DVD Reviews: Bambi II and Lady and the Tramp
These Disney animated characters are no doubt a beloved part of your childhood. Now Bambi's story continues and the original Lady and the Tramp has been spiffed up for your home theater collection!
From Walt Disney Home Entertainment
Lady and the Tramp 50th Anniversary Platinum Edition
Classy little cocker spaniel Lady lives in a posh neighborhood and knows little about life on the streets until she meets Tramp, a scruffy but charming street dog, and the two fall in love. At home, Lady deals with the arrival of a new human baby in her "family" and two very snotty and trouble-making Siamese cats. When the baby is threatened by a large rat, it's Tramp to the rescue but the humans think he was trying to hurt the baby rather than save it and he's sent to the pound. It's up to Lady and her local neighborhood doggie pals to save Tramp and get the humans to see the truth before it's too late.
Video: The film was made in CinemaScope and you get the 2.35:1 Widescreen version here as well as a 1:33:1 ratio version. The widescreen rocks. The movie has been cleaned and restored frame-by frame and it looks totally beautiful. This 50-year-old film looks like it was made yesterday!
Audio: All new home theater mix 5.1 digital sounds great. The cute songs come through beautifully as do the voices and the ambient sound of carriages and doggie footprints. There is also a restored mono track in Dolby Digital 3.0 to choose from.
Special Features: On Disc 1 you get the option for playing the film full or wide screen and you get some trailers and the kinda unnecessary Disc 2 preview. There is a "fast play" option which takes you directly into some trailers and the movie. Disc 2 has all of the bonus features.
"Deleted Scenes" - (13 mins) There are a couple of cool never before seen deleted sequences which are fully illustrated with delightful storyboards and artwork. The first is "Turning the Tables" where Tramp shows us what it would be like if dogs were the masters and people were pets. Kinda bizarre but interesting. An unused concept is an expansion of the "Arrival of the Baby" scene with more verses for the lullaby "La La Lu", also cute. You get combined old and new voice recordings. Fun.
"Music and More" – This contains a very neat look back at the creation of the Siamese cat voices by singer Peggy Lee and others. Cute drawings, old behind the scenes footage and clips complete this fun 4 minute feature. There is a new music video for the song "Bella Notte" by a kind of strange-looking older guy over clips from the movie. Kinda weird. I'd just stick with the version you hear in the actual movie.
"Games & Activities" – Lots! Four parts here. There is a Virtual Puppy dealie on DVD-Rom where you can own various puppies. Pick one and figure out how to care for the new pet. Disney Dog Trivial is a cyber board game that sees how much you remember of Disney film dogs. You can play as a team or alone. Simple but fun. Going to the Dogs is around 9 minute "Puppypedia" about dogs and different breeds and is hosted by actor Fred Willard. Cute and informative. Your Inner Bark allows you to do a personal profile and find out which type of dog you would be. Lots of different versions.. really fun.
Then we have "Backstage Disney" – over 2 hours of extra stuff here on the making of the film; Breaking it down...Lady's Pedigree: The Making of Lady and the Tramp, about an hour long and with seven chapters you get the history of the story, voices, animation music, etc. There are nostalgic interviews with the children of many of the original animators and their memories of the time dad worked on the project.. Lots of old, beautiful artwork, photographs, video with Walt Disney himself etc. A really cool documentary
Finding Lady: The Art Of The Storyboard - 13 minutes of real detail on the development of the Lady character through her animators' storyboards. Interesting.. great drawings. The Disney historians dug around and found the Original 1943 Storyboard Version Of The Film with lots of large storyboards from 1943 when the beginning version of the story was very different. Lady was at home with the evil cats (then named Nip and Tuck not Si and Am) and the rat.. no Tramp to fall in love with. Artist Eric Goldberg and story man Burny Mattinson voice the characters and talk us through as if they are pitching the idea. Very interesting and quite different from the final product we know.
"Excerpts From "Disneyland" TV Shows" –These are from the "Disneyland" TV show where the then upcoming Lady and the Tramp film was introduced. These ran in the early 1950's and dealt with the new characters and then the new songs written for the film. About 45 minutes and great nostalgia. We also have Galleries with tons of characters, storyboards, backgrounds, production notes, etc. Lots to look at. Then you get the original 1955 theatrical trailer and a short 1972 and 1896 re-issue trailers.
Wrapping Up: Lady and the Tramp is a charming, warm, beautifully drawn classic with some really fun songs as well. It doesn't get any better than this ultimate restored version with tons of features to keep you and the family entertained for ages. A must have for your collection! Just beautiful.
Bambi II
After losing his mom to a hunter's bullet, little fawn Bambi is alone until his dad, the Prince of the Forest [voiced by Patrick Stewart] agrees to try and raise him until a suitable doe can be found for the job. Bambi is desperate to impress his dad with his courage, athletic ability...anything. After a lot of failed attempts, his courage comes through and he and his dad strongly bond. He also gets his antlers and impresses his lady love Feline. All his old forest friends Thumper, Flower, Owl etc. help him along his way and new rival Ronno tries to foil his attempts.
Video: Anamorphic 1.78:1 looks fine on your widescreen TV. The picture is amazing. Artists tried to copy the style and colors of the original Bambi film. The forest, the animals, everything looks beautiful like a great water color painting. Transfer is excellent. Extremely good.
Audio: Either Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS 5.1. Sound is listenable, not loud or bombastic. Mostly coming from front speakers with some music in the surround areas. You can hear all the voices and an occasional forest noise comes out of a surround speaker. Fine for this kind of film.
Special Features: A few: Games and Activities include "Thumper's Hurry & Scurry" game, where Thumper plays high-and-seek, and you look for him using your remote control. Simplistic but cute. "Disney Sketch Pad," has animator Andreas Deja showing you how to draw Thumper. If you put the disc in your computer DVD-Rom drive you can print out more examples etc. Very cute if you like to draw especially.
There is an 8 minute making-of featurette called "The Legacy Continues," that tells you how filmmakers were determined to keep up the quality and feel of the original movie and the young voice actors are quite cute as you see them recording their work. You can turn on "Bambi's Trivia Tracks" while watching the movie and some trivia info will pop up on the screen every few seconds. Interesting.
I'm lousy at finding hidden Easter egg features on DVDs but my friend tells me that there is a way to manually switch between two menu seasonal styles. Go from Winter to Spring when you bring up the DVD's Main Menu and highlight the 'Bonus Features' menu entry. Now press the 'Right' directional key on your remote control. Winter will highlight a snowflake. Spring will highlight a leaf. Press the 'Enter' key now and you will switch to the alternate menu theme.
Wrapping Up: Disney filmmakers have done a great job making this movie a seamless transition and maybe a more uplifting end to Bambi's story if you still can't get over the little fawn's mom being shot in the first film. This dad/son bonding film is really very simplistic..maybe more for your younger bro or sis and it seems to say that boys have to be heroic to get their dads' attention but it's enjoyable none-the-less. Songs are pleasant if not chart-busters. If you don't add this DVD to your collection, I'll lay odds your mom or dad will. It's just a great way to wrap up the Bambi experience.
***
Lynn Barker is a Hollywood-based entertainment journalist and produced screenwriter.
