The full color animation from Disney here looks gorgeous. If by any chance, you haven't seen any of these Donald shorts, or haven't seen many cartoons of the era, you're missing a real golden age of animation. They don't make hand-drawn cel animation like they used to (not even Disney does) and watching this makes me remember why I liked cartoons so much when I was a kid.
I was actually surprised at how much I enjoy watching these cartoons as an adult. Perhaps now I even appreciate aspects of it I couldn't when I was a child. Donald is a real duck of leisure, and he takes his various picnics, outings, and cooking seriously. Something always comes along to ruin his fun, like an army of ants, or a pesky chipmunk duo. Not only does he want to get rid of the pests, he actually delights in tormenting them. He's impatient, irrational, and quick to anger. With that and his "quacky" indecipherable accent, he's still a joy to watch.
Bonus features are included on each DVD. I always like seeing the behind-the-scenes process, but the features here aren't very in-depth. There are two main bonus features. The first, "The Many Faces of Donald Duck" is a discussion lead by Leonard Maltin about why Donald Duck is the popular character that he is and why people still love him today. The second bonus is "Sculpting Donald." It features an interview with Ruben Procopio, an animator who brought back the idea of sculpting small statues of animated characters in order to aid with the animation process. He does a quick sketch, in which he shows how he goes from a real duck to Donald, and does a quick sculpture of Donald. If you are looking forward to a lot of insight as to how animators work, however, you'll probably be left wanting more.
Also featured on each DVD is a vault section that contains some cartoons that are no longer considered generally acceptable for children. Some of the things in the vault don't make much sense for being there. Smoking, I can understand - no one would support a smoking Donald Duck nowadays. Some racial stereotypes are there too, with Chip and Dale doing what is now a pretty offensive impression of an Asian person. But a couple episodes in the vault don't seem to stand apart at all from the episodes deemed "unoffensive." For example, "Bee at the Beach" simply had Donald tormenting his tiny adversary, with the fight going back and forth during the episode. What was wrong? Were the cartoon sharks too scary? Was Donald just a touch too cruel when he trapped the bee in a soda bottle? Did Donald set a bad example by not applying sunscreen? In Disney's history, there are much worse things locked away. At least they included these episodes, just with a warning that plays before you enter the menu.
There are 13 shorts on disc one and 12 shorts on disc 2, with 5 more shorts in the "vault." Each disc also features a gallery of still frames and sketches from various shorts. You get the option to play the episodes chronologically, or if you're looking for a certain one, alphabetically. There are also several easter eggs hidden throughout the two DVDs. There were ten different animations done for the Mickey Mouse Club featuring Donald. A short bonus feature tells you to look for these throughout the DVDs.
I liked The Chronological Donald for its main content more than anything. Though I would have liked the bonus features to be a bit more in-depth, this is still a good collection of Donald Duck's short films. For collectors, this tin is a limited edition of 50,000. It comes with one color print of the original movie poster from "Inferior Decorator," as well as a small pamphlet about the DVD. It's not exactly loaded with extras, but it's a nice total package, and a pretty good buy for fans of Donald and the old Disney as well.
