Californy er Bust!

The immortal words of Goofy will resonate with us very soon.  2719 Hyperion writer and son will embark on an epic cross country road trip this June through the retro heart of America that will include everything from the Mother Road to Walt Disney's Missouri and more.

Twelve days.  Seventeen states.  Sixteen major cities.  Four national parks.  Route 66. Disneyland.  Hollywood.  Monument Valley.  Las Vegas.  Kansas City.  And of course. Marceline, Walt Disney's home town.

Stay tuned to 2719 Hyperion and our companion site Boom-Pop!.  We'll be on the road soon!

Lady and the Tramp Arrives on Blu-Ray

Lady and the Tramp is truly a top tier Disney classic.  Characters and story combine with very best of Disney animated technique; it is both an engaging tale and a stunning visual masterpiece.  And it has now been so deservedly migrated to a high definition home entertainment format; its Blu-ray Diamond edition arrived in stores this week.

Seeing Lady and the Tramp a number of years back in its original widescreen aspect ratio (via its first DVD release) was a revelation.  Combine that now with high definition picture and sound and it quickly becomes a Disney enthusiast's dream.  It remains to this day one of Walt Disney's most beautiful animated achievements.  

As with the other releases in the Diamond line, Disney is generous with bonus features although most have been transferred from the previous Platinum Edition.  These include the making-of featurette Lady's Pedigree, Finding Lady; The Art of the Storyboard, the 1943 storyboard version, and various excerpts from the Disneyland television program.  New to the Diamond edition is a sentimental remembrance by Diane Miller Disney entitled Remembering Dad, that focuses primarily on Walt's firehouse apartment at Disneyland.  Also new are three additional deleted scenes from very early in the development process and a deleted song entitled "I'm Free as the Breeze."

The most notable edition to the package is the Disney Second Screen feature that has been included on the previous Diamond editions of Bambi and The Lion King.  To recap once again, Second Screen is an additional interactive platform that provides supplemental content that is synchronized to the actual presentation of the film.  Two such platforms are currently available, either an Apple iPad or a laptop computer.  Second Screen comes to the iPad by way of a free application downloaded via the App Store.  For the Mac or PC, it is a Flash-based interface streamed through Disney's web site.  Second Screen provides a veritable treasure trove of archive materials including production art, photographs and studio history. 

Explore the 2719 Hyperion Archives:
What a Character! - Scamp
Windows to the Past: Lady at the Lowes Grand
Walt Disney's Surprise Package: Lady

The Rocketeer: High Flying in High Defintion

First the good news: The Rocketeer has been released in a remastered high defintion Blu-Ray.  It appears that Disney took note of the numerous pundits and bloggers who, earlier in the year, called for such an edition to commemorate the 20th Anniversary of the film's original release.  The not-so-good news: the Blu-Ray release is an embarrassing bare bones affair, devoid of all but the film itself.  It is yet another reminder of the sad state of Walt Disney Home Entertainment and its utter lack of interest in marketing to Disney enthusiasts and historians.  With The Rocketeer, they threw us a bone, and as noted, it is a very bare bone indeed.

Since there is so little to say about the new Blu-Ray release, I will reprint the content of the Retro Review I posted earlier this year as part of our own celebration of the film's 20th Anniversary:

Two decades ago, one of Disney's better live-action films met with a severe case of audience apathy. It has since languished in unfortunate obscurity despite being an exceptionally well crafted period adventure and a loving homage to vintage movie serials and 1930s era pulp heroes.

The Rocketeer deserves to fly much, much higher.

I personally found the film to be very much in the tradition of early Disney live-action movies, though in setting, eras removed from the studio's 19th century adventure stories and swashbucklers.  I am always loathe to in any way channel the ghost of Walt Disney, but I think he would have approved of  The Rocketeer, if not necessarily the slightly edgier Dave Stevens' comic books upon which the movie was based.  Much in the way that Jules Verne and Robert Louis Stevenson provided the boyhood nostalgia for Walt that he then successfully translated into motion pictures, the filmmakers behind The Rocketeer similarly tapped into the nostalgia of classic Hollywood B-movies and serials, and combined that inspiration with the new-found romance with aviation that was prevalent during the 1930s .  The result was an exciting and entertaining romp that was largely ignored by film-goers who, during that summer of 1991, were more enticed by the groundbreaking special effects of Terminator 2: Judgment Day and the comedy antics of Billy Crystal in City Slickers.

The Rocketeer was Joe Johnston's sophomore directing effort.  Johnston, a special effects veteran who had cut his teeth with George Lucas on the original Star Wars films, was fresh with success from directing Disney's own Honey I Shrunk the Kids when he was enlisted to helm The Rocketeer.  His special effects background served him well on the assignment and the film's pre-digital-era craftsmanship remains impressive to this day.  Johnston recently directed the excellent The Wolfman remake and is currently wrapping up work on the World Wat II-based Captain America: The First Avenger, set to arrive in theaters this summer.

Beyond its well-executed and fast paced storyline and capable cast, The Rocketeer is a visual cornucopia of 1930s popular culture and Hollywood archetypes.  Aviation pioneer and eccentric billionaire Howard Hughes plays a central role, while Errol Flynn is not so subtly channeled into the villainy of movie star Neville Sinclair, an undercover Nazi agent in pursuit of the jetpack that is the centerpiece of the film.  Also included in the mix is California Crazy architecture in the form of the  Bulldog Cafe; the over-the-top but rather accurate-for-the-era set design of the South Seas Club; the giant German dirigible Luxembourg; the film's climatic showdown at the Griffith Observatory; the true fate of the original and iconic Hollywoodland sign; and a brilliantly realized piece of animated Nazi propaganda showing squadrons of rocket-propelled German soldiers symbolically conquering Europe and North America.

