Given the success of Disney's "Have a Laugh!" program, Dave and his team are now taking the same sort of approach to the Winnie the Pooh featurettes from the 1960s. Taking the original films and then pulling out two-and-three minute-long standalone vignettes. Which - thanks to new music & vocal tracks - are made to be more in the style & tone of the Studio's recently released full-length "Winnie the Pooh" animated feature.
"There's a lot of genuinely charming stuff that was done for 'The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh,' " Dave stated. "And just like we did with the classic animated shorts with our 'Have a Laugh!' program, we're hoping that these new 'Mini-adventures of Winnie the Pooh' will then make this material available & accessible for a whole new generation of Disney fans."
So when you think of Disney's "Have a Laugh!" and "The Mini-adventures of Winnie the Pooh" initiatives, please don't lump these efforts in with stuff like DTV (i.e. where the Studio would first take a piece of contemporary music and then just randomly drop in pieces of animation that had been cut from Disney's shorts and animated features. With the idea that this footage would then provide appropriate imagery to back up that song's lyrics).
No, in the case of "Have a Laugh!" and "Mini-adventures," the appropriate imagery is that Dave Bossert and his crew in Walt Disney Animation Studio's Special Projects unit are like skilled diamond cutters. Taking the Company's crown jewels and - by carefully cutting & then placing them in brand-new settings - allowing these films & characters to get out in front of audiences of today. Where they can shine once more.
SWillie! wrote:Although I think the "new vocal track" is unnecessary.
I agree and I think that that issue is a slippery slope. How long until they deem that their classic animated features need new vocal tracks, too?
I can see it now...
"Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs - Kryptonite Edition...now featuring remixed, beat-drivin club anthems and the singing voice of Emily Osment as Snow White!"
WDAS: "We're going to make a classic Pooh movie and not use anything from the TV shows, DTVS, or even Gopher from Walt's Pooh movie. This will revitalize classic, un-tainted Pooh!"
Disney Consumer Group: "Your efforts were futile, we are going to destroy them with our 'updated' version of Pooh. Mwuhahahahaha!'
What I find ridiculous is the whole "we're going to make it closer to new movie that just came out" bit. The new Winnie the Pooh essentially emulated the style of the classic shorts. So, the '60s Pooh is already just like the 2011 Pooh.
Not to mention changing it to make it more accessible to a new generation. Isn't the fact that the classic Pooh shorts (and the classic Mickey Mouse, for that matter) are still beloved today mean that they're already accessible? I don't mind them, say, moderfying the characters for each generation (as long as they don't go over-board, ala the gangster Looney Tunes shorts produced by WB in the 90s), but I'm against changing the classic shorts. The Have a Laugh bits were terrible enough, as it is.
"There are two wolves and they are always fighting. One is darkness and despair. The other is light and hope. Which wolf wins? Whichever one you feed." - Casey Newton, Tomorrowland
SWillie! wrote:Although I think the "new vocal track" is unnecessary.
I agree and I think that that issue is a slippery slope. How long until they deem that their classic animated features need new vocal tracks, too?
I can see it now...
"Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs - Kryptonite Edition...now featuring remixed, beat-drivin club anthems and the singing voice of Emily Osment as Snow White!"
Just kidding!
yeah, so far these really just seem to be done so a new mix can be easily created.
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All the adversity I've had in my life, all my troubles and obstacles, have strengthened me... You may not realize it when it happens, but a kick in the teeth may be the best thing in the world for you.
I don't have Disney Channel, so I'm not even sure what Have a Laugh is. But the press release sure sounds positive. except for that tiny part about the vocal track
Linden wrote:I don't have Disney Channel, so I'm not even sure what Have a Laugh is. But the press release sure sounds positive. except for that tiny part about the vocal track
"Have a Laugh" is a series of old Disney shorts edited to repeat funny bits in normal speed, fast speed, and slow speed and the audio has a laughing audience added to it. It's a stupid idea.
Have a laugh is a success? I can only imagine how successful it would be if it were an actual program that showed the full version of these shorts. Afterall, I'm absolutely sure that it's the short that is popular and not the added music/speed control/sound effects.
Linden wrote:I don't have Disney Channel, so I'm not even sure what Have a Laugh is. But the press release sure sounds positive. except for that tiny part about the vocal track
Um, I must not have read the press release very well, or else I would have been more than mildly annoyed. Why would they do this? Have the original shorts been so unsuccessful in recent years that they have to go to great lengths to make them "accessible?" It doesn't make sense. The new Pooh didn't even make that much.
I know this has been said several times already, but nonetheless: why would they dub over perfectly suitable character voices? The original voices are far superior anyway.
If I had to see something positive in all this, it's that the "Have a Laugh!" shorts and "The Mini-adventures of Winnie the Pooh" shorts appear to have fully restored the original sources in HD to fool the kids into thinking it's new and I anticipate we'll get the original unalted ones on Blu-ray fairly soon because of it (we got Thru the Mirror on Alice in Wonderland's Blu-ray fully restored and outside the altered title card, it looked fantastic). A Blu-ray for a fully restored The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh shouldn't bee too far off, since we can plainly see the HD restoration is ready and I'm sure it would make a great tie-in with Winnie-the Pooh.
The original voices are far superior anyway.
