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Peter Pan Platinum Edition
Original Theatrical Release: February 5, 1953 | Running Time: 77 Minutes | Rating: G
The story of Peter Pan has been a favorite of my family ever since the kids were old enough to sit still and watch movies. We have almost every filmed version of the story in our collection, from Mary Martin’s black-and-white stage version to Universal’s excellent live action Peter Pan, made in 2003. But of course, the definitive version for any Disney fan is Walt’s version, originally released in 1953. A few versions have been out on the market, but collectors have eagerly awaited the Platinum Version, as the pinnacle of Peter Panny-goodness. However, after reviewing this long-awaited edition, I’m sad to admit I’m a bit underwhelmed with the lack of new extras and insight to this Disney classic.
Disc One
The Movie
As any self-respecting Disney fan will know, the screenplay for Peter Pan is based on the stage play by J.M. Barrie, the Scottish playwright who brought Peter Pan to life in 1904. Walt Disney was a young boy when he saw a version of the stage play come to his town in with Maude Adams playing the title role. He never forgot his excitement as a child seeing the play and as early as 1937 began developing a screenplay, following the success of Snow White. Not until World War II was over were the Disney studios able to finish the project. Peter Pan was one of only three Disney films to include the work of all nine of Walt’s “Nine Old Men” as directing animators. The Disney version of Peter Pan was a huge hit for the studio and is a perfect example of a film staying true to the spirit of its source material while adding new storylines and character personalities, not to mention lovely songs and music.
© Disney
The Goodies – Disc one
Audio Commentary – The commentary is recycled from the Special Edition release, however it’s one of the more complete and interesting commentaries made for a Disney feature. Roy Disney hosts the commentary and introduces the players involved with the making of the film. Kathryn Beaumont, Leonard Maltin, Ollie Johnston, Ward Kimball, Margaret Kerry, Walt Disney and several others give their insights and reminisce about the film. Of course, none of the contributors are in the room together watching the film as they comment on it as is usually the case with a film commentary; the producers have done a nice job of matching the comments with the action and storyline on screen at that moment.
Peter’s Playful Prank: Storybook – Another carryover from the Special Edition, this storybook feature can be used in two ways; either read aloud by the viewer and controlled by remote when the reader is ready to move on, or automatically read by a narrator from start to finish. Due to the simplicity of the story, this goodie will only appeal to the youngest Pan fans.
Tinker Bell: Sneak Peak – I know I have vowed to be fair in my judgment of direct to video sequels, but…Ug. See my comments below in the “Tinker Bell: a Fairy’s Tale.”
The Goodies – Disc Two
Disc Two has several excellent (if brief) featurettes combined with lots of what I consider filler material. Some of the more noteworthy extras include:
Peter Pan’s Virtual Flight – I was hoping for a virtual ride through the Peter Pan attraction, as was included in the Little Mermaid Platinum Edition with the proposed Little Mermaid ride, but no such luck. Instead, we are taken on a CGI created flight through London and Never Land with Peter Pan giving the tour. Viewers can choose a looping version which will eliminate the narration and keep the orchestration. Maybe it’s just my sour grapes over not getting any footage of the actual Peter Pan attraction, but the virtual flight only held my attention for a few minutes.
Deleted song: “The Pirate Song” 2:20 – This song was ultimately deleted from the final version of the film, but the storyboards remain and are paired with the demo version to approximate what might have been. It’s similar to “The Elegant Captain Hook,” the song that did survive to the final cut, so the filmmakers must have thought it redundant.
Two featurettes combine to make a lovely little segment. In “Never Land: The lost Song” (2:37) and music video “Never Land Performed by Page O’Hara” (3:13), Richard Sherman explains how he took the lyrics to “Never land,” written in 1940, and added new music to create a song that blends nicely with the rest of the song catalog of the film. The featurette automatically continues to the music video with Page O’Hara (voice of Belle from Beauty and the Beast) doing the vocals for the simple yet pleasing song. It was nice to see O’Hara still in fine voice, and the video is very low-tech (in a good, refreshing way).
