Since these collections don’t appear to list an author, I’ve listed it as “Disney” here for simplicity’s sake. This was a book my wife picked up for me at a thrift store, thinking it was in surprisingly good condition and that it would be of interest to me, given my love for animation. While I appreciate the historical and artistic aspect of it, the stories themselves fall flat for me. Color me controversial, but I never understood the appeal of most of Disney’s early “classics.” Of the ones retold here, Dumbo and Lady and the Tramp are all I will readily call myself a fan of. Disney’s version of Pinocchio always struck me as too much of a far cry from its source material, the titular character a dumb, spoiled brat whose “redemption” feels forced and unearned. I’ve read/watched various versions of Alice in Wonderland, and only the Syfy special Alice has done anything for me to date. The early princess films bored me senseless. Need I go on? As a result, I read through the retellings of these movies mostly for the sake of taking in the art that remains beautiful to this day. No matter what negative things I say about early Disney, I’ll never not say the animation was outstanding.
However, there are some stories not from their well-known feature-length films. I remember being excited when I saw my first… only for that excitement to soon dissipate once it wound up being worse still. That being said, a few of them are standouts that made my quick read worthwhile. One of them was pulled from a sequel to one of their early classics, if memory serves me correct, that I have a soft spot for, but it wasn’t just that one. I promise!
Anywho, if you do like early Disney animation, unlike me, this collection should be an absolute treat for you if you can get your hands on it. It’s not in print anymore, so it’s gonna be a little tougher/pricier to find a copy nowadays, but hit up your local thrift stores and you might luck into finding one there like my wife did.