SpuffyWeb Sadly Over-hyped

Comwayon A Disappointing Continuation

Cleveronix A different way of telling a story

filippaberry84 I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

JohnHowardReid An omnibus of short song segments, climaxed by an extended fantasy with Nelson Eddy in which the singer voices for a whale. This is indeed the highlight of the movie, with Eddy running through "Shortnin' Bread", "Largo al Factotum" from Rossini's Barber of Seville, the sextette (yes, the sextette, with Eddy singing all the voices) from Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor, "Vesti la giubba" from Leoncavallo's Pagliacci, and arias from Boito's Mephistoles, Wagner's Tristan and Isolde, von Flotow's Martha. Jazz fans will revel in a couple of numbers performed by Benny Goodman, the first, "All the Cats Join In", with his orchestra and The Pied Pipers; the second, "After You've Gone", with a quartet comprising himself, Cozy Cole, Teddy Wilson and Sid Weiss. The King's Men sing "The Martins and the Coys"; the Ken Darby Chorus, "Blue Bayou" (the accompanying animation was originally executed for Fantasia where it was set to the music of Debussy's "Clair de Lune" which of course it suits much more happily); Andy Russell, "Without You"; Jerry Colonna narrates and sings "Casey at the Bat"; Dinah Shore sings "Two Silhouettes"; the Andrews Sisters, "Johnny Fedora and Alice Blue Bonnet"; Sterling Holloway narrates "Peter and the Wolf" by Serge Prokofiev.COMMENT: A very mixed bag indeed. And not only musically. The drawings also vary wildly, from the imaginatively surrealistic "After You've Gone" to the pretty-pretty picture postcard "Blue Bayou", from the frantically cartoon-like "Casey at the Bat" to the inventively view-pointed "Johnny Fedora". Naturally some sequences come across with greater impact than others, but even the more innocuous valleys serve an overall purpose. In all, I thought the movie well up to Disney's usual superlative standards of artistry and entertainment — and so did MMA's very enthusiastic audience of university students and the like, who had previously seen little (if any) animation of such craftsmanship. Unlike most other Disney cartoon features, "Make Mine Music" has, to my knowledge, never been theatrically re-released in its original form. All ten segments were re-issued as shorts, and this is the format in which they are usually aired on television. Fortunately, the good news is that the Disney DVD has restored the film to its original brilliance.

