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Walt Disney may have won a record 22 Oscars but none of them was for his most famous creation, Mickey Mouse. This year, it was widely expected that the retro "Get a Horse" -- which mixed retro drawings of Mickey and his pals with 3-D technology -- would win Best Animated Short.  However, "Mr. Hublot," by first-time nominees Laurent Witz and Alexandre Espigares, pulled off an upset. Their film centers on an obsessive compulsive man who lives an isolated life until his life and organization abilities are turned upside down with the arrival of a rescued dog. Mickey's eight losses in this race began with the inaugural one in 1932 when "Mickey's Orphans" was bested by another Disney toon, "Flowers and Trees." His unlucky seven other bids were: Building a Building" (1933), "Brave Little Tailor" (1938), "The Pointer" (1939), "Squatter's Rights" (1946), "Mickey and th...

Tim here. 2013 has proven to be a banner year for Mickey Mouse, the lovable corporate spokesman, marketing juggernaut, and justification for some of the most ruinous developments in copyright law history. I believe he has also, at some point, featured in cartoons.

To celebrate the 85th anniversary of the character, the Walt Disney Company has promoted a new series of made-for-tv shorts bringing his troublemaking side back to the fore after generations of sanding have turned him into a perfectly respectable, deeply bland mascot (I’ll confess to not liking these shorts much at all, but I’m glad they exist). Later this fall, he’ll be starring in a brand-new, old-style cartoon, Get a Horse!, set to play in front of Disney’s winter tentpole Frozen.

With so much Mickey flying around, it was impossible not to pounce at the 75th anniversary this week of one of my very favorite shorts starring the character,...

Chicago – Ready to feel old? It’s the 25th anniversary of “Oliver & Company,” 40th anniversary of “Robin Hood,” and 50th anniversary of “The Sword in the Stone.” Maybe I’m showing my age even further by admitting that I would rank the films in order of oldest to newest. “Sword” remains remarkably fun but “Robin Hood” is close behind. Only “Oliver” remains pretty much a waste of time.

Watching all three again was a trip back to my childhood although the journey wasn’t quite as I expected. I remember “Robin Hood” being a little more playful and visually striking. It’s still a decent flick but I found (and my kids agreed) “The Sword in the Stone” to have held up the best of the three. Yes, it’s an imperfect telling of the Excalibur legend but the music is fun and the film contains something too often missing from “lesser” Disney works — joy.

By Todd Garbarini

Walt Disney’s The Sword in the Stone, which opened on Wednesday, December 25, 1963, may not be all that familiar to young viewers unless they grew up seeing it on VHS in the 1990s or on its maiden DVD release five years ago. I first saw it in January 1973 during a re-release and again in elementary school in the all-purpose room on 16mm in 1975, which was a real treat as it was rare to see a feature-length film in school (the obvious exception being Charlotte’s Web (1973) which was de rigueur for elementary school students.) Having just viewed the new 50th anniversary Blu-ray, I was shocked to realize just how little of the film I had remembered other than the jousting sequence.

Based upon the 1938 novel by Terence Hanbury White, who passed away some 24 days after the film’s release, The Sword in the Stone concerns the death of King Pendragon,...

Blu-ray Release Date: Aug. 6, 2013

Price: Blu-ray/DVD Combo $36.99

Studio: Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment

The Sword in the Stone

Disney celebrates a bunch of anniversaries with Blu-ray debuts. Animated fantasy movie The Sword in the Stone turned 50 and adventure film Robin Hood turned 40 this year.

Originally released in 1963, The Sword in the Stone tells the story of young Arthur, who’s tutored by Merlin the Magician before fulfilling his destiny of becoming king.

The film was nominated for an Oscr for its music.

1973′s Robin Hood is another old English legend, about the outlaw who fights against injustices by robbing the rich to feed the poor. Robin Hood is a wily fox, his friend Friar Tuck a cuddly bear, the rich Prince John a cowardly lion and his companion Sir Hiss a slippery snake.

The movie also was nominated for an Oscar for its song “Love” by George Bruns and Floyd Huddleston.