Hey Disney fans it’s Doctor Disney contributor Michael Ward back with a look at the August releases from Disney Home Entertainment. For all the Disney moms and Disney dads out there who need some new Frozen material to entertain the kiddies this week’s entertainment review is for you!
Three new Disney Home Entertainment releases hit the street this week – Walt Disney Animation Studios Short Films Collection, Disney Descendants and the complete fourth season of Once Upon a Time. The common theme for me with each of these and you will see in the review’s below is the effort on Disney’s part to continue to search out the corners of their universe and find new and interesting ways to introduce familiar characters in new stories and places, so is it capitalization on their opportunity or are the new stories and films worthy of the experience we have come to expect from Disney materials.
Let’s take a closer look at each of these releases in the review below.
Once Upon a Time: The Complete Fourth Season
Release on Disney Movies Anywhere: August 11, 2015
Released on Blu-Ray: August 18, 2015
Storybrooke is back in this hit television show and this season is covered in ice! This adult oriented entry into this week’s review gives us big kids the chance to look at these classic Disney characters in new and interesting ways. I personally have to admit to being of passive interest to the series in seasons prior however the story arc to bring in Elsa and Anna to the small screen and align them with classic Disney villains was a stroke of genius and made the series that much more interesting to me. Developing a television series using established characters comes not only with great opportunity but with potential perils as well, especially in light of the new modern golden age of television. Giving the parents the chance to enjoy their versions of these Frozen characters in the same way their children have may not have caught on with as much hype, which frankly is hard to do, but in the end hasn’t done much to make this must see tv in my house. This is fun family friendly entertainment and if you have not previously seen the show binge-watching all 23 episodes with the convenience of a blu-ray is the best way to do it! This ensures you will not only get the bonus features including an inside look into how the filmakers incorporated the ice queens to the series but also inside Storybrooke and how the show is made, but also you won’t loose your hours in the endless loop that is Netflix!
I would give this release 2 Mickeys out of 5.
Disney Descendants 
Released on Disney DVD: July 31, 2015
Continuing the theme of Disney trying to extend their universe and capitalize on existing characters on the small screen comes this new younger band of teenage villains. This two hour pilot episode seems to have been cooked up in a Disney entertainment lab as having all the marks of a can’t miss series. Mix the music of High School Musical with legacy Disney characters brought to life by established Disney Channel stars and it has to be a hit. This movie introduces the main characters who happen to be the offspring of well known Disney villains, Jafar, Cruella DeVille, the Evil Queen and Maleficent. As the story goes these worst of the worst have been banished from the kingdom by the Beast and Belle, upon their son’s coronation he asks that his father pardon the children of the villains as they have done no wrong and deserve a chance to be good. Abiding by his son’s wishes he allows these four to show their good and re-join the kingdom. In doing so they have to learn to shed their evil ways, which is not easy to do as their parents see this as their window of opportunity to escape their banishment as well. In the end however, good triumphs over blood when the children diffuse their parents plans and side with the forces of good. This is good clean fun that my boys enjoyed quite a bit, the most fun for my Disney wife and I however were the number of references riddled throughout, for example the son of Dopey, Mulan’s daughter, and on and on throughout the Disney canon of characters. It seems as though this show could definitely find an audience for the future. I just hope Disney didn’t use all of it’s ideas in the first wave! I look forward to seeing Captain Hook’s twin sons or the daughter of Pinocchio in future incarnations.
In the end this release gets 4 out of 5 Mickeys!
Walt Disney Animation – Short Films Collection
Released on Disney Movies Anywhere: August 11, 2015
Released on Blu-Ray: August 18, 2015
Call me a Disney purest but this third entry into this week’s releases has to be my personal favorite as it harkens back to the early days of how Disney got it’s start with 12 previously released short films. Walt Disney started in animation not making feature films but short subjects. The studio has returned to it’s roots by including these shorts ahead of some if films including most of the Pixar films and by releasing holiday themed adventures with some of it’s new favorite characters, see Toy Story of Terror last Halloween. Perhaps the jewel of this release is our return to Arendelle in the Frozen short Frozen Fever. This short like all on this disc are nothing new, Frozen Fever was originally released in 2015 ahead of the live action Cinderella. This new story contains all of the favorite characters from the original as well as some new songs. The complete list of shorts contained on this disc is:
- Frozen Fever (2015)
- Feast (2014)
- Get a Horse (2013)
- Paperman (2012)
- Tangled Ever After (2012)
- The Ballad of Nessie (2011)
- Tick Tock Tale (2010)
- Prep and Landing: Operation Secret Santa (2010)
- How to Hook Up Your Home Theatre (2007)
- The Little Matchgirl (2006)
- Lorenzo (2004)
- John Henry (2000)
The core of Disney is animation and story and this compilation of shorts shows this as well as any feature Disney has created. Each of these are also artistically stunning to watch. The evolution of animation technology and different styles used to not only give the story life but provide the tone and design of these new stories told in old ways.
One of the even greater features of this disc is the introduction to the shorts by the filmmakers themselves as well as a brief roundtable discussion with a majority of the filmmakers on how and why shorts were important, how they are made and their renaissance in our time.
This one gets 5 out of 5 Mickeys and is easily may favorite.
Keep on the lookout for these three releases, and for the coming months with some addition very exciting and well known titles to become available, and as always look for our reviews here on Doctor Disney!
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