Post by RaceFanX on Mar 5, 2008 0:19:24 GMT -5
This review contains spoilers of the disc's special features
Today a new version of the original One Hundred and One Dalmatians animated Disney movie was unleashed on DVD so naturally it's time to review it.
The DVD contains two discs, Disc 1 is the film itself and Disc 2 is Special Features. I'll start with Disc 1...
First the film itself, it's still great. Being that this is a DVD the picture and sound quality are much better than the old VHS copies we all have.
The trivia tracks are interesting. The disk contains two seperate ones, one for "the family" and one for "fans." The latter is the more interesting one.
The one for "fans" is quite interesting, it points out the names and directors of each scene (the film had several seperate directors), who animated and voiced which characters, and even points out every seperate piece of music in the film including the score
The "family" one mainly focuses on the differences between the book and the movie with some other neat stuff mixed in. Both are interesting but the "fans" one is better
Disc 1 also contains a music video of a modern version of "Cruella DeVil" by Disney Channel star Selena Gomez. It features clips from the movie but seems more inspired by the live-action movie than the animated one.
And for the record, true to their word Disney did include an Anti-Smoking PSA made with footage from the film before the movie starts although it is easily skipped.
Disc 2 is the film's special features and is divided into 2 sections, "For the Humans" and "For the Dogs"
The true special features are in the "For the Humans" part.
The first feature is a 33 minunte documentary titled "Redefining The Line: The Making of One Hundred and One Dalmatians." This is a great guide to the film's production including lots of behind the scenes drawing and interviews with everyone from Lisa Davis, the voice of Anita, to many of the comtemporary Disney and Pixar animators (including Oscar-winner Brad Bird).
They discuss everything from the new Xerox process used to make the film to the fact they had an entire unit on the film dedicated solely to making spots on the dalmatians (and making sure they were right). My favorite part was the discussion of how they did the car chase at the end, they actually used some live-action models of the cars and animated over footage of the models!
Another highlight is "Sincerely Yours, Walt Disney," which shows the corspondance between Walt and the book's author Dotie Smith. This is eye-opening in many ways and answers several questions. Dodie quit writing about the Dalmatians after 2 books becuase she was simply out of ideas on what to do with them. There are hints that Walt wanted to contuine to work with Dodie, first on a possible sequel to 101 and later on with perhaps another seperate project instead. Walt's death prevented this from occuring. Dodie apparently did picture her book as a cartoon at times while making it. She got a private screening of the film after it was completed and enjoyed it greatly minus her screen credit being a bit too quick (watch the film, she's right) which Walt eventually made up to her.
There is also a feature on Cruella DeVil and the expert animation by Marc Davis that brought her to life. It's intersting to see all the work he put into the character, he literally animated all of her scenes.
The usual DVD stuff like trailers and TV spots are here too. Not only the original ones (including a TV spot that really does put the action in black-and-white) but also ones for several of the film's rereleases. Also a DVD rarity, they included several promotional radio spots. You never see those anymore.
There are several art gallaries containing some of the rough sketches and character designs. There is even one of the live-action photos taken for reference by the animators.
A second section contains some stuff regarding the film's music with some alternate versions of the songs in the movie and some deleted ones
Some of the deleted songs are interesting, Horace and Jasper were to have a Pub-style song and the pups themselves even had a number that was cut. Recordings of both are here.
The only deleted song that almost made the film was "March of the One Hundred and One," originally intended to be sung by the Dalmatians. It was an upbeat song, and somewhat catchy, but it would have really thrown off the film's pacing (it was placed after they board the truck but before the cahse scene starts) and was cut after storyboarding but it was recorded by the cast.
There are also alternate versions of some of the songs that made the film. The different spins of "Cruella DeVil," including a very early, very different one that finally mentions her name is a pun on "cruel devil" are interesting. Almost all the alternate versions of the "Kanine Krunchies Jingle" sound the same but they even including a few takes where the female vocal artist messes up so its still interesting.
FYI Also they include some sketches, at one point they were going to spell the dog food brand with a the proper English spelling of "Canine Cruchies" (with a C) before switching to "Kanine Krunchies" (with a K)
It's amazing how much of this stuff they had for this DVD when the work done on the movie itself was 50 years ago.. Disney must keep a real deep archieve in real good condition
In the "For the Dogs" section are the activies for kids to play.
There are some games like a "Virtual Puppy" program, a "Puppy Profiler" which tells pups and some "Fun with Language" games feauring the Dals but I admit I didn't play them, they are geared toward kids and kids would probably enjoy them
My only real complaint is the price, my copy was $16.99 US due to a first week deal. It would normally be $19.99 US. That's not cheap for a DVD but this is Disney and there is a high demand, not to mention making those special features wasn't cheap.
It's a trade-off but I think the quality of the DVD makes it worth a purchase or at least a rental.
The price is unlikely to drop again after the first week sale at many retailers because this is a Disney DVD and prices on them usually don't drop below $19.99 for a new copy. Also the "limited edition" means it will vanish off the shelves in a few months, making the price a literal "take it or leave it"
The disc also contains a few booklets, one of which is an ad for a tie-in promotion with Northwest Airlines and another is mainly ads.
The one that is mainly ads does however make it official...
