The DVD has seven charming episodes which will delight toddlers and pre-schoolers as Charley takes them into the realms of his vivid imagination. James Corden, best known for his character ‘Smithy’ in Gavin and Stacey, narrates the series. He keeps a watchful eye on the cuddly Charley, whose sense of adventure can sometimes lead him into some comical situations.

Each seven minute episode sees the playful teddy bear embark on a new adventure along with his friends Bellarina the ballerina, Caramel the cow, Midge the teddy bear, Frozo the penguin, Rivet the Robot and Nibblet the rabbit – all gently guided by the narrator. Episodes include Charley donning his sheriff badge in Wild West Caramel, taking to the stage as Pop Star Charley and showing his artistic side in Art in the Park. Children will delight in exploring their own creativity and imagination as Charley inspires them to use everyday objects to invent new worlds in which to play.

Parents will love this DVD. It offers beautiful animation and short bite-size episodes that are gentle enough to be viewed before bedtime. James Corden, now a new father himself, adds a comical dimension and charms little ones and grownups alike with his gentle teasing of the fun loving Charley.

Special features

The DVD extras include a lovely introduction to Charley Bear and his friends, as well as a bonus episode to delight the teddy bear’s pre-school fans. The magical world of Little Charley Bear can continue away from the DVD player with a collection of downloadable colouring sheets as well.

It really is amazing what you can do with your imagination and Little Charley Bear is guaranteed to become a family favourite.

You can win a copy of ‘Are you there, Charley Bear?’ on DVD with us at WhatDVD.Net right here.

The DVD contains five exciting episodes which are guaranteed to grip toddlers and pre-schoolers alike. The action packed storylines will thrill little ones with plenty of flashing lights and speeding ‘nee naws’, guaranteeing parents 50 minutes of unadulterated peace and quiet.

The DVD offers parents great flexibility with options to select individual episodes, each ten minutes long, or to let it run for the full 50 minutes allowing adequate time to get the dinner on or catch up on some emails.

The stories revolve around our hero Fireman Sam and the likeable cast of Pontypandy. There are a host of mishaps and happenings that befall the residents of this idyllic Welsh village and the fire crew arrives on cue to rescue their friends each and every time. The DVD will not only entertain budding fire-fighters but also provides guidance on important issues such as how to avoid accidents, fire safety and the importance of following directions. Fireman Sam is educational as well as entertaining!

Special features

Extras included on the DVD are a Fireman Sam Weblink and a photo gallery. The photo gallery is a simple but effective feature. Toddlers and pre-schoolers will love viewing the gallery and recounting the tales they have just watched supporting their learning in the area of story comprehension.

This DVD comes highly recommended and will entertain both staunch fans of Fireman Sam as well as those children new to this lovable hero. With positive messages for children and entertaining storylines in manageable 10 minute episodes it is a great addition to the family DVD collection.

It’s fair to say that the dearly departed William Hanna and Joseph Barbera had a knack for creating memorable cartoons characters. The list is as long as your arm – Top Cat, Hong Kong Phooey, Wacky Races, Scooby Doo, hairy testicle-with-a-face Captain Caveman and the wily Yogi Bear. So, as Hollywood is eating itself alive, it comes as no surprise that one or two of them may be in line for a re-boot.

So, following on from the CGI / live action hi-jinks of the likes of Garfield, Yogi Bear is given a 3D spit and polish before being trotted out to a younger audience whose parents may have some fond memories of Hanna Barbera’s classic picker-nick basket-swiping ursoid.

Being a film aimed at the kiddies, the plot is somewhat simple. Ranger Smith (Scrubs’ Tom Cavanagh) is gearing up for Jellystone Park’s 100th birthday celebrations, and crosses paths with Rachel (Anna Faris) who wishes to make a documentary about Yogi and Boo Boo. Meanwhile, Mayor Brown (Andrew Daly) wants to close the park down and sell the land to balance his budget, and in doing so, recruits dunderheaded Ranger Jones (T. J. Miller), with the promise of making him Head Ranger if he assists him. It’s up to the good guys to rescue the park, and set against the Machiavellian backdrop, Yogi busies himself in his quest for food, but inevitably gets in everyone’s bidness.

