(The Disneycember logo is shown, before showing clips from Once Upon a Studio)
Doug (vo): Let's wrap up Disneycember with their 100-year animated anniversary. (The title card for Wish is shown briefly) No, the good one. Yeah, in the year when Disney has had a lot of duds, apparently, everyone got behind this one animated short. Like, it was just universally loved.
Story and review[]
Doug (vo): It's about as simple as can be. At least one character from a Disney animated film comes out of a picture that's hanging on the wall in the studio, and they all want to take a picture together. And that's about it. Short and simple, but at the same time, probably the first time we're ever seeing all of these characters together. It blew a lot of people's minds seeing all these characters interact with each other, and, of course, me being an a-hole, I got to say...yeah, it's all right. I mean, yeah, it gave me exactly what I thought I was going to get. As soon as I saw the trailer, I had an idea what this was going to be, and it gave me that, and it did it well. But, okay, why did this win so many people over? I mean, you can just find so many videos breaking this down and analyzing it. And I have to be honest, it did kind of intrigue me. Well, first of all, yes, obviously, there's going to be a nostalgic reptilian part of my brain that's just going to really strongly react to seeing all these characters I grew up with suddenly start talking to each other. And, yeah, we've seen, like, crossovers like this before in Wreck-it Ralph 2 and stuff like that. But seeing one from every animated film does kind of change things a little bit. It's fun saying, "Oh, yeah, I forgot that was a Disney film" or "I forgot about that character. Oh, okay, I didn't think about how weird, but kind of cool it would be to see all these characters with different art styles suddenly talk to each other".
(Footage focusing on the various animation styles is shown)
Doug (vo): And that's definitely one of the things I really respect, I like they keep the art styles. In something like Wreck-it Ralph 2, you know they had to go CG for the whole thing, and a lot of Disney Princesses didn't quite look right. That's not what Snow White looks like, that's not what Cinderella looks like. They modernized them with the new Disney design, and that's not what we like about these characters. So it is kind of cool when you see, like, Merlin in this. He's all sketchy, and you can tell they used, like, kind of the Xerox method to it or at least try to make it look like that style.
(Footage focusing on various characters is shown)
Doug (vo): I'm, of course, like everyone, going to have fun pointing out characters that maybe don't get as much attention as they should. Like, I think Small One is in there. That was really, really cool. If I did have a problem, I would say, I have a little bit of an issue with the fact that they use the original audio for some of these characters, but not others. And here's the thing. If you're only going to use the original audio, that's fine. You want to be respectful to the original actors and stuff. And if you want to re-record everything, I get that, too. I mean, come on, all these characters must have had, like, voice actors from today come in and re-record stuff for rides and things like that. But when you have this incredibly clear audio of Eeyore or Goofy talking, but then you have the audio of, like, Peter Pan or one of the Sleeping Beauty fairies and it sounds like they're talking out of a radio, that's really distracting. And I get it, different microphones, different types of recording and stuff like that over the years, but keep it consistent, 'cause if you're going to bring in new actors for Eeyore and Goofy and all of them, then I don't get why you can't bring in new actors for these other old characters, too. It's definitely a nitpick, but it did kind of bother me.
(Footage focusing on Mickey interacting with Walt Disney's portrait is shown. Alongside the footage, we are also shown images of Mickey interacting with Leopold Stokowski and Donald Duck interacting with Walt, as well as photos of Mickey Mouse and Walt together)
Doug (vo): A lot of people say this is the first time Mickey and Walt Disney have ever interacted off each other, like, one actually sees the other. Uh...no, no, come on, I mean, Fantasia, that...no, that was Leopold. Wait, there was that one special Disney did...eh, no, that was Donald. Wait, wasn't there...is this really the first time? These two have never been seen together in anything? Like, I know Walt did his voice for many years, but they never shared a scene together? I'll be honest, I'm less blown away by this scene where they interact and more blown away by the fact that this has never happened before. That is, like, so bizarre, and I can't believe I never picked up on it. I don't know if it's, like, a specific rule Disney made, like, for some reason, he never did want to interact with Mickey. I mean, I guess it'd be a weird rule, or maybe they just never thought about it. But, okay. Yeah. Actually, it is kind of neat seeing that for the first time. And as moments like that go, it is a little sappy, but honestly, that's pretty expected. It would feel weird if it wasn't a little sappy, and, yeah, obviously, you know the history with these two, and this is the perfect place to do it.
