Disney's Halloween Treat

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

I always enjoy watching this around Halloween, especially for the old cartoons sliced together. I love the Magic Mirror version for his quote, which is as follows:

"You know, I've been hanging around here for centuries. And what I've seen has given me plenty for reflection. Being a mirror, I see things from the other side. And there's something that's been wrangling me for ages. Frankly, it's the way you mortals have misjudged a certain character. The villain. Shocked? Well don't be. He's the fellow who does his best to give you his worst. The chap who gives the hero a chance to be brave. Now where would David be without Goliath? Or Jonah without the whale? How interesting do you think Samson would be without Dalilah? Getting the point? Good. So tonight I present for your hisses and boos, a cavalcade of characters who always must lose, the villains."

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.

Disney's Halloween Treat was one of those Halloween traditions my family always made sure was completed. Every year my sister and I would fling ourselves on the floor in front of the TV, lights off and candles lit, waiting for it to begin. Although we have it on tape, in time part of it was deleted and the video is becoming older and harder and harder to hear and view, but even in my teen years, I pull it out and watch it every Halloween! It is a wonderful special, with memorable Disney clips, and fun and spooky adventures. Kudos to the narrator; his voice is amazing and sets the mood PERFECTLY! This special is pure Disney magic at its "spookiest"!

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)