Dan Akroyd takes on the vocal duties for Yogi, with Justin Timberlake handling sidekick and voice of reason Boo Boo. This initially seems like a piece of stunt casting, but snakehips Timberlake is surprisingly good; in fact, I completely forgot it was him during the course of the film. It’s a slightly different story with Akroyd, however – he does an admirable job, but he sounds like he’s trying too too hard. He was reportedly sent tapes made by understudies of Daws Butler, the original voice behind Yogi, to explain how to mimic his distinctive delivery, put the portly Ghostbuster refused to listen to them and instead delivered his own take. You mess with a classic at your own peril, and this backfires on him – after two minutes, it’s like nails scraping down a blackboard.

The humans in the film do a decent job, despite laying things on a little thick. Cavanagh strikes a fair balance between manly ranger and love-struck mush-head, Faris hits the right note as the weird, unfeasibly attractive scientist, Miller does a good knucklehead and Daly has a ball as the sleazy Mayor.

So, is it any good? I’m afraid that the answer is no. So, I hear you cry, it’s a load of old toot then? Not quite. It’s far worse than that. Yogi Bear is a textbook example of crushing mediocrity. Everything about the script, from the wooden dialogue and the telegraphed slapstick to the obvious foreshadowing and lazy storytelling (Yogi in a reality TV show? Pfft) indicates that no one has even tried to make a good movie here. It’s a pity, because Yogi is a classic character, the actors are up for it, there’s a Wilhelm Scream and the CGI is uniformly excellent – just check out Yogi’s wet fur when he’s waterskiing.

Yogi Bear is a film that will bore adults and kiddywinks alike. Pixar has shown other film studios the success that can be reaped by investing in a great script. However, instead of putting one in the back of the net in the name of retro charm, Yogi Bear toe-bungs against the crossbar Ronny Rosenthal style.

Disney saw Fantasia as an experimental film and this is evident from the first segment which features the Philadelphia Orchestra playing “Toccata and Fugue in D Minor” to images that don’t tell a story but rather complement the music. Next up, is the Nutcracker Suite where a group of colourful pixies bring a nature setting vividly to life. The use of colour in this segment is astounding. The Sorcerer’s Apprentice is the film’s centerpiece and features Mickey Mouse as a hapless assistant to a powerful sorcerer. Charged with cleaning up the place, Mickey uses a bit of magic to make his job easier but with disastrous consequences.

The Rite of Spring is a brilliant, animated depiction of the creation of life on Earth as theorized by science. We see our planet in its infancy on up through the dinosaur age and the demise of these creatures. The Pastoral Symphony features Beethoven’s “Symphony No. 6” and is given a mythological makeover thanks to the Greeks. This segment includes all of their significant god and goddesses. We also get a herd of playful baby unicorns frolicking with young centaurs in this fascinating portion. Dance of the Hours depicts the passage of time through a ballet where animals such as ostriches and most notably a hippo are the dancers. Finally, Night on Bald Mountain/Ave Maria closes out the film. The former features the Devil and his minions celebrating but this eventually gives way to the hopefulness of the latter. The nightmarish imagery of the first part is very evocatively depicted.

Taking up where the last one left off in 1940, Fantasia 2000 (1999) sees Disney once again breaking free from the constraints of their past decade of high quality, yet formulaic animated films to produce a truly experimental cinematic experience. Always conceived of as a work in progress, Fantasia 2000 pushes the envelope not only in terms of content and style (often dispensing with narrative altogether and using state of the art animation techniques as well as established, older ones), but in the realm of technology by creating an animated film exclusively for IMAX movie theaters. This is truly an amazing accomplishment when you realize that making any film, let alone an animated one on the specialized IMAX cameras (where the film stock is many times larger than normal 35mm and is very expensive to use) is an impressive achievement in and of itself.

