Disney Short Review: Once Upon a Studio

Stars: 5 out of 5

Pros: Great celebration of 100 years of Disney

Cons: So much going on hard to catch it all

The Bottom Line:

Celebrate Disney

Short honors one hundred years

Magical for fans

Magical Short for a Magical Anniversary

Being the Disney fan that I am, I was excited when I started hearing about the short Once Upon a Studio.  It sounded like it would be a great tribute to the 100^th anniversary of the Disney studio.  I made sure to watch it when it premiered on the TV, and I’ve watched it again on Disney+.  Needless to say, I love it.

The premise is really simple.  In honor of the 100^th anniversary of the studio, all the Disney characters are getting together for a group picture.  Yes, heroes and villains.  And sidekicks.  And characters from the shorts and movies – after all, Mickey and Minnie are organizing it.

That’s it.  That’s the plot.  I mean, it’s less than ten minutes long.  Most of the short is watching the characters assemble and what complications they face along the way.  And, for Disney fans, it is a pure delight.  They’ve got characters interacting who have never interacted together before (at least to my knowledge).  They’ve got some great jokes.  And they’ve got tender moments, as well.  No, I didn’t cry like some did, but I was definitely moved at the tribute to Walt and hearing “When You Wish Upon a Star.”

They also did this with a mix of animation styles, so characters look like they originally did.  That means we’ve got hand drawn and computer animation side by side.  They two mix seamlessly, and I love the look.

This is just a Disney project.  If you are looking for Pixar characters (or Star Wars or Marvel), you’ll be disappointed.  (The one exception is BayMax from Big Hero 6, which was a Disney animation film with Marvel characters.)

There are so many characters it’s hard to take it all in.  Some of them only have blink and you miss them cameos.  Even watching it a couple of times, I know I’ve missed stuff.

As much as possible, they used the original voice actors.  Sometimes, that means they used archival recordings.  Yes, I can usually tell (because I recognize a line), but I don’t care.  Naturally, there are times they’ve used the newer voice actors as well.  I wouldn’t know any better.  (And yes, that is Robin Williams voicing the Genie with approval from his estate.)

The other things this does is make me want to watch the classic Disney movies all over again.  They really have released some magical stories, haven’t they?

Once Upon a Studio is at once a celebration of Disney’s history and a thank you to the fans.  And it works as both.  If you love Disney, you need to make a point of watching this short.