One of the film's most notable components is the perfectly matched score by composer James Horner.  It was an Oscar-worthy effort that went almost entirely unrecognized at the time.  

Disney had intended The Rocketeer to be a trilogy of films, but the lackluster (but not entirely disastrous) box office returns quickly quashed further productions.  The film's troubled production history (screenwriters Danny Bilson and Paul DeMeo were fired and rehired several times during the movie's five years of development) and aforementioned box office did not endear it to studio execs, and it has subsequently faded from view. 

Cars 2: Racing Beyond the Cynicism

One could almost imagine the metaphorical arm-twisting that occurred between Disney CEO Robert Iger and Pixar chief John Lasseter, that ultimately resulted in the making of Cars 2.  Beyond the Toy Story films, Pixar has always been generally against sequel-driven inspirations (unlike say, Dreamworks), but Iger, a stalwart believer in franchising, apparently convinced John and company otherwise. Thus Cars 2 arrived in theaters this past summer.  It certainly succeeded commercially but, unusual for Pixar, it was savaged by mainstream critics and not entirely beloved by audiences.  I must with some shame admit that I was not wholly immune to the cynicism that surrounded Cars 2; I skipped it at the multiplex, preferring to wait for its home entertainment release, which occurs this week.

It is certainly difficult to praise the film on any level without appearing to be an Iger/Lasseter apologist.  The film was, after all, created to support a still incredibly lucrative billion dollar toy business, a pedigree that is difficult at best to overlook.  But one cannot also overlook high standards of Pixar craftsmanship and creative energies, and Cars 2 is distinctly infused with both.  Strip away all of the movie's aforementioned external baggage and what is left?  A fun couple of hours, beautifully rendered and well realized, and certainly entertaining. 

Pixar often takes its cues from retro-based themes and in Cars 2 it milks 1960s spy films for inspiration.  Mater takes center stage but his presence is thankfully and necessarily diffused by new characters Finn McMissle and Holley Shiftwell, automobile incarnations of super spies in the James Bond mold.  Lightning McQueen is relegated to a third string supporting player while the rest of the Radiator Springs gang fades even further into the background.  The action is fast and furious; the humor, while never subtle is rarely overdone.  The visuals are spectacular and often eye-popping.  Pixar eye candy remains unmatched in contemporary CG animation.  While it does not break any new ground, neither does it disappoint to the degree many have suggested.  It appears that many critics and viewers are not willing to extend Pixar the same benefit of the doubt they typically show to non-Pixar franchises such as Shrek, Ice Age and Kung Fu Panda.

In keeping with recent Disney DVD packaging/marketing misfires, the non-3D Blu-ray set is a bare bones affair, devoid of extras beyond the Toy Story short Hawaiian Vacation, a Mater's Tall Tale entry, and a director's commentary.  The Mater short, Air Mater, is a not-so subtle introduction to the upcoming direct-to-DVD spinoff Planes, produced by Disney Toon Studios.

Winnie the Pooh - Traditonal, Fresh and Wonderful

Winnie the Pooh, Disney's most recent return to hand-drawn feature animation, proves both traditional and fresh, charming in its simplicity and possessing a gentle humor that inspires smiles and quieter laughter.  It is a wonderful film, especially for the most youngest audience members, but manages to retain a level of sophistication that will certainly satisfy older viewers.  It arrives this week in a myriad of home entertainment formats.

Poor Pooh Bear has been stretched pretty thin over the past couple of decades.  He remains the centerpiece of one of Disney's most lucrative franchises, and hence has been reinterpreted and reinvented almost non-stop since Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree debuted in 1966.  Over this time, the denizens of the Hundred Acre Wood have been brought to life on both film and television via animation (Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh and theatrical and direct-to-video features), costumed actors (Welcome to Pooh Corner), bunraku-style puppetry (The Book of Pooh) and rather uninspired and misguided CG animation (My Friends Tigger and Pooh).  In this context, Winnie the Pooh directors Stephen Anderson and Don Hall have done something entirely new and different--they returned to Pooh's roots, as represented by the original A. A. Milne stories and Disney's original short features from the late 1960s.  It's a very welcome creative turn.

The film is a near seamless mixture of beautiful scenery, appropriate music, comfortable storytelling and traditional Pooh silliness, deftly executed to entertain the younger crowd and bring forth nostalgic memories and good feelings to the adults in the crowd.  And with good reason--the credits include names such as Andreas Deja, Mark Henn, Eric Goldberg and Dale Bear.  Most notably, Studio veteran and Disney Legend Burny Mattinson, who worked on the original Pooh films, served as the movie's Story Supervisor.

The new songs by Robert Lopez (Avenue Q and Finding Nemo-The Musical) and his wife Kristen Anderson-Lopez complement recycled Pooh standards by the Sherman Brothers, and the musical sequence "The Backson," is an eye-popping delight with its chalkboard inspired artistry.

DVD bonus features are adequate for the family demographic but slight for the animation enthusiast.  Winnie the Pooh and His Story Too is an all too brief profile of the famous bear and his history.  Also included are five deleted scenes presented by directors Stephen Anderson and Don Hall, and two animated shorts, The Ballad of Nessie and Pooh's Balloon (actually just recycled material from Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree).

