What a pleasure to find, amid all the mindless imagery of MTV, this consistently delightful series of music videos created from the durable cartoonery of the Walt Disney Studios for home video and the Disney cable channel. Snippets of Uncle Walt's peerless animation have been spliced together, then used to illustrate old record hits. Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Donald and all their buddies shake, rattle and roll to such tunes as Martha and the Vandellas' Dancing in the Streets, the Beach Boys' Dance Dance Dance and Stevie Wonder's Uptight (Everything's All Right). None of it seems out of place, even though a lot of the cartoons date back 50 years. The sharp editing mates sound and picture to redoubled effect, embellishing what were already hilarious gags in many cases. And, of course, there's none of the brutality and sexual teasing so beloved of current music video. Purists may object to seeing Mickey as the Sorcerer's Apprentice from Fantasia cut to fit the standard That Old Black Magic, performed by Louis Prima and Keely Smith, but it works, evoking the charm of a tune whose sensibility was trampled long ago. Of course, it would be a shame if kids were to grow up without seeing the original Fantasia, perhaps the first and greatest music video. And it's too bad the cost of sophisticated animation today ensures that for the most part such artful animation only can be found in the vaults of yesteryear's fantasy factories. (Walt Disney Home Video, $29.95 per 13-to-16 tune cassette)
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