The Special Edition of 101 Dalmatians II will be releashed this fall 2008.
Today a new version of the original One Hundred and One Dalmatians animated Disney movie was unleashed on DVD so naturally it's time to review it.
The DVD contains two discs, Disc 1 is the film itself and Disc 2 is Special Features. I'll start with Disc 1...
First the film itself, it's still great. Being that this is a DVD the picture and sound quality are much better than the old VHS copies we all have.
The trivia tracks are interesting. The disk contains two seperate ones, one for "the family" and one for "fans." The latter is the more interesting one.
The one for "fans" is quite interesting, it points out the names and directors of each scene (the film had several seperate directors), who animated and voiced which characters, and even points out every seperate piece of music in the film including the score
The "family" one mainly focuses on the differences between the book and the movie with some other neat stuff mixed in. Both are interesting but the "fans" one is better
Disc 1 also contains a music video of a modern version of "Cruella DeVil" by Disney Channel star Selena Gomez. It features clips from the movie but seems more inspired by the live-action movie than the animated one.
And for the record, true to their word Disney did include an Anti-Smoking PSA made with footage from the film before the movie starts although it is easily skipped.
Disc 2 is the film's special features and is divided into 2 sections, "For the Humans" and "For the Dogs"
The true special features are in the "For the Humans" part.
The first feature is a 33 minunte documentary titled "Redefining The Line: The Making of One Hundred and One Dalmatians." This is a great guide to the film's production including lots of behind the scenes drawing and interviews with everyone from Lisa Davis, the voice of Anita, to many of the comtemporary Disney and Pixar animators (including Oscar-winner Brad Bird).
They discuss everything from the new Xerox process used to make the film to the fact they had an entire unit on the film dedicated solely to making spots on the dalmatians (and making sure they were right). My favorite part was the discussion of how they did the car chase at the end, they actually used some live-action models of the cars and animated over footage of the models!
Another highlight is "Sincerely Yours, Walt Disney," which shows the corspondance between Walt and the book's author Dotie Smith. This is eye-opening in many ways and answers several questions. Dodie quit writing about the Dalmatians after 2 books becuase she was simply out of ideas on what to do with them. There are hints that Walt wanted to contuine to work with Dodie, first on a possible sequel to 101 and later on with perhaps another seperate project instead. Walt's death prevented this from occuring. Dodie apparently did picture her book as a cartoon at times while making it. She got a private screening of the film after it was completed and enjoyed it greatly minus her screen credit being a bit too quick (watch the film, she's right) which Walt eventually made up to her.
There is also a feature on Cruella DeVil and the expert animation by Marc Davis that brought her to life. It's intersting to see all the work he put into the character, he literally animated all of her scenes.
The usual DVD stuff like trailers and TV spots are here too. Not only the original ones (including a TV spot that really does put the action in black-and-white) but also ones for several of the film's rereleases. Also a DVD rarity, they included several promotional radio spots. You never see those anymore.
There are several art gallaries containing some of the rough sketches and character designs. There is even one of the live-action photos taken for reference by the animators.
A second section contains some stuff regarding the film's music with some alternate versions of the songs in the movie and some deleted ones
Some of the deleted songs are interesting, Horace and Jasper were to have a Pub-style song and the pups themselves even had a number that was cut. Recordings of both are here.
The only deleted song that almost made the film was "March of the One Hundred and One," originally intended to be sung by the Dalmatians. It was an upbeat song, and somewhat catchy, but it would have really thrown off the film's pacing (it was placed after they board the truck but before the cahse scene starts) and was cut after storyboarding but it was recorded by the cast.
There are also alternate versions of some of the songs that made the film. The different spins of "Cruella DeVil," including a very early, very different one that finally mentions her name is a pun on "cruel devil" are interesting. Almost all the alternate versions of the "Kanine Krunchies Jingle" sound the same but they even including a few takes where the female vocal artist messes up so its still interesting.
FYI Also they include some sketches, at one point they were going to spell the dog food brand with a the proper English spelling of "Canine Cruchies" (with a C) before switching to "Kanine Krunchies" (with a K)
It's amazing how much of this stuff they had for this DVD when the work done on the movie itself was 50 years ago.. Disney must keep a real deep archieve in real good condition
In the "For the Dogs" section are the activies for kids to play.
There are some games like a "Virtual Puppy" program, a "Puppy Profiler" which tells pups and some "Fun with Language" games feauring the Dals but I admit I didn't play them, they are geared toward kids and kids would probably enjoy them
My only real complaint is the price, my copy was $16.99 US due to a first week deal. It would normally be $19.99 US. That's not cheap for a DVD but this is Disney and there is a high demand, not to mention making those special features wasn't cheap.
It's a trade-off but I think the quality of the DVD makes it worth a purchase or at least a rental.
The price is unlikely to drop again after the first week sale at many retailers because this is a Disney DVD and prices on them usually don't drop below $19.99 for a new copy. Also the "limited edition" means it will vanish off the shelves in a few months, making the price a literal "take it or leave it"
The disc also contains a few booklets, one of which is an ad for a tie-in promotion with Northwest Airlines and another is mainly ads.
The one that is mainly ads does however make it official...
The Special Edition of 101 Dalmatians II will be releashed this fall 2008.