With more time under their belts and more freedom to work in their craft, the animators put into these shorts many things to make them stand out from earlier work. There is a slickness in the production, a sense of motion and proportion, and visual storytelling beyond what had been seen in the "Symphonies." Both "Goliath II" and "Ferdinand the Bull" were nominated for Academy Awards; only "Ferdinand" ended up winning, at a time (1938) when the age of Disney's dominance in animation was really dawning. "Goliath" is actually a very late addition, from 1961, and shows off some material that would be recycled by Disney for its 1967 film, The Jungle Book. The final short here, "Johnny Appleseed" is a well-known story, familiar as... well, apple pie! Picking up stories about famous characters outside the Disney canon was tried several times with good results, but there's nothing quite as good as the characters that sprung from the imagination of Walt and his animators.
Packaged with the DVD is a litho print that makes a nice framed piece, but there are no special features to educate kids about the background on these great animated shorts. Particularly interesting is the decision to not package additional material from The Reluctant Dragon, as it was originally released to audiences. There was lots more content that showed live-action scenes from Disney's animation studio, using a plot line about attempts to sell Walt on the idea for The Reluctant Dragon as an excuse for a studio tour. It's understandable that the live-action sequences would not be as meaningful for modern audiences, but this should have been included as an extra at least. Even without this, Disney fan will love this entry in the collection of Disney classic shorts, spanning several DVDs.