Curse Resistant Pirates Sail into Home Ports

It is still somewhat beyond belief that a series of pirate movies based on a theme park attraction could become a 21st century multi-billion dollar entertainment franchise.  Yet, as Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides proves, Disney's hottest entertainment property still remains commercially viable and surprisingly, critically  bulletproof.  It sails into home entertainment venues this week.

I passed on seeing this latest POTC adventure in a multiplex setting, preferring to wait for a high definition living room experience (a $25 Blu-ray remains a substantially better value than a family of four night at the movies with bloated concession stand prices and 3D surcharges).  My verdict?  It was an exceptionally well-crafted and often visually stunning endeavor with an engaging cast that manages to entertain despite some rather muddled storytelling.  I am an enthusiastic fan of the original POTC trilogy (At World's End included), so I was likely more forgiving of the film's flaws than most.  And although Johnny Depp's Captain Jack Sparrow remains the driving force of the franchise, it is Geoffrey Rush's Captain Barbossa, quite prominently featured in On Stranger Tides, that I personally find the greater draw.  With all due respect to Depp, it is the Barbossa character that seems the most rooted in the style and themes of the original theme park presentations.  Penelope Cruz is an adequate if not wholly inspired addition to the ensemble, while Ian McShane's performance as Blackbeard proves somewhat low key and understated.  The script, certainly less complex than previous POTC entries, still frequently suffers when necessary expository dialogue is performed in rather quick and heavily accented pirate-speak orations.

Disney Home Entertainment continues to frustrate with its increasingly maddening strategies of content distribution among its release packages.  Be aware that there are very distinct differences between the normal Blu-ray package and the Blu-ray 3D set that runs an extra $10.  If you are without the need for a 3D copy (which the vast majority of consumer still are), you will be slighted a digital copy of the film and an additional Blu-ray disc of bonus features.  In that regard, I am unable to speak to the quality or significance of these features: Legends of On Stranger Tides, In Search of the Fountain, Last Sail/First Voyage, Under the Scene: Bringing Mermaids to Life, and Deleted and Extended Scenes with Rob Marshall.  The normal Blu-ray does contain a scant handful of bonus features, most significantly the Disney Second Screen.  Also included are Bloopers of the Caribbean and Lego Animated Shorts: Captain Jack's Brick Tales.  It is a shame that Disney continues to penalize consumers who have no need for a 3D Blu-ray version of the movie.

The True-Life Legacy Well Served with African Cats

I really love the Disneynature brand.  Though a rather low key division in the increasingly overwhelming Disney corporate pantheon, it serves to rekindle and revitalize a legacy that Walt Disney himself initiated over six decades ago with the True-Life Adventure films.  Disneynature's newest film, African Cats, arrives this week in various home entertainment formats and serves both the brand and its legacy very well.

African Cats marks the return of Alastair Fothergill to Disneynature; he shared writer/director chores with Mark Linfield on Earth, the very first Disneynature release.  Fothergill has an extensive resume in regard to nature film making and documentaries.  Most notably, he was the executive producer of the acclaimed BBC series Planet Earth and Blue Planet.  With African Cats, he partnered on writing and directing responsibilities with Keith Scholey, another veteran of BBC nature programming.  The result is an entertaining and often breathtaking view of life on the African savanna, as seen through the lives and actions of two different cat "families"--a large pride of lions and a mother cheetah and her cubs.

The film is more of a storytelling experience than prior Disneynature releases, with the storyteller being actor Samuel L. Jackson by way of his off screen narration.   Jackson relates two separate stories that occasionally intertwine.  A pride of lions, led by patriarch Fang are juxtaposed with Sita, a courageous mother cheetah carrying for a large brood of cubs. Jackson's narration is much less academic and more conversational than that in previous Disneynature entries.  Though not quite as endearing as True-Life Adventure veteran Winston Hibler, Jackson manages a kid friendly tone from what is clearly a more kid-friendly script, but without necessarily alienating the adult crowd.  The scenery is indeed spectacular, especially when viewed in Blu-ray high definition.  I was very impressed with the film's musical score, a majestic and sweeping endeavor by Nicholas Hooper, also a veteran of BBC nature productions and the composer for both Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince.   Sadly, Hooper's efforts are slightly undermined by the apparent desire on the part of Disney execs to inject a totally unnecessary "pop" sensibility into the proceedings by way of a theme song ("The World I Knew) performed over the end credits by American Idol winner Jordan Sparks.  Synergy and cross-marketing be damned; it just didn't fit.

DVD extras include the strictly PR-driven Disney and Nature segment, a testimonial about the Walt Disney Company's numerous environmental initiatives.  Saving the Savanna is a brief piece on the making of African Cats specifically, and also showcases efforts to preserve the wildlife and habitats presented in the film.  Filmmaker Annotations is an interactive in-movie feature that presents an additional twelve behind-the-scenes featurettes on the making of the movie.

According to promotional literature, proceeds from the sales through October 10 of DVD sets and digital downloads will be donated "to help conserve the land the magnificent species featured in African Cats call home."