This new Fantasia film is divided into eight segments, each introduced by a variety of entertainers (ranging from music producer Quincy Jones to magicians Penn and Teller) and with only one remaining from the original (the immensely popular The Sorcerer’s Apprentice) film. These segments range from the abstract, almost M.C. Escher-like The Rite of Spring, to a dazzling interpretation of Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Steadfast Tin Soldier.” Each segment is accompanied by beautifully orchestrated classical pieces of music as performed by the London Philharmonic.

Out of all the segments in Fantasia 2000, the highlight for me was Rhapsody in Blue, a jazzy Gershwin tune that accompanies a day in the life of 1940s New York City and done in the style of famous caricaturist Al Hirschfeld. The music perfectly complements and matches not only the style of animation but the action that is taking place as well. Besides being a marvel of technique, this sequence is a lot of fun to watch as we follow all sorts of characters (from a bratty little rich girl to a construction worker to an unemployed man) through their day. The marriage of Gershwin and Hirschfeld invokes the quintessential New York City mood as both artists were tied so closely to this city. The mixing of their respective art forms in this segment is nothing short of perfect and is a real joy to behold.

Fantasia 2000 is a fascinating experience for anyone who cares deeply about animation. While the non-narrative segments may not appeal to small children, there are two segments that feature Disney favourites, Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse, which they should love. However, like the best Disney animated films, Fantasia 2000 has universal appeal while still adhering to the original’s mandate to push the envelope technically and artistically. Hopefully, Disney will not wait another 60 years to produce another Fantasia film for us to enjoy.

Special Features:

A fantastic box set entitled, The Fantasia Anthology was released in 2000 to celebrate the first film’s 60th anniversary and contained a wealth of extra material. Sadly, most of it has not been carried over to this new version. What you do get is a newly restored transfer of both films and they have never looked or sounded better. Included from the previous box set is the commentary hosted by John Canemaker and the one by Roy Disney, James Levin, Canemaker and Scott MacQueen. Both are jam-packed with factoids and anecdotal information. New to this set is a commentary by Disney historian Brian Sibley.

Other new extras include “The Schultheis Notebook: A Disney Treasure,” a 14-minute featurette about the previously lost production notes for Fantasia and that sheds fascinating insight into the technical aspects of this film, an interactive Art Gallery, a feature-length documentary entitled, “Dali & Disney.” Making its debut on Blu-Ray is the 2003 animated short film Destino, which was a collaboration between Walt Disney and surrealist artist Salvador Dali.

For Fantasia 2000, included are the commentaries from the previous box set with a new extra entitled, “Musicana – Walt’s Inspiration for a Sequel to Fantasia”.

Set in London, 1897, the film begins with the kidnapping of a kind toymaker mouse by a nasty bat (Candido), leaving his young daughter Olivia (Pollatschek) all alone. Meanwhile, Dr. Dawson (Bettin) has recently arrived in London after living abroad for some time. He meets the distraught Olivia who has taken refuge in a discarded shoe in a rainy alleyway. She’s trying to find Basil (Ingham) of Baker Street, the famous mouse detective. Moved by her plight, Dawson decides to help her.

They soon find Basil, a whirlwind of energy and movement. He’s a master of disguise and very intelligent – within seconds he’s able to deduce Dawson’s past with his powers of perception and deduction. Olivia tells Basil about what happened to her father and we learn that the bat is in the employ of the mouse detective’s arch-nemesis, Professor Ratigan (Price), “a Napoleon of crime.” And so, Basil decides to help out Olivia with Dawson’s help.

The great Vincent Price lends his distinctive voice to the character of Ratigan and sounds like he’s having a blast playing a larger than life villain. Ratigan’s not afraid to punish his underlings, feeding one of them to an obese cat for calling him a rat. The actor has certainly played his share of criminal masterminds and so this was inspired casting – he even gets to sing!

