Missing Animated Classics in my DVD Collection

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miklc
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Missing Animated Classics in my DVD Collection

Post by miklc »

Hello Disney fans out there I am wondering whether anyone can offer any me any advice. I will apologise for this post in advance as it may be quite laborious to read :P

When I first began collecting Disney DVDs notably the animated classics I started out late, my first DVD was The Little Mermaid back in 2006 and I didn't start properly trying to collect the rest of the classics until around 2008 so as you can imagine I had a lot of catching up to do! Since that time I managed to collect the majority of the animated classics (and most of their sequels and the like) however there were a few notable titles that I was never able to acquire on DVD due to them being in the vault and being accessible only through second hand for sky high prices. I am mainly talking about Bambi, Lady and the Tramp and the Fantasias...since then I have bought these films on BluRay releases and I'm very happy about finally being able to own them in my collection. :)

Now here's my dilemma, I was casually browsing eBay at Disney DVDs and came across a reasonably cheap PE Bambi DVD in reasonably good condition (along with slipcover) and managed to win the bid for £8.50 including P&P (which I don't think is bad considering some of the prices I have seen for it!) so I will finally be able to add Bambi to my DVD collection and leaving me missing only one PE. I am wondering whether you guys think it's worth trying to track down the PE of Lady and the Tramp and the Fantasia box set despite owning both titles on Blu-Ray already? I know the majority of content from Tramp's DVD were ported over to the Blu-Ray but annoyingly here in the UK Lady and the Tramp and Fantasia 2000 were single Blu-Ray discs only so did not come with a bonus DVD of the movie which is quite limiting as I only own the one BluRay player. So what do you guys recommend? Should I try and complete the rest of my DVD collection alongside my ever growing Disney Blu-Ray collection? I'm still missing a handful of the sequels as well so I would like to track the ones I'm missing down at some point as well but I'm in no rush to do that. Sorry for rambling, I would be very grateful for people's opinions! :D

EDIT:

Thought it might be useful to those viewing if I listed the classics I did not own on DVD (not including those with the combo packs, I also do not plan on buying DVD only releases of classics after Bolt)

-Fantasia (Own on Blu-Ray/DVD Combo Pack)
-Dumbo (Own on Blu-Ray/DVD Combo Pack)
-Bambi (Own on Blu-Ray/DVD Combo Pack- Just bought PE DVD on eBay)
-Make Mine Music (Never released in the UK)
-Lady and the Tramp (Own on Blu-Ray)
-The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
-The Rescuers Down Under (Plan on buying very soon!)
-Fantasia 2000 (Own on Blu-Ray)
-Dinosaur
-Home on the Range
-Chicken Little

So out of these titles would it be worth grabbing them on DVD as well as/until their Blu-Ray release?
I love The Little Mermaid and Ariel
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Wonderlicious
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Post by Wonderlicious »

I'll go through some of the films one by one.

Lady and the Tramp
If you're into DVD galleries, Lady and the Tramp is definitely worth getting, as I believe the Blu-Ray basically ditched them. If you want it just to be a completist, then go for it regardless, but only at around the same price you paid for Bambi.

Dumbo
The 2007 UK DVD (Special Edition - similar to the US Big Top Edition) includes an audio commentary by animation historian John Canemaker, I believe. It's probably more informative than the Cine-Explore commentary, though the Blu-Ray overall has better bonus features regardless. The same commentary appeared on the US 60th Anniversary Edition in 2001, though earlier releases outside the US didn't include it.

Fantasia/Fantasia 2000
It may be worth getting "The Fantasia Anthology" (or "The Fantasia DVD Collection" as it was called in the UK), especially if you can't access the Virtual Vault (and even if you could, if you didn't want it to all be confined to a little box). I'm not sure whether you have a region-free DVD player, but the UK set unfortunately doesn't include the 50 minute "Making of" documentaries for either film (nor the commentaries, but they are on the Blu-Rays), but you would get the slightly shorter pre-2000 cut of Fantasia (aka: how it was presented for most of its existence), which many find plays a bit better than the reconstructed Roadshow cut on the Region 1 DVD and 2010 Blu-Ray (all regions).

The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
This may get re-released next year, though whether it makes it on Blu-Ray in the UK is another matter (what with the 2011 film not making it). Is the UK DVD still in print anyway? I do seem to recall it was reissued with hideous new cover art meant to signify a close-up of Pooh's face. :roll:

Dinosaur, Home on the Range, Chicken Little
My guess is because you're maybe not too hot on these films? :lol: Dinosaur had a pretty good Collector's Edition DVD, whose bonus features easily trump the meagre offerings on the Blu-Ray. I don't think it's still in print, though. I think the others can be bought for relatively little at new prices either online or in store.

Make Mine Music
I'm not sure how much you want it, but an uncensored DVD was released in Scandinavian countries a few years ago. Here's a link to an online store that sells the Swedish DVD for a cheapish price: http://english.megastore.se/template/ne ... id=2267178 It appears that the film is in English with the option of Swedish subtitles.
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miklc
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Post by miklc »

Wow Wonderlicious thank you for such an informative reply! I apologise for my late reply I haven't been able to get onto the forums for long enough to post a suitable reply
Wonderlicious wrote:Lady and the Tramp
If you're into DVD galleries, Lady and the Tramp is definitely worth getting, as I believe the Blu-Ray basically ditched them. If you want it just to be a completist, then go for it regardless, but only at around the same price you paid for Bambi.
I think I am going to track down a copy of the PE Lady and the Tramp on eBay, I do enjoy DVD galleries and I really would like to own all of the Platinum Editions. Bambi arrived the other day and apart from the slipcover (which had a slight bit of wear, nothing major though) it's in perfect condition so I'm very happy about that. I though the feature introducing the then upcoming sequel was interesting... seems like they were trying to justify why they were creating a sequel to such a masterpiece more than sixty years later
Wonderlicious wrote:Dumbo
The 2007 UK DVD (Special Edition - similar to the US Big Top Edition) includes an audio commentary by animation historian John Canemaker, I believe. It's probably more informative than the Cine-Explore commentary, though the Blu-Ray overall has better bonus features regardless. The same commentary appeared on the US 60th Anniversary Edition in 2001, though earlier releases outside the US didn't include it.

