With May 29th right around the corner, it’s time to turn up the dial on news from the next film from Pixar Studios – UP. The official website for UP has just been greatly expanded. There are games, “UPisodes”, TV spots, trailers, image galleries, and… Read More »UP from Pixar – now with fully operation website
Disney has some up with a great way to celebrate the release of the new “Platinum Edition” DVD for the 70th Anniversary of Walt Disney’s Classic Animated Feature Pinocchio, they’re making Pinocchio himself out of platinum.
The puppet, designed by LA puppetry artist Bob Baker, will be on display at the Center for Puppetry Arts in Atlanta, GA for the next two months.
Click below the cut for the full press release:
The Princess and The Frog marks the return to hand drawn animation and the animated musical form for Walt Disney Animation Studios. It opens nationwide December 11th, but this last week at Wondercon a few small details leaked out. One of the readers at Ain’t… Read More »First Look at new characters from Disney’s “The Princess and the Frog”
I mentioned this was being considered by Disney the other day, now we know the details. Disney has chosen December 11th for the wide debut of its next feature animated musical “The Princess and The Frog”. The movie will actually open on November 25th in… Read More »“The Princess and The Frog” – Disney moves up release date
When you factor in overseas box office Disney’s most recent feature animation attempt Bolt is now nearing $300 million. “Bolt” also remains a winner for Disney overseas, grossing $4.2 million for the weekend in 26 territories for a cume of $171.6 million. Pic has yet… Read More »‘Bolt’ not a total dog for Disney
I’d like everyone to welcome Mike to The Disney Blog as guest author. Mike comes to us from The Pixar Blog, where this review may seem a little out of place.
Walt Disney’s second animated feature production Pinocchio arrives tomorrow on 2-Disc Platinum Edition DVD and Blu-ray Disc, in celebration of its 70th anniversary. I got an advance copy of the Blu-ray this morning and, well, I’m thrilled. Pinocchio is one of Disney’s most enduring classics, and a personal favorite for me, so it’s good to see it receive such a high-quality home video release. (The only thing better would have been a special theatrical re-release.)
Everything about the Pinocchio: 70th Anniversary Platinum Edition, from the (very shiny!) packaging to the included extras, demonstrates the work Disney put into preparing it. As for the film itself —hate to use a cliché— it’s never looked and sounded better.
Overview (Region 1)
DVD
The DVD version presents the newly digitally restored film in its original theatrical aspect ratio of 1.33:1 (that’s full screen) with a new sound mix in Dolby Digital 5.1, specially enhanced for home theaters. Included are 5.1 French and Spanish language tracks.
Disc One includes trivia and sing-along bonus features, as well as audio commentary by film historian Leonard Maltin and others. Contained on Disc Two is a documentary entitled No Strings Attached: The Making of Pinocchio that follows the production of the movie, two never-before-seen deleted scenes and an alternate ending from the Disney Archives, a featurette about Walt Disney’s ‘sweatbox’ artistic review process, live action reference footage, art galleries, a collection of deleted songs, and games. (Whoa! Have to take a breath!)
Blu-ray Disc
The Blu-ray version offers everything found on the DVD (like all the bonus features mentioned above) plus more, spread across two discs. Pinocchio is presented in stunning 1080p high definition video (1.33:1 aspect ratio) with up to 7.1 DTS-HD Master Audio (48 kHz/24-bit). French and Spanish tracks are in 7.1 DTS-HD High Resolution Audio and 5.1 Dolby Digital respectively. This marks the first time that Pinocchio can be enjoyed in hi-def.
Bonus features are in 1080p, 1080i, and 480i resolutions, with audio in Dolby Digital 2.0. Included are several Blu-ray exclusive functions such as Cine-Explore and the Disney BD-Live Network.
Additionally, bundled in the Blu-ray package is a supplementary third disc, a DVD of the movie, for playing in regular, old-fashioned DVD players. Specs are the same as for the 2-disc DVD version. The inclusion of a standard DVD with Blu-ray titles is set to become the norm for Disney, as it encourages consumers to buy the Blu-ray version even if they don’t currently own a Blu-ray player. Quite smart if you plan on upgrading, but beware that there’s no extras on the DVD —they’re all on the two Blu-ray discs.
(Note: Blu-ray.com, among others, has an excellent review geared toward enthusiasts of the format.)
And now, for your enjoyment, three short previews of some of the bonus material after the cut:
Mike is the “very nerdy” writer of The Pixar Blog, a blog dedicated to news about Pixar. He resides near Toronto.
Read More »Pinocchio: 70th Anniversary Platinum Edition Review
Apologies to NBC, but I have a ton of open tabs again and time to pass them along with all their juicy goodness. It’s Wednesday Night Lite… Oops, Disney has scooped itself by sending out review DVDs of Pinocchio with proof of exactly what the… Read More »Wednesday Night Lights – Disney News and Links
Disney and DreamWorks Animation veteran James Baxter gets a too-short look in the Los Angeles Times. Cristy Lytal brings it to us. “I love doing the Disney stuff,” he says, “but it was nice to show that I could do other things, to get something… Read More »Animator James Baxter Featured in Los Angeles Times