Walt Disney Animation Studios Short Films Collection

When we see the category for Best Animated Short during the Academy Awards we sit patiently through it and wait for the next thing on the agenda, because almost none of us have seen any of the competing short films. But even though it isn't commercially viable, Disney continues to produce short animation and there is a reason this art form hasn't faded away.

In animated shorts, animators really become experimental and expressive. This is where the avant garde of animation (for big studios like Walt Disney) begins, because the studio doesn't have the pressure of making a big profit blockbuster.

The Walt Disney short film has a long-standing tradition. It was in this format that the great studio as we know it was born and its first hero is an icon known the world over, Mickey Mouse. Throughout the 20th Century animated shorts were commonly screened before feature-length films, and it wasn't until Disney broke the mold that anyone thought an animation could or should be anything other than short.

Walt Disney Animation Studios budgets for about one of these instantly gratifying 5 to 7 minute experiences per year. Some of them have been nominated for and won the Academy Award and many use innovative and revolutionary animation techniques.

In the "Walt Disney Animated Studios Short Films Collection," the company brings together 12 of these little masterpieces spanning from 2000 to the present day, with filmmaker introductions and a primer to short filmmaking at Disney, "@DisneyAninmation: Short Story on Shorts," hosted by actor, comedian and voice of Fred in "Big Hero 6" T.J. Miller. (He's also in "Silicon Valley.")

This collection is a must have for the art lover and the animation connoisseur, the only baffling entrant is the last short in the line-up "Frozen Fever," where Elsa from Disney's wildly popular "Frozen" reproduces masses of little snow babies every time she sneezes.

All the other films are brief and beautifully artistic explorations of short subject narrative, but "Frozen Fever" relies on the familiar voices of Idina Menzel and Josh Gad and rehashes the characters while singing a less interesting song. But the faces of those animated figures prominently displayed on the cover of this Blu-ray Combo Pack will get this short film collection on the shelves and into your home, and there's something to be said for that.

As a special treat listen for the voice of the great comedian Betty White.

"Walt Disney Animation Studios Short Films Collection,"
Blu-ray Combo Pack
Not Rated | 79 minutes
DisneyBluray.com