Cinderella

Click to Buy	Ratings Summary (Scored out of a maximum of five)
	Audio		Video
	Goodies		Interface
	Value

The Movie

Glass slipper fans everywhere can finally put aside their old, worn-out
VHS copy of Cinderella and rejoice. Nominated for three Academy
Awards in 1950, Cinderella has been theatrically released six times,
but languished in the Disney vault almost 10 years. During that time,
Cinderella became the most requested Disney title for release,
even above Snow White and The Lion King. Happily, it was
all worth the wait. Cinderella is a visual and audio delight, and
the sixth release in Disney’s Platinum Edition DVDs.

It’s not necessary to retell the story of Cinderella here, since it is
arguably the most well-known and beloved of fairy tales. The animated
Disney version is seen as the quintessential telling of the story. Cinderella’s
transformation from scullery maid to princess is told simply and eloquently
through the wonderful use of song, endearing characters and unique visual
style that became the hallmark of Disney animation.

The film has been in the Disney vault since 1987 and never before released
as a DVD. It’s gone through a painstaking restoration with the use of
state of the art digital technology and looks stunning. Film restoration
experts carefully cleaned the aging film while audio experts removed the
“hiss” generally found on older film soundtracks.

Fairy Godmother taking some measurements. &copy Disney.

The Goodies

Disc 1

Cinderella Stories presented by ESPN Classics—NFL Hall of Fame quarterback
Joe Namath hosts video and studio profiles of some of history’s most inspirational
true-life tales including his own story, the 1980 U.S. Olympic Hockey
Team, Kirk Gibson, Lance Armstrong, and more. Very strange, yet not strange
when you consider the fact that ESPN is a part of the Disney family. The
very extended Disney family makes many appearances in this DVD set; some
successfully, others not so much. I would rank Cinderella Stories in the
“not so much” category. Even Joe Namath looks sheepish introducing
the first of several presumably interesting sports stories.

Music Videos

“A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes” is a pop rendition of
the classic song done by Disney Channel stars. The second of many Disney-family
tie-ins, this time with young actors who secretly want to be pop stars.
The video also includes requisite “making of ” featurette. Embarrassing
for grown-ups to watch, but your kids will be as glued to it as mine were.

“Every Girl can Be a Princess”—recycled from Disney’s
Princess Tea Party CD. This song was recorded by Susan Egan, who, among
other Disney roles, played the original Belle in Broadway’s Beauty and
the Beast. She has a beautiful voice, and the song itself is not half
bad. The song is accompanied by clips of Disney princesses, starring you-know-who.

Disc 2

Deleted Scenes

“The Cinderella Work Song” and “Dancing on a Cloud”
are two songs that didn’t make it to the final film, and are presented
with original storyboards. The original demo recording of “Dancing
On a Cloud” survived; however, only the sheet music survived of the
“Cinderella Work Song,” so a new recording was made.

Storyboard image from The Cinderella Work Song. &copy Disney.

Backstage Disney

“From Walt’s Table: a tribute to Disney’s Nine Old men”

During Disney’s golden age, Walt would frequently lunch with is top animators
and story men at Los Angeles’ Tam O’Shanter restaurant, where the team
would discuss current projects. One of these was Cinderella—one
of only three films all Nine Old Men worked on together. Film Critic Joel
Siegel serves as host to a panel of animators, including Brad Bird, Glene
Keane, and Andreas Deja, at the Tam O’Shanter who discuss the group’s
influence on today’s animated films. Brad Bird related how he would bring
early reels of The Incredibles to Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston to critique.
“”It was gratifying to see the admiration and respect current
animators have for the Nine Old Men, and how their work has been influenced
from childhood by watching the early pioneers of animation.

Disney’s Nine Old Men. &copy Disney.

From Rags to Riches: the Making of Cinderella.

This featurette emphasizes the importance of Cinderella to the
studio, which had not had a commercial success with feature-length animated
films since Snow White. Disney had wanted to make the fairy tale of Cinderella
into a film for many years and took a gamble in 1950, hoping the film
would turn a profit and in effect, save the studio. Fortunately, the film
was a smash hit from its first release.

The featurette also has many interviews with the voice actors, including
the singing voice of Prince Charming Michael Douglas, who spontaneously
sings along to his original recording of “So This Is Love,”
and is still in fine voice. Ilene Woods, the voice of Cinderella, relates
her own Cinderella story of recording the demo tracks for the film, never
dreaming she would be considered for the role until Walt Disney heard
her voice on the demos and hired her sight unseen. The infamous voice
of Cruella De Vil in 101 Dalmatians, Betty Lou Gerson, does a surprise
turn as the mild, soothing voice of the narrator in the beginning of the
film. All the principal animators are featured explaining what each brought
to the finished film. Many interviews were recorded years previously but
the audio and video quality are fine, and the insights still fresh and
insightful. Most interesting to me was the way much of the film was shot
in live action format, then transferred, and—in some cases—traced,
to animation format. The only exceptions to this were the animal characters,
giving animators much more free rein to be creative.

