Disney's Halloween Treat

I always enjoy watching this around Halloween, especially for the old cartoons sliced together. I love the Magic Mirror version for his quote, which is as follows:

"You know, I've been hanging around here for centuries. And what I've seen has given me plenty for reflection. Being a mirror, I see things from the other side. And there's something that's been wrangling me for ages. Frankly, it's the way you mortals have misjudged a certain character. The villain. Shocked? Well don't be. He's the fellow who does his best to give you his worst. The chap who gives the hero a chance to be brave. Now where would David be without Goliath? Or Jonah without the whale? How interesting do you think Samson would be without Dalilah? Getting the point? Good. So tonight I present for your hisses and boos, a cavalcade of characters who always must lose, the villains."

This movie is the greatest! My sister and I watched it EVERY year growing up and were SO disappointed when the Disney Channel stopped showing it. I'm 28 now and have been looking online to buy this video because it always meant so much to me. It includes clips from "The Sword and the Stone", "The Aristocats", "Peter Pan", etc. Like other people who have viewed this movie, I also had recorded it from the TV back in the day. With as many times as we watched it, there are so many lines on it now, you can't see what you're watching! I still remember the words to the song that goes w/ the Trick or Treat Donald Duck cartoon. If you haven't seen this, I highly recommend it--especially if you're as much of a Disney fan as I am.

Like so many others, I grew up watching the Halloween specials on the Disney Channel ritually. Specials like "The Halloween That Almost Wasn't", "Mr. Boogedy" and "Disney Halloween Treat" are important parts of my childhood that I would like to preserve for my children, as well as my viewing pleasure. I can only hope that the fans of such old Disney Channel staples speak out and let the brass up top know there is an audience for these relics that are inevitably rotting in some video library in Florida. If not, lets all please search our local Mom and Pop video stores that our fatefully going out of business due to the inability to compete with the like of Blockbuster, and buy up the final copies of these videos and make them available to everybody. I don't think I can take another October without them. Damn the corporate machine the only wants to strip us of our childhoods, Danm the Disney Channel for taking away our precious reruns only to replace them with "A Lizzy MacGuire Halloween." It's a shame, the same company hold our holidays hostage without releasing the Christmas classic "Mickey's Christmas Carol." Uncle Walt has been spinning in his grave for way too many years now.

My family has this special recorded on tape, and we've had it for a long time. I remember watching it quite frequently because you just don't see clips from Disney movies as much as you can today. I especially like the clip from The Sword in the Stone where Merlin and Madam Mim engage in a wizards duel. That still cracks me up! I also enjoyed the Peter Pan clip when I was a kid, even though I'm not a huge fan of the movie itself.

After watching it again recently, I'd have to say that my favorite parts of the special are the showings of The Old Mill and Donald Duck & the Gorilla. Both cartoons are quite different as The Old Mill is an early Fantasia-like segment that is beautiful while Donald Duck & the Gorilla is simply a hilarious Donald short. Other notable cartoons include Lonesome Ghosts and a clip from Pluto's Judgment Day.

However, I have to say that Disney's Halloween Treat just seemed to drag on for a while. I was expecting the standard hour-long special, but it actually goes past an hour and a half (which is usually longer than most Disney movies)! I was also in a bit of a hurry when I watched this so I was eager for it to end. While the villains segment was kind of neat with a very different looking Magic Mirror (it sounded, and may have been played, by the same person who voiced Captain Hook), it just seemed to stretch out too long, talking about numerous villains. I mean, did we really need to look into the villain of The Aristocats? I thought that was unnecessary.

I also didn't really care for the last cartoon, Trick or Treat, starring Donald Duck, my favorite character. In this cartoon, he is surprisingly mean and there aren't nearly as many funny moments as there are in Donald Duck & the Gorilla. So all in all, this is still a good special if you ever get a chance to see it. My main recommendation though is if this movie can be edited somewhat, maybe down to an hour. Then maybe you can see it more often on the Disney Channel or even ABC.

My IMDb Rating: 7/10. My Yahoo! Grade: B (Good)

Disney's Halloween Treat was one of those Halloween traditions my family always made sure was completed. Every year my sister and I would fling ourselves on the floor in front of the TV, lights off and candles lit, waiting for it to begin. Although we have it on tape, in time part of it was deleted and the video is becoming older and harder and harder to hear and view, but even in my teen years, I pull it out and watch it every Halloween! It is a wonderful special, with memorable Disney clips, and fun and spooky adventures. Kudos to the narrator; his voice is amazing and sets the mood PERFECTLY! This special is pure Disney magic at its "spookiest"!