The imagery of these cartoons is some of the most memorable. Take "Bee on Guard" for example. Seeing Donald twist up his tail feathers and screw on a stinger in order to blend in with the bees is just such a silly image. It was memorable enough to be something I remember from childhood, along with countless other Donald moments. And now I "get" the part where Donald ingratiates himself in with the bee guard and has a few drinks with him. If you've put Donald cartoons away since you were a child, you'll probably notice quite a few "new" things about each episode as well. They are still silly cartoons, but there are lots of little details to pick up on now.
As always, the Vault is a bonus feature that's interesting because it shows the cartoons that were made 50 years ago that, for one reason or another, are a bit too offensive for today's culture. The typical culprits are here: cultural sterotypes, violence, and guns. This volume's vault seems pretty tame. In fact, "Uncle Donald's Ants" didn't seem offensive at all. It shows a group of "tribal" ants attempting to steal sugary maple syrup from Donald's kitchen. They speak in that general jibberish dialect that is used to characterize other cultures, but it didn't seem like they were going after a particular one culture or another. Regardless, it's in the vault, and it's interesting to debate on how it got there.
I'm personally more for traditional painted landscapes, but you'll see a bit more of a 50's modern art style show up in this volume. It's done well in the "Grand Canyonscope" feature, but it reminds me too much of recent cartoons that take the art style to flat and boring extremes. That's no fault of the old cartoons though, so it's not really a drawback. Chip and Dale the chipmunks also show up more often here, so if you're a fan of them, it will be a treat. As always, it's interesting to see how many careers and hobbies Donald tries out. He's everything from zookeeper to model train enthusiast here.
If you simply want to give this to a young kid so he or she can enjoy more Donald cartoons, this volume will do the job as nicely as the first three. There are some interesting features for adults here as well, though. Audio commentary is always a great place to learn a bit of history on Donald cartoons and Disney in general, but it's only available on a couple of episodes. This DVD also goes into some depth on the history of Donald Duck comics. Interestingly, it was the European market that kept Donald comics alive when the US market went into a slump. There's also a short where animator Eric Goldberg goes through the process of pitching a cartoon based on a story board. To see someone sell a cartoon based on story board alone is not something you'll appreciate until you see his performance. One more good bonus here is the more modern Mouseworks cartoons that aired as a Saturday morning special. Of course, you'll also get an attractive collector's tin along with a postcard sized reproduction of an original poster for "Grin and Bear It." Overall, it's a nice collection.