An example of high tech in a bad, head-splitting way is the music video “The Second Star to the Right” performed by T-Squad. The last time I had the pleasure of hearing T-Squad, they were shilling their first Disney Channel video for Jump In! Their rendition of “Second Star to the Right” is one of the more dreadful I have heard, and I have all of the Disney Mania CDs. Paige O’Hara, where are you when we need you?
© Disney
The Backstage Disney section lists many featurettes, but they tend to repeat themselves and overlap in their information. “You Can Fly: the Making of Peter Pan” (15:57) is a feature imported from the Special Edition disc and is an interesting but brief look at the voice actors, storyboarding process and history of Peter Pan. Much of the visuals and information is repeated in “In Walt’s Words: Why I made Peter Pan” (7:39). This featurette has the interesting angle of having a voice actor interpret an article written by Walt Disney around the time the movie originally came out in 1953.
In “Tinker Bell: A Fairy’s Tale” (8:26), Tink gets center stage with interviews from Ollie Johnston and Margaret Kerry, supervising animator and live action model. Here again, some of Johnston’s and Kerry’s comments about Tinker Bell are the same used in the commentary and in the other featurettes. It is interesting to see how the decision came about to use Tinker Bell as the iconic image for Walt’s new park that opened just two years after the film was released. Less interesting is the shameless plug for the new Tinker Bell movie, which is scheduled to debut this fall, though I have read talk of the release being pushed back to 2008 or beyond due to various story and production problems.
“The Peter Pan That Almost Was” (20:57) is one of the most interesting special features, for it focuses on the various ideas and storylines that were considered over the years before the final version was filmed. Much of the artwork was much darker and more menacing in earlier versions, and even different motivations for Peter coming to the Darling family had been discussed.
“The Peter Pan Story 1952 Featurette” (12:05) is a holdover from the Special Edition and is a fun, black-and-white look back in time when the movie was first coming out in theaters.
Under the games and activities section comes a group of remote games targeted at kids 5 to 9 years old. The quality of the games are a little better than one would see in a standard direct-to-DVD release, but are still slow-loading and simplistic. In an effort to be current, they include “Smee’s Sudoku Challenge,” which begins as a basic Sudoku game using symbols from the movie instead of numbers, such as Peter Pan’s hat. I’m unsure why they titled it Smee’s Sudoku, since he neither narrates the game nor appears in it, but Sudoku it certainly is. In “Tarrrget Practice,” kids can use the remote to launch rocks at targets drawn to approximate the film’s various villains—heaven forbid we smack the actual animated Captain Hook with a stone. I’m not a big fan of the remote-based games that Disney adds to their DVD releases, but I’m sure children younger than my own must enjoy them.
Audio, Video and Interface
As seen in Platinum Editions like Cinderella, Peter Pan is a brand new digital restoration, upgraded from the 2002 Special Edition release. It’s almost impossible to emphasize the beauty of this new transfer. Colors are rich, deep and vibrant. Every leaf, flower and London streetlight has been restored to its rightful color. Even Peter’s hair is a more flattering auburn tone. The film is presented in the aspect ratio in which the film was originally created: 1.33:1. There are three different audio tracks to choose from: a brand new 5.1 Disney Enhanced Home Theater Mix, Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound, and the original 1.0 mono track for strict purists who wish to hear the movie as it probably sounded in theatres during its theatre release. The interface utilizes the beautiful new color and sound for all the menus and sub-menus and is organized well for even the very young to manage.
Final Thoughts
I have mixed feelings about the Peter Pan Platinum Edition. On the one hand, the look and sound of this latest edition is stunning. It is obvious that much time and care was put into the details of restoring the film. On the other hand, the usually abundant and original goodies that normally make up a Platinum Edition are simply not there. Is it worth adding to your collection? Even if you already have the Special Edition, I would still have to say yes, due to the beautiful new digital transfer. The retail price is listed at $29.99 but I have seen it in several stores for significantly less. Enjoy it and pray that the new Tinker Bell series will not tarnish Peter Pan‘s newly restored luster.