MartinHafer "Make Mine Music" is another post-war feature film that is actually a compilation of shorts all packaged together--like "Fun and Fancy Free", "The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad", "Saludos, Amigos" and the like. And, for the most part, these films marked a low-point in Disney history--as the great quality and artistry of their earlier full-length films (such as "Snow White", "Bambi" and "Pinocchio") and before the studio's rejuvenated late 40s and 1950s (with films such as "Cinderella" and "Peter Pan"). Much of this is probably due to the studio staff experiencing HUGE changes after WWII and a protracted union strike--and a very sizable number of animators and other artists were lost. Unlike the other features released just after the war, the shorts in "Make Mine Music" were very, very short."Blue Bayou"--Thankfully this was a very short film, as I was contemplating suicide it was so boring and dreadful. The music was somewhat like Jeanette/Nelson Eddy music and seemed very dated...and dull. 1 "All Cats Come Join In"--Benny Goodman and his orchestra provide the music and the style is a jazzy big-band sort of tune. The animation VERY simple--with characters with very non-detailed faces and backgrounds. While the music integrated well with the music and it was enjoyable, it would NEVER be confused with "Fantasia" as the look of this short was rather cheap. 3 "A Ballade in Blue"--A dull affair as a whiny guy sings about how life sucks without his beloved. Sure to make kids angry and restless. 1 "Casey At The Bat"--Probably the best and most famous of the shorts in this film. Jerry Colonna narrated the famous poem and it really came to life due to the silliness of the animation--which was reminiscent of a Goofy short. Too bad this short was so unlike the rest of the film and didn't seem to really fit the theme--which was really dull music and animation! There was only incidental music and this short forgot to be boring. 8 "Two Silhouettes"--Dinah Shore sings as silhouettes of a man and woman dance together. Frankly, if the earlier shorts didn't drive kids crazy with boredom, this one is sure to do it. Dull. 1 "Peter and the Wolf"--Oddly, this one began with a narration (Sterling Holloway--who later played Winnie the Pooh) as he explains how various instruments represent various characters in the story--then he continues to explain the story as the music plays. While I am not a huge fan of this short, it is head and shoulders better than most of them--and certainly is entertaining. Not a great film for most kids (unless they are a Frasier or Niles Crane sort of kid who adores classical or neo-classical music). But, it might also serve as a nice way to introduce kids to this sort of music. The animation of this one is noticeably better than the rest of the film and most adults should enjoy this film. 8 "After You've Gone"--The Goodman Quartet (including Benny Goodman) provide some bouncy music during which musical instruments, keyboards, fingers, etc. come to life. While kids will also surely hate this one, adults will probably find the music and animation zippy good fun. I didn't hate it. 6 "Johnny Fedora and Alice Bluebonnet"--Sung by the Andrews Sisters, this is the story about two hats that fall in love---something you DON'T see everyday! This is a pretty weird cartoon. Again, kids probably won't love this one but it was amazingly cute seeing these anthropomorphic hats. And the Andrews Sisters' music is pretty enjoyable and cute. 7 "Opera Pathetique"--This is sung by Nelson Eddy whose style of music is not to my liking although it was popular back in grand-pappy's day. The animation is much more enjoyable than most of the rest of the film but the singing is very operatic. If that's your thing, then are you in for a treat. However, if you think this sort of music is LESS enjoyable than hearing a cat being tortured, then it will be a chore to watch even with the cute animation of a gigantic singing whale. Cute but probably not everyone's cup 'o tea. 5 Overall, the film was hard to watch because it was so wildly uneven---it just frustrates the viewer to no end. Some of the shorts are very nice but many are just plain awful. Kids will most likely hate most of it and it's best you only show them a few selections. Adults will be, on the whole, more patient and willing to stick with it--particularly if they loved "Fantasia"--though the quality of "Fantasia" was almost always much higher--especially in regard to the artwork. For huge Disney-philes it's worth seeing--others might want to try renting this one instead of investing in the DVD.

PeachHamBeach MAKE MINE MUSIC is too jumbled. It's supposed to be a "mix" of the language of emotions, which is music, but it's an awkward attempt as we are treated to either boring ballet ballads or obnoxious jazz be-bop segments. I enjoyed "Blue Bayou" for its visual splendor, "Johnny Fedora & Alice Bluebonnet" for its cuteness, "Peter & The Wolf" because Sterling Holloway is the best! and "Casey At The Bat" because I also love Jerry Colonna's (sp?) voice, though "Casey" feels sad and incomplete when it ends with the ball player striking out and nothing more is said. The other segments, including the annoying singing whale, could have been axed in favor of part 2 of "Casey", which I've seen on TV years ago, about Casey having 9 daughters and coaching them as a baseball team. Walt Disney was trying to help audiences find an appreciation of different genres of music, but this mostly is a disappointment.

jack-260 The DVD version I've just seen included 9 of the original 10 segments. The loss of The Martins & the Coys is lamentable. This DVD did not include two titles listed as inclusions by IMDb...Two for the Record and The Misadventures of Chip & Dale...neither of which I've seen. I'd rated Martins/Coys (seen elsewhere) at 8 and usually rate a C&D 'toon at 8, so not much change there. This DVD did include 3 other titles, but not as part of the featured program...I rate Music Land, The Band Concert, and Farmyard Symphony at 9 each. Other 9s from the original line-up are All the Cats Join In (great art-work _and_ great memories), Casey at the Bat (comedian Colona was a fine choice as the narrator), Johnny Fedora and Alice Bluebonnet (good art & super love story), and Peter and The Wolf (excellent match between the action & the music). After You've Gone is an 8...Jazz isn't my thing, but the visuals are nothing short of fantastic. Blue Bayou and Without You are nicely drawn but monochromatic and the music is unmemorable...both are rated 7. So are Two Silhouettes (I expected 2S-on-the-Shade & was disappointed) (& I _know_ I've seen -Shade done by Disney somewhere, somewhen) and Willie's story (I just don't like the way the tale turned out). So, based on the 4 9s, an 8, & 4 7s, Make Mine Music is an 8.