The Phenomenon of The Lion King

What can you truly say about a pure, undisputed phenomenon?  For that is certainly The Lion King.  Seventeen years after its initial release and unqualified critical and commercial successes, it has now again roared into theaters by way of a 3D conversion that has dramatically surprised even the most optimistic of Hollywood bean counters,  So much so that its two week engagement has been extended and is now bumping into its latest home entertainment release.  The Lion King arrives this week in its sparkling new Diamond Edition that comprises any number of purchasing options involving Blu-ray, standard DVD and digital download formats.

Though often inconsistent in their treatment of animated classics, Disney Home Entertainment does do justice to the films selected for the high profile Diamond Editions.  The Lion King is no exception.  Beyond its high definition upgrade to Blu-ray, the new set includes any number of new and rather impressive bonus features.  The Pride of the Lion King is very well-produced and entertaining talking head retrospective that includes the likes of Jeffrey Katzenberg, Michael Eisner, Julie Taymor, Peter Schneider, Thomas Schumacher, producer Don Hahn and directors Rob Minkoff and Roger Allers.  Noticeably absent?  Elton John, no doubt due to his disappointment in  Disney for its lack of marketing and promotional support in regard to Gnomeo and Juliet.  The Lion King: A Memoir-Don Hahn makes extensive use of home movies and videos to transport viewers back to the early 1990s and behind the scenes in the making of the film.  Five deleted scenes are rather minimal and only marginally interesting, while some newly animated bloopers (derived from audio outtakes) are brief, occasionally cute, but little more.  Bonus features from the earlier Platinum Edition are made available via an online connection with a broadband compatible Blu-ray player.  The "Morning Report" sequence that was seamlessly integrated into the film for the Platinum release has been extracted and now exists only as a stand-alone feature.

The big kahuna of the bonus features is indeed the Disney Second Screen, now in its third incarnation following notable inclusions in Bambi and Tron Legacy.  To recap, Second Screen is an additional interactive platform that provides supplemental content that is synchronized to the actual presentation of the film.  Two such platforms are currently available, either an Apple iPad or a laptop computer.  Second Screen comes to the iPad by way of a free application downloaded via the App Store.  For the Mac or PC, it is a Flash-based interface streamed through Disney's web site.   Similar especially to the Bambi Second Screen, The Lion King Second Screen presents a veritable wealth of animation related content--production art, storyboards and flipbook simulations in addition to archive photos and videos and anecdotal snippets of text and trivia.  It is a much more integrated and interactive experience than your typical gallery type DVD bonus feature and certainly more user-friendly.

I only had one complaint with The Lion King Diamond Edition.  Once again Disney has limited the Digital Copy to the much more expensive 4-Disc Blu-ray Combo Pack which includes the Blu-ray 3D copy.   This continues to penalize the vast majority of consumers who have no need for a 3D version of the film but still desire a digital copy.  It is a distinct blemish on an otherwise excellent home entertainment package.

Winnie the Pooh . . . and Nessie Too!

It was exceptionally well-reviewed, modestly successful (considering that it was overshadowed by a certain boy wizard) but certainly not exactly what you would call high-profile.  And I must admit with some embarrassment that I didn't rush out to see it; in fact, I didn't see it at all.  In the last few years I have been less enchanted with my local cineplex and much more comfortable with my own home theater system, and sadly, Pooh had to suffer as a result.  But thankfully, Winnie the Pooh, Disney's most recent animated feature, arrives October 25 in any number of home entertainment options.

I am very excited to see it, especially as it is a return to the director's chair for Stephen Anderson, who impressed me greatly with Meet the Robinsons.  And the film's return to the artistic style of the original Winnie the Pooh shorts is especially welcome.  In regard to the Blu-ray/DVD set, a very notable inclusion is the animated short, The Ballad of Nessie.  Also featured is a brand new Pooh short entitled The Ballon, and a retrospective, Winnie the Pooh and His Story Too, hosted by John Cleese.

Dumbo: The Little Movie That Could

In Dumbo, Casey Jr. is the little engine that could, full of resolve and determination despite its small stature humble nature.  Similarly, The film Dumbo itself is the little movie that could, a pure and undisputed classic of Disney animation that is in many ways still overshadowed by its immediate predecessors--Snow White, Pinocchio and Fantasia.

Though less epic in both scope and length, Dumbo remains an often visually stunning film with an emotional depth both remarkable and sincere.  Clocking in at a mere 63 minutes, it makes everyone of those minutes count.  Disney historian John Grant very succinctly pinpointed the film's appeal and historical significance when he noted, "Dumbo was cheap and brilliant.  This was essentially because of its artistry.  Dumbo may not have had the richness of a Snow White, a Pinocchio or a Bambi, but what it did have was a simple and emotive story well told."

Despite its richly deserved reputation among critics and historians, Dumbo remains a second tier Disney title, at least as far as the company's marketing gurus have been concerned.  It has never earned a prestigious Platinum or Diamond designation in regard to its DVD releases, an honor that still eludes it in its just released high definition Blu-ray set.  Dumbo is instead a veteran of "Anniversary" marketing; 60th and 65th standard DVD editions were released in 2001 and 2006 respectively, while the new Blu-ray carries a 70th Anniversary branding.  Yet, despite not getting the high end Diamond treatment, this new home entertainment incarnation is commendable for not just its new high definition resolution but some rather new and notable bonus features.

