Upcoming Disney Blu-ray Film Clips

Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment has released teaser clips of a few of their upcoming Blu-ray releases: Tarzan, Hercules, Bedknobs And Broomsticks, Mickey, Donald, Goofy: The Three Musketeers, & The Adventures Of Ichabod And Mr. Toad.

We watched the review copy of The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad and Fun and Fancy Free, and it is a definite purchase simply because it includes The Reluctant Dragon!

Hercules

Bedknobs and Broomsticks

The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad

Tarzan, Hercules, Bedknobs And Broomsticks, Mickey, Donald, Goofy: The Three Musketeers, & The Adventures Of Ichabod And Mr. Toad

A massive Blu-ray release from Walt Disney Studios is coming on August 12, 2014: Tarzan; Hercules; Bedknobs And Broomsticks; Mickey, Donald, Goofy: The Three Musketeers; & The Adventures Of Ichabod And Mr. Toad. All five of these animated films are being released to Blu-ray for the first time.

Which one is your favorite?

• The Adventures Of Ichabod And Mr. Toad

• Mickey, Donald, Goofy: The Three Musketeers

• Tarzan

• Hercules

• Bedknobs and Broomsticks

Which one of these films is your favorite? Which is a must have?

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Fantasia Bonus Features!

The Fantasia / Fantasia 2000 (Four-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo) package has some fantastic bonus features! There's not much I can say about the films that animation critics and historians haven't already stated. Simply that the films are gorgeous on Blu-ray and deserve a fresh viewing in high-definition.

What captivated me were the bonus features! Hands down, the most exciting were the tour of the Walt Disney Family Museum and the Shultheis Notebook. I have highlighted some of the best features below. In particular, the Shultheis Notebook was very eye opening; imagine discovering a treasure that no one knew existed! Also, woven throughout the features were interviews with some of my favorite bloggers and authors: Dider Ghez, Michael Barrier, John Canemaker, JB Kaufman, Brian Sibley, Charles Solomon and more!





The Notebooks




Finding the Notebooks
Fantasia Bonus Features:

• New Audio Commentary with Disney historian Brian Sibley
• Disney Family Museum (running time: approx. 5 minutes) – Walt’s daughter Diane Disney-Miller takes viewers on a tour of the new Disney Family Museum in San Francisco, California featuring a very large exhibit on Fantasia and most importantly, the Schultheis notebook with long lost Fantasia production notes found in more recent years in the walls of a convent.
• Disney View – This viewing mode maximizes the Blu-ray viewing experience with a 16 x 9 aspect ratio. Original artwork created by a Disney artist, in a style that complements the beauty of the film.
• The Shultheis Notebook: A Disney Treasure (running time: approx. 14 minutes) –An in depth look at the recently discovered Schultheis Notebook. The detailed log was created by Herman Schultheis, an effects man on Fantasia, and intricately breaks down the film from a technical view. Many of the special effects used in Fantasia were a mystery to modern day animators until this notebook was recovered.
• Interactive Art Gallery and Screensavers – Viewers can explore the artwork of Fantasia asnever before, in HD resolution with unique Blu-ray interactivity and programming.
• Audio Commentaries from Fantasia Legacy Collection With executive producer Roy E. Disney, conductor James Levine, animation historian John Canemaker, and Scott McQueen, manager of film restoration.
• Audio commentary with interviews and story note recreations by Walt Disney, hosted byJohn Canemaker.

Fantasia 2000 Bonus Features:

• Musicana – Walt’s Inspiration for a Sequel (running time: approx. 10 minutes) – This documentary reveals rarely-seen art created for Musicana, a late 1970’s project intended as a Fantasia sequel with a focus on exploring other cultures via their greatest musical compositions. Viewers are offered a look at the origins of pieces that were started by Walt, such as “The Emperor and the Nightingale” which was then taken over by a very young John Lasseter. Ultimately, Musicana was stopped to begin production on “Mickey’s Christmas Carol,” but the memories of this piece still live onwith the animators who conceived it.
• Dali and Disney: A Date With Destino (running time: 82 minutes) – This feature length documentary explores the collaborative relationship between Walt Disney and Salvador Dali, revealing how and why the Destino short came to fruition under the lead of Roy E. Disney in 2003 so many years after its inception in 1946.
• Destino (running time: approx. 7 minutes) – The legacy of Walt Disney and Salvador Dali lives on in this highly anticipated short film.
• Disney’s Virtual Vault -- BD-Live Feature
• Original DVD Bonus Features from Legacy Collection
• Audio Commentaries from Fantasia Legacy Collection (total running time: 84 minutes) With executive producer Roy E. Disney, conductor James Levine, and producer Don Ernst. Audio commentary with the directors and art directors for each segment.