The animation is excellent, blending computer with hand-drawn, and certainly up to the high standards of Disney. It’s very fluid in nature with beautifully rendered backgrounds that are rich in detail. For example, London is presented as a gloomy place with all sorts of nooks and crannies for danger to lurk. The scene where Basil and Dawson track the bat henchman through a toy store where the toys suddenly come to life is not only atmospheric but also exciting and one of the film’s highlights. This rather foreboding setting is tempered by a lot of broad humour as Basil is a bit of a goofball and Dawson his bumbling sidekick.

The film’s conceit – reimagining Sherlock Holmes and Watson as mice – is an inspired one and the filmmakers offer a few glimpses of how the mouse world mirrors the human one. The Great Mouse Detective is a good film but not a great one what with so-so musical numbers (including one sung by Melissa Manchester – remember her?) tempered with a memorable performance by Vincent Price.

Special Features:

There’s not too much difference from the previous DVD release for this film. New to this edition is a pretty superficial featurette entitled, “So You Think You Can Sleuth?” It gives a brief history of detectives and highlights some of the most famous in history. It also gives a brief example of a mystery for you to solve.

Ported over from the previous release is all-too brief “The Making of The Great Mouse Detective” which traces the origins of the film. It took more than four years to make blended computer animation with hand-drawn characters for the first time in Disney’s history. We see footage of the voice actors giving line readings while Vincent Price speaks highly of his character, expressing his joy at being able to appear in a Disney film.

Finally, there is “’The World’s Greatest Criminal Mind’ Sing-Along Song” which allows you to sing along with Professor Ratigan’s song and dance number.

Mr. Fox (Clooney) used to steal birds but has reformed his ways and is now a newspaper man. He is getting old and tired of living in a foxhole. So, he consults with his real estate agent Stan Weasel (Wes Anderson). Before he takes the plunge, Mr. Fox talks with his lawyer Clive Badger, Esq. (Murray) and ends up buying a treehouse so that he and his family can live in comfort. However, cousin Kristofferson (Eric Anderson) comes to visit and makes Ash (Schwartzman), Mr. Fox’s son, jealous with his athletic prowess. Meanwhile, in her spare time, Mrs. Fox (Streep) paints portraits of thunderstorms.

Mr. Fox decides to pull one more job stealing birds to eat but this one is his most ambitious gig to date. With the help of his landlord Kylie (Wolodarsky), he plans to steal chickens from farmer Boggis, then the next night geese from farmer Bunce, and finally the following night he steals some of farmer Bean’s cider from his secret cellar. Understandably upset, the three farmers get together and plan to kill Mr. Fox. As a result, he and his family are on the run and hunted. They have to call in the favours of all their friends if they hope to evade the farmers’ wrath.

Anderson still has an uncanny knack for picking just the right song for a given scene. Early on, Mr. and Mrs. Fox playfully yet stealthily circumvent a farmer to steal one his birds all scored to the melodical strains of “Heroes and Villains” by the Beach Boys. Later on, Anderson pulls out the obligatory Rolling Stones cue and scores a sequence to “Street Fighting Man.” There is something thrilling about seeing these vintage tracks pop up in an animated film – a genre that tends to rely on mainly orchestral music or more contemporary songs.

The stop-motion animation actually gives the film a personal, handcrafted feel that has been absent from Anderson’s recent work and harkens back to his first couple of efforts, which are the ones where most people first noticed and fell in love with his films. The animation is incredibly rendered and executed, reminiscent of the vintage Rankin and Bass cartoons that kids of Anderson’s generation (and beyond) grew up on. There is a tangible quality to the characters and their environment that is still missing from most computer animation.

