Stars: 3 out of 5
Pros: All of the stories have their fun moments
Cons: Dated elements and slow pacing
The Bottom Line:
Two lesser known films
That aren't top Disney projects
Mostly for the fans
The DisNerd Way to Collect These Films on Blu-Ray
While many of Disney’s animated films are considered
classics for very good reason, the package films aren’t usually in that
list. And with good reason. The stories, while
entertaining, aren’t as timeless or magical as the best known
films. Still, die hard Disney fans like me are always looking to
upgrade their collection, which is why I jumped when I spotted this The Adventures of Ichabod & Mr Toad/Fun & Fancy Free combo set on Blu-Ray.
The first film is exactly what it advertises itself to
be. We get two stories, the first a version of The Wind in the
Willows, the second The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. In the first, Mr.
Toad runs afoul of the law and his friends when his obsession with speed leads
him to get a motor car. Along the way, he gets arrest and just might
have lost his ancestral home, Toad Hall. Then we follow Ichabod
Crane as this school teacher sets his sights on the most eligible woman in the
area only to run afoul of the local bully and the local legend about a Headless
Horseman.
The reason this film isn’t as well known is obvious fairly
quickly. The pacing is uneven. Yes, there are things that
will make kids laugh along the way, but they will also tire as they wait to get
to the next funny part. This is especially true in the first story
as we get a courtroom scene that, while important to the plot, slows things way
down. However, kids who stick it out will be rewarded with a very
funny climax to that story.
The same is true of Fun and Fancy Free, which includes two
more stories. “Bongo” is the first one this time, and it tells the
story of a highly trained circus bear who escapes from the circus and finds
himself in the wild. Will he be able to survive on his own, especially
when he meets up with other bears? Then comes “Mickey and the
Beanstalk” which places Mickey, Donald, and Goofy in the role of Jack.
The stories in this feature are slightly better than the
ones in the first. The pacing is faster and the gags are
funnier. There are still some dated elements, mainly from the
storytellers. Dinah Shore narrates and sings one of the stories, and
the music is definitely from the 1940’s. Then Edgar Bergman and his
dummies are involved in the second, and their breaks actually slow things down
as well.
But wait, there’s more! If you act now and buy
the Blu-Ray set, you can also get The Reluctant Dragon as a bonus
feature. (Actually, I believe this is just part of the two film set
and not in a limited edition kind of way.) Despite the name, this is
more of a behind the scenes of animation kind of film from 1941. In
it, we journey with Robert Benchley as he goes from department to department seeing how
various parts of animation is done. Along the way, we glimpse
characters from the not yet released films Dumbo and Bambi. He is
officially there to pitch Walt Disney the idea of the title story, but when he
finally connects with Walt, he learns they've already made the film, and we get
to watch it. Along the way, we get the first of Goofy's "How
To" shorts, in this case "Ride a Horse." The title short
itself, roughly 20 minutes of the hour plus running time, is fun as we meet a
dragon who would rather discuss books over tea than capture damsels.
Again, the animated segments will probably interest kids, but the rest might
bore them.
So, really, these are movies for the DisNerd, but they will be thrilled to have them. Surprisingly, this is just a two disc set. The Blu-Ray disc has all three of these movies on it, with The Reluctant Dragon listed as a bonus features. It's also the only bonus feature, but given the overall popularity of the films, that's hardly surprising. All three of the films look and sound good. This isn't something that will show off your system, but most older animated movies aren't. You will find the picture is full frame, in keeping with the original aspect ratio, but they do make limited use of full surround, usually just giving you music in the back speakers. The second disc is a DVD, and it just features The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad. I'm a little surprised because there other two movie sets usually feature both of the films on their own DVD. I guess in this case they decided that Fun and Fancy Free wasn't popular enough to warrant a DVD release. In fact, you can buy The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad as a separate Blu-Ray/DVD release by itself, but this is the only way to get Fun and Fancy Free on Blu-Ray.
While the only people who will rush out to buy this set are
Disney fanatics, they will rush out to get The Adventures of Ichabod & Mr Toad/Fun & Fancy Free. I know I did. While
the most kids will enjoy parts of the stories here, they probably won't enjoy
all of them.
Looking for longer reviews of these two movies? Here's The Adventures of Ichabod & Mr. Toad and Fun & Fancy Free.
Looking for longer reviews of these two movies? Here's The Adventures of Ichabod & Mr. Toad and Fun & Fancy Free.
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