Peter Pan 65th Anniversary Edition - Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Peter Pan 65th Anniversary Edition

Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score: ​

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Movie
Before I got any farther I’ve got to say that I’m a Disney classics nut. I have collected every single Disney animated classic since I got a beat up old copy of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves as a 6 year old child for Christmas. Though I love each and every one of the Disney animated classics I have to say that Peter Pan is in my top 5. It’s every child’s dream to go off to a world of magic and adventure, to never grow up, fight pirates and battle the Indians all the while living in a tree fort and doing what you want, when you want. Some of Disney’s animated classics are a bit more miss than they are hit sometimes, but Peter Pan manages to strike the bulls-eye in just about every category. It appeals to girls, to boys and like most Disney classics is actually an adult tale with a child’s story veneer over the top.

Our tale begins with the Darling family, John (the oldest), Michael (the tyke) and Wendy (the motherly older sister). Wendy has told the boys countless tales of the mysterious boy, Peter Pan, who lives in a magical realm called Neverland, battling the ferocious captain Hook all the while leading a merry pack of children who never grow up. Mr. and Mrs. Darling are less than pleased with the way Wendy has been filling the two youngest children’s head with fanciful tales and vows that this is the last night that Wendy can stay in the nursery and mother the two youngest. As they say, it’s time for her to grow up. However, as the parents are gone at a dinner party Peter Pan decides to make an entrance and whisk the children off to Neverland, where they never have to grow up.

Overjoyed, the three children, with the help of some pixie dust, fly off to Neverland and start their adventures. They battle Captain Hook, parlay with some Indians and generally live the fantasy life of young children. Now the problem comes in the form of Tinkerbell, Peter Pan’s confidant and pixie friend. Tink is WILDLY jealous of Wendy and is terrified that Wendy is going to take Peter away from her. Using multiple cruel techniques Tink has the lost boys try to kill Wendy; has the mermaids try to drown her and even betrays the lost boys teaming up with the evil Captain Hook to achieve her jealous ends. As with all fantasy adventures, everything must come to an end; Wendy realizes that it’s time for her to grow up and take responsibility for her actions rather than running away from them and the threesome end up back in their beds with nary an hour or so gone by in the real world.

As a child I saw nothing but the fantasy veneer that Disney had created for us. Pirates, Indians and flying around, never having to do chores. However, as an adult I can see that there is a much more complex story beneath the surface. At first glance it appears that NONE of the children, Peter included, have very many redeeming qualities. While nice at the surface, Peter is a wildly selfish boy who wants to do nothing but horse around all the time. Wendy doesn’t want to grow up and will run away to do so, John and Michael are in a similar boat, they would rather play than deal with Life. Last, but not least we have Tinkerbell, a pixie who is so wildly jealous that she will do whatever it takes and hurt whoever she has to in order to achieve her selfish goal of having Peter all to herself.

At a second glance I realized the point that was being shown. These are children, what we see are the selfish, heedless acts of children. We’ve all been there at one time or another. When we were kids we didn’t have a care in the world, besides going outside and playing with our friends, or griping that our parents wouldn’t let us play enough Nintendo (yes I just dated myself there). Neverland is a place where the inhabitants never grew up and we see a light hearted peak into a world where maturity and responsibility didn’t exist. On the surface it’s fun and cute, but underneath it paints a perfect picture of the chaos and disharmony that a childlike immaturity taken too far can create.




Rating:

Rated G for General Audiences by the MPAA




Video:

Yup, typical of the signature edition releases, this is the EXACT same encode as the older Diamond edition release, but that is nothing to be ashamed of. The Diamond editions (and now signature editions) of Disney animated classics has created some controversy in the film world. Disney has come and re-touched up quite a few of their Diamond releases more than other releases of the movies. There has been some color tuning, some grain removal and a few frames have been re-touched up. The purists argue that any altering of the film in any way ruins the artistic merits of the film, while the other side enjoys the slight touches and tweaks that Disney has done to their films. Myself personally, I fall a bit in the middle. I understand and see the slippery slope when a studio messes with their films and utilizes DNR to remove things like grain, but the occasional color tweak to a faded old animated cell can breathe new life and color (literally) into the experience.

Peter Pan is one of Disney’s finest “tweak jobs” to date in my opinion. Grain is most apparently gone, but there doesn’t seem to be any wild signs of rampant negative DNR on the rest of the film. The colors literally explode off of the screen with rich and deep shades of blue, green and red. Shadows are well defined and detail is absolutely exquisite. You can see the peeling paint and texture of the wall frame next to John and Michael’s bed and the lines are beautifully rendered on screen. Unlike Cinderella, there doesn’t appear to be any missing lines in the re-tuning process and jaggies are nowhere to be seen. As per usual Disney standards the disc is given lots of room to breathe and there doesn’t appear to be any digital artifacting whatsoever. I give high props to Disney for an encode and restoration well done.




Audio:

Being that this is the direct port of the audio mix from the Diamond Edition, I will quote what I said there. I was surprised to see Peter Pan get a 7.1 DTS-HD MA soundtrack considering source material. It may be a tad bit of overkill, but Disney does an excellent job of creating an immersive and engaging sound track. Surrounds are used moderately, but its usage is well done. Cannon balls whiz by the viewer’s ears, the sounds of flying surround us and the music utilizes all 7.1 speakers to create a totally immersive auditory experience. Dialogue is clean and centered in the front speakers as it should be. The only downside was that the dynamic range was just a tad weak. It very well may be part of the original recording, but there wasn’t a wild gambit of ranges from battle scenes to voices. LFE is mild and utilized to bolster the music and effects rather than create a thunderous cacophony of bass. Every once in a while a few lines show some wear and tear, but that’s to be expected in film from the 50s. As with the 7.1 track we are also give the original Mono track for those of you who are purists. Unfortunately Disney didn’t deign to give us a full lossless Mono track, but rather instead gave us a 192 kbps lossy track. While not a devastating loss, it does seem a shame that the bitrate couldn’t have been upgrade to full lossless for those of us who would have loved to have experienced the original audio in its full glory.