As the Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009) progresses, it becomes apparent what drew Anderson to this project. Thematically, it fits right in with his other films. Mr. Fox is a charismatic yet rebellious patriarch, much like Royal in The Royal Tenenbaums and Steve Zissou in The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004). Furthermore, the Fox family is a highly intelligent dysfunctional one much like the family in Tenenbaums. The casting is spot on with George Clooney and Meryl Streep playing Mr. and Mrs. Fox. They banter back and forth like a couple from an old screwball comedy. Anderson has not forgotten what the majority of animated films not made by Pixar seem to have – that the best of the genre appeal to both kids and adults. Fantastic Mr. Fox does not talk down to kids and also still manages to appeal to the Anderson faithful. This film is a delightful, entertaining adventure well worth experiencing.

Special Features:

“From to Script to Screen” briefly explores how Anderson and his co-screenwriter Noah Baumbach took Dahl’s short story and expanded on it, even creating characters but all done in the spirit of the source material. Anderson says that he approached the animated film as if it was a live-action one with collaborators commenting on how the director managed to infuse it with his distinctive style. To this end, he storyboarded the entire film and shot video of himself acting out the story so that the animators knew what he wanted.

“Still Life (Puppet Animation)” takes a look at the stop-motion animation process. It is very meticulous and time consuming but if done well, looks great. It’s amazing how the animators can get expressions and emotions out of these puppets.

“A Beginner’s Guide to Whack-Bat” is a humourous mock-featurette on how to play this bizarre sport within the film.

Finally, there is a theatrical trailer.

Previous DVD releases of the show lacked in quality and quickly went out-of-print, fetching a considerable price on eBay. Now, the folks at Shout! Factory is giving G.I. JOE the special edition treatment with a DVD set that includes the first three mini-series and a portion of the first season. The show debuted in September 1983 with the episode, “The Cobra Strikes,” the first of a five-part mini-series known as The M.A.S.S. Device. The opening credits tell you everything that you need to know about the show. G.I. JOE is a special missions force that does battle with Cobra, an elusive and very dangerous terrorist organization.

Its leader, Cobra Commander, and his right-hand man, Destro, have created the M.A.S.S. Device, capable of harnessing incredible amounts of energy, including transporting a large group of soldiers and vehicles. They steal a top secret government satellite that will let them direct the energy of the Device anywhere in the world. However, they need three precious elements to keep it running and so the race is on to recover them in various countries around the world with JOE creating their own M.A.S.S. Device.

After the success of the first mini-series, a second one debuted in 1984, again with a five episode arc entitled The Revenge of Cobra. While maintaining many of the popular characters from the first mini-series, several new ones and vehicles were introduced including their corresponding toys. This time around, Cobra steals the laser core (along with JOE members Duke and Snake-Eyes) to use with a device Destro invented called the Weather Dominator, which allows them to manipulate the weather and wreak havoc on any given location.

The third and final mini-series came out in 1985 and was called The Pyramid of Darkness. Cobra is at it again when they sneak a cargo pod onto the JOE’s space shuttle (what kind of security checks do they have?). Cobra takes control of the JOE’s space station and uses it to destroy the JOE’s home base and create a pyramid-shaped net over the Earth that robs many countries of their electrical energy source.

G.I. JOE really is a time capsule of the times: the wasteful, materialistic ‘80s under Ronald Reagan. This is illustrated in every episode which features all kinds of destruction with many jets, tanks and other expensive vehicles being blown up en mass in any given battle. Cobra obviously acquired their money through terror campaigns and other nefarious means but what kind of budget did the JOEs have? Also, being a kid’s cartoon, no one is allowed to die which makes the many gun battles hopelessly unrealistic as no one is even wounded! But it’s all good, clean fun and when you’re kid, these things didn’t really register or matter. What worked were the distinctive personalities of the various characters. Everyone had their favourites, which one was the coolest, and so on.

Shout! Factory has done a great job restoring these episodes and they look as good as they did when they first aired. For anyone who grew up with this cartoon, watching these episodes will be a wonderful trip down memory lane to revisit their childhood.

