Everything in this movie forces you to be utterly impressed; seeing the old heroes ride - together - again, the colors, the drawings, the animation, the wit, and the songs, especially the songs. As a musical, it's very distinct. Rare to watch a movie where the melodies or the songs are from older ballet, opera, or symphony. It's like relating the past with the present, new dealing with the classics, and - most importantly - a way to make the kids, or the less caring about music viewers, know about classics, getting used to them.
Look at the list this time: "All For One and One For All" (from Orpheus in the Underworld). "Love So Lovely (from The Nutcracker, and Romeo and Juliet Overture). "Petey's King of France" (from In the Hall of the Mountain King). "Sweet Wings of Love" (from Johann Strauss's Blue Danube). "Chains of Love" (from Carmen). "This Is The End" (from Beethoven's 5th Symphony). "L'Opera" (from The Pirates of Penzance). I wrote it as I read it in Wikipedia, since the IMDb doesn't have a full, more accurate, list of the original sources.
Making the songs from other older works didn't give us interesting soundtrack only, it rather brought back golden ages in music, and saluted Disney's milestone Fantasia. Having that apart is a delight, so how about its colorful time too. Director (Donovan Cook) has done a perfect job. I can't see anything wrong with the movie. (David M. Evans) and (Evan Spiliotopoulos) wrote a wonderful script (loved the narrator / troubadour turtle touch in particular). Maybe old-fashioned a bit, but with some amount of fun. I don't know about you, but the movie's traditionalism did enjoy me. On one hand, the "good old" Disney's feature cartoon films are so missed since years (The Pixar effect no doubt). And on the other hand, this innocence and simplicity are forever. In a word, here.. Traditional wins!
The nostalgic creation, concerning reusing, remixing, or reproducing classic songs or pieces of music, can be noticed through the last 15 years in movies. Remember (Everyone Says I Love You - 1996), (Moulin Rouge! - 2001), (Happy Feet - 2006), (Across the Universe - 2007), (Mamma Mia! - 2008), and obviously there was (Mickey, Donald, Goofy The Three Musketeers - 2004) in between. However, the thing to bother is that why that last one wasn't released in theaters worldwide instead of that shy, or embarrassed, V release?! According to the level of many straight-to-video movies; V could refer to "vile" more than "video" by the way!
It could be a lot of reasons; it's an old story (AREN'T ALL OF THEM?!), it should have used some hip touches, or more action for that matter?. There was no star involved, naturally due to the signature voices of the used leads, so you can't bring (Tom Cruise) to do Goofy (or you can?!), and there weren't other characters to have stars for them in the first place. Moreover, it's a cartoon in a world that has gone graphic, having - in their makers' viewpoints of course - no chance in front of movies like (Finding Nemo) in the same year. Clearly, the look at it as pure mercantile project deterred it from owing a release. I hope it's a production matter, not a contemptuous manner which labels some heroes as outdated or old news!
V or not, this is a great movie. It's a tribute to the classic Disney, the classic music, and the classic novel of (The Three Musketeers). Some perfumes don't drain away. And a portion of "classic" is so needed in the nasty noisy world of 2000s. It's just the feeling of sorry that I didn't, don't, and won't have the pleasure of watching it on big screen ever!