Cinderella and her prince at the ball. &copy Disney.

The Cinderella that Almost Was

In doing research for the DVD, an envelope was found in the Disney Archives—one
that had not been opened since 1949. It was filled with a full set of
photographs for a storyboard version of Cinderella that is somewhat
different from the final film as we know it. Don Hahn, the producer of
Beauty and the Beast, goes over the storyboards and explains why
particular scenes may have been altered or cut. Using the storyboard sketches,
Hahn walks us through several scenes that were scrapped in the final version,
and dramatized are actual notes Walt Disney made during story development.
The original ending shows Cinderella being brought to the castle, still
in her work dress, to meet the prince. Will he still see the girl he fell
in love with at the ball? Of course, but Walt Disney felt a more dramatic
ending was necessary—thus the wedding bells and cheers of the kingdom
as Cinderella and her prince drive off in the carriage.

The Art of Mary Blair

One of the best featurettes on the disc, “The Art of Mary Blair,”
takes a look back at the remarkable career of one of Disney’s most talented
and beloved art director/color stylists responsible for the look of Cinderella,
Alice in Wonderland, Three Caballeros, Saludos Amigos,
So Dear to My Heart, and many other animated short films of the
1950s. The influence of Blair’s artwork and innovative use of color is
influencing animators today. The featurette also shows wonderful early
footage of Blair developing the attraction “it’s a small world.”

Concept art by Mary Blair. &copy Disney.

Storyboard to Film Comparison—Opening Sequence

To assist in the animation of Cinderella, Walt Disney had most
of the scenes involving human characters filmed using real actors in costume.
The storyboards for Cinderella provide a unique blend of Photostat
copies of still frames from this film intermingled with traditional hand
drawn artists’ renditions. This segment presents a split screen for the
opening sequence of the movie, comparing a sampling of these fascinating
and unusual storyboards with the final film.

1922 Cinderella Laugh-O-grams: Cinderella

A look back at the early days of Walt Disney’s career, highlighting Walt’s
unusual black-and-white, silent animation—the earliest existing animation
done by Disney.

Excerpt from “The Mickey Mouse Club” with Helene Stanley (original
Air date: January 24, 1956.) Helene Stanley was the live action model
used for Cinderella, and she gamely sings some of the songs from the film
and interacts with the Mouseketeers.

Mice prepare to help Cinderella. &copy Disney.

Theatrical Trailers

This section contains the original release trailer and reissue trailers
from 1965, 1973, 1981, and 1987. The main reason to watch the trailers
is to see how trailers themselves have changed over the years. Additionally,
seeing the sad condition of the film in the trailers makes you feel even
more grateful for the restored DVD version.

Games and Activities

“The House of Royalty” features fashion designer Isaac Mizrahi
and some of the cast from Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. “Sally,”
(Alyson Stoner) from Mike’s Super Short Show on the Disney Channel,
does a dress makeover with Mizrahi and a room makeover with Paul DiMeo,
Michael Moloney, and Constance Ramos (sorry, Ty fans.) The featurette
reeks of ABC tie-ins, but as with the other advertising ploys, your children
will overlook it to see some of their favorite TV personalities. At least
it is a more logical choice than the “ESPN Cinderella Stories.”

“The Royal Life DVD-ROM Design Studio”

There are three games on the DVD-ROM: Princess Gown Designer, Palace
Designer, and Dream Room Makeover. All three are similar in style; kids
can click on various options and create various rooms and dresses. One
interesting feature allows kids to place their own picture (either scanned
or from digital files already on the computer) on the mannequin. The games
are best suited for children ages 5 to 9.

“Princess Pajama Jam” is a recycled featurette from Disney
Princess Party Vol. 2. It’s a dance session with a narrator calling
out moves like at a square dance while clips of princesses play on the
screen. Only interesting to very young children.

Music and More

This section contains many of the original demo recordings for songs
that were eventually cut from the final film, including “Dancing
on a Cloud,” discussed by Don Hahn in the previous featurette. It
also contains the complete title song “Cinderella“ as an original
demo recording.

The Video, Audio and Interface

The interface is animated and matches well with the visuals of the film.
Since there are so many special features on both discs, children (and
adults) can become a bit muddled trying to find the particular song or
feature they would like to watch. The DVD guide that comes with this version
has a navigational overview which is very helpful, so I would suggest
keeping it near the remote until the family gets familiar with the features.

&copy Disney.

The Final Evaluation

Even if the DVD had no bonus features at all, the movie by itself is
a must-own for most Disney animation fans. The many featurette are icing
on the cake. Sure, there are a few clinkers with some of the ABC and Disney
channel tie-ins, but overall this is an extremely detailed and high quality
release.

And they lived happily ever after. &copy Disney.