When Disney announced in the mid-90s that they were going to start making direct-to-video animation releases, I was not a happy camper.  I felt that the very idea cheapened what the Disney name brought to the field of animation.  Of course it did not help that 99% of these releases were going to be sequels to timeless classics.  That went against what Walt always talked about, which was there should be no animated sequel except for Fantasia.  That said, there are always exceptions.

The Three Musketeers is a familiar tale, and in my opinion, should be required reading for 4-6 graders.  While many versions have been seen on film and TV, none have featured the core characters of Mickey, Donald, and Goofy.  The nice aspect of our story is that our heroes are inspired by D’Artagan and his pals versus actually playing those roles.  Mickey  and his pals are rescued as kids by the real musketeers and are inspired to try to become musketeers.  Blocking their progress is our favorite Mickey foil, Pete.  Hijinks ensue as we welcome other favorites such as Minnie, Daisy, and Clarabelle; even Pluto is there to help out.  Our guide through the story is a turtle who evokes memories of the Allan A’Dale character from Robin Hood.

The truly imaginative part of the feature is the pairing of lyrics to some of the greatest pieces of classical music.  These lyrics help stitch together our scenes, as well as help bring the environment to full color.  I also enjoyed the fact that all of the originals were gathered together for this feature.

The DVD had the typical Disney features for kids.

My advice:  Check this out sometime, even if you don’t have kids…