The set recycles some content from the previous DVD editions, most notably the Celebrating Dumbo featurette and two Silly Symphonies cartoon shorts, Elmer Elephant and The Flying Mouse.  New content is minimal but quite significant.  Taking Flight: The Making of Dumbo is an exceptionally well realized short documentary that serves to entertain and inform even the most knowledgeable and seasoned Disney enthusiasts.  I was very happy to see two of my favorite fellow Disney historians, F. Paul Anderson and Didier Ghez among the assembled talking heads.  The feature is especially notable for sensitively addressing and ultimately dispelling the racially-based controversy that has long been associated with the depiction of the crow characters.  Also new are two recently discovered deleted scenes, "The Mouse's Tale" and "Are You a Man or a Mouse?"  The former is an especially charming sequence where Timothy explains the origins of the elephant-mouse dynamic.  Less impressive is The Magic of Dumbo: A Ride of Passage, a very quick and overly sentimental look at Disneyland's Dumbo the Flying Elephant attraction.

Though it certainly deserves better, Dumbo is generally well served in this newest "Anniversary" Blu-ray/DVD edition.  A must for the high definition collector and an upgrade of sorts from the prior DVD releases. 

Exploring Kansas City on WEDway Radio

 "We're going to Kansas City, Kansas City here we come!"

I am happy to announce that I have once again been the guest of podcasters Nate Parrish and Matt Parrish on their very popular and always entertaining WEDway Radio program.  In its latest edition, the three of us explore one of my very favorite subjects--Kansas City!  It is an often overlooked place and time in Disney history but engrossing and fascinating nonetheless.  From Walt's childhood there delivering newspapers to the formation of the Laugh-O-Grams Studio, it remains a significant pinpoint on the map of Walt Disney's life.

Nate and Matt are two great guys and we had a lot of fun doing the show.  Download links for WEDway Radio Episode 88 can be found at the WEDway Radio home page.  Its definitely worth a listen!

Within the 2719 Hyperion Archives you can find a number of articles pertaining to Disney and Kansas City.

Explore the 2719 Hyperion Archives:

Long Ago Magic Along 31st Street in Kansas City

On the Porch at 3028 Bellefontaine Street

Studio Geo: Kansas City and the Laugh-O-Grams

Revisiting Tod and Copper

The Fox and the Hound seems to exist just off the radar.  It is a fine and commendable film, but one that is rarely focused on, either by Disney fans or the Disney Company itself.  Disney Home Entertainment, pausing briefly amidst its aggressive push into 3D Blu-Ray conversions, ported The Fox and the Hound into a new high-def format, and I in turn took the opportunity to revisit a film that I hadn't seen in a least a decade or more.

The Fox and the Hound seems to historically bridge two significant eras of Disney feature animation.  It was released in 1981, almost midway between the post-Walt xerography years and the renaissance of the 1990s.  It is notable for combining the talents of studio veterans such as Ollie Johnston, Frank Thomas and Woolie Reitherman with then promising newcomers including Glen Keane, Randy Cartwright and Ron Clements. On the surface, it is a more polished film than predecessors such as Robin Hood and The Rescuers, and at times seems to almost achieve the artistic beauty of early classics such as Dumbo and most especially Bambi.  It was an enormous commercial success for its time and context, a fact that became largely overshadowed when Disney animated fare began to achieve astronomical successes a decade later with Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin and The Lion King.

In 1981, I was a young college student and aspiring entertainment writer, just a few years into a more academic study of Walt Disney and Disney animation.  At that time, I welcomed The Fox and the Hound as a very encouraging sign that Disney animation still had some life in it yet.  We would have to weather the controversial and inconsistent Black Cauldron before seeing the renaissance begin to blossom with Great Mouse Detective and The Little Mermaid.  Thus, Tod and Copper became the unlikely precursors of an industry that would literally explode in the final decade of the twentieth century.

Unfortunately, at least from a marketing standpoint, the Walt Disney Company has invested little historical significance to the film, especially as it relates to its most recent home entertainment incarnation.  Though upgraded to high definition Blu-ray, it is a generally bare-bones affair.  A combination 3-disc Blu-ray and DVD, the Blu-ray disc includes only one bonus feature, the very brief Unlikely Friends, which is nothing but a quickly assembled montage of clips from Disney animated features mixed with footage of "real-life" unusual animal friendships.  It is hardly notable, even to the younger set to which it is obviously directed.  The standard DVD offers the same minimal features as the previous 2006 edition, the highlight of which was a meager six-minute making-of vignette.  To balance out this startling lack of content, the marketeers decided to throw in The Fox and the Hound II, the film's rather misguided and unremarkable direct-to-video sequel.  John Lasseter had any number of good reasons for abandoning the controversial direct-to-video films and The Fox and the Hound II was likely one of them.  It is a visually jarring mix of traditional and wholly inappropriate CG animation, combined with a story that relates in almost no way to the original film.  (A group of howling dogs aspiring to be an act at the Grand Ole Opry?)

In the end, this recent edition is a purchase for the Disney Blu-ray collector and nothing more.  It appears that Tod and Copper will continue to remain on the lower tiers of the Disney canon, at least as far the current generation of Disney executives is concerned.

Vacation Parade

2719 Hyperion will be operating on a reduced publishing schedule for the next couple of months as we navigate through summer vacations and a number of research and writing projects.  We have maintained a rather aggressive level of ongoing publication since last fall and the summer months seemed an opportune time to temporarily scale back our efforts.

We will continue with lighter content posts such as Snapshots and Freeze Frames and supplement those with selections from the 2719 Hyperion Archives.  To our always enthusiastic and engaged readers--thank you for your encouragement and support.  It is truly appreciated.

