Make Mine Music was released in 1946 and is the 8th animated feature from Disney’s Studios, and consists of a series of shorts.
Highlights: We felt like every other short was good. It has an old fashioned feel to it, and may not be the cartoons that kids would enjoy today, but they’re still fun to watch. We enjoyed “All the Cats Join In,” “Casey at the Bat,” “Peter and the Wolf,” “Johnnie Fedora and Alice Bluebonnet,” and “The Whale Who Wanted to Sing at the Met.” All of these were more upbeat, colorful, and had interesting plots. Peter and the Wolf is without a doubt the stand out. I love the music and the animation works so well with it.
Low points: The in between shorts from the ones mentioned above, basically. “Blue Bayou,” “Without You,” “Two Silhouettes” – they were pretty, I guess, but they were just so slow and boring. “After You’ve Gone” was a little better but not great.
Music: Like Fantasia, these shorts are based around the music – so it’s really good. The music is probably what I enjoyed the most, to be honest. There were some really good things – Peter and the Wolf, like I mentioned above, but also the incredible opera work on “The Whale Who Wanted to Sing at the Met.”
Villain Rating: There are various “villains” throughout some of the shorts. The most notable one is the wolf from Peter and the Wolf. He seems ruthless, from what we know of him, and those yellow eyes are very frightening (my brother would agree, at least). The harpoon man in “The Whale Who Wanted to Sing at the Met” is kind of a villain, too, because he does kill the singing whale. However, he was convinced that an opera singer was trapped in the belly of the whale – because who would believe that a whale could sing opera?
Fun Fact: Nelson Eddy did all of the voices in “The Whale Who Wanted to Sing at the Met” – including the three voices of the whale, tenor, baritone, and bass. It’s a pretty awesome thing to listen to!
Where in the World: There is a counter service location at the Magic Kingdom called “Casey’s Corner.” It is baseball themed and based on the same story that the short is based on – the menu even has pictures of the characters from the short.
My personal rating: 6 out of 10, mostly for the music and Peter and the Wolf.
It’s possible your brother still finds those yellow wolf eyes frightening!
I consider ‘Johnnie Fedora and Alice Bluebonnet’ my favorite Disney love song if we consider ballads as love songs. And it was interesting to see the idea used again in Pixar’s Blue Umbrella short.
Yes, there were a lot of similarities to the Blue Umbrella short!