Disney Theatrical Animated Features

Ever since I was a little kid I have been obsessed with Disney animated feature movies. We all know and love them. I'm talking of course about all those classics: Cinderella, Pinocchio, Peter Pan, The Lion King, Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast etc. etc. My obsession with such films is back once again in full resurgence thanks to the current promotions for the Platinum Edition of 101 Dalmations on DVD. Something that I have discovered in investigating Disney DVDs is that a lot of their "classics" are actually currently unavailable for sale, which for an avid collector like me is something of a real frustration and absurdity. I dunno if its just me but I found this fact a real shock and a pain in the neck. Although I do buy a lot of DVDs and have a rather large collection of titles in my home library, I do only really like to buy them when they are at reduced prices. Unless I really really desire something when it is initially released or desperate to have it for my collection, I don't like to pay full price for things. But it depends. It's all about justification. The Lion King is one such film that I have never been fully able to justify buying on DVD. As much as I want it (I have the video from when it first came out but the quality has severely degraded from old VCRs and multiple viewings) the timing has just never been right. I even contemplated buying the 3 pack of the films as I am quite fond of the second one but still could not do it. Now to my great dismay it is no longer available. Imagine my shock when a simple search of popular Australian DVD sites turns up no hits for The Lion King! Okay, now I suppose many people out there might be thinking I should just go on to ebay and search for such DVDs and that I will find them available and possibly for the price I wanna pay. But here's the rub...I'm really fussy about my DVDs. I don't go in for cheap and nasty and you really can just never tell of the quality you will get. It's like my books, I like them to be pristine. I hate it if my DVDs get even one tiny scratch. I cannot and will never buy ex-rentals based on this reason alone. So back to Disney DVD. For those interested, there are 49 feature films in the official Walt Disney Animation Studios canon, also known as the Walt Disney Animated Classics according to Wikipedia. The list goes as follows below. I have bolded the titles from the list that are currently unavailable according to searches conducted by me of the EzyDVD and JB Hi-Fi websites that I often frequent. Official Walt Disney Animation Studios canon 1. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs 2. Pinocchio 3. Fantasia 4. Dumbo 5. Bambi 6. Saludos Amigos 7. The Three Caballeros 8. Make Mine Music 9. Fun and Fancy Free 10. Melody Time 11. The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr Toad 12. Cinderella 13. Alice In Wonderland 14. Peter Pan 15. Lady and the Tramp 16. Sleeping Beauty 17. One Hundred and One Dalmatians 18. The Sword in the Stone 19. The Jungle Book 20. The Arisocats 21. Robin Hood 22. The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh 23. The Rescuers 24. The Fox and the Hound 25. The Black Cauldron 26. Basil the Great Mouse Detective 27. Oliver and Company 28. The Little Mermaid 29. The Recuers Down Under 30. Beauty and the Beast 31. Aladdin 32. The Lion King 33. Pocahontas 34. The Hunchback of Notre Dame 35. Hercules 36. Mulan 37. Tarzan 38. Fantasia 2000 39. The Emperor's New Groove 40. Atlantis: The Lost Empire 41. Lilo and Stitch 42. Treasure Planet 43. Brother Bear 44. Home on the Range 45. Chicken Little 46. Meet the Robinsons 47. Bolt (current theatrical release date 2008) 48. The Princess and the Frog (current theatrical release date 2009) 49. Rapunzel (current theatrical release date 2010) Okay, looking at the list now I must admit it doesn't seem like all that many of them afterall. But it sure feels like it. There are several titles on this list that plainly dont interest me and there are also a couple that I feel should be on the list. This last point is of course complicated by the fact that some of my own personal "classics" feature both animation and live action. So, if I was making a list of Disney Classics, my list would be as follows (in no particular order): 1. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs 2. Pinocchio 3. Fantasia 4. Dumbo 5. Bambi 6. Saludos Amigos 7. The Three Caballeros 8. Make Mine Music 9. Fun and Fancy Free 10. Melody Time 11. Cinderella 12. Alice In Wonderland 13. Peter Pan 14. Lady and the Tramp 15. Sleeping Beauty 16. One Hundred and One Dalmatians 17. The Sword in the Stone 18. The Jungle Book 19. The Arisocats 20. Robin Hood 21. The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh 22. The Rescuers 23. The Fox and the Hound 24. The Black Cauldron 25. Basil the Great Mouse Detective 26. Oliver and Company 27. The Little Mermaid 28. The Recuers Down Under 29. Beauty and the Beast 30. Aladdin 31. The Lion King 32. Pocahontas 33. The Hunchback of Notre Dame 34. Hercules 35. Mulan 36. The Emperor's New Groove 37. Lilo and Stitch 38. Bedknobs and Broomsticks 39. Ducktales - The Movie: The Treasure of the Lost Lamp 40. Enchanted 41. A Goofy Movie 42. An Extremely Goofy Movie 43. The Lion King 2: Simba's Pride 44. Finding Nemo 45. Mary Poppins 46. Monsters Inc. 47. Pete's Dragon 48. The Return of Jafar 49. Song of the South 50. The Three Musketeers 51. Toy Story 52. Toy Story 2 53. Tron 54. Who Framed Roger Rabbit? 55. The Parent Trap* 56. The Happiest Millionaire* 57. The Shaggy Dog* 58. George of the Jungle* 59. The Love Bug* 60. Herbie Rides Again* 61. Herbie Goes Bananas* 62. Honey, I Shrunk the Kids* 62. Honey, I Blew Up the Baby* 63. The Mighty Ducks (also known as The Champions)* 64. Return to Oz* 65. The Million Dollar Duck* 66. That Darn Cat* 67. The Ugliest Daschund* 68. Freaky Friday* 69. Flubber* 70. Doug's 1st Movie * These titles are only live-action but in my opinion warrant "classic" status I'll stop now as I fear I am no longer interesting in the slightest. But its food for thought. If you like Disney animated films on DVD my advice is to buy them when you see them. As with the current release of the Platinum Editions of 101 Dalmatians, The Jungle Book and The Arisocats and the like, Disney animated features generally only "come out of the vault" for a limited time and thereafter only seem to be rereleased in special editions once the individual movies hit significant anniversaries. Needless-to-say, my current obsession has seen me this week buying up as many Disney classics from the list of those I desire on DVD as possible. I have 7 new additions to my collection in total. Yes, I bought them on sale. How much did I spend? I'd rather not say because frankly I probably shouldn't have spent the money. Was 101 Dalamatians included in that list? No. The Platinum Edition has just be released and is not as yet reduced. I just can't justify the money. Perhaps when it comes down a little bit more in price then I'll buy it for my collection. Here's hoping I don't cave and can last that long :-)