Celebrating Peter Pan!

Summer is here and our first major vacation destination?  Neverland!

All this week we will be celebrating Walt Disney's 1953 animated feature Peter Pan here at 2719 Hyperion.  The inspiration behind this examination originated with Nate Parrish and Matt Parrish, hosts of the very popular and always excellent Disney-related podcast WEDway Radio.  Nate and Matt invited me to be a guest on their most recent episode of WEDway Radio, and our topic of choice was Walt's interpretation of the J. M. Barrie classic.

Our discussion was wide and varied, covering everything from the original J. M. Barrie source material and Walt's own personal connections to the story, to the film's emergence as a quiet but still very powerful Disney franchise.  It was a fun and entertaining discussion and is well worth a listen.

Download links for WEDway Radio Episode 74 can be found at the WEDway Radio home page.

There is also other interesting Peter Pan material to discover in the 2719 Hyperion Archives.

Explore the 2719 Hyperion Archives:

Exhibition Hall: Peter Pan's Christmas Story

Once You've Grown Up You Can Never Come Back

Lost Imagineering: The Crocodile Aquarium

Styling That Never Grows Old

Vintage Headlines: Santa Claus and Walt Disney on the Same Day

The Streets of L.A. Noire

Of late, I have become quite immersed in the recently released videogame L.A. Noire.  And although a discussion of the subject would be better suited to my neglected sister blog Boom-Pop!, I find myself more interested in playing six degrees of Hyperion and relating the certainly very obscure connections to my own research efforts that I found within the game's expansive recreation of Los Angeles circa 1947.

I  have spent an enormous amount of time over the past few years via testimonials and photographs, attempting to visualize in some way the Los Angeles that existed during Disney's Hyperion days, and also explore the area's iconography that inspired the Imagineers who created the initial designs for Disney-MGM Studios.  To free roam within a virtual replica of a place I have extensively explored on an academic level has been a great deal of fun to say the least.

The setting of L.A. Noire is a decade removed from Disney's Hyperion days, and unfortunately does not as yet include the Silver Lake and Los Feliz neighborhoods which were central to the studio's early history.  I've as yet only completed about 50% of the game but I have bumped into a few landmarks that relate to the architecture of the Hollywood Studios park at Walt Disney World.  The Brown Derby, the Max Factor building, the Crossroads of the World and Grauman's Theatre can all be found with L.A. Noire's virtual landscape.

The oddest bit of game to blog synergy happened when, during gameplay, I discovered the RKO Theatre.  I had recently published a Window to the Past here at 2719 Hyperion that showcased that theater's location on Hill Street in downtown Los Angeles.  Upon seeing the theater within the game, I quickly pulled my police car over to the curb, and ran down the street to find the area that was documented in the photograph I had featured.  Here is what I saw:

Just a little bit of fun I'd thought I'd share.  Please do not judge my momentary over-the-top geekiness too harshly.

The Classic Comic Strips of Mickey Mouse

One of the more interesting (and certainly welcome!) of recent publishing industry trends has been the reprinting of classic newspaper comic strips in deluxe hardcover volumes.  Fantagraphics Books has been one of the true pioneers in this regard, most especially when they began their Complete Peanuts series back in 2004.  It was in turn very exciting indeed when Fantagraphics announced earlier this year that they would be reprinting classic Disney-related comics and comic strip collections in these same high standard formats.

As part of Free Comic Book Day this past Saturday, Fantagraphics gave us a sneak preview of what we can expect from their upcoming Floyd Gottfredson Mickey Mouse comic strip reprint series.  The 36-page giveaway features the story Pluto the Racer, a collection of strips originally published in 1935.  David Gerstein, one of our favorite Disney scholars provides an introduction, while Floyd Norman, one of our favorite Disney Studio veterans, pens an appreciation of Gottfredson that relates to Norman's own tenure in the Disney Comic Strip Department.

Chances are your local comic book shop may still have some copies available, and certainly the price can't be beat.  The first volume of Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse arrives in stores next month and reprints the first two years of the comic strip from 1930 and 1931.  Volume two is set to be released in the fall.

Navigating the Captain Jack Sparrow Handbook

As a brand new Pirates of the Caribbean movie looms ever closer on the horizon, a colossal wave of related merchandise and tie-ins is also approaching the consumer shoreline, ready to inundate us with all variety of Disney swashbuckling gear and goodness.  The Captain Jack Sparrow Handbook has landed on my desk thanks to the good folks over at Quirk Books, and it has proven to be an entertaining and fun reintroduction to the Pirates of the Caribbean universe.

Let's start with the disclaimer:

Ahoy, all ye would-be pirates, take heed:  This book is a work of entertainment.  The publisher and author hereby disclaim any liability from injury that may result from the use, proper or improper, of the information contained in this book.  We do not guarantee that this information is safe, complete, or wholly accurate, nor should it be considered a substitute for a reader's good judgement and common sense.

Right, then . . .

Tongues firmly planted in cheeks, let us proceed.

The Captain Jack Sparrow Handbook consists of six chapters, covering such topics as Piracy 101, Maritime Skills, People Skills, Acquiring Booty, Cheating Death and Mysteries of the Deep, all presented from the point of view of the notorious Captain Jack Sparrow.  As the book's introduction notes, the contents are not in fact gospel truth but rather, " . . . a fast and loose list of amenable suggestions," about making your own way in the world.  Among the more specific and interesting topics: How to Use Words to Misdirect and Confound, How to spin Your Own Myth, Pirate Hygiene (or the Lack Thereof), How to Fight a Tavern Full of Angry Men, and The Fine Art of Being Somewhere Else.

