Amazon.com video review:
All nine of Disney's first collection of animated classics on DVD are
included in
this set. Some of the nine titles include bonus features, and the DVD format will provide
optimum sound and picture quality for the young and old collector alike.
The crown jewels are Pinocchio and The Little Mermaid. The
former celebrates its 60th anniversary with a brand new print, while the latter
is the 1989 film that revitalized Disney's animation wing and brought new
audiences to the art form. Both offer Oscar-winning songs. Two of the
popular classics from the '60s are represented with 101 Dalmatians and The Jungle Book, which was the
last
animated feature that Walt Disney directly worked on and which saved the
animation department when it was a box-office hit in 1967. Hercules and Mulan make great strides
in the look of animation. The mythical figures of the former are based on
the radical designs of Gerald Scarfe, and the latter makes bold advancements
in computer animation in the refreshingly unknown legend of a Chinese girl.
The collection rounds out with Lady and the Tramp in a
grand widescreen format, the charming Peter Pan that hardly
shows its age, and 1998's The Lion King II: Simba's
Pride, a made-for-video sequel. Although the sequel is entertaining,
it's
frustrating to note the original The Lion King has been kept out of
circulation completely for a few years (as Disney does with many classics),
gearing towards a grand future release into theaters. --Doug Thomas
Amazon.com video review:
Back in 1961, Walt Disney got a little hip with 101 Dalmatians,
making use of that flat Saturday morning cartoon
style that had become so popular. The result is a kitschy change in
animation and story. Pongo and Perdita are two lonely
dalmatians who meet cute in a London park and arrange for their pet humans
to marry so they can live together and raise a
family. They become proud parents of 15 pups, who are stolen by the
dastardly Cruella De Vil, who wants to make a fur coat
out of them. Cruella has become the most popular villain in all of Disney;
she's flamboyantly nasty and lots of fun. But
it's the dalmatians who shine in this endearing classic, particularly those
precocious pups. Telling the story from the
dogs' point of view is a clever conceit, a fundamental flaw of the
live-action remake. --Bill Desowitz
