Have a Laugh! Volume 3

Five classic cartoons are presented, “Mickey’s Delayed Date,” “The Whalers,” “Chef Donald,” “How to Play Baseball” and “Pluto and the Gopher.” The ‘Re-MICKS’ versions of each cartoon are set to the Black Eyed Peas “I Gotta Feeling.”

Have a Laugh! Volume 4

Five classic cartoons are presented, “Mickey Down Under,” “Hawaiian Holiday,” “Trailer Horn,” “How to Swim” and “Pluto’s Surprise Package.” The ‘Re-MICKS’ versions of each cartoon are set to “Play the Music” from the Disney Channel original movie Camp Rock.

CRITIQUE

Not a lot for me to say here. Each volume in Disney’s Have a Laugh! series presents five of the studio’s classic cartoon shorts digitally remixed, remastered and restored to close to their potential glory. They also present them in a sloppily edited versions set to a popular pop song or a tune from one of the Disney Channel’s original movies. Things are rounded out on each disc with three additional shorts called ‘BLAM!s’, which are really nothing more than an excuse to watch Goofy get clobbered with various items like a surf board.

The good news? Both discs present the original cartoon in forms that are simply glorious and divine. My favorites here include “Trailer Horn” on volume four and “Chef Donald” and “How to Play Baseball” on volume three, but all ten of the presented cartoons are pretty close to divine.

The bad news? The BLAM!s drove me up a wall and the re-edited versions of the cartoon themselves are borderline headache inducing. I had trouble watching them, finally realizing I’d be better served sticking to the original cartoons themselves than trying to stomach any of their alternate presentations.

The bottom line? These are perfect for little kids, make no bones about it. Better, as long as they’re watching the original cartoon adults are going to enjoy at least a portion of these Have a Laugh! videos as well. But the remixed and alternate versions are close to unwatchable for anyone over the age of ten, and I pity the person forced to endure them by a kindergartner insistent on watching every last item contained on either of these DVDs.

THE VIDEO

The animated shorts in both Have a Laugh! Volume 3 and Have a Laugh! Volume 4 are presented in 1.33:1 Full Screen. They all look pretty good, and its hard to quibble with these transfers of each discs five classic Disney shorts one little bit.

THE AUDIO

Both DVDs come with English, French and Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital audio tracks with optional English SDH, French and Spanish subtitles.

THE EXTRAS

None

FINAL THOUGHTS

Have a Laugh! Volume 3 and Have a Laugh! Volume 4 are perfect for little kids, showcasing a set of classic Disney cartoon in all their glory. The remixed versions are pretty obnoxious, though, and the rest of the stuff on these DVDs is beyond forgettable. My Kindergarten and Preschool-aged nieces will love the darn things, that’s a given, and for that reason alone I guess I can give these two releases passing recommendations.