Special Features:

The first disc features “Looking Back with Writer Ron Friedman, Part One.” He talks about creating a central conflict that would bring G.I. JOE and Cobra in opposition with each other with the fate of the world hanging in the balance while also conveying it visually. Friedman talks about how a stint in architecture school influenced the look of the toys and the show.

The second disc includes “Looking Back with Writer Ron Friedman, Part Two” where he talks about how he got the gig writing for G.I. JOE. The powers that be were looking for someone who hadn’t written for animation before. Initially, he wasn’t interested because cartoon writers were looked down upon in the industry. Friedman talks about the importance of voice actors and how they give the characters a distinctive voice.

The third disc features “Looking Back with Writer Ron Friedman, Part Three.” In it, he reflects on the legacy of G.I. JOE.

The last disc contains the rest of the extras. “’Knowing is Half the Battle’ PSAs” features seven of the classic public service announcements that were created to counterbalance all of the violence in the show with various characters appearing in these cheesy segments that were placed at the end of every episode. They were intended to teach kids what to do if, for example, they got lost or if their house is on fire. Every segment ended with a JOE member saying those immortal lines, “and knowing is half the battle.”

“Archival Hasbro Toy Commercials” features three classic toy ads that takes one back if you ever saw them when they first aired.

“1963 G.I. JOE Toy Fair Presentation” is a vintage featurette for the original JOE action figure that is pretty cool and comes across as half commercial, half patriotic hype.

Finally, there is a printable script for the “Jungle Trap” script.

Millions of years ago on the planet Cybertron, two warring groups of transformable robots are draining their world of its energy. The cruel Decepticons, led by the merciless Megatron, want Cybertron for themselves. They have almost made the peaceful Autobots, led by Optimus Prime, extinct. Both sides decide that they must look to other planets for the energy they so desperately need. Each side sends their best representatives and it doesn’t take long before they continue their battle in outer space.

In the ensuing chaos, the Transformers crash land on Earth where they lie dormant for many years. A volcanic explosion revives the Autobots and Decepticons. Megatron plans to take all of the resources they need and return to Cybertron, while Optimus Prime wants to stop them. In order to remain undetected, the Transformers can change into things common to our planet: automobiles, airplanes, a portable radio, a gun, and so on. And so, the epic battle between the Autobots and the Decepticons continues on Earth with humanity caught in the middle.

The series kicked off with a three-episode mini-series before settling into a familiar formula as the Decepticons try to drain the planet of its resources and the Autobots try to stop them. One of the things that makes the show work so well is that it has a great villain in Megatron and a true hero in Optimus Prime. They represent tried and true archetypes that are easy to root for and against. It doesn’t hurt that there is something inherently cool about giant robots fighting each other.

This first season saw the introduction of two new sub-groups of Transformers – the Dinobots, inspired by dinosaur skeletons but unfortunately with the same level of intelligence, and the Insecticons, robots that can turn into nasty insects. The former ally themselves with the Autobots, while the latter team up with the Decepticons.

For anyone who grew up watching The Transformers, these DVDs will be a wonderful trip down memory lane. The episodes all look great with the correct animation colour inserted back in which was missing from the previous edition. The recaps of previous episodes and previews for upcoming ones are included, as well as bumper spots for commercial breaks that will instantly take you back to when you first saw them. I, for one, can’t wait for season two, which, of course, is the build up for Transformers: The Movie (1986).

Special Features:

“Triple Changer: From Toy to Comic to Screen” is a 20-minute retrospective featurette about The Transformers phenomenon. The show’s origins came from several Japanese toy lines. An American company named Hasbro decided to bring it to North America and create a cartoon around them, giving each robot its own personality and create a storyline. They also created a comic book to go with the toys. With this featurette we get the lowdown behind the names for the various robots in this informative and engaging extra.

Also included are three original commercials, vintage ads that tie in the toys with cartoons. The one featuring the Insecticons is a particularly memorable one.

