DVD Review: Peter Pan (Two-Disc Platinum Edition)

DVD Reviews

By Jeff Swindoll Mar 6, 2007, 14:13 GMT

“Second star to the right and straight on till morning.” Since this is a Disney classic and a Platinum edition the company has piled on the special features in this two-disc edition. The picture looks gorgeous and has been digitally scrubbed to perfection. To some that will be a good thing, but others might miss brush strokes and other “imperfections” that show that the film was made by human hands.

Since this is a Disney classic and a Platinum edition the company has piled on the special features in this two-disc edition. The picture looks gorgeous and has been digitally scrubbed to perfection. To some that will be a good thing, but others might miss brush strokes and other “imperfections” that show that the film was made by human hands. Walt Disney’s classic tale of the boy who wouldn’t grow up finally comes of age on DVD and gets a treasure trove of extras that even the black hearted Captain Hook would give his other hand for. John (voiced by Paul Collins), Michael (Tommy Luske), and Wendy Darling (Kathryn Beaumont) are the children of a banker in London. They amuse themselves with stories of the eternal youth Peter Pan and his magical adventures in Neverland. One evening when their parents are going to a party, Peter Pan (Bobby Driscoll) actually does come calling. He’s lost his shadow to their dog Nana and has come back to recover it along with his fairy pal Tinkerbell.

Wendy helps Peter out with reattaching his shadow

They recover the shadow but wake up Wendy in the process. Peter decides to take her to Neverland, much to Tinkerbell’s disappointment since she’s jealous of Wendy. Soon she and John and Michael are off to Neverland. Once there they have various adventures and face the villainous Captain Hook (Hans Conried). Walt Disney’s 1953 masterpiece comes to DVD and is given the Platinum treatment. The young Walt saw a traveling production of J. M. Barrie’s play that amazed and inspired him. Ironically, it was supposed to be Walt Disney’s second feature following Snow White, but that was not meant to be. Several projects and a world war sidelined Peter Pan for over 20 years. By the time Walt got around to making Peter Pan he had developed the familiar Disney style. His Peter Pan is a wonderful production that is sure to inspire and entertain countless generation as Barrie’s play has been doing since it took the stage. I know that Disney’s version certainly inspired me, especially the delightful vocal performance of Hans Conried. To a degree, it’s wonderful that Disney’s original plans got delayed since he might not have used Conried if Pan turned out to be the second feature that his studio attempted. His version is the bare bones of Barrie’s play, clocking in at 77 minutes. I recall taking my kids to a local version of the play and after the intermission they kept asking if it was over yet. That play ran well over two hours and boy were the kids wiped out when it was over. No such problem with Disney’s version and more than likely they’ll want to watch it again once the final credits roll. Since this is a Disney classic and a Platinum edition the company has piled on the special features in this two-disc edition. The picture looks gorgeous and has been digitally scrubbed to perfection. To some that will be a good thing, but others might miss brush strokes and other “imperfections” that show that the film was made by human hands.

The elegant Captain Hook is also the elegant Hans Conried

Peter Pan is presented in its original fullscreen aspect ratio. Disc one’s special features include a 2 minute sneak peek at the Tinkerbell movie (personally I’m not too jazzed, but it looks like its aimed at little girls so I’m not in the audience), a function that lets you jump to the songs in the film, and a storybook tale. The real meat of disc one is the commentary. It’s hosted by Roy Disney and has comments from Leonard Maltin, animator Marc Davis, actress Kathryn Beaumont, animators Ollie Johnson and Frank Thomas, author Jeff Curty (don’t think I spelled it right), Walt Disney, model Margaret Kerry, author/historian John Canemaker, and animator Ward Kimble. Some of those are new (methinks) but some of the participants are no longer with us (Walt, Marc Davis, etc.) and are vintage comments. Whatever the case, the commentary is illuminating, interesting, and most welcome. Disc two continues to pile on the special features, however like the commentary some are new and some you’ve probably seen before. We start off with the “Music and More” section. It contains a 2 minute deleted song called “The Pirate Song” that was recovered from the Disney vaults. Next is a 2 minute documentary called “Neverland: The Long Song” which interviews composer Richard M. Sherman and singer Paige O’Hara. Sheet music for an unfinished song called Neverland was found in the Disney archives and Sherman stepped in and finished it. There’s also a 3-minute music video of O’Hara performing the song. The section is finished out by the abominable 3 minute “Second Star to the Right” music video by T-Squad. Next up is the “Games and Activities” section. The activity is the read along version of Peter Pan and the games include 3 games that put you in training to become a lost boy. The real treasure is next and found in the “Backstage Disney” section. First up is the 15 minute “You Can Fly: The Making of Peter Pan” that I remember from the VHS special edition. It has interviews with Walt Disney, Leonard Maltin, Kathryn Beaumont, Frank Thomas, Marc Davis, and Margaret Kerry (the live action model for Tinkerbell).

The crocodile adds some comic relief

The 7 minute “In Walt’s Words: Why I Made Peter Pan” is a dramatic recreation (in other words, read by an actor) of an article that Walt wrote for a magazine called Brief. It’s introduced by animators/directors Ron Clements and John Musker. The 8 minute “Tinkerbell: A Fairy’s Tale” follows and it all about that particular pixie (why not “Hook: How I lost me hand”? Oh, he doesn’t have a movie coming out soon.). It interviews animation historian Jerry Beck, Marc Davis, a new interview with Margaret Kerry, Don Hahn, Disney historian Paula Sigman, and author/historian Bill Cotter. Most interesting is the 20-minute “The Peter Pan that Almost Was” as Clements and Musker look at concept art and scripts for Walt’s changing vision of Peter Pan. A treasure within the treasure is next in the 9 Art Galleries that have tons of wonderful artwork to look at, both from the final film and of the concept art from the previous documentary. The section is rounded out with the 12 minutes “Peter Pan Story” from 1952. The next item is on the main menu, but you can take a 2-minute virtual flying tour or London and Neverland. You can play it once or have it loop. There’s enough there that Pan fans will gladly buy this upgrade (and yes it is). One thing that I’m disappointed about is that there are no clips of the live action films they made for the animators. I’m thinking that they don’t exist anymore. They need to dig around in the Disney Archives more and maybe they’ll surface one day (if they weren’t destroyed). A wonderful disc and a must have for Disney or Peter Pan fans.

Hook manipulate Tinkerbell into telling of Peter's secret hideout

Peter Pan (Two-Disc Platinum Edition) is now available at Amazon. As of yet, this version of the DVD is not available in the UK. Visit the DVD database for more information.