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Let's get the business out of the way first: Vintage Mickey and The Best of the Mickey Mouse Club are pure and simple ways for Disney to make a couple more bucks off of franchises they've already released on DVD to wild acclaim. The Walt Disney Treasures versions of Mickey Mouse ëtoons and The Mickey Mouse Club (that are now out of print, of course) were wonderfully thorough and robust collections, with lovely transfers and a nice array of bonus features.
But because they came with a nice collectible tin and tons of goodies, list price was at least thirty bucks. These new ones are much cheaper.
And you get what you pay for: While the transfers and mixes offered these shows remains solid, there are none of the features included from the Walt Disney Treasures (oh, wait - we do get previews for upcoming Disney releases) and the packaging is totally plain. There's nothing new here.
However, Mickey Mouse Club - The Best of Britney, Justin and Christina, while still a wildly uneven affair, definitely is worth a look.
One would think that ìThe Best Of . . .î would include a smattering of this trio of pop stars' greatest work. That is not the case. We get some great Brit/JT/Xtina footage, but it's in the form of four episodes of the show. Full episodes. That means that for every hilarious Britney performance of ìI Feel For Youî with JT, you get twenty minutes of unbearable skits and public service announcements that - with the exception of Kerri Russell's totally explosive hair - get really old really fast.
There are highlights, though - the short bios of our three beloved protagonists are absolutely hilarious (if you want Britney to show you how to eat crawfish correctly, look no further), and even an unbearably long public forum about teen suicide that doesn't feature our trio, while kind in nature, is hilarious (most especially because of one particular gay teen's terrifically unfortunate male equivalent of a camel-toe - yikes).
Long story short: Rent the Britney/Justin/Christina disc - it'll give you a handful of laughs. The other two - pass.
The Video: How Does The Disc Look?
From Dan Linzmeier's review of the Mickey Mouse Walt Disney Treasures set:
ìWhat can I say about the transfer of these animated shorts? Quite simply, this is the best these have ever looked, proving that good things come to those who wait. Disney has done a splendid job in presenting these shorts with their original vibrant color palettes intact. Unfortunately, I no longer have my original laserdisc to compare some of the shorts too, but trust me, these animated gems have never looked this good.
ìThere are a few blemishes on the prints of some of these shorts, but after 65 years, all are still holding up very well. The blacks are rock solid, and the contrast is strong across the entire grayscale, though a bit weak by today's more modern animation standards. There are absolutely no signs of digital artifacts or edge enhancement anywhere on this disc. Very, very nice. ì
The same applies to The Mickey Mouse Club - these transfers have a few blemishes to them, but for material that old, these are perfectly appropriate transfers. Even Britney, Justin and Christina looks great - yeah, it looks like TV from the early 90s (blown out colors, lots of grain), but that's how it's supposed to look. No complaints here.
The Audio: How Does The Disc Sound?
Again from Linzmeier's review:
ìAll of the animated shorts are presented in 2.0 mono. As with most audio elements that are over 60 years old, fidelity is limited. Some of the elements are a bit scratchy, but when compared to their previous DVD incarnations, the elements seem to have been cleaned up noticeably. There's not much you can do to the sound mixes of these shorts without spending thousands of dollars, but who wants a trumped-up 5.1 mix anyway? Low end is flat, as you would expect, and there were a few times when I felt the sound was muffled, especially the dialogue. Minus a few age-related issues, this is a perfectly fine mono mix.î
Mickey Mouse Club also sounds fine in its 2.0 mono, while the simple stereo of Britney, Justin and Christina has a bit more fidelity and firmness to it. Especially during Christina Aguilera's songs.
Also included are English Closed Captions.
Supplements: What Goodies Are There?
We get previews for other Disney stuff: Cinderella on DVD, Chicken Little, Old Yeller's special edition, and Lilo & Stitch 2 as well as Disneyland 50th Anniversary celebrations and two CDs, A Musical History of Disneyland and Happiest Celebration on Earth.
The highlights reel on Britney, Justin and Christina lets you skip the filler and get fifteen minutes of just those three (but wait - wasn't that what the entire dvd was supposed to be?!).
Exclusive DVD-ROM Features: What happens when you pop the disc into your PC?
There are no DVD-ROM features on this DVD.
Final Thoughts
For camp fun, Britney, Justin and Christina is a must-rent, but for true Disneyphiles, the other two releases here are nothing but reheated stuff you already have (or should go and find!). No sale.
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