Once Upon a Studio

A short made the celebrate the 100th anniversary of Walt Disney Studios, Once Upon a Studio is a neat short film that is more respectful to the company's past than most of their current offerings.

In the short, after the studio closes up for the day, Mickey gets the other animated characters from Disney films up to this point to do a group photo for the occasion. That's basically it, as characters from almost every Disney animated classic, be they drawn traditional, computer animated, or even done in Flash, joins in on this celebration.

Seeing this, I am amazed that Disney would do something that gives respect to their legacy (especially in a time when they are trying to bury it by making live-action remakes of their animated classics. They even went the extra mile to make sure all the voice actors are in their roles, either the right ones, the ones who took over for the past actors, or even archival recordings (they even went as far as to get Robin Williams' estate to okay using unused dialogue for Genie, which adds to the nostalgia factor). This is a charming special that actually decides to be respectful and have plenty of neat in-character gags instead of the usual problems that plague Disney's films today, and it makes me think if Disney could make more stuff like this, maybe it would get back to being a good studio one day.

This was such a cute short, remembering all the Disney Classics to now thank you Walt Disney, and to all who made it possible Walt Disney will always be in my heart and the picture came out very lovely and to see Oswald there as well. This is truly one of the best shorts in the world and plus what a wonderful reunion to the Walt Disney animation studio happy 100 years and hope for many more to come. And the Disney animators. Including Pixar thank you for all you've done. Here's to wishing for many more dreams and wishes coming true. If you miss the Disney animation, then the short is just for you.

This short exceeded my expectations! It was truly a love letter to Disney's animated films! Seeing so many characters interact, both old and new, was a treat! Hearing some of these characters' original voice actors/actresses reprise their roles was also very enjoyable! Two moments in particular made this short way more emotional than I thought it would be, but I won't give it away. I will say that by the end of the short, I was left in tears. This short also proves that Disney can still pull off 2D animation, and I really wish they'd start making 2D animated movies again.

For any Disney lover, this is a must watch!

It was a great short. Left me teary eyed especially after the nod to Walt.

To have all the characters together both 2d and 3d is incredible.

I also liked how they reused dialogue from the films but mixed it with new ones.

The fact that those who are still with us came back to voice their characters for like a couple of seconds or more of dialogue is phenomenal.

I was surprised and glad to see characters from Disney's flops like treasure planet and Atlantis.

There's much to love and it's filled with nostalgia.

Thank you Disney for finally giving the audience something it wants and didn't know it wanted it.

I loved everything about it, it's a very magical experience.

If you heard me describe this short in a sentence, you would probably dismiss it as another nostalgia-bait production where a giant corporation all but brags about how many IPs and characters they own. But as a commenter on Letterboxd pointed out: there is a major difference between "Look at all the things we own" and "Look at all the things we made". This here is very much the latter.

Once Upon A Studio, a Disney+ short film commemorating 100 years of Disney animation and featuring 500+ characters from across the Animated Canon (voiced by returning stars and some archive recordings, approved by the estates of all parties involved), is one of the most touching and genuine things we've seen from this company in some time. This isn't just a series of namedrops and fanservice moments; it is a sincere celebration of the creativity, artistry, storytelling, and magic of Disney that has, on some level, meant something to everyone on the planet, be it the new generation of Frozen fans, us Disney Renaissance kiddos, or my late grandfather who would often recount how his first visit to a "flicker show" was Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937 and how it scared the pants off him.

Great care has been taken to include as many characters as possible -- including ones from such oft-ignored pictures as Dinosaur, Atlantis, and The Black Cauldron -- and mix the different animation styles in a mostly seamless way (the 2D animation is the real deal this time, thank Christ). We all know the issues with Disney, but it's hard not to be moved by this one, especially (in my case) when we get to Jiminy Cricket's portion of the "When You Wish Upon A Star" ensemble, still using the same Cliff Edwards recording that my fellow Swedes and I have heard on every Christmas Eve since 1960.

Of course, there are still some things that won't sit quite right with everyone. The part where Mickey says a few words to a portrait of Walt Disney should probably also -- or solely -- feature Ub Iwerks. Another issue is the fact that, despite how well this short film turned out, we're probably not getting a House of Mouse reboot.

Stray observations and neat details: In the group photo at the end of the short, Peter Pan is together with Pete's Dragon. The two different Rescuers kiddos are hanging out. Mickey Mouse says "after you" to Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, as he should.