avi-greene2 I explored my Netflix Streaming account recently, and saw that this direct-to-video project that I technically would not call a sequel, was on there. The way I knew about this little Mickey Mouse short-like film is that when I bought the DVD of another direct-to-video sequel, "The Lion King 1 1/2" which is this one's rival, if you will, at the Annies (LK 1.5 won, but I would choose this movie), there was a short trailer for this before you had access to the DVD menu.So, I loved this movie in many ways. For one thing, I love "Fantasia", "Fantasia 2000" and the Italian released equivalent "Allegro non Troppo". They all have little animated segments combined into a full-length animated masterpiece, over which we hear Classical pieces. That is not how this one works, though. This is an hour-long little movie with Mickey and his gang that tells the famous story that the title suggests, taking place in 19th Century France where it is narrated by a tortoise troubadour who plays the lute and sings songs. When we hear music in the film, it is set to classical melodies like those heard in the projects I mentioned earlier, with original lyrics. One song in particular I would like to talk about is a major highlight of this cartoon titled "Sweet Wings Of Love", set to the tune of the "Blue Danube Waltz" by Johann Strauss. Other examples of melodies we hear are "Habanera" from "Carmen", "Orpheus in the Underworld Overture" and the French "Can-can".Another reason I really liked this little concert-type film is that it was released in August of 2004. In my personal life, it was the beginning of an eight-year World Record of being free from visiting Walt Disney World in Central Florida. Now the point of me bringing this subject up is that I used to live in Florida as a kid, and my family and I would visit that popular tourist destination almost semi-annually, so I got tired of it eventually. Also, I'm not fond of theme parks, and sometimes I like to imagine myself at a Classical concert while I watch this forgotten movie that no Disney fans talk about anymore (I'm a fan of some of Disney's projects, though, and this one's definitely not the only one). Taking new vacations that summer not only helped in expanding my horizon, it also helped me improve my in-class behavior in school, and I also got better at handling loud noises with PA Speakers, because at Disney Amusement Parks that's what they're about.While I never saw this as a kid, I do like to look back on memories of how I've been a Classical music fan all my life, which I still am to this day.

Smoreni Zmaj Everlasting war between fans of DC and Marvel universes sucked me in pointless thinking of which one is better for a while. I don't know who's better, but I know that both can kiss Disney's ass. As a kid I was comic-books fan. There were superhero comics mentioned above, than Il Grande Blek, Za-Gor-Te-Nay, Martin Mystery, Dylan Dog and bunch of others. I gave up on comics long time ago and the only one I still cherish is unsurpassed Alan Ford. But as a child, I did not rejoice in anything as much as I rejoiced Mickey and company.Mickey, Donald and Goofy, as three musketeers, are saving princess, followed by original lyrics written on the famous compositions of legends of classical music. I don't know why I decided to watch this at all. I suppose I wanted to take a look at how Mickey looks like nowadays and turn it off in a few minutes, but I ended up watching it till the end with a smile from ear to ear. And to be honest, I didn't feel so cheerful for a long time. Disney forever <38/10

Blueghost Historically during Disney's classic era back in the 40s and 50s, they tried to emulate Warner Brothers and MGM's humor, but slowed down to allow kids to digest the jokes with their parents. The kids didn't always get the jokes, but the parents smiled knowingly nevertheless, even though they didn't laugh much. If you wanted to laugh, then you saw a WB or MGM toon. Disney was strictly kids fare. Disney has tried to reinvent themselves since maybe about the mid 90s or so, but bringing us, dare I say it, half baked sequels or animated films related to classic Disney properties. I am told that Michael Eisner was responsible for this new tact, and I can't say I really blame him, though I'm curious as to what the thinking was for the Disney empire. Was Disney Studios faltering? Heck if I know, but with a series of lackluster productions that tried to bring fast paced humor and slapstick to the movie theatres and home video markets, it wasn't hard to see that it seemed like the folks at Disney were grasping at straws.So it is with this film. The story is a very G-rated version of Dumas' tale, which we can forgive as the Disney people are using Mickey et al to tell a tale of a bid for the French throne. It's cute in this regard that we see Micky, Donald and Goofy (along with a couple of other supporting characters) relive a kid friendly version of the Three Musketeers.My beef is with the fact that it's a pretty lack luster effort in the writing department. The fast paced gags, to me at least, seemed a little more telegraphed and haphazard in terms of logic than equivalent efforts by Disney in the 80s and early 90s. To juxtapose one merely only look at Fantasia 2000, and the Noah's Ark sequence starring Donald Duck as Noah's helper in rounding up the animals. There the sight gags make a little more sense. Donald has an objective to achieve, and the jokes makes sense for the tale. The Three Musketeers is more randomized and off the wall, but to be honest in a bad way.The DVD has a behind the scenes look at the film from concept to execution, and one wonders why more staff were not brought in to review the story board session; i.e. a test audience to see if the gags worked. But, I suppose that's neither here nor there.All in all it's an endearing effort, but doesn't shine as it should have had more talent been brought in to double check the logic and vibrancy of the humor drawn and written for the film.It could have been better.On the upside they did draw the characters as they should have always been drawn. And that's welcome. Not a CGI film (thank goodness), but an old fashioned hand drawn flick.If you're not picky about your kids' entertainment, then maybe give this film a shot. Otherwise, and I'd never thought I'd even say this about a Disney film, but you could do better.Give it a shot. The thing that saves this film is that Disney production values are injected into the execution of the animation, and therefore the film visually carries the audience through a tale and screenplay that needed some work.See it once.

AmbushBug26 When it comes to breaking the 4th wall, nothing makes me laugh harder. It's one of the reasons Deadpool is my favourite comic book character, and it's one of the reasons I like this movie. It's an interesting plot, with some really well done animation for a straight to DVD release. I love how they fixed the age old problem I've had with hand drawn animation. Remember how in old cartoons the background would be painted with watercolours and the characters painted with ink and you'd also be able to know when a character would pick and object up because it to would be painted with ink. They solve that problem in this movie....finally. This film may seem a bit too kid friendly but trust me when I say there are some jokes that'll get a laugh out of adults too. Nothing to crude but still clever enough to work. The voice acting is great and the songs are clever. Taking classic music from the era and adding words and lyrics to them works. At one point the turtle sings a song that is classic Beethoven which is one of the funnier songs. The Beagle Boys steal the show in this one, pretty much every joke they have nails it and will make both adults and kids laugh. Pete also has a few to his own "why'd the music stop?" still makes me smile. The constant stretching or breaking of the 4th wall is what makes this movie likable. These are characters that know they are cartoons and that some of the things that happen in the cartoons are bizarre. Not a bad movie check it out.