Bedknobs and Broomsticks
One of the more overlooked titles in the Disney catalog still charms, despite its flaws
Tags: Misc DVD 2009 Categories: DVD/TV Reviews, Reviews
Posted by Daniel "monk" Pelfrey on Sep 16th, 2009
Bedknobs and Broomsticks is obviously meant to be one of the big lavish productions in the ame vein as Disney’s previous hit Mary Poppins. To say that it doesn’t match up is sort of like saying The Final Countdown is equal to Back to the Future because the both involve the theory of time travel.
During World War II children in the southern part of England, particularly London, were moved to the northern part of the country, out of the way of the constant bombing. This is the basis for Bedknobs & Broomsticks, and as a plot device, it seems not only a bit “heavy” but it also doesn’t actually kick in until the film is almost over. Besides, many in the intended audience won’t know about this particular aspect of history, even when the film was first released. Anytime major plot points are necessary to be explained as a history lesson, a little of the value goes down.
That’s not to say Bedknobs and Broomsticks isn’t enjoyable, because it is. Having a sense of history, however, shouldn’t be a requirement for enjoying what should be a light-hearted family film.
Even without the history lesson, Bedknobs and Broomsticks just doesn’t quite match up to the standards we are usually getting in Disney family musicals. The songs don’t come around quite as often and there is an awful lot of plot and setup in the first half of the film that just sits there waiting for something to kick in. I hadn’t seen the film in many, many years, so I was looking forward to revisiting it, but found myself getting close to dangerously bored at about the 30 minute mark. This doesn’t bode well for a film that lasts just over 2 hours. The length is fine, but the pacing doesn’t justify it.
Still, the film does have its high points. Perhaps it is these high points that really set off just how mundane the rest of the film is. The climactic battle had my 6 year old constantly laughing, and I had forgotten just how fun and charming the animated centerpiece in the middle of the film is. The soccer match as a sequence stands up against nearly any other in the Disney canon.
So we’re getting a long and uneven film rereleased on DVD. Is it a justifiable rerelease? Well, no.
As far as the new special feature is concerned, it is a mixed bag. We are presented with a short featurette on special effects looks at the green screen process and the precursor to it that was developed in the 60’s – the sodium screen vapor process. There’s far too much introduction and a lot less actual information than one would expect. It’s under 10 minutes and really examines this one item and a lot of talk with the “host” a young actress from Disney’s television series Wizards of Waverly Place. This had a lot of potential to examine the evolution of special effects, but falls very short. And the last 30 seconds of this featurette is a commercial for the Wizards of Waverly Place, available on DVD, iTunes, and on television.
Everything else is lifted from the previous DVD. There’s a 12 minute piece focusing on the Sherman brothers, the musical in-house duo that provided the songs for so many of the Disney films, including Bedknobs & Broomsticks. We get a song “Step in the Right Direction” that was cut from the film and is now lost, so we get an audio recording and slideshow. We also get a (staged) clip of a recording session for just over a minute).
Oddly, Disney did drop a couple of items. Usually the studio keeps everything intact on subsequent DVD releases, but this isn’t the case here. We have lost the slideshow of promotional stills, artwork and photos, and there were two cartoon shorts on the previous DVD release as well.
So this is actually a lesser DVD offering as far as value goes. Don’t drop your current copy thinking this is the way to go. Also, if you can find it, get the previous DVD release because the special features are as good if not better (two more cartoon shorts and all the publicity stuff instead of a commercial for a sitcom disguised as a featurette on special effects). If, however, you are trying to rediscover this classic for the first time in years, this isn’t a bad place to start.
| What Works | Score |
|---|---|
| + When the film is working well, it stands up right alongside with the other greats | 6.0 |
| What Doesn't | |
|
- One new special feature and it isn't as good as it should be - Stuff missing from the previous DVD release - The film requires a history lesson in order to understand what is going on - It also requires a lot of patience because it's slow |
|
| Under the Shrink-wrap | |
| Disney should have held off on releasing this. It would have been better to not lose any of the special features, really beef up the new one to make it a real look at special effects then and now, and release it on Blu-ray with a bonus copy on DVD included. There just isn't any reason to "upgrade" from your previous DVD copy. The film is alright, but the DVD treatment here is sorely lacking. | |
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Tags: Misc DVD 2009
Posted by Daniel "monk" Pelfrey on Sep 16th, 2009 and is filed under DVD/TV Reviews, Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
