DVD Review: The Adventures of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit

Writer: N/A
Director: Walt Disney
Cast: Oswald the Lucky Rabbit
Rating: N/A
Studio: Disney Home Entertainment
Release Date: December 11, 2007

In this, the seventh round of the Walt Disney Treasures DVDs, fans and Disney lovers are presented with three separate box sets that are delivered in collectable Disney tins. These limited sets are generally a hit with fans and a must have for collectors of Disney materials.

This set of Disney Treasures includes three main sets. Included this time around are The Adventures of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, Disneyland: Secrets, Stories and Magic, and Chronological Donald, Volume 3.

Oswald gives fans a truly unique chance to see the beginning of Disney come to life. Oswald was the first successful character in the Disney stable. This interesting rabbit was also the precursor to the creation of Mickey Mouse. Due to some legal problems, Disney was removed from the Oswald project and they were later released as Universal cartoons. However, this is the first time that Disney-made Oswald cartoons have been available to the public since 1928. Oswald cartoons were assumed by ABC (a Disney company) in 2006 when they did some swapping with NBC.

When Oswald was created, Disney signed contracts with Universal to produce the shorts for Oswald. The problem was that in order to get Universal to handle the production, Walt Disney agreed to assume little control over the project. Despite creating Oswald, he would not own the rights. Disney and his team went ahead and created their cartoons with little thought to this and as the cartoons for Oswald came out, they were successful. The first cartoon that Oswald appeared in, ‘Trolley Troubles’ is also included on these discs.

As the series became more successful, Disney requested a larger production budget to speed up the production process. Universal was not too kind at the idea of offering more money and instead wanted to give them less. Disney was understandably upset, but as he did not own the rights, it made it all the more easy for Universal to cut Disney out of the project and go on their own way. As a result, Walt Disney never allowed another person to own his work ever again. Soon after Disney and Universal cut ties, Mickey Mouse would be born and the empire would grow to what it has become today.

With all of this in mind, it makes complete sense why the Disney Treasures would release a little bit of history, with The Adventures of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit set. This set includes 13 shorts. Despite the fact that these shorts are fairly old, Disney has done everything they could to ensure that you receive the best quality shorts available. While certain exceptions need to be made (nothing is going to be perfect from this decade in film) I feel compelled to mention that I was pleasantly surprised with the quality for The Adventures of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit.

Release Information:
The Adventures of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit is one of three sets made available on a limited basis in the seventh round of the Disney Treasures collectors set. Along with the other two sets, The Adventures of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit became available on December 11, 2007. You can purchase this two disc set that is in a collectable gold tin at most retailers for a limited time. When it comes to online retailers, you can pick up The Adventures of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit for $22.99.

The The Adventures of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit Plot
When you first begin watching The Adventures of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, the host and narrator of the Disney Treasures discs, Leonard Maltin, informs you that the cartoons you are going to watch are rather primitive. Prior to putting in this set of black and white cartoons, I figured that they would not be like something I would see today. In all fairness, I prefer some of the older cartoons. I don’t normally watch them this old, but even with the primitive nature I found these shorts to be quite enjoyable.

The shorts are silent shorts, so other than small noises and music, there is no dialogue. The goal of the creators, according to what is said in commentary and special features, was to make the viewers laugh for a few minutes. Things move quickly, but with lack of vocals, they need to in order to keep people’s attention. Oswald is a pretty uppity rabbit. He’s always moving around and working on leading you through his funny tales. The fact that the storytelling was as good as it was without any form of dialogue is impressive. The storylines are both amusing to watch and funnier than Maltin gives them credit by labeling them as primitive.

By primitive, I am assuming they are referring to the plain black and white drawings and Oswald’s form of expression. One of his favorite moves is to thumb his nose at someone or he likes to show his behind. Little boys will love the potty humor that is found in many of the shorts and they will likely miss how hard Oswald works to get kisses from his girlfriend, who consequently loses her pants quite a bit (not for sexual reasons, though).

My kids balked when I told them to sit down so that we could watch these. They complained that they didn’t want to watch any old people stuff. After informing them that this was “old people stuff” for me too, they begrudgingly agreed to humor me. At some point, I ended up laughing harder at them because they were so sure that they would not like them and then within moments of pressing play they were cracking up and having a good time with Oswald.

The Adventures of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit comes in a two disc set. The first disc contains all 13 shorts and the second disc includes bonus features. Each of the shorts on the first disc is between five and six minutes long. The shorts include “Trolley Troubles”, “Oh Teacher”, “Great Guns”, “The Mechanical Cow”, “The Ocean Hop”, “All Wet”, “Rival Romeos”, “Bright Lights”, “Ozzie of the Mounted”, “Oh What a Knight”, “Sky Scrappers”, “The Fox Chase”, and “Tall Timber”.

Some personal favorites of the thirteen shorts include “Great Guns”, “The Mechanical Cow”, “All Wet”, “The Fox Chase”, and “Tall Timber”. These shorts offer such scenarios as Oswald joining the Army, being a dairy farmer, running a hotdog stand, and going duck hunting. There are some great laughs to be had here by both young and old individuals alike.

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Directing:

Audio/Visual:
The video quality for The Adventures of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit is much better than I originally anticipated. Naturally, something this old is not going to be as impressive as the quality you might find today. Despite that, these shorts offer much sharper images than I expected. The images are bright and they look good considering how long they have been locked away. The audio is available in Dolby Digital English 2.0 and it sounds excellent. The music tracks come through with strength and charm.

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Bonus Features:
There are bonus features that are available on both discs for your enjoyment. On the first disc many of the episodes have commentary from the likes of Leonard Maltin, Mark Kausler, and Jerry Beck. The sole featurette on this disc is “Oswald Comes Home”, which details the struggles of the Disney Studios to get Oswald back in their library. Finally, this disc offers some picture galleries and some sketches that were for “Sagebrush Sadie” an unfinished Oswald cartoon.

The second disc offers a documentary, “The Hand Behind the Mouse: The Ub Iwerks Story”, which is narrated by Kelsey Grammer, and gives insight into the contributions made by Iwerks to animation and Disney. The documentary is incredibly interesting to watch, offering information on his career and the changes that he had made over the years. This documentary also includes much of his work, which is incredibly interesting to see. The rest of the features on this disc include the following Alice shorts, ‘Alice gets Stung’, ‘Alice’s Balloon Race’, and ‘Alice in the Wooly West’. Some cartoons made after Oswald are also included, such as, ‘Skelton Dance’, ‘Plane Crazy’, and ‘Steamboat Willie’.

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Bottom Line:
The Adventures of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit offers a true piece of Disney history that both adults and children will be able to appreciate. The quality is exceptional for cartoons from the 1920s. Collectors will want to pick up this limited edition set as well as parents who want to offer their children some cartoons that they will not find on Cartoon Network or Boomerang.

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