Starring Paul Bunyan, Chicken Little, Morris the Midget Moose, Ferdinand The Bull, Lambert the Sheepist Lion
Written By:
Directed By:
Studio: Disney/ Buena Vista
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I love when I get Walt Disney Treasures cartoon sets because I remember a lot of these cartoons and it takes me back when I was growing up. If you ever watch edthe Disney channel or happen to be old enough to remember these when they first aired, then this is something you’ll like.

Walt Disney Treasures: Disney Rarities contains so many fantastic Disney cartoons you’d be foolish not to buy this. The DVD contains a bunch of various cartoons that didn’t feature any of the main Disney characters and weren’t classifiable so Disney put these rare short animated films on this DVD set. This volume has two of my favorite non-Disney characters shorts: Paul Bunyan, and Lambert the Sheepist Lion. Paul Bunyan is such a classic and I still remember most of that short. I remember the song to the cartoon, and I still remember the lyrics to it. Though I think I’ll forgo singing it to you now. I think it’s one of the best cartoons Disney did because it’s so memorable to me. I wouldn’t have known about Paul Bunyan story if it wasn’t for this animated short. I love Lambert the Sheepist Lion short as well. It’s such a cute cartoon and I giggle when Lambert turns from wimpy lion to fierce lion. I giggle because of the wolf’s response and look he gives when Lambert roars. It’s the subtle things like that make me love Walt Disney cartoons. There’s other animated shorts on here that I remember watching growing up and other shorts that are very rare. But I guess that’s why they are called Disney Rarities…

Chicken Little is on here as well. You know that story, and Disney turned the animated short into a full-length movie that came out towards the end of 2005. I haven’t seen it yet though. The short cartoon is good but super dark because it ends on a somber note. But I guess it shows you not to believe gossip and to think for yourself. That had to be the grimmest cartoon Disney made. On a more lighter note, Morris the Midget Moose is a really cute short that I remember liking as a kid. The tale of a midget moose with big antlers. All the moose tried to battle the big bad moose, but Morris always got laughed at by the moose. Until one day he met another moose with no antlers. They joined forces and defeated the big bad moose and had him running to the hills. “RUN TO THE HILLS!” Oops, sorry got stuck singing Iron Maiden for a second. There’s a lot of stuff on the Rarities collection that I haven’t seen before. Some of Walt Disney’s earliest works, and his early experimentation with live action filming and animation. The classic, Oscar winner “Ferdinand and the Bull” is on here as well plus some Claymation shorts. Lots of great & classic cartoons.

With every Walt Disney Treasures DVD, Leonard Maltin offers some nice introductions to the DVD menus. He gives you informative insights to some of the animated shorts that you seen on the DVDs. As far as quality is concerned, some of the shorts looked better than others on DVD. But the quality of the video is still pretty good considering how old & rare these are. One problem I kept running into for my copy of Rarities, the disc kept freezing up and screwing up to the point that it would stop playing. I hate it when that happens and not sure it was like that on all discs. I also found when you clicked on an animated short to watch, it would take a long ass time to get going. Definitely curious to know if I just got a shody DVD. But it’s for free so I really can’t complain…

If you are a fan of classic Disney animation, this is a Walt Disney Treasures set not to be missed. Because if you don’t get it now, this will eventually be going back in the Disney vaults. So act now and buy Disney Rarities before it’s too late.

Features:
Introductions by Film Historian Leonard Maltin
Collectable Art Enclosed

Audio:
ENGLISH: Dolby Digital Stereo

Video:
Standard 1.33:1 Color
Standard 1.33:1 B&W

Subtitles:
English

Favorite Scenes: Paul Bunyan, Chicken Little, Morris the Midget Moose, Ferdinand The Bull, Lambert the Sheepist Lion
Rating: NR
Running Time: 326 minutes
Extras Rating:
Overall Rating: