of the older shorts were, and at worst seriously distracting interruptions into an otherwise very enjoyable collection.

The shorts included in this collection are:

The Band Concert (1935). This fun program opener (after the shadow puppet introduction, anyway) finds Mickey as a conductor trying to lead a motley crew of musicians, including a recalcitrant Donald Duck. One of the interesting things about this collection, which spans many years, is how variable the character designs were, and Donald is rather different looking in this one. As an added bonus, I will share a joke that I made up myself which has actually gotten me more than one gig as a conductor: How many conductors does it take to screw in a lightbulb? No one knows, because no one's watching. You're welcome.

Lonesome Ghosts (1937). Anyone who may think of Ghostbusters as an innovative concept will be rapidly disabused of that notion in this raucous enterprise, which finds Mickey, Donald and Goofy as animated precursors to Peter, Ray and Egon. The ghosts in this production may have influenced the character design for some of the less friendly spirits that would be found in about a decade in the longrunning Casper series.

Pluto's Sweater (1949). Pluto gets to strut his physical comedy stuff in this, well, goofy short that finds Minnie wanting to dress up the dog, and the dog wanting none of it.

Mr. Duck Steps Out (1940) finds the irascible Donald ping ponging between amorous moments with Daisy and more typical irate outbursts courtesy of those pesky nephews Huey, Dewey and Louis, who just won't let the adults have a little alone time.

Boat Builders (1938) is another short, um, built on a paper thin premise, as Mickey, Donald and Goofy attempt to construct a water worthy vehicle. This is another interesting slight variation in character design with regard to Mickey, who's a bit portlier in this one. This may provide laughs for anyone who has ever had to assemble anything with inadequate and/or confusing instructions.

Tugboat Mickey (1940) may be a quasi-sequel to the above short, as it finds Mickey now the captain of a tugboat with Donald and Goofy as bosuns, or something like that. The tugboat itself seems to be sentient in true Disney fashion, and when a distress call throws sailing plans into disarray, suffice it to say that Mickey and crew may be sending out their own distress call in short order. I will share another anecdote that may resonate with some who may be vintage film fans, but I was playing a game of Taboo years ago and got the word "tugboat" and one of my clues was "Marie Dressler played a character named Annie who had this nickname", and was instantly met with stares indicating "who in heaven's name is Marie Dressler?"

Winter Storage (1949) stars those rascally chipmunks Chip and Dale, as they prepare to, um, squirrel away nuts for the upcoming winter. Donald shows up as a park ranger and of course chaos ensues.

Pluto and the Gopher (1950) serves as a lesson in "no good deed goes unpunished", as poor Pluto, attempting to keep a gopher from destroying Minnie's garden ends up destroying Minnie's garden.

Pluto's Party (1952). An ostensibly happier time for Pluto than dealing with a garden pest, namely a birthday part, instead turns into another lesson in frustration for the hapless hound, who just can't get that piece of birthday cake he's pining for. Mickey of course comes to the rescue.

Mickey's Trailer (1938) is another short that like a couple discussed above may have inspired a later production. The adventures of Mickey and Donald in a trailer being towed by Goofy have some remarkably similar vignettes to the slapstick laden live action The Long, Long Trailer starring Lucy and Desi at the height of their popularity.

Kind of interestingly, the back cover of this release has a little disclaimer about "negative depictions or mistreatment of people or cultures", so what's keeping Disney from simply slapping that on a Blu-ray release of, say, Song of the South?

Mickey & Friends: 10 Classic Shorts - Volume 2 Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Mickey & Friends: 10 Classic Shorts is (are?) presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Disney / Buena Vista with AVC encoded 1080p transfers in 1.37:1. Many of these shorts have been released previously (some many times), including on Celebrating Mickey, and I don't see any major differences between presentations when comparing older releases with some of these same shorts. The transfers are typically excellent, especially with regard to a beautifully suffused palette and some appealingly sharp line detail. While any major signs of age related wear and tear have been ameliorated, eagle eyed videophiles will still be able to spot some passing issues with things like flicker and some noticeable wobble during credits. Screenshots 16 through 19 document some of the kind of silly (symphony?) interstitials.

Mickey & Friends: 10 Classic Shorts - Volume 2 Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Disney often defaults to lossy audio on their vintage animated collections, and that's once again the case with the Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono tracks included on this disc. Longtime readers of my reviews know that my audiophile sensibilities prefer lossless audio, but the Dolby tracks suffice for what are often shorts comprised of relatively little dialogue and lots of score and sound effects. Still, lossless audio would only make these archival treats more enjoyable in my considered opinion. Optional English, French and Spanish subtitles are available.

Mickey & Friends: 10 Classic Shorts - Volume 2 Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Mickey & Minnie: 10 Classic Shorts contains no supplemental content on the disc. The main menu screen offers only Play All, Shorts Selection, and Set Up options (see screenshot 20). A DVD copy of the film and a Movies Anywhere digital copy code are included with purchase. Packaging includes an embossed slipcover.

Mickey & Friends: 10 Classic Shorts - Volume 2 Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

This is another genial and often sweet collection of Disney shorts, but I for one would have much preferred this disc had either not included what I consider to be totally needless interstitials, or at least offered the viewer the option of just viewing the shorts without the interstitials (even choosing any individual short gets you the shadow puppet introduction, whether you want it or not). Interstitials themselves are not necessarily a bad thing, but these simply offer characters talking about what we're going to see anyway. If production data or other background information had been imparted, that may have been a true "value add". With that one niggling qualm aside, this collection features nice video and acceptable (if lossy) audio and comes Recommended.