Extras:

• Stories from Walt's Office: Walt & Flight – "Think of the happiest things, it's the same as having wings". One thing you'll notice inside Walt Disney's office are all of the models and pictures of airplanes. Walt loved planes and was an aficionado of flying. As a continuation of the "Stories from Walt's Office" series, we'll soar into the world of one of Walt's favorite pastimes and look at the history behind the company airplane he used to scout Central Florida looking for the perfect place to build his second theme park.
• A "Darling" Conversation with Wendy & John: Kathryn Beaumont and Paul Collins – Join Disney Legend Kathryn Beaumont (the voice of Wendy) and Paul Collins (the voice of John) as they reunite for the first time in many years to reminisce and discuss their experiences working on Peter Pan, meeting Walt Disney and learning to fly … literally.
• You Can Fly" – A new "Oke" rendition and graphic look of the classic Disney song, "You Can Fly," with fun lyrics on screen and lots of your favorite "Peter Pan" characters.
• "Never Smile at a Crocodile" – A new "Oke" rendition and graphic look of the deleted song, "Never Smile at a Crocodile", with fun lyrics on screen and highlighting the relationship between Captain Hook and Tick- Tock the Crocodile.

LEGACY FEATURES
• DisneyView
• Sing-along Version of the film: Sing along with your favorite songs from the movie.
• Growing Up with Nine Old Men – "Peter Pan" is both a story of living with a child's sense of openness to the world and an acknowledgement that the path to adulthood most often leads away from those qualities. A parallel of sorts to that duality can be found in Walt Disney and his core group of animators, the Nine Old Men, in their lives and in their work. Our short film will look at who they were and the parts they played in one of the most remarkable team of artists that ever worked together.
• Deleted Song: "The Pirate's Song" – Original demo recording of the song played over concept art.
• Deleted Song: "Never Smile at a Crocodile" – With music played over static concept art of the crocodile from Pater Pan.
• Deleted Song: "The Boatswain Song" – With music played over static concept art of Captain Hook and his crew.
• Deleted Scene: "The Journey Home" – A proposed alternate ending where Peter asks the Lost Boys to return home with Wendy and the other children.
• Deleted Scene: "Alternate Arrival" – A deleted scene where Wendy and the children are initially attacked by the Lost Boys because Tinker Bell tells them that Wendy is holding Peter captive. We also see in this version of the story that Nana the dog travels to Never Land with Wendy and the children.
• Disney Song Select – Simply play the clip from the movie with subtitles underneath it.
- "The Second Star to the Right"
- "You Can Fly"
- "A Pirate's Life"
- "Following the Leader"
-"Your Mother and Mine"
• Audio Commentary Hosted by Roy Disney – Audio commentary hosted by Roy Disney, but carried on by several other people.
• Music and More
- "Never Land": The Lost Song – A bonus piece that sets up the backstory of where this lost song was found and how Richard Sherman recomposed it.
- Music Video: "Never Land" – Music Performed by Paige O'Hara – A music video of the song "Never Land"
- Music Video: "The Second Star to the Right" – Music Performed by T-Squad – A music video of the song "The Second Star to the Right" performed by T-Squad.
• Backstage Disney
- You Can Fly: The Making of 'Peter Pan' – A making-of video of the 1953 Disney classic, "Peter Pan."
- In Walt's Words: "Why I Made 'Peter Pan'" – Based upon an article written by Walt Disney retold as a dramatic recreation.
- Tinker Bell: A Fairy's Tale – An introspective video on the creation, history and personality of the one and only "Tink."
- The Peter Pan That Almost Was – Hosted by Ron Clements and John Musker, we take a look at the storyboards and early concepts of a version of the "Peter Pan" film that never saw the light of day.
- The "Peter Pan" Story – An original featurette for the film created in 1952.

Final Score: ​

Peter Pan is still one of Disney’s finest accomplishments, a classic when I was a child, and still just as much a classic today; Beautiful voice acting, incredible artistry and a multilayered story that can entertain both young and old alike. If you've purchased the previous Disney Blu-ray release of Peter Pan that is out of print then this is a bit of a hard sell to replace your previous discs. The audio and video encodes are the same as the vaulted Diamond Edition with just a smattering of new special features and new cover art to differentiate itself from it. HOWEVER, if you're one of the fans who missed out on getting it before Disney vaulted the discs, then this is just as great of a special edition as the Diamond Edition release and WELL worth picking up. Highly recommended.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: Bobby Driscoll, Kathryn Beaumont, Hans Conried
Directed by: Clyde Geronimi, Wilfred Jackson
Written by: J.M. Barrie, Ted Sears
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 AVC
Audio: English: DTS-HD MA 7.1, English DD 2.0 (Original), French, Spanish DD 5.1
Subtitles: English, English SDH, French, Spanish
Studio: Disney/Buena Vista
Rated: G
Runtime: 77 minutes
Blu-Ray Release Date: June 6th, 2018

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• Michael Scott
• May 11, 2017

Recommendation: Highly Recommended

 

[tripplej]

Thanks for the review. A great movie to have.