(More various footage is shown, along with footage from Wish and Dan Murrell's review of the film)
Doug (vo): I will be honest, though, one of the things I think kind of holds me back from absolutely loving this is, like I mentioned in my Wish review, there was talk for a long time about doing a film that has one of every animated Disney character in it, but it was supposed to be a film, at least as far as I know. And I think that's what Wish was supposed to be. And, yeah, I am glad we got this short, but, man, how crazy would it be if they had something like the story for Wish, where, you know, there's this guy that controls everybody's wishes and stuff like that, and it used all the Disney characters? It would be mind-blowing. Not these, like, half-assed versions of the Seven Dwarfs or the Fairy Godmother, I mean, actually have the Seven Dwarfs and the Fairy Godmother and Cinderella and all those characters in there. That would be so amazing! And, yes, while this short is fine, I do kind of cringe thinking about what we could have gotten. The pieces were there, and I really hate that they suddenly changed up the game. I really think there could have been an amazing film if they only used the Disney characters in Wish. But a really good critic named Dan Murrell, who you got to check out if you haven't seen his stuff yet, brought up an interesting point. He was doing a review of Wish, and he said one of the reasons he thought it didn't work is that he thought it was too complicated, and the best Disney stuff is usually simple. You think of Inside Out, it's just the emotions in a girl's head, or Toy Story, one toy wants to be played with more than the other, just very simple concepts that lead to a lot of complicated emotions. I...half agree. I do think there's some really good Disney movies that have complicated plots, like Coco or Frozen or Encanto. When you really think about it, those are some complicated stories. But I see where he's coming from. Keep it simple. Often times, the best stories are simple, you just take something that's really easy to comprehend and really dive into the heavy emotions of it. And I think that's one of the main reasons this does connect with so many people. It is simple. And, okay, I can't act like the emotions are that complicated, but when you see all these characters trying to do something like just take a picture, it does bring you back to all the emotions that they brought out of you. And I think that's what people are really connecting to. This short is supposed to be a celebration of the Disney Studio, and what better way to celebrate and acknowledge what a good job it did by showing all these characters that are still alive with you, they're still around?
Final thought[]
Doug (vo): When you see Snow White or Pinocchio or any of these other characters you grew up with, you immediately think back to the lessons they taught you or the emotions that they felt or the adventures they took you on. Disney has meant a lot of things to a lot of people, and like I said, sure, I can make jokes about them as a company or even some of their bad movies and stuff. I mean, what, you-you'd be crazy not to, they're that big. But there is a reason I do these Disneycembers every year, too. I do like talking about the good things they've done, both on a technical level and an emotional level. I grew up with them, I loved them as a kid, and I love them as an adult, and one of the things I love about it is that I can enjoy them in different ways. As a kid, I can really get sucked into the stories, and as an adult, yeah, I still can, but I can also get sucked into the technical side of it, the ingenuity, the hard work, what went into the animation, what went into the storytelling. And I think something this simple is the perfect way to get that across. Did it make me really teary-eyed or anything? No. But it did make me think about the impact Disney has had over the years, over the past hundred years. So whether it's a simple level or a complicated level or some entirely different level, I feel like everyone's going to find at least a little something that they're going to enjoy in the short.
(Footage from various Disney projects reviewed in 2023 are shown)
Doug (vo): And, folks, that's about it for Disneycember. As always, I have a lot of fun doing these, and like I said, yeah, Disney hasn't exactly had the best year, and it is a shame for a 100-year anniversary. But as I've also mentioned before, there have been a lot of peaks and valleys, and when they do usually get in a tight spot, that is when they start to innovate again. And I am rooting for them, because, honestly, I feel like it'd be weird if I wasn't. Like, what? I want them to continue to make bad things? Like, no, I want good stuff to watch, and they've made really good stuff in the past, and I believe they can again. I don't know if I can say this is their worst year, I mean, I feel like I've definitely seen worse films from them in the past, but it definitely feels like it needs a "phoenix rising from the ashes" moment, and hopefully, it's sooner than later. But whatever's in the future, I'm always going to be interested in it and I'm always going to cover it. And I thank you all so much again for allowing me to cover it, for allowing me to do this as a living. I mean, I really couldn't do this without you all watching it and it means so much to me. I wish you nothing but the best, and I'll see you next Disneycember.
(The Disneycember logo is shown once more)