Mickey’s House of Villains on DVD

Just in time for the Halloween season, Disney has released “Mickey’s House of Villains,” a compilation of "new" and “classic” animation aimed at keeping the ankle biters happy without scaring the pants off them excessively.

Which is just what we need in this era of gross out horror films!

It's kind of like Disneyland's Haunted Castle, providing mild and imaginative chills in a family atmosphere.

Though advertised as “Mickey and Disney’s Greatest Villains Together for the First Time Ever,” and this is true, we suppose, there really isn’t a lot of the villains on parade. Rather, the villains, and many Disney heros such as Mr. and Ms. Mouse, Donald Duck et al, are on hand at Mickey’s House of Mouse, a kind of “toon nightclub,” and they’re all on hand to watch the unspooling of a series of Halloween cartoons.

Then, later (about twenty minutes from the end of the program), the villains become revolting (assuming they aren’t already, of course!) and take over Mickey’s House of Mouse. But good prevails and the proper cartoon balance is restored and all ends happily, as it should.

The animation of these “House of Mouse/Villains” segments is all over the map, from quite good to quite rudimentary - but these sections are really just bridges to hold the actual Halloween-themed cartoons together anyway.

Those cartoons run the gamut from the classic “Lonesome Ghosts” to newer stuff, including a “Grinch-like” piece that features John Cleese narrating via rhyming couplets in much the same way Boris Karloff voiced the classic “Grinch” cartoon.

It’s basically kiddy stuff, and that’s fine. The nine cartoons are entertaining in typical Disney tradition and kids will undoubtedly have a good time with this video release.

The picture quality is spotty; it’s presented in 4x3 “full frame” format (some of the stuff is either made for video or from the silver screen before the days of widescreen) and the picture quality’s generally pretty good. Audio ranges from Dolby Digital 5.1 to mono, depending on the cartoon, and varies accordingly.

Extras include “Reel of Misfortune,” a trivia game aimed at the kiddies whereby they get to use their knowledge of Disney villains. There’s also Fright Delight, a series of “scary” sound effects mixed into Dolby Digital 5.1 - but they’re pretty lame. And if you click on some of the villains on the main menu you get a short clip of them doing their worst.

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