The Three Musketeers
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Movie Reviews of The Three Musketeers
Movie Review: One of our kids favorites.
Summary: 5 Stars
Great Disney animated movie. One of our kids' favorites and one that its most usually played on our minivan on road trips.Movie Review: Toddler's Delight
Summary: 5 Stars
If your child enjoys Mickey Mouse(or is a Mickey stalker like mine), they will love this movie.Movie Review: Terrific DTV "feature"--classic Disney style!
Summary: 4 Stars
The first thing that surprised me about MICKEY'S THE THREE MUSKETEERS was how amazing the animation was. Most of Disney's direct-to-video features are usually lacking in the art department (no doubt to the fact that making animation for feature films is expensive), but this one is absolutely gorgeous. The backgrounds are painted with inked-watercolors in the style of "Uncle Walt"'s good old days. The animation is as fluid as one of their animated features. If anything, this one should have gone to theaters, as it would definitely (IMO) make a lot more cash than the other features the Mouse House released this year.
But I'm getting ahead of myself. True to its promise, this woefully short (60 minutes with a seven-minute credit scroll is not enough!) "feature" is outrageously funny, action-packed, and not too syrupy either (even the romance between our heroes and their girlfriends is handled in an deliberately silly light), although it DOES manage to pack a heartfelt message about true camaraderie and friendship.
This isn't a faithful retelling of Alexandre Dumas' novel (but then again, this IS Disney we're talking about); however, the best part about this feature is that it clearly addresses it to the audience. Yes, the film has nothing to do with the original, but the actual story is something that could have been imagined by Walt himself. It's also full of action and derring-do: how wonderful it is to see Mickey, Donald, and Goofy cross swords with the nasty Beagle Boys (and their leader, Captain Peg Leg Pete) to save the lovely Princess Minnie! Even better, there's a showstopping, hilariously paced climax at an opera house, which arguably is the highlight of the film. (The tunes are excerpts from "The Pirates of Penzance", meaning that we get to hear a REALLY REALLY fast rendition of the Modern Major General's patter song!)
The best part about this movie, however, is that Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Minnie, Daisy, Pete, and surprisingly, Clarabelle Cow, all get to ACT and play actual roles, and not simply exist just for the sake of being there. Mickey is still his confident, reassuring self, but he is also spunkier. Goofy is, well, Goofy, and even though Donald's role is reduced to that of a big chicken (no offense, Donald), he manages to be his cantankerous self. Probably the most amazing role in the movie is that of Clarabelle. Usually, she is cast as a secondary character, but this time she gets to be evil Pete's lieutenant... until Goofy's goodness touches her "little cow-hide heart". (Her moo, he sings, in a very amusing parody of the "Habanera" from CARMEN, is music to his ears!)
Speaking of which, the songs in the movie are barely a minute to two-minutes in length, but they don't feel forced--and they're all pieces of classical music set to lyrics. Most of these pieces are sung by ze very French Troubadour Turtle--a newcomer to the Disney group--who narrates the story from time to time and appears in unexpected cameo roles. But as mentioned, Goofy and Clarabelle get a very funny duet, and even Pete gets his own "bad guy" song (set to "In the Hall of the Mountain King")! The musical score by Bruce Broughton, incidentally, is terrific, and does an elegant job spoofing the classical motifs throughout. This is no doubt to Broughton's experience in scoring episodes for TINY TOON ADVENTURES and ANIMANIACS.
All in all, this movie is, true to its tagline, "all for fun and fun for all!" While it probably may not match up to the classic Disney films, it certainly is better than a lot of the films the Mouse House has put out recently, and definitely kicks the crap out of their embarrassingly disappointing HOME ON THE RANGE. There are lots to marvel at, laugh along with, and ultimately, cheer, by the time the end credits (cleverly embedded within the pages of a comic book!) roll. If anything, I think this film far exceeds Disney's outrageous output of "cheapquels" to their classic films, which don't really need them.
The DVD presents the feature in a flawless transfer, and the audio mix is even better. The bonus features, unfortunately, are hit and miss. The cast commentary (where Mickey, Donald, Goofy, and Pete get a chance to talk together!) is a hoot, but it's only five minutes long. The "behind-the-scenes" documentary is about as close as buffs will get to a feature detailing the production, but its mostly standard and not anything we haven't seen before (although it DOES continue the idea that Mickey and the gang are actors!). The Many Hats of Mickey, however, is the real gem among the features; here we get to see clips of the Mouse's famous features (narrated by Troubadour Turtle!). This far outshines the other features, which are at best, kiddie-fare.
