Celebrate 100 magical years of Disney with this collectible compilation of animated shorts! Mickey and Minnie share their memories in new introductions to these 10 wonderful stories, which have entertained generations of children and adults alike. Included is the iconic “Steamboat Willie,” the first cartoon with synchronized sound, in which the character of Mickey Mouse was first introduced as a deckhand on a riverboat commanded by the tyrannical Captain Pete. Also included are “Brave Little Tailor,” featuring Mickey as a medieval tailor given a daunting task. In “Mickey’s Delayed Date,” the tardy mouse relies on his faithful pup Pluto to get him to a dance with Minnie. “Hawaiian Holiday” finds Mickey and his pals vacationing on a beautiful island. Then along with friends, Mickey and Minnie glide through a romantic date on a frozen river in “On Ice.” And catch five more delightful stories in this legacy collection.

Steamboat Willie

Brave Little Tailor

The Little Whirlwind

Mickey’s Delayed Date

On Ice

Hawaiian Holiday

Mr. Mouse Takes A Trip

Figaro and Frankie

Bath Day

Thru The Mirror

For thoughts on Mickey and Minnie: 10 Classic Shorts – Volume One, please check out our discussion on The Video Attic:

[youtube https://youtu.be/6XO5FyU1Fr0?t=4089]

Video Quality

Disney delivers a great presentation on Blu-Ray for this initial volume of beautifully restored shorts. Simply put, these shorts have never looked better on a home entertainment platform. While admittedly some shorts appear to have had their film grain a little bit too polished for comfort, there remains a nice amount of that original film grain that helps maintain all of the subtle details of the animation. Compare the shorts on this disc to the same shorts on the Walt Disney Treasures sets released on DVD and you instantly notice a night and day difference. The DVD versions had muted colors with noticeable print damage throughout, but this new Blu-Ray collection provides a presentation so stunning it looks like some of these could have been made in the present day. While we could go for less DNR, by and large animation fans should be pleased by the quality of these shorts.

Audio Quality

The audio quality of the Blu-Ray disc is more of a disappointment with the decision to go with a Dolby Digital 2.0 lossy track instead of a lossless DTS-HD 2.0 Master Audio track. While far from a disaster, just knowing that the audio experience could be enhanced by this simple decision not to throttle back the quality is a bummer. That being said, the audio still sounds pretty nice and clear. Compared to certain older releases with greater age-related wear and tear, these tracks excel with the clarity of the dialogue, sound effects and music throughout. Everything is working together in perfect harmony to give you the best listening experience possible. This disc also includes optional English (SDH), French and Spanish subtitles.

Special Features

There are no special features provided on this disc.

Final Thoughts

Mickey and Minnie: 10 Classic Shorts – Volume One collects an assortment of fun and hilarious shorts that more than satisfy over their brief runtime. We are so glad to be getting more of this classic animation on disc, but we would prefer future volumes to have a greater number of shorts so we have a better shot of getting nearly everything on physical media. We would also plead with Disney to give an option to view these shorts without the new intros.

Disney has released a Blu-Ray featuring a pretty strong video presentation and a sub-ultimate audio presentation. This release lacks any special features, which would be a nice addition on future volumes. Classic animation is one of the greatest treasures we can think of, and we hope Disney continues releasing their vast catalog on physical media- even if we do hope they take some of our criticisms under consideration. Recommended

Mickey and Minnie: 10 Classic Shorts – Volume One will be available to purchase on Blu-Ray and DVD on February 7, 2023.

Note: Images presented in this review are not reflective of the image quality of the Blu-Ray.

Disclaimer: Disney has supplied a copy of this disc free of charge for review purposes. All opinions in this review are the honest reactions of the author.