“Public Service Announcement” is an example of how each episode used to end with a Transformer imparting a safety lesson and this one sees Bumblebee convincing a kid not to run away from home. This is all good cheesy fun.

Finally, there is a PDF copy of the script for “Transport to Oblivion.”

The year is 1699 and Lemuel Gulliver is sailing the South Seas. During a violent storm, he is tossed overboard and washes up on a remote island. He passes out and later awakens to find that the citizens of Lilliput have banded together to ties him down while he was unconscious – no easy feat considering his size in comparison to them. He finds himself embroiled in the middle of a war between the land’s two kings despite the impending marriage of their children – a prince and princess. Gulliver decides to help out the island’s inhabitants by preventing war and reuniting the prince and princess.

The scene where the Lilliputians scale Gulliver and tie him down is impressively staged and realized with all kinds of action taking place in the fore, middle and background simultaneously – a technique not very common at the time. Interestingly, Gulliver is rendered realistically while the Lilliputians are more cartoonish looking. It is a nice contrast that plays well off each other.

Gulliver’s Travels espouses a peaceful resolution to violent conflict which was rather timely back in 1939 with World War II looming. Along with the incredibly rendered animation, the Fleischers’ film is as good as anything that Disney produced at that time. Gulliver’s Travels has never looked better and this new DVD restores their work to a level of standards befitting of its classic status.

Special Features:

“Swing Cleaning” and “King for a Day” are two animated short films consisting of outtakes from Gulliver’s Travels. These too are restored and look great.

“The Making of a Cartoon” is a fascinating vintage featurette that provides insight into the Fleischers’ groundbreaking animation process.

When one hears the opening strains of “When You Wish Upon a Star,” it’s hard not to get a little choked up at this sentimental song – especially if you’ve grown up with this animated classic. The dapper Jiminy Cricket (Edwards) tells the story of a wood carver named Geppetto (Rub) who creates a wooden puppet named Pinocchio (Jones) and wishes for him to become a real boy.

With a little help from some magic, Pinocchio becomes a live puppet without strings. He’s convinced by a fox and a cat to go on a journey to become a real boy. Pinocchio works alongside other inanimate puppets for a band of traveling entertainers. However, he’s exploited by their leader who forces him to work until he’s outlived his usefulness.

Pinocchio is rich in detail and atmosphere. For example, the amusement park sequence is a marvel of colour and detail that is so rich and vibrant – the hallmark of early Disney animated masterpieces. The characters are masterfully realized with Pinocchio being incredible sympathetic. It’s hard not to root for him to succeed in his quest. There are some scenes of absolute magical wonderment, in particular, the appearance of the beautiful Blue Fairy (Venable) who teaches Pinocchio the dangers of lying and the benefits of telling the truth.

When Pinocchio was first released, it was not a commercial hit due to World War II cutting off the European markets. In addition, the mood of the times probably reduced the interest among American audiences in seeing fantasy stories. The film was well-received by critics and the song, “When You Wish Upon a Star,” became a major hit and has been forever associated with the motion picture as well as later becoming the fanfare for the Walt Disney Company itself. Pinocchio has gone on to become enshrined in the pantheon of classic Disney animated feature films, second only to Snow White.

Special Features:

“Music and More” is a music video featuring Meaghan Jette Martin singing a cover of “When You Wish Upon a Star” accompanied by a terrible techno beat.

“Disney Song Selection” allows you to jump to a specific song in the film and to have the lyrics displayed on-screen.

There is an audio commentary by Leonard Maltin, Disney animator Eric Goldberg and film historian J.B. Kaufman. They establish the background for Pinocchio’s origins. They also talk about the origins for “When You Wish Upon a Star” and point out that Jiminy Cricket is the glue that holds the film together. They explain how the look of the character came to be with archival excerpts from people who worked on the film.

Finally, there is “Pinocchio’s Matter of Fact,” which features all kinds of factoids that appear on-screen during the course of the film.