The handbook references the original Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy and brings to bear the new Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.  In Piracy 101, we are given the background scoop on Blackbeard and Angelica, both prominently featured in the new film.  Blackbeard commands a zombie crew and wields a mythical weapon known as the Sword of Triton.

The book is a handsomely packaged hardbound edition, replete with extensive illustrations and photographs from of the Pirates of the Caribbean films.  Author Jason Heller cleverly reengages the reader with the a movie canon we have not visited since 2007; it's an enjoyable return and a fun primer for Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.

Simply Incredible!

The Pixar migration to high definition continues as The Incredibles makes its Blu-Ray debut this week.  This is one that a lot of folks have been waiting for and it most definitely lives up to expectations.  Brad Bird's now classic retro-superhero tour de force screams brilliance even more so in a maximized home theater presentation that enhances the sharp, vibrant and often jaw-dropping visuals of this 2004 Oscar winner.  In this case, Pixar + Blu-Ray + Home Theater = Simply Incredible!

Pixar has a reputation for producing top-of-the-line DVD sets.  What is even more significant is that a Pixar DVD reissue, in this case The Incredibles, dramatically outshines a recent package for a brand new Disney film, that being Tangled.  It is embarrassing to say the least that the newly produced Blu-Ray special features for The Incredibles offers so much more than what consumers were given in total on the Tangled set.  In addition, all of the bonus features from the original Incredibles DVD have been included in the new Blu-Ray set.  It's a hefty batch of content spread across two discs, with a standard DVD and digital copy thrown in to boot.

What's new:

The Incredibles Revisited

This is a brand new roundtable discussion on the making of the film with Writer/Director Brad Bird, Producer John Walker, Story Supervisor Mark Andrews, Supervising Technical Director Rick Sayre, Production Designer Lou Romano, Character Designer Teddy Newton and Supervising Animator Tony Fucile.  It is a fun and often very funny conversational remembrance that is quite substantial in content and material, despite its twenty-five minutes length.  One especially interesting tidbit--the project was very nearly killed in the early going by a very high placed but unnamed Disney executive (Eisner?).

Paths to Pixar: Story Artists

Continued from previous Pixar DVDs, this series focuses on specific disciplines within Pixar, in this case, story artists.  Brief and succinct but still quite enlightening, the individuals showcased discuss their work, their career paths and the inspirations behind their efforts.

Studio Stories: Gary's Birthday

This hilarious series, also continued from previous Pixar DVDs, features a bare-bones animated vignette relating to the Incredibles production crew and how they solved the problem of too many birthday celebrations.

Ending with a Bang: Making the End Credits

The least of the newly produced features, this very brief piece provides interviews with Andy Jimenez and Teddy Newton about the creation of the film's end credits, which were inspired by Newton's own original production designs.

"The New Nomanisan" Island Redevelopment Plan

This interactive feature abounds with retro design and tongue-in-cheek humor.  It provides a guided tour of Nomanisan Island, now converted into vacation resort that still integrates Syndrome's infrastructure and robotic minions.

As noted, the set includes all the original and very extensive DVD bonus features, including most notably the animated shorts Boundin' and Jack-Jack Attack.

The 4-disc Blu-Ray Comb Pack includes two Blu-Ray discs, a Standard DVD and digital copy disc.

Bringing Home the Grid: Tron and Tron: Legacy

The original Tron and Tron: Legacy become user-friendly this week as Disney rolls out a multitude of home entertainment options as the two films arrive in both Blu-Ray and standard DVD formats.  My package of choice was the 5-Disc 2-Movie Blu-Ray Combo Pack, despite not really having a need for the Blu-Ray 3D edition of Tron: Legacy.  MSRP is a bit steep at $79.99 but finding it for less is a given; Amazon is advertising it at $49.95 and other retailers and online merchants will likely be offering up similar discounts.

Let me just say from the start that I am an unabashed Tron fan.  Unlike my children who were born into a world filled with video games, computers and gadgets, I was fortunate to witness an era of techno-history unfold, from which the original 1982 movie of Tron has emerged as a pseudo-pop culture benchmark for many of my generation.  It is by no means a perfect movie, but its flaws are dramatically overshadowed by its groundbreaking special effects techniques and its still visually dazzling presentation.  It is a legend hard-earned and well deserved and a legacy that extends beyond just its more high profile sequel that debuted in theaters last year.  Pixar-chief John Lasseter once noted that without Tron there would have been no Toy Story, and many other contemporary Hollywood craftsmen have made similar testimonials.

Tron: Legacy, arriving close to three decades after Tron, has inspired passionate debate among both critics and fans.  I personally enjoyed the film, noting in my earlier review that I found it intriguing and thought-provoking, and most certainly dazzling and technically amazing.

Garrett Hedlund, Steve Lisberger, Jeff Bridges and Joseph Kosinski

Tron: Legacy is an equally dazzling and entertaining home theater experience.  It is a film tailor-made for high definition and it does not disappoint in that regard.  Also well served is the perfectly matched score by Daft Punk that wonderfully resonates through five channels of digital surround sound.  The film cleverly and seamlessly alternates between aspect ratios, allowing it to match its original IMAX presentation.

