Disneys fantastisches Halloween-Fest

Like so many others, I grew up watching the Halloween specials on the Disney Channel ritually. Specials like "The Halloween That Almost Wasn't", "Mr. Boogedy" and "Disney Halloween Treat" are important parts of my childhood that I would like to preserve for my children, as well as my viewing pleasure. I can only hope that the fans of such old Disney Channel staples speak out and let the brass up top know there is an audience for these relics that are inevitably rotting in some video library in Florida. If not, lets all please search our local Mom and Pop video stores that our fatefully going out of business due to the inability to compete with the like of Blockbuster, and buy up the final copies of these videos and make them available to everybody. I don't think I can take another October without them. Damn the corporate machine the only wants to strip us of our childhoods, Danm the Disney Channel for taking away our precious reruns only to replace them with "A Lizzy MacGuire Halloween." It's a shame, the same company hold our holidays hostage without releasing the Christmas classic "Mickey's Christmas Carol." Uncle Walt has been spinning in his grave for way too many years now.

I enjoyed this video with my children. I really like some of the old Disney footage with Pluto and Donald Duck. There are some older classic bits in the video. Kids may find that it moves too slow, compared to the way cartoons move so quickly now, etc. But it is still a lot of fun. The movie does a nice job using the concept of a jack-o-lantern as the MC. The jack-o-lantern takes you on a trip through history of old Disney villains. The old Headless Horseman video is worth the price of rental or your viewing time by itself. There are a few spots that may be scary for little kids. But for the most part, I think your entire family would enjoy the movie. Try If you are a fan of the old classic Disney animation, you will really enjoy this movie.

This movie is the greatest! My sister and I watched it EVERY year growing up and were SO disappointed when the Disney Channel stopped showing it. I'm 28 now and have been looking online to buy this video because it always meant so much to me. It includes clips from "The Sword and the Stone", "The Aristocats", "Peter Pan", etc. Like other people who have viewed this movie, I also had recorded it from the TV back in the day. With as many times as we watched it, there are so many lines on it now, you can't see what you're watching! I still remember the words to the song that goes w/ the Trick or Treat Donald Duck cartoon. If you haven't seen this, I highly recommend it--especially if you're as much of a Disney fan as I am.

My family has this special recorded on tape, and we've had it for a long time. I remember watching it quite frequently because you just don't see clips from Disney movies as much as you can today. I especially like the clip from The Sword in the Stone where Merlin and Madam Mim engage in a wizards duel. That still cracks me up! I also enjoyed the Peter Pan clip when I was a kid, even though I'm not a huge fan of the movie itself.

After watching it again recently, I'd have to say that my favorite parts of the special are the showings of The Old Mill and Donald Duck & the Gorilla. Both cartoons are quite different as The Old Mill is an early Fantasia-like segment that is beautiful while Donald Duck & the Gorilla is simply a hilarious Donald short. Other notable cartoons include Lonesome Ghosts and a clip from Pluto's Judgment Day.

However, I have to say that Disney's Halloween Treat just seemed to drag on for a while. I was expecting the standard hour-long special, but it actually goes past an hour and a half (which is usually longer than most Disney movies)! I was also in a bit of a hurry when I watched this so I was eager for it to end. While the villains segment was kind of neat with a very different looking Magic Mirror (it sounded, and may have been played, by the same person who voiced Captain Hook), it just seemed to stretch out too long, talking about numerous villains. I mean, did we really need to look into the villain of The Aristocats? I thought that was unnecessary.

I also didn't really care for the last cartoon, Trick or Treat, starring Donald Duck, my favorite character. In this cartoon, he is surprisingly mean and there aren't nearly as many funny moments as there are in Donald Duck & the Gorilla. So all in all, this is still a good special if you ever get a chance to see it. My main recommendation though is if this movie can be edited somewhat, maybe down to an hour. Then maybe you can see it more often on the Disney Channel or even ABC.

My IMDb Rating: 7/10. My Yahoo! Grade: B (Good)

During Halloween time, I would occasionally pop in this video and watch it for some Disney magic, laughs and entertainment.

This is a made-for-video program that is a compilation of scenes from Disney films and cartoons. Since this video is related to Halloween, all the scenes contain either ghosts, goblins, witches or villains (i.e., the Queen from Snow White and Captain Hook from Peter Pan).

It is a nice animated short, great to see all the scenes compiled in a way to commemorate Halloween. The "Night on Bald Mountain" sequence is, what I think, the more eerie and thrilling of the scenes featured (taken from a sequence in "Fantasia," where it depicts a demon doing some sort of ritual or dance with wandering spirits). Bing Crosby served as narrator, whose voice came out of a talking pumpkin. The theme song sung in the introduction and conclusion to various Disney scenes is catchy and spirited, giving you the Halloween spirit.

This animated short is not for scares, but nice entertainment for the entire family.

Grade A