No less than 4 people have forward this NY Times article on the new ‘family lifestyle’ look for The Disney Brand. The most expensive piece of clothing sold by the Walt Disney Company six years ago was a $75 sweatshirt embossed with a mug shot… Read More »Disney Branding Hits The New York Times
Last week the Walt Disney Family Museum website was updated again and they’ve added quite a few real treats. The biggest is a special feature that follows Walt Disney through the 1964 World’s Fair. Also included in the update is a report from Laura Surma… Read More »Walt Disney Family Museum Website Updated
After the amazing reviews and copious amounts of praise it received, this should come as a surprise to no one; but Disney has reportedly decided to push for an Oscar Nomination for Pixar’s WALL-E in both the Best Picture and Best Animated Film categories. Back… Read More »Disney Rolls Out Wall-E for Oscar Best Picture Consideration
I forget what I was doing in May of 1990. I know I was in college and probably pretty self-absorbed. But whatever it was, the death of Jim Henson didn’t make it on my radar until many months later. It still hit me just as… Read More »Video of Big Bird Singing at Jim Henson’s Funeral
Legendary animator Floyd Norman has a blog (and a good website to boot). His post this weekend contrasts Walt Disney’s management style with the modern CEO. Walt Disney kept his visits short. Well aware his very presence might affect the work being done. He gave… Read More »Floyd Norman has a blog
In a ceremony at the Burbank Walt Disney Studios, the Walt Disney Company inducted 11 new Disney Legends yesterday. The Legends are chosen by a selection committee chosen by Roy E. Disney. The program honors gifted animators, Imagineers, songwriters, actors and business leaders as having… Read More »Walt Disney Company inducts 11 new Disney Legends
Walt Disney’s Animated Masterpiece Sleeping Beauty 50th Anniversary Platinum Edition has been remasterd and re-released on DVD and Blu-Ray. Each frame of the original fairy-tale classic has been painstakingly recreated to Walt’s original specs. That means you’ll get to see the movie in a way hidden from audiences since the original theatrical release.
On the plus side this means that you get to see characters and detail that were previously cut from the widescreen version of the film. On the bad side, that means that the letterboxing is extreme. So unless you have a fairly good sized TV, you’ll be squinting a bit to take it all in.
Also updated were the rich color palette of the original film. We’ve all grown used to a somewhat dulled version with deep blues and greens. But the remastered version reveals purples, reds, bright greens, and other amazing colors that add a whole new depth to the film. I do have to big complaints in this area however. The greens tend to be a little on the puke green side and the pinks now tend to be more red. This is particularly bad in the famous pink or blue dress fight.
That said, the small errors are mostly overwhelmed by how rich and detailed this restoration is. To see the master animators at work, the detail of the backgrounds, and the hear the masterful soundtrack in a whole new level of high definition makes all the difference.
Even if you already own Sleeping Beauty, which we did, there are plenty of new extras that make this worth adding to your collection. My number one favorite is the featurette on the Original Disneyland Sleeping Beauty Walk-Through Attraction With Walt Disney Imagineering. It’s a fully-immersive 3-D experience recreating the original Sleeping Beauty Castle Walk-Through that Walt supervised over 50 years ago.
Do yourself a favor and buy the Blu-Ray edition even if you don’t own a Blu-Ray player yet. It comes with the normal DVD and you never know when you might own a Blu-Ray player.
The full DVD details are below the cut:
Read More »Sleeping Beauty: Remastered, Reissued, Really Good
_MG_7084 Originally uploaded by lilabrooke Update: Not so much a rumor, there is a sign out front saying it opens tomorrow. Rumor is that T-Rex will be opening to the public tomorrow. It’s the new Dinosaur themed restaurant at Walt Disney World’s Downtown Disney shopping… Read More »T-Rex opening at Downtown Disney Tomorrow