Top positive review
4.0 out of 5 starsThe only way to go, here in the UK
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 18 January 2014
I'd been wanting to see this movie since it came out, but it has become clear it will not be seeing a UK release so I went ahead and bought it. The seller got it to me VERY quickly, and it was brand new at a very low price. So, I'd definitely recommend the seller.
The movie is another thing. On its own it's merely okay, as might be expected from a movie about the Disney company...being released by the Disney company...and directed by a longtime member of the Disney company. The executive characters who were instrumental in the story at this time are still major power-players and clearly had some influence over their depiction in this documentary. Perhaps the tale would have been better told by a more independently created source, but the use of archival footage and interviews both new and old is appropriate and as accurate as might be expected.
The DVD, however, really boosts the movie with some excellent extras: there's a commentary by the director and the producer (the latter an unflattering subject in the movie); there are the lovely 'home movie' studio tours that were part of the footage used for the movie; the usual deleted scenes take on a whole new import as we see a bit of a sub-plot that was excised from the final cut and get even more insight into the goings-on of the once-languishing Disney animation department.
As a Disney fan/critic, I had hoped for more from this film. However, it does tell an essential tale about a shocking turn in the world's most powerful producer of animated features, and does hammer home the realisation that, had things gone differently during the period covered, Disney animation would have been a legacy left rather than a longstanding tradition.