Related articles

• DVD Review: Walt and El Grupo (imaginerding.com)
• DVD Review: Waking Sleeping Beauty (imaginerding.com)
• Sounding Fantasia (imaginerding.com)
• Relive a classic Fantasia and Fantasia on Bluray/DVD (chipandco.com)
• Fantasia and Destino Behind-the-Scenes Videos (chipandco.com)
• DVD Review: The Boys, The Sherman Brothers' Story (imaginerding.com)

Blu-ray Review: The Sorcerer's Apprentice

• The Sorcerer's Apprentice (Two-Disc Blu-ray / DVD Combo) [Blu-ray]
  

This movie completely surprised me!

Jerry Bruckheimer, Nicolas Cage and Disney have created the beginnings of a possible new franchise (a la Pirates of the Caribbean) with The Sorcerer's Apprentice. As with most Hollywood films, if the premier weekend doesn't break records or surpass a certain level it won't garner any additional love from the Studio that created it. Unfortunately, the potential has been shelved.

Any movie with a magical and size-changing book makes me happy!

The film has a PG rating, which is mostly for some fantastical scenes of magical fights with spellcasting, flying bodies and a dragon! Both of my boys watched the film and thoroughly enjoyed it. It had some very formulaic moments, but the unique nature of the magic and action created some very exciting scenes.

In all, this is a fun movie to watch with the whole family. There is plenty of humor and the main cast of the film create a sensible and likeable group. I have to admit that I really loved Alfred Molina as the arch-nemesis Maxim Horvath. He played a delightfully charming and malicious villain to Cage's more sympathetic and engaging character.

With the Harry Potter movie franchise drawing to a close, Disney has missed a potential series that will attract the teen and young adult audience. My youngest has been talking about the movie and I have seen him playing Sorcerer's Apprentice with a few of his toys. Is anyone listening?

Related articles

• Disney Interactive Studios' Sorcerer's Apprentice Video Game Magically Appears on Shelves (eon.businesswire.com)
• The 2 best things from Sorcerer's Apprentice in one clip: Nic Cage's wig, and dragons! [The Sorcerer's Apprentice] (io9.com)
• Well, There's The Usual Things: Flowers... Chocolates... Promises You Don't Intend To Keep... (imaginerding.com)
• Toy Story 3 Blu-ray Features! (imaginerding.com)
• Ghost of the Future, I Fear You More Than Any Spectre I Have Seen. (imaginerding.com)
• George's Geeky Gift Guide: Disney Dream DVDs (imaginerding.com)

The Search For Santa Paws

The Search For Santa Paws (Two-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo)
 
At Imaginerding HQ, reviews of the Buddies series of films is relegated to my eleven year-old Junior Deek. He wrote the following review. 

This is a movie I would recommend for families, Dog Lover's, and kids. It should be longer and much less sad. It does not fit well with the series. The Buddies movies were never this tearful and sad. There needs to be more in the actual buddies series and new puppy adventures. I would give this a 6 out of 10 for not being truthful to the theme, series, and characters, and there was too much emotional stress. Would I watch this movie often? Not likely, I really took a disliking to the movie and the other silly Blue Ray features. 

He usually raves over the Buddies releases. You can read his review of Santa Buddies here.

PRESS RELEASE INFORMATION:
THE SEARCH FOR SANTA PAWS - Disney’s unbeatable and irresistible talking dogs are back – in an all-new holiday movie for the whole family, with THE SEARCH FOR SANTA PAWS. Debuting on Blu-ray hi-def and DVD on November 23, 2010 just in time for Thanksgiving (US 11/25) and kicking off the holiday season around the world, the heartwarming family adventure joins the legacy of great dog-filled tales from the creators of the “Buddies” films, the most popular live-action direct-to-DVD franchise ever.

DISNEY’S THE SEARCH FOR SANTA PAWS is an exciting and uplifting movie from director Robert Vince about the power of giving and the true meaning of Christmas in the tradition of Disney’s classic holiday tales. This big city adventure for the whole family reveals the how the legendary friendship of Santa Claus and Santa Paws began.

