Once Upon a Studio

A short made the celebrate the 100th anniversary of Walt Disney Studios, Once Upon a Studio is a neat short film that is more respectful to the company's past than most of their current offerings.

In the short, after the studio closes up for the day, Mickey gets the other animated characters from Disney films up to this point to do a group photo for the occasion. That's basically it, as characters from almost every Disney animated classic, be they drawn traditional, computer animated, or even done in Flash, joins in on this celebration.

Seeing this, I am amazed that Disney would do something that gives respect to their legacy (especially in a time when they are trying to bury it by making live-action remakes of their animated classics. They even went the extra mile to make sure all the voice actors are in their roles, either the right ones, the ones who took over for the past actors, or even archival recordings (they even went as far as to get Robin Williams' estate to okay using unused dialogue for Genie, which adds to the nostalgia factor). This is a charming special that actually decides to be respectful and have plenty of neat in-character gags instead of the usual problems that plague Disney's films today, and it makes me think if Disney could make more stuff like this, maybe it would get back to being a good studio one day.

Growing up back in the 90's, I've been very fond of Disney especially in terms of animation. Many of their films I consider to be good/great (The Lion King being one of them considering it was during my childhood) even if some aren't quite my favorites. But when I heard that the studio was releasing an 100 anniversary short, I became very happy and watched it on Disney+ today. To my surprise, it filled me with complete nostalgia.

Not only was it hilarious and cute, but it's also a great loving tribute to the studio and Walt Disney himself. The way it blends both 2D hand drawn and 3D CG animation, it's reuse of old archive dialogue while creating new ones, the way it incorporates other characters from other Disney films (including the ones from particular flops like The Black Cauldron), and the new rendition of When You Wish Upon A Star that's sung very well.

Overall, this will go down as one of my favorite shorts in Disney history. If you love Disney animation certainly check this one out and you'll have the same nostalgia as I did.

I always say we get angry and hate on Disney, because we care most of the higher do not, but this short feels like it was the real people of Disney paying a love letter to the company and Walt himself I'm obsessed with Disney the OG real Disney and this brought me to tears, all the animated characters and many of the OG voices and taking a group picture being funny and charming in the real world it all just worked for me and especially Mickey seeing Walt, it all just works, I can't believe he's been gone for 57 years and I desperately wish he could still be here, it's very tear inducing, it was perfect 10/10.

It was a great short. Left me teary eyed especially after the nod to Walt.

To have all the characters together both 2d and 3d is incredible.

I also liked how they reused dialogue from the films but mixed it with new ones.

The fact that those who are still with us came back to voice their characters for like a couple of seconds or more of dialogue is phenomenal.

I was surprised and glad to see characters from Disney's flops like treasure planet and Atlantis.

There's much to love and it's filled with nostalgia.

Thank you Disney for finally giving the audience something it wants and didn't know it wanted it.

I loved everything about it, it's a very magical experience.

I think this is what everyone wanted without knowing it. If you don't believe me, check the rating.

From Snow White to Asha, characters from every Disney era are involved in this special, and this special looks back at everything Disney has ever done. It reminds you of the magic and happiness Disney had brought you and all the magic and happiness it will continue to bring you... I hope the Walt Disney company is around for another 100 years.

Thank you Disney. You've really gone to infinity and beyond with this one. Thank you for reading my review, and I'm so glad that it's on Disney+ because I didn't get to catch it on TV last night (or October 15 2023 if you read this in the future).