Published on June 25th, 2019 | by Craig Silliphant
0Blu ray Review: Cinderella (Walt Disney Signature Collection)
Disney has released the new Walt Disney Signature Collection version of the classic 1950 animated film, Cinderella. Here’s a look at the blu ray edition.
By the late 1940s, Disney was hurting from a string of bombs after they had lost connections to the film market in Europe because of the war. Those films would later become successful upon re-release (Pinocchio, Fantasia, and Bambi), but at the time, Disney was $4 million in debt and creeping towards bankruptcy. After taking two years to produce, Cinderella was released in 1950 and it was the biggest hit they’d had since Snow White in 1937. It garnered three Oscar noms, and helped turn Disney’s fortunes back around.
Based on the fairy tale, Cinderella tells the story of a girl who lost both parents at a young age and has to work as a maid for her cruel stepmother and stepsisters. When she is invited to a ball in honour of a prince looking for a wife, she is told that she can go if she finishes her chores and finds a dress to wear. No one makes that easy for her, until she meets some new friends and a Fairy Godmother.
What more can you say about this movie, besides building it up as a classic of animation as well as a classic of storytelling? I hadn’t seen it in a really long time, so it was great to sit down with my kids and give it a go. It looks amazing. I love seeing movies again after they get this treatment, because they really do breathe new life into the films. And I want my kids to grow up watching these classics, so they appreciate all the forms and styles through animation and movie history.
The Walt Disney Signature Collection blu ray also comes with a wealth of content, which is great. I appreciate a studio that maximizes your investment with more than just an old EPK video. Cinderella doesn’t disappoint. Here are some of the features:
- In Walt’s Words: The Envisioning of Cinderella(1:24:25) – Story meetings with Walt Disney and the team are portrayed using voice actors in this feature-length visual commentary that includes art, storyboards, pencil animation, and more.
- Try This Trivia on for Size (4:48) –trivia about the film
Classic Bonus Features:
- Diane Disney Miller Introduction (1:16) –From the Diamond Edition from the Walt Disney Family Museum, Walt Disney’s daughter introduces the film.
- From Rags to Riches: The Making of Cinderella(38:27) – A Platinum Edition doc that features historians and others talking about the film
- The Cinderella That Almost Was (12:34) –storyboards and production artwork from previous attempts Disney made to adapt Cinderella.
- The Magic of the Glass Slipper: A Cinderella Story (10:03) – Christian Loubeton creates his take on glass slippers in this short film that includes animated mice helping him find inspiration.
- The Real Fairy Godmother (11:50) –a profile of Alice O’Connor, the inspiration for the Fairy Godmother.
- Alternate Opening Sequence (1:13) – Storyboards for an alternate opening.
- Storyboard to Film Comparison: Opening Sequence (6:49) – How the storyboards inspired the final film.
- Cinderella Title Song (2:15)
- From Walt’s Table: A Tribute to the Nine Old Men (22:09) – Walt Disney’s mentor animators.
- The Art of Mary Blair (14:58) – A piece about Walt Disney’s favorite artist.
- Behind the Magic: A New Disney Princess Fantasyland (8:17) –A tour of the New Fantasyland at Magic Kingdom park at Walt Disney World.
- 1922 Laugh-O-Grams: Cinderella (7:24) – Walt Disney’s first version of Cinderella was set in the 1920’s as a modern fairytale.
- Excerpt from The Mickey Mouse Clubwith Helen Stanley (3:55)
- A wealth of radio programs and theatrical trailers.
There are also some Digital Exclusives:
- The Art of Cinderella– Seven themed stills galleries
- The Songs of Cinderella–songs from the film.