DISNEY’S THE SEARCH FOR SANTA PAWS comes with a stocking full of fantastic bonus features, including:

• An interactive Animated Pop-Up Book – ‘Buddies’ puppy star Rosebud reads a holiday story featuring new canine friends from The Search For Santa Paws

• Sing-Along Mode - colorful lyrics added to the film’s song sequences, so audiences can sing along to the film’s fantastic new songs.

• Music Video – tween favorite Debby Ryan (Disney Channel’s Suite Life on Deck) performs a great new arrangement of ‘Deck The Halls.’

• Deleted scenes

The film follows in the tradition of Disney’s classic holiday tales with a heartwarming story about the power of giving and the true meaning of Christmas. An exciting prequel, the movie allows kids of all ages to discover how the legendary friendship of Santa Claus and Santa Paws began – as it is the inspiring original film (in a timeline it precedes 2009’s Santa Buddies: The Legend of Santa Paws).

In the movie, when Santa and his new best friend, Paws, discover that the boys and girls of the world have lost the spirit of the season, they take a trip to New York City. But after Santa loses his memory, it’s up to Paws, a faithful orphan named Quinn (America’s Got Talent’s Kaitlyn Maher), her new friend Will (The Game Plan’s Madison Pettis) and a wonderful group of magical talking dogs to save St. Nick and show the world what Christmas is really all about. Do you believe in Santa Paws? Experiencing this sure-to-be holiday classic, full of fun, adventure and a carrying the timeless messages of the holidays, with surely delight the entire family!

ABOUT THE DOGGONE POPULAR FRANCHISE
Few things are more appealing, adorable and elicit bigger enthusiasm than man’s best friend. From classic Old Yeller to classy Beverly Hills Chihuahua to animated Bolt, one of Hollywood’s surest ways to delight audiences of all ages lies firmly at the feet of our four-legged friends.

Since the 1997 big-screen debut of the sports-minded Golden Retriever star “Buddy,” audiences have thrilled to the high-stakes antics in the AIR BUD movie series with its fantastic sports-themed adventures including basketball, football, soccer, volleyball and even America’s national pastime – baseball!

A quintet of adorable talking puppies followed the “Bud” movies in 2006, with the highly anticipated launch of the BUDDIES series – and a puppy craze began as AIR BUDDIES became the biggest live-action Direct-to-DVD movie of the year!

Following in those triumphant paw prints, the wise-cracking pups went North to Alaska to compete in a daring dogsled adventure, barking up yet another #1 for 2008, as SNOW BUDDIES crossed the finish line as the best-selling live-action Direct-to-DVD of all time!

Released to Disney DVD in February 2009, SPACE BUDDIES sent the puppies where no dog has gone before, and rocketed another hit into the homes of millions. With SANTA BUDDIES in 2009, director Robert Vince brought the popular puppy franchise to Christmas, with the overwhelmingly popular story that joined the ranks of the Disney dog classics, on the way to becoming the biggest live-action Direct-to-DVD release of the year - again.

Ghost of the Future, I Fear You More Than Any Spectre I Have Seen.

• Disney's A Christmas Carol (Two-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo)

It is rare that a film will be released that I wish that I had seen it in 3D. Disney's A Christmas Carol has such a depth in the artwork, that even in Blu-ray, the city seems to come alive. I can only imagine how spectacular the film was in 3D.

The film, when released, received criticism due to the MoCap, or Motion-Capture, technology that was used to create the film. Within the first few minutes, I was blown-away by how lifelike the animation actually was. The characters were completely believable and had a sense of authority and realism that you don't see in traditional and animated films. It is still traditional actors in all of the roles and their movements and facial expressions are tracked and are the basis for the characters.

With the numerous and different iterations of the Dickens' classic available, you might wonder why you should pick up another version. A point in fact, when watching this film with my youngest son, he kept comparing the film, scene-by-scene, to the 1983 release of Mickey's Christmas Carol. While watching, I was astounded at how close the movie actually followed the book. This is probably the first time that a true representation of the book has made it to the big screen. The MoCap technology and computer animation bring so many aspects of the book to life that other versions pale in comparison.

My major complaint about the film is the scary nature of the third spirit. It was a very loud, rambunctious and frightening segment of the film. And, honestly, it didn't really fit with the rest of the movie. Also, the ending seemed rather rushed and I felt like it needed more merriment to help lift it from the darkness of the final spirit.

This film is a great addition to your holiday library, but Mickey's Christmas Carol will always rank much higher in our household.