Fantasia/Fantasia 2000
It may be worth getting "The Fantasia Anthology" (or "The Fantasia DVD Collection" as it was called in the UK), especially if you can't access the Virtual Vault (and even if you could, if you didn't want it to all be confined to a little box). I'm not sure whether you have a region-free DVD player, but the UK set unfortunately doesn't include the 50 minute "Making of" documentaries for either film (nor the commentaries, but they are on the Blu-Rays), but you would get the slightly shorter pre-2000 cut of Fantasia (aka: how it was presented for most of its existence), which many find plays a bit better than the reconstructed Roadshow cut on the Region 1 DVD and 2010 Blu-Ray (all regions).
Hmm I think I will keep checking eBay to see if I can find a copy of the 2007 Dumbo DVD cheap, I don't want to pay a lot for it but it would be nice to have. Unfortunately I don't have a multi regional DVD or Blu-Ray player which is really annoying because often US releases appeal to me more than those released in the UK, hmm do you still think it would be worth trying to track down the UK box set?
Wonderlicious wrote:The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
This may get re-released next year, though whether it makes it on Blu-Ray in the UK is another matter (what with the 2011 film not making it). Is the UK DVD still in print anyway? I do seem to recall it was reissued with hideous new cover art meant to signify a close-up of Pooh's face. :roll:
I was SO annoyed to see the US getting a BluRay release of Winnie the Pooh and not in the UK! That's why I've not bought it yet because from Princess and the Frog I plan on buying BluRay releases of these films only, when Wreck It Ralph is eventually released it's going to drive me crazy with the numbered spines going from 50 to 52 without any confirmation that 51 will ever make it to BluRay! I think the UK edition is still in print because it's still available for order directly from Amazon...or at least it was last time I checked. Another thing that annoys me with Disney UK is the replacement of Dinosaur with The Wild, that makes no sense to me I don't understand why they can't stick with the US!
Wonderlicious wrote:Dinosaur, Home on the Range, Chicken Little
My guess is because you're maybe not too hot on these films? :lol: Dinosaur had a pretty good Collector's Edition DVD, whose bonus features easily trump the meagre offerings on the Blu-Ray. I don't think it's still in print, though. I think the others can be bought for relatively little at new prices either online or in store.
How did you guess! I think I seen both Dinosaur and Chicken Little in the cinemas and not being very fond of either, to be fair I haven't seen them in a good few years so I am hoping that when I do eventually rewatch that they're not as bad as I remember them being! I've never seen Home on the Range but I'm not a fan of westerns or films set on ranches which is why I've never really fancied it, think I will order it along with Rescuers Down Under in the near future
Wonderlicious wrote:Make Mine Music
I'm not sure how much you want it, but an uncensored DVD was released in Scandinavian countries a few years ago. Here's a link to an online store that sells the Swedish DVD for a cheapish price: http://english.megastore.se/template/ne ... id=2267178 It appears that the film is in English with the option of Swedish subtitles.


Thank you so much for posting that link! I think it's shocking that in 2012 one of the animated classics has not received a UK release, hopefully we will see it come to Blu-Ray and DVD in the future...well if Disney UK as it is has anything to do with it properly not :P :roll:

Thank you again for your reply, it has been very informative! I can't wait till I can finally say I own the first 50 Disney Animated Classics! :D
I love The Little Mermaid and Ariel
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universALLove
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Post by universALLove »

miklc wrote:I think I am going to track down a copy of the PE Lady and the Tramp on eBay
Be careful there are a lot of fakes floating around with silver holograms on the spine, they aren't genuine! The rectangular hologram on the spine should always be gold (the old circular style one that is featured on the back of the DVD are suppose to be silver but ONLY them). You may already know that but I just thought I'd give you the heads up as I've seen a lot of fake Lady and the Tramp copies (along with many other Disney titles) with fake holograms (made to look genuine) on eBay. The case (although navy) is a very slight different shade as well but most people don't notice the difference.
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miklc
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Post by miklc »

universALLove wrote:
miklc wrote:I think I am going to track down a copy of the PE Lady and the Tramp on eBay
Be careful there are a lot of fakes floating around with silver holograms on the spine, they aren't genuine! The rectangular hologram on the spine should always be gold (the old circular style one that is featured on the back of the DVD are suppose to be silver but ONLY them). You may already know that but I just thought I'd give you the heads up as I've seen a lot of fake Lady and the Tramp copies (along with many other Disney titles) with fake holograms (made to look genuine) on eBay. The case (although navy) is a very slight different shade as well but most people don't notice the difference.
Thank you so much for the advice, I shall be sure to keep that in mind! I remember a few years a go when I first starting collecting Disney films I ordered second hand copies of Snow White, Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King from a seller on Play. Snow White and Beauty and the Beast never arrived and as soon as I received The Lion King I knew it was a bootleg copy, fortunately I got my money back and contacted Play...though a month later I noticed the seller was selling other Disney DVDs more than likely fake, goodness knows how they're allowed to get away with it! Luckily I managed to eventually track down a genuine copy of The Lion King PE shortly after
I love The Little Mermaid and Ariel
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