On-disc bonus features are neither impressive nor overly disappointing.  The Next Day: Flynn Lives Revealed is perhaps the most significant.  It is a short film that purportedly bridges the gap between Tron: Legacy and a possible third Tron film.  It also provides some interesting exposition and background heretofore unrevealed about the Tron universe.  Other special features include a series of making-of vignettes, the Daft Punk "Derezzed" music video and a brief teaser for the upcoming Tron: Uprising television show.

The lion's share of bonus features for Tron: Legacy has shifted to Disney's new Second Screen feature that debuted with the Bambi Diamond Edition DVD last month.  Second Screen is exactly that, an additional interactive platform that provides supplemental content that is synchronized to the actual presentation of the film.  Two such platforms are currently available, either an Apple iPad or a laptop computer.  Second Screen comes to the iPad by way of a free application downloaded via the App Store.  For the Mac or PC, it is a Flash-based interface streamed through Disney's web site.  Unfortunately, as we went to press, the Tron: Legacy Second Screen app was not yet available in the Apple App Store.  I was especially impressed with the Bambi edition and hold high hopes for the Tron version.

Returning to Tron: The Original Classic, as Disney is now packaging it, the film has been remastered with a digital restoration and enhanced sound.  It is spectacular in high definition, likely better than it looked in theaters in 1982.  The very extensive array of special features from the 20th Anniversary Collector's Edition DVD have been included in this set; new materials include The Tron Phenomenon documentary and Photo Tronology, where director Steve Lisberger and his son dig into Tron resources that have long been stored in the Disney Archives.

For clarification, here is a breakdown of Tron and Tron: Legacy buying options:

5-Disc 2-Movie Blu-Ray Combo Pack

Includes Blu-Ray 3D, Blu-Ray, Standard DVD and Digital Copy of Tron: Legacy and Blu-Ray of Tron: The Original Classic Special Edition

4-Disc Blu-Ray Combo Pack of Tron: Legacy

Includes Blu-Ray 3D, Blu-Ray, Standard DVD and Digital Copy of Tron: Legacy

2-Disc Blu-Ray Combo Pack of Tron Legacy

Includes Blu-Ray and Standard DVD

1-Disc Standard DVD of Tron: Legacy

2-Disc Blu-Ray Combo Pack of Tron: The Original Classic Special Edition

Includes Blu-Ray and Standard DVD

2-Disc Standard DVD of Tron: The Original Classic Special Edition

Unfortunately, Walt Disney Home Entertainment has once again made the digital copy only available with the more expensive Blu-Ray 3D packages.  As a result, they are doing a disservice to those consumers who desire a digital copy but have no need for the 3D edition.  Disney did not make available a digital copy of Tron: The Original Classic via DVD purchase.


Explore the 2719 Hyperion Archives:
The Legacy of Tron

Tangled at Home: Beautiful But Slight

Tangled was a wonderful, refreshing surprise.  Defying expectations, it proved both a critical darling and a commercial success, affording Walt Disney Animation Studios a much needed boost to both reputation and credibility.  In our review published back in November, we called it a "visually stunning, cleverly written and eminently fun and entertaining animated film."

Tangled is even more spectacular when seen in a high definition home theater presentation, as now possible due to its Blu-Ray/DVD release this week.  It escapes the dim and occasional murkiness of what was a rather poor post-production 3D conversion process.  I can't speak to the quality of the Blu-Ray 3D presentation, but on traditional Blu-Ray, I believe it is now the bright, rich and vibrant film its creators had intended.

Unfortunately, the film is not nearly as well served with the remainder of its home entertainment bells and whistles.  Bonus features are slight and decidedly juvenile in nature.  Untangled: The Making of a Fairy Tale is brief, superficial and little more than a Disney Channel promotional piece.  Stars Mandy Moore and Zachary Levi trade jokes and trivia and mug for the cameras, but provide little to no substantial content relating to the making of the film.  Considering that Tangled was in development for close to a decade and pioneered some rather notable CG character animation, more could have been offered up to both mainstream viewers and animation enthusiasts alike.  Press materials called the feature "a kooky behind-the-scenes tour," seeming to indicate that nothing beyond that was truly warranted.  Deleted scenes, extended songs and alternate openings prove rather mundane and uninteresting.  Tangled Teasers is just a collection of commercials and Disney Channel promotional bits.  The 50th Animated Feature Countdown? A minute's worth of clips in a rather uninspired presentation. Glaringly absent is a production gallery, for which you would assume a veritable wealth of materials should have been available.  In comparison, the bonus features on last year's Princess and the Frog DVD set were much more substantial and well considered.

Another major disappointment relates to the packaging of the various DVD sets.  Disney has been a big proponent of the digital copy, but they have made a major misstep here in that regard.  No digital copy was included in the Blu-Ray+DVD combo pack.  A digital copy is in fact only available in the more expensive 4-disc combo pack that adds the Blu-Ray 3D version of the film.  Considering that the market penetration for Blu-Ray 3D is rather minimal right now, was this just a stupid decision or an obvious money grab?  As a consumer who always seeks out the digital copy editions for his gadget-loving family, I found this mystifying to say the least.

Tangled is just too darn good to discourage anyone from buying the DVD edition of the film.  But it deserves much better.  A simple question to Walt Disney Home Entertainment -- what happened?

Explore the 2719 Hyperion Archives:
Tangled: A Success in All But Name
Consider the Source: Radish Obsessions and a Blind Prince