Classic Cartoon Favorites, Vol. 09: Classic Holiday Stories: The Small One / Pluto's Christmas Tree / Mickey's Christmas Carol (DVD)

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They're a delightful crew of players, and by taking the Dickens story seriously, they make it come to life all over again in a new and fascinating way. If there was anything I missed, it was Tiny Tim's closing line, "God bless Us, Every One!" I suppose its exclusion was a nod to political correctness, but it doesn't make it right.

Video:
Because the three feature films were made at varying times, over thirty years apart, and differ somewhat in their animation styles, there are some small differences in picture quality, but not much. The Disney people take better care of their films than most any studio in the world, and the visual quality of their products, no matter how old, shows the benefits of their attention. These transfers may not be frame-by-frame restorations or anything like "Cinderella" or "Snow White," but they are very good in any case. Colors are vivid, grain is largely absent, definition is as sharp as one could want short of high definition, and age marks of any kind are few and far between. For the sake of consistency, Disney engineers offer all three films in a standard 1.33:1 screen size.

Audio:
There is no mention on the keep case of the type of sound on the disc, beyond Dolby Digital, but my DVD player indicates it is DD 2.0. According to our own "DVD Details," it's in stereo, but for the all the world it most often sounds like a wide monaural. In any case, I had no difficultly appreciating it. There's a smoothness and clarity that does the midrange proud, and there really isn't much need for anything else.

Extras:
Well, here we don't expect much and we don't get much. Basically, we have the three features, and that's it. The menu screen shows the films, which can be played independently or all in a row. In addition, there are Sneak Peeks at eight other Disney releases; English and French spoken languages; and English captions for the hearing impaired.

Oh, and there's that sneaky "Fast Play" that Disney keeps trying to pawn off on us. "Fast Play"? I mean, there are only three short movies here, with no scene selections. Why do we need "Fast Play"? You don't know what "Fast Play" is? At start-up, you're given the choice to click on "Menu" or "Fast Play." In "Menu" you can choose among various options, like going directly to the movies, the Sneak Peeks, or the setup screen. In "Fast Play" you're taken directly to...a series of Disney promos and trailers before the movies begin. Somebody explain to me what's "fast" about that? What it does do is force little ones to sit through the previews and advertisements (although the promos can be skipped, advanced, or fast-forwarded if you think to do it). I love Disney, but they can be more than a little devious sometimes.

Parting Thoughts:
Because "The Small One" and "Mickey's Christmas Carol" are so very good, I think we can excuse Disney for giving us short measure on this disc in terms of length. Sure, the studio could have combined everything on their "Classic Holiday Stories" with everything on its companion disc, "Holiday Celebration With Mickey & Pals," and still come in at well under two hours. But I have no objection to Disney's issuing the discs separately at a reduced price. Of the two releases, however, it's this one, "Classic Holiday Stories," I would consider first.

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