do you approve of changes in disney movies or any movie

[Loomis]

While I'm a little torn over the Bambi example, I'm still going to have to answer "No, I don't approve of changes to any film".

If you take film as an historical document - and all films, even the bad ones, are documents of their time and place - then altering a film is tantamount to altering an important piece of history. It is like finding a spelling mistake in the Magna Carta and pencilling in the correction. Sure, it is now gramatically correct, but it is no longer the original film.

A film is a product of not only the time and place, but of its filmmakers' headspace at the time. George Lucas can protest all he wants that he would have made a different movie if he could have, but the fact that he made what he did at the time is just as important as what he "might have done".

Similarly, the alterations to the edited versions of Fantasia and the package features might be out of some sense of political correctness NOW, but their inclusion would give us an important look at what was/wasn't acceptable at the time.

Then there is the OTHER example of digital restorations. Whether it is a "simple" touch-up or a full remaster, these prints alter the original by necessity. I remember the documentary on the remaster of Hitchcock's Vertigo that talked of recolouring scenes and hunting down original paint samples of cars to do so. The new print is colour-accurate, but technically NOT THE SAME. Is this an alteration? Technically, yes. One we can live with? We do all the time. Almost every classic Disney film has undergone this.

I generally have no problem with changes to movies, so long as the original is made available as well.

Which brings me to my next point. I have no problem with countless directors cuts, special editions and re-edits, as long as we still have a point of comparison.

After all, if we erase ALL the mistakes of the past, filmed or otherwise, what will stop people from making them again?

[2099net]

Now I have been looking at my Platinum Edition DVD of Snow White and I don't see anything wrong when the Prince bends over to kiss Snow White. Does anybody know if Disney digitally corrected this for the DVD release?
If so this would kind of be in keeping with Walts wishes even though they are messing with a classic film.

The problem is Artlad, every single director in the known universe isn't 100% satisfied with their film. I'm sure they can always see something which needs improving, be it practical, artistic or even theoretical. Nobody can create a perfect film. All they can do is the best they can with the time and resources (either financially and practically) available to them at the time. I'm sure it's every director's wish to go back and correct mistakes, but for most directors its just not possible.

Taking live action films for an example, is the weather going to be 100% consistant between shooting days? Is every single extra going to behave as the director wishes? How do you get over the fact young child actors age over the 6 months or so shooting a major motion picture? They're not questions or problems caused by ambition, just by the practicalities of shooting. Some directors are on such tight deadlines, they can't even do that many reshoots if something does go wrong.

A great director isn't somebody who constantly tweaks his work, but somebody who works with the limitations he is given. I would say, Lucas was a good director (not great) as he truly pushed the boundries with the Original Trilogy. Now, I would simply call him a hack (especially after watching him playing around in Phantom Menace Beginning documentary where finished shots had no bearing on the positions of the actors when the scene was filmed (or even if the actors were in the scene at that point)). Spielberg on the other hand, I would call a great director. He worked with the limitations of the animatronic shark in Jaws and actually delivered a better film for it, with more tension, filmed on the water and within budget. It would be a shame if Spielberg decides to change a single frame of Jaws (we'll ignore the massacre of the Oscar® winning soundtrack for now) because its a document not only of his own acumen and talent, but also filmmaking in the 70's. How can we respect history, if films are changed on a whim every decade or so?

[anger is pointless]

they just restored the wizard of oz again but i heard they cut off part of the sides of the movie why did they do that

if im gonna buy this movie i wanna buy the whole movie not a hacked up copy

(talks to myself) get control of yourself breath breath lol

[rexcrk]

I really dislike editing of movies. The worst type of editing (in my opinion) is editing due to political correctness. If something offends you... DON'T WATCH IT! The second worse type of editing is editing due to rights (such as music like in The Muppet Show season 1 and Muppet Family Christmas). If I ran the world ( ) then I would just have everyone get along and be willing to share their music and whatnot. Then there's editing because of the the directors' "original" views. I can kind of respect them for it, but if they change something it should look like the original film. Like in Star Wars A New Hope where they added in Jabba the Hutt, and he's a CGI creature, he looks completely out of place. Same thing with E.T., if I wanted a cartoon I'd put on Beast Wars or Jimmy Neutron, but I don't like them taking the place of REAL puppet or animatronic creatures.

I'd be able to look past it as long as the original versions were available (I'm SO glad to have E.T. in original form on DVD and I can't wait until the original versions of Star Wars come out!)