Commenting Disney´s Once Upon a Studio · 11:45pm Oct 17th, 2023
¡¡¡WARNING!!! This review constains a lot of SPOILERS. If you haven´t watched the short yet or want to wait for Wish to watch it, and don´t want to be spoiled, I suggest you don´t read it. Otherwise, if you watched it or don´t care about being spoiled, go ahead!
Huzzah everypony! Sorry if I haven´t uploaded as often as used to, but this year has been super rough for me and I´m still recovering, but I´m still working on the story don´t worry! But I´ve come back today to talk about Disney´s new short Once Upon a Studio.
The premise is simple yet very powerful, because this monday Disney turned a 100 years old! Who would have thought, huh? Anyway, coming back to topic, so this short´s basically Disney´s version of Night on the Museum, but instead of statues coming to life, it´s our beloved Disney characters, who desire to commemorate the studio´s century by making a photo.
When I finished watching the short, I cried. Disney has played an important part in my life since I was a baby. These characters have given me so much: inspirations from their stories to write mine, an imaginative mind to make more stories about them or other characters, company and comfort through my loneliest and hardest times, beautiful memories and laughs and so much more I can´t recount. I just owe them so much. Plus, this reminded me of one of my favourite shows from childhood, House of Mouse, since Disney characters were interacting with each other once again, only this time with newer characters. It´s basically like meeting the old and new me at the same time!
To get more into detail, I´ll point out what I liked the most:
1) I loved seeing 2d animation back! Some of the older characters look gorgeous and their animation is as fluid as a river!
I loved the detail of them having a retro effect on their voices, since archival recordings were used.
2) The fact that they added characters from lesser known Disney movies!
(I´ll talk about Pocahontas later...)
I´ll add, Tom Hulce returned to voice Quasimodo after years of being inactive in the film industry!
3) Hearing Robin Williams as the Genie was beautiful. It didn´t have the same impact on me as the people who grew up with the original version, but Robin Williams had a golden heart and he put so much soul in the Genie just to make others laugh, not caring about the money. Many miss him, including me.
4) ¡¡¡THIS BABY WASN´T FORGOTTEN AND WAS INCLUDED IN THE PHOTO!!!
I swear this was my reaction seeing him:
Ok, some of you might be wondering why I´m fangirling so much. Well, buckle up then, because it´s time for Disney history lesson! This lovely bunny, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit is actually Mickey´s older brother! That´s right, it didn´t all begin with a mouse, but a rabbit instead! (although he wasn´t the first character per say. Before him, Peter was there, along another cat named Julius, who was the sidekick of a live action girl in a series called Alice´s Comedies, Walt Disney´s first project. Nevertheless, Oswald was their first star and breakthrough).
The reason why he isn´t Disney´s main mascot instead of Mickey, was because Walt created him for a contract with Universal Studios and since he was so successful, a man named Charles Mintz (does the name sound familiar?) took Oswald away from him for Universal. And so, Mickey Mouse was born, and while the mouse grew more and more popular, the rabbit was sinking into oblivion to the point of being completely forgotten. That was, until Disney regained the rights to Oswald in 2006! From then on, Oswald starred in the Epic Mickey game series (much recommended if you haven´t played it!), which allowed players like me to know of his existence and history. I swear, the first moment I saw him I fell in love with him. Also also, he and his girlfriend Ortensia became meet and greet characters at Disney´s Parks!
Despite that, Disney hasn´t used Oswald much in media. His appearances only limit to small cameos. But even if his role in the short was small, it´s very important. When you know who Oswald is and his story, Mickey´s `after you´ obtains a whole new meaning. Walt loved him so much in spite of not owning him anymore and going on with Mickey. You can clearly see this if you see comparisons between Mickey´s and Oswald´s shorts.
Speaking of Walt...
5) This scene... 
I don´t think this needs much explanation. I´ll only say that this scene broke me, and it broke me even more when I found out that the melody playing in the background is Mary Poppins´ Feed the Birds, Walt´s favourite song...
6) The characters singing When you wish upon a star, Disney´s most iconic and main melody.
7) Disney´s oldest princess welcoming the newest one... So beautiful 
8) Jiminy Cricket singing like in the movie
Now, although I think the short is great and an amazing homage to the studio, there are still some things that tick me:
1) I praised the animation before, but is it me or do some characters look weird?
They seem very off... They deserved better....
2) I missed some characters in the final photo. Firstly, Mufasa, he´s very important to the story! I would have loved to see Ortensia too. And there are some characters from the shorts who are missing as well, although that might be because they´re not that well known (Lorenzo, Molly, the little matchgirl...)
He´s upset he hasn´t been included...
Ok this one I can understand. It´s very sad...
3) And now that I mention the Lion King, I would have loved seeing Simba and Nala interacting with Bambi and his friends, Tod and Cooper, the dalmatian puppies, Oliver, Olivia, Antonio, Meeko... Thought this is more of a personal wish of mine, not a criticism. But they did deserve a better design!
So summing up, I loved this short and I think it´s an incredible hommage to Disney´s century of existence. But the best thing of this short in my opinion is that it brought back the real Disney. Not Marvel, not Star Wars, not pixar, not the tv shows (I have nothing against them though!), NOT THE LIVE ACTIONS! The real Disney is Walt Disney Animation Studios, since that´s where it all began. What about you guys, what did you think of the short? I´d love to hear your thoughts.
And before I go, I also wnat to make my little hommage to Walt Disney Animation Studios as well 
This house you see is in a park from the town I am from. Its name is la Casita de Blancanieves (Snow White´s little house). It was a small library built in 1947, but it reopened for the second time in 1967 to make a hommage to Walt Disney, almost one year after his death. They built a plaque as well.
I just thought that it would be fitting to show this, given that it´s a hommage to Walt Disney himself.
Thank you Walt Disney Animation Studios for everything and happy 100 anniversary!
Everything about this short was truly a blast to watch!
Before it came, I’ve been hoping and praying that Disney would step-up their game following their blunders from 2022 since they were celebrating the company’s 100th anniversary, and I was so happy they did. One thing’s for sure, when it came to making it a dedication and homage to Walt Disney himself, they apparently weren’t kidding around.
My only hope is that the Disney company can do exactly the same with their upcoming film, “Wish”.
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Wish looks very beautiful, I´m pretty sure that it will go well
You really like Disney a lot. Uhm I could say the same for some of my own animation production companies that I admire, so I understand the feeling.
Disney has done great work in its history, I hope that in the future it can create a new classic for children.
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Yeah, I hope so too. But first, they need to take animation seriously again.