When people think of Disney, one of the first images that pop into their heads is Mickey Mouse and his friends. The “little personality that is assigned to the purpose of laughter” has starred in hundreds of shorts and several feature films. Some of his most iconic roles have placed him in classic literature, such as Mickey and the Beanstalk, Mickey’s Christmas Carol and The Prince and the Pauper.
Disney Toon Studios, which is most famous for direct-to-video sequels and the recent Tinker Bell and Planes films, returned to Mickey and his iconic friends in 2004, casting them in Alexandre Dumas’ The Three Musketeers. The film debuted on DVD and VHS that year and seemed to fit well into the Mickey library. So much so that Leonard Maltin wanted to include it in the last Walt Disney Treasures set devoted to the lovable mouse. This is why Disney is celebrating the film with a 10th Anniversary Edition Blu-Ray/DVD/Digital Copy combo pack.
Mickey, Donald and Goofy are janitors who dream of being musketeers. Their dreams appear to come true when the leader of the royal soldiers, Pete, makes them musketeers and assigns them to protect Princess Minnie. But they soon discover that Pete may have an ulterior motive.
The film is well animated, with on-model characters and a color palette that makes the film feel like it could have been made in the 1940’s. Classical music is the foundation for the original songs in the film, giving it a Merrie Melodies feel. This is the first time Mickey Mouse has starred in a linear feature length film, although this film barely qualifies (of the 68 minute runtime, 8 minutes are end credits).
Most Disney Toon Studios productions fade into obscurity or wind up being sold as part of a 2-Movie Collection. This film, though, has amassed a decent fan following since its release. While its not as fun or charming as Mickey’s other extended-length shorts, it is a fun film and the characters remain true to themselves throughout. This film was recently the inspiration for a world in the recent video game, Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance (2012).
Video
The 1080p high definition presentation is an improvement over the 2004 DVD, offering a brighter color palette and more detail. I couldn’t detect any flaws in the transfer.
The DVD included in this set, which is also sold separately, looks identical to the release from 10 years ago.
Audio
On Blu-Ray, the film is presented in DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1. The track uses the rear speakers for score and orchestration and a few sound effects, while dialogue is almost exclusive to the front speakers. The Blu-Ray also offers the film in French, Spanish and Portuguese 5.1.
The DVD offers English, French and Spanish in 5.1 audio tracks.
Bonus Features
- Get Up and Dance – The only new bonus feature is a nearly 2-minute dance-along feature to the song “All For One” that encourages young couch potatoes to move around.
- Deleted Scenes – 5-minutes of deleted scenes are offered (only in a “play all” option) with optional producer commentary.
- Cast Commentary – Not a feature-length commentary, but a 5-minute scene with commentary by Mickey, Donald, Goofy and Pete.
- Get the Scoop – A 10 minute featurette about the making-of the film (its origins go back to the 1940’s when Walt was making Mickey and the Beanstalk).
- Disney Song Selection – Six songs from the film are viewable separately with optional sing-along lyrics (no bouncing ball). The songs are “All For One and One For All,” “Love So Lovely,” “Petey’s King of France,” “Sweet Wings of Love,” “This is the End,” “All For One and One For All (Finale).” A Play All option is present as well as the ability to watch the entire film in Sing-Along mode.
The DVD only has the Disney Song Selection feature. The original 2004 DVD release had all of the bonus features (minus “Get Up and Dance”) as well as two games that are absent from this release, “Opera-Toon-Ity” and “The Many Hats of Mickey.”
Packaging & Menu
The discs are housed in a double-sided Blu-Ray case with the Blu-Ray on the right and DVD on the left. Inserts are for your Disney Movie Rewards/digital copy code and an ad for Disney Movie Club. The case is housed in an embossed slipcover.
The menu offers clips of the film’s opera scene set to score. Both discs open with ads for Sleeping Beauty Diamond Edition, Legend of the Never Beast and Disney Movie Rewards. Selecting Sneak Peeks simply repeats these three ads.
Final Thoughts
Mickey, Donald, Goofy: The Three Musketeers is less memorable than most of the classic shorts that made the trio famous, but it is still a fun film. It’s never looked better than it does on Blu-Ray, but the standalone DVD release is a downgrade from the version released ten years ago.