Robin
03-02-2005, 03:51 AM
Disney animation classic Bambi gets complete digital makeover for DVD issue
John Mckay
Canadian Press
March 01, 2005
(CP) - Is there a child born in the last six decades who wasn't in some way emotionally walloped by Bambi?
What begins as a sweet, innocent, 1942 animated feature turns intensely traumatic for pre-school viewers when (no spoiler here, we hope) Bambi's mother is killed by human hunters at about the midway point. It happens offscreen, of course, and was eventually trumped by the onscreen paternal death in The Lion King in 1994.
But for most youngsters in the western world, this is their first confrontation with the concept of mortality. Now, Bambi (Platinum Edition) (Disney) comes to DVD in a gorgeously restored two-disc addition to the studio's elite Platinum Edition series. And young and old alike are sure to be "twitterpatted" all over again.
Extras include two deleted scenes (roughed out storyboards only), the usual making-of feature, a feature on the painstaking restoration, and the artistically-brilliant 1937 Oscar-winning short The Old Mill, which introduced Disney's innovative multi-plane camera that later gave the unique 3-D effect to Bambi's forest scenes. But it gets even better. Recently uncovered notes of the original story meetings are acted out, including someone who does Walt's voice, and serve as a running optional commentary. As narrator Patrick Stewart points out, it's remarkable how close the final product came to Walt's original vision.
There's also a sneak peak at an upcoming theatrical sequel, Bambi and the Prince of the Forest, which actually fills in a gap after Bambi becomes an orphan. The originally aloof stag/dad is now shown taking over the parental duties and raising the little prince by himself, a little belated social revisionism.
The sixth and seventh Platinum Editions will be Cinderella this fall and Lady and the Tramp a year from now.
http://www.canada.com
John Mckay
Canadian Press
March 01, 2005
(CP) - Is there a child born in the last six decades who wasn't in some way emotionally walloped by Bambi?
What begins as a sweet, innocent, 1942 animated feature turns intensely traumatic for pre-school viewers when (no spoiler here, we hope) Bambi's mother is killed by human hunters at about the midway point. It happens offscreen, of course, and was eventually trumped by the onscreen paternal death in The Lion King in 1994.
But for most youngsters in the western world, this is their first confrontation with the concept of mortality. Now, Bambi (Platinum Edition) (Disney) comes to DVD in a gorgeously restored two-disc addition to the studio's elite Platinum Edition series. And young and old alike are sure to be "twitterpatted" all over again.
Extras include two deleted scenes (roughed out storyboards only), the usual making-of feature, a feature on the painstaking restoration, and the artistically-brilliant 1937 Oscar-winning short The Old Mill, which introduced Disney's innovative multi-plane camera that later gave the unique 3-D effect to Bambi's forest scenes. But it gets even better. Recently uncovered notes of the original story meetings are acted out, including someone who does Walt's voice, and serve as a running optional commentary. As narrator Patrick Stewart points out, it's remarkable how close the final product came to Walt's original vision.
There's also a sneak peak at an upcoming theatrical sequel, Bambi and the Prince of the Forest, which actually fills in a gap after Bambi becomes an orphan. The originally aloof stag/dad is now shown taking over the parental duties and raising the little prince by himself, a little belated social revisionism.
The sixth and seventh Platinum Editions will be Cinderella this fall and Lady and the Tramp a year from now.
http://www.canada.com