In closing my review, I'd like to say that the Disney Fast Find option is absolutely unnecessary, almost as if to imply that kids are too "dumb" to use their remote control to make their selections. (Fortunately, you can skip to the Main Menu.) If Disney decides to abandon this feature on future DVD releases, fine with me.
Movie Review: Entertaining for both kids and adults
Summary: 4 Stars
I found this new Disney cartoon to be entertaining, amusing, and better than anticipated. It's only 60 minutes in length and the time goes by pretty quickly.
After a lame opening with a French turtle, it picks up, and probably gets better as it goes. You won't find a whole lot of connection between this and the Alexander Dumas story, but if you were expecting a literal adaptation you've obviously come to the wrong place. I liked the sense of humor of the movie and I got a few chuckles out of it.
The animation is pretty good for a direct-to-video feature. It looks better than most cartoons on television. The DVD picture is adequate.
The voices are well done. Mickey, Goofy, and Donald sound exactly like they should. Captain Pete was a fun villain.
I liked how famous classical music was used for the songs. Selections include Tchaikovsky's Waltz of the Flowers (Nutcracker), Strauss' Blue Danube, Bizet's Carmen, Beethoven's 5th symphony (quickly), and others, all of which are very recognizable.
The special features are both good and bad. Let me review the bad first: I didn't see much value to the deleted scenes, which are shown in one five-minute reel, mostly in a rough-cut animated storyboard format. An optional commentary track over the deleted scenes is provided not by the director, but by a Disney VP executive. The Opera game basically just allows you to select one of three backgrounds and one of three characters ... and watch them sing. That's it. One "feature" lets you jump right to any song in the movie, which is not much of a feature since ... well, isn't that what "scene selections" are for?
As for the worthwhile bonus material, the "Many Hats of Mickey" is one of the best features: you select one of 9 Mickey hats, and see a short scene from a classic Mickey cartoon, such as Fantasia, etc. Another highlight is the "Cast Commentary," in which Mickey, Donald, Goofy, and Pete provide an audio commentary over a 5-minute scene of the movie. They take it seriously and I liked the idea a lot. The Behind the Scenes documentary, which lasts 9 minutes, is entertaining and features interviews with the crew, who all act like they actually filmed Mickey, et al., and it's amusing.
All in all, Disney's Three Musketeers is a good production that should entertain children while at the same time be enjoyable for adults.
Movie Review: A Decent Musical
Summary: 4 Stars
I'm surprised to see how many people out there like this film. And I, as an old-school Disney fan, don't appreciate what's out there today, mainly because of what Michael Eisner has been attacking the animation studio these days, with one of the attacks being to stop making musical films, which was what brought Disney animation's fame.
When this film came out on DVD, I thought it was going to suck. But when my mother rented this film for the kids, I first saw the film, as if to say "Are these guys breaking something?" I mean in my opinion, it's as if they slip this film through without Eisner noticing.
Anyway, getting to the film, this is about Mickey, Donald, and Goofy, who applied to the Princess Minnie's castle as bumbling janitors with dreams of becoming Musketeers. It's captain won't allow it because Donald's a coward, Goofy's a doofus, and Mickey is too small. Of course Pete had a dream of his own, too: kidnap and stow away the princess and become king at the opera. At that time, the princess tells Pete to hire bodyguards for her as she's unsafe. Seeing the trio's clumsy antics, Pete hires Mickey, Donald, and Goofy as bodyguards, and...well you'll get the rest.
Now, in my defense, there are a few flaws with this film: The plot is pretty predictable, some of the jokes fall flat, and usually too much dialogue is added in a few scenes. It seems that they spent a little too much time on this film.
Having said that, there are a few pros as well. The film aims directly at kids, but adults can still get a few chuckles in this film. If you knew Goofy, you can still get a good laugh or two at him for his clumsy character. And the story doesn't drag too long; about 68 minutes.
It seems that direct-to-video was the perfect choice for this film. Of course the real pro, as I said before, is that this film is a musical. There are five total songs in this movie, sung by the cast in this movie. If they would have placed this as the final animated film of Disney, Disney Animation would end with a strong note: a musical film as their last.
But nooooo...they had to use the crappy HOME ON THE RANGE film...