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Make Mine Music finds Walt Disney in the midst of the transitional period between his first five animated features (Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Pinocchio, Fantasia, Dumbo, Bambi) and the post-war revival begun with Cinderella (1950).

The idea of a casual variant of Fantasia featuring popular music was a good one. Even though the segments which comprise the film vary in quality, the film as a whole is a bright, colorful and amusing light entertainment which fit wartime needs ideally.

Highlights include two spirited Benny Goodman swing numbers ("All The Cats Join In" and "After You've Gone") and the unforgettable finale, "Willie the Operatic Whale", narrated and sung by Nelson Eddy. The animation is generally first-rate and the Technicolor film will dazzle any viewer not expecting a genuine masterwork.

Make Mine Music was successful enough to warrant a considerably better follow-up, Melody Time (1948).

The undistinguished but harmless "Martins and the Coys" segment, concerning the gun-feuding backwoods families of American folklore, has idiotically been removed from current editions, evidently for PC reasons. It's scary that Disney may start altering their classics to meet artificial modern standards. (If they had cut anything from Make Mine Music, it should have been the tasteless "Two Silhouettes" ballet, all doilies and valentines and icky fake sentiment.)

Chocolate-box potpourri of Disney-animated shorts became Walt Disney's eighth animated theatrical feature, one that plays like a middling excuse to allow the studio's animators to blow off some creative steam. Divvied up into separate musical suites (utilizing pop, jazz, Big Band, and the Russian classical piece "Peter and the Wolf"), "Make Mine Music" is musically of its time, featuring the talents of Benny Goodman, Dinah Shore, Nelson Eddy, etc. In that regard, it dates far worse than "Fantasia", and comes to a virtual halt in the middle of an overstretched slapstick baseball satire, but there are incidental pleasures. The popular "Peter and the Wolf" segment, which was later serialized on Disney's TV program and found a large following, is the only segment that feels fully thought-out (and has involving animation), while "The Whale Who Wanted To Sing At The Met" is an interesting idea (with beautiful flourishes) in search of a narrative (the hero actually ends up in Heaven...complete with angel's wings!). Followed by "Melody Time", which featured more storytelling and less abstract whimsy. ** from ****

One of Walt's early package films and not bad at that! Some segments are cloyingly hokey, of course, but most shorts are surprisingly playful and charming. The highlights: "The Martins and the Coys" is full of stereotyping and comic gunplay and simply fun to watch; "Casey at the Bat" is a whirlwind of poem recitation; the two Benny Goodman segments feature nice tunes and "Peter and the Wolf" and, particularly, "The Whale Who Wanted To Sing At the Met" are two of Disney's best cartoons.

Just skip the padding and enjoy this compilation!

7 out of 10 triple-voiced Nelson Eddys

These "potpourri" musicals Disney made in the late 40's are usually variable, but this feature's my favorite among that whole batch. The Disney guys are always at their best in animation emphasizing characterization, and those musical sketches stressing this are the ones that work best. But one of the centerpieces here always struck me as Disney at his all-time worst: his attempts to duplicate the artistic success of "Fantasia" with a jumbled treatment of "Peter and the Wolf." I have yet to see a successful visualization of this piece....better to hear it on records, since this is largely a "theater-of-the-mind" piece, geared to help youngsters learn about some of the instruments of the orchestra. The Disney guys turn it into pure sap. But "Casey at the Bat," "Johnny Fedora & Alice Bluebonnet," "The Martins & the Coys," and especially "All the Cats Join In" and "Willie the Singing Whale" more than make up for what surrounds them.

The segments included in this anthology film are very good. I just think it's ridiculous that Disney would release a movie with the first chunk missing. The way it was done made it seem like they thought people wouldn't notice. I have to admit, I'm glad they released it even in part on DVD so we could enjoy the rest, but on the Walt Disney Treasures collection they have released several short subject cartoons on DVD with a disclaimer from Leonard Maltin beforehand. I think they could re-release 'Make Mine Music' in it's entirety with such a disclaimer because the segment is actually very entertaining. I remember seeing it as a kid and it left no impression whatsoever that I should grab a gun and start shooting. Maybe because I had smart parents that had a greater influence on me than what I saw on TV.