DVDizzy Forum

When was this out in France? I remember going there in 2004 and I don't remember seeing it, but it might be because I wasn't that interested in the film. I remember that I wanted to buy The Little Mermaid, but it wasn't available, it was in the vault but back then but I didn't know that, and couldn't understand why The Little Mermaid 2 was available, but the original wasn't. Anyway I ended up buying Lilo & Stitch, the "Edition Collector":



Inside it there was a pamphlet about releases and it does confirm the way France count the canon:



Bonus- I managed to find my Disneyland ticket as well:

I think in France it is not so much a canon as it is a comprehensive collection of almost every animated feature released by the Walt Disney Company. Obviously this includes films from WDAS, Pixar, DisneyToon, WDTA as well as one-offs from The Secret Lab, CORE, etc.

JeanGreyForever wrote:It's so neat that they included the original book plus the live-action film (or PC game in the UK).

Yeah, that was a great idea.

farerb wrote:When was this out in France? I remember going there in 2004 and I don't remember seeing it, but it might be because I wasn't that interested in the film.

According to Amazon France, it was released there on May 7, 2003, the same day as the first single DVD and VHS. Maybe it had already been sold out when you were there given that they usually release a much smaller number of copies of special editions like that one.

By the way, thanks for posting that pamphlet which confirms the French numbering!

Jules wrote:I think in France it is not so much a canon as it is a comprehensive collection of almost every animated feature released by the Walt Disney Company. Obviously this includes films from WDAS, Pixar, DisneyToon, WDTA as well as one-offs from The Secret Lab, CORE, etc.

I guess you're right, otherwise they wouldn't make a distinction between "classiques" and "grand classiques". Though, regarding that, I've been searching for more info and I've found out that not always the real classics are labelled "grand classiques" and some that aren't classics sometimes have that label. The package films and the newer films from Winnie the Pooh onwards are just called "classiques" there, while some live-action/animation hybrids (So Dear to my Heart, Mary Poppins, Bedknobs and Broomsticks, Pete's Dragon), DTV sequels (A Goofy Movie, The Tigger Movie, Peter Pan 2, The Jungle Book 2, Piglet's Big Movie, Pooh's Heffalump Movie, Bambi 2, Tinker Bell's Secret of the Wings) and films made by external studios (Dinosaur, The Wild) are considered "grand classiques". I've also noticed that the most prestigious titles from WDAS, like Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs or Beauty and the Beast, are labelled "chef d'oeuvre" (masterpiece) in some editions instead of "grand classique". The Pixar titles are not always called classics in the case, but they all have the number on the spine.

I guess they include so many titles in their canon to sell more copies, as people are more inclined to collect the movies if they're numbered. But, personally, I think the French numbering is a mess. How can Pooh's Heffalump Movie or Bambi 2 be a "grand classique" and not Frozen or Zootopia? And So Dear to my Heart or Mary Poppins are "grand classiques" as well, but Enchanted and Mary Poppins Returns, which are live-action/animation hybrids too, are not even included in the collection.

DisneyBluLife wrote:Yes, but is he the leader of the band? Like the poster says?

I thought of replying to this, but then I forgot about it. No, he's not the leader of the band, Scat Cat is. The person who wrote that made a mistake. It's odd the oriental cat is highlighted there in the poster when he's quite a secondary character. Maybe it's because he's voiced by Paul Winchell, who is the original voice of Tigger in the Winnie the Pooh films.

Frozen 2 is not a classic in Norway, but Ralph breaks the internet is.

DisneyBluLife wrote:Frozen 2 is not a classic in Norway, but Ralph breaks the internet is.

Wow, really? That's surprising, especially for Norway, given that the setting is very inspired in that country. Does Norway have a different canon than Sweden then? What other differences does it have with the US canon?

DisneyBluLife wrote:Frozen 2 is not a classic in Norway, but Ralph breaks the internet is.

I find that strange too. Maybe Frozen is just so strong a brand that they don't feel the need to release it under the Disney Classic label.

D82 wrote:

DisneyBluLife wrote:Frozen 2 is not a classic in Norway, but Ralph breaks the internet is.

Wow, really? That's surprising, especially for Norway, given that the setting is very inspired in that country. Does Norway have a different canon than Sweden then? What other differences does it have with the US canon?

Sweden has the same canon as Norway. So Frozen 2 is not a classic because it is a sequel says Disney in Sweden. No sequels allowed if they have a number in the title I guess.

DisneyBluLife wrote:Sweden has the same canon as Norway. So Frozen 2 is not a classic because it is a sequel says Disney in Sweden. No sequels allowed if they have a number in the title I guess.

That's really curious. I wonder why they don't want sequels in the canon. But their reasoning doesn't make any sense. The fact that Ralph Breaks the Internet doesn't have a number in the title, doesn't make it less a sequel than Frozen 2. Anyway, couldn't they have changed the title for Scandinavia replacing the number with a subtitle, like for example Frozen: The Enchanted Forest, if that was the only problem?

Brother Bear:

DVD/VHS:


Blu-ray:


Sing Along Songs DVD:


Zavvi Steelbook:


2 Movie Collection (UK):


Heroes Cover (UK):


Heroes Cover (France):


Collector's Edition (France):


Prestige Edition (France):


Prestige Case with Book (France):


2-Movie Collection (France):


DVD (Japan):


2-Movie Collection (Brazil):

Take me to France baby.

I like all of these, but Koda's "back at ya" look isn't in the movie to my knowledge (I just watched it a couple days ago!), and he's adorable without needing a smirk, so that's my only complaint. DVD/VHS and Brazil 2- movie are my favorites; Zavvi would be if they used the poster image and not that Koda pose...

I don't care for Brother Bear. These three general pictures are my favorite.

1. Prestige Edition (France) ~ I separated it from #2 because I think it looks better because it's a longer shot of them all lined-up.
2. Zavvi / DVD (Japan) / Collector's Edition (France)
3. DVD / VHS / Blu-ray

DisneyBluLife wrote:Take me to France baby.

I've been saying with every new film that the French covers are taking it all and that hasn't been proven wrong with Brother Bear. Disney France is so lucky.

Brother Bear:

1. Zavvi Steelbook - Looks like some beautiful nature shot.
2. Collector's Edition (France) - So classy.
3. Prestige Edition (France)
4. DVD/VHS
5. DVD (Japan)
6. 2 Movie Collection (UK)
7. Prestige Case with Book (France
8. Heroes Cover (UK)
9. Heroes Cover (France)
10. Blu-ray
11. Sing Along Songs DVD
12. 2-Movie Collection (Brazil)
13. 2-Movie Collection (France)

As it happened with the covers for Treasure Planet, here all of them use artwork from the same two or three posters. However, I think in general the quality is not bad.

1. Collector's Edition (France): I love how the characters are framed and that, thanks to that close-up, all the cover is the same color. I think it's inspired by this theatrical poster.

2. Prestige Edition (France): This one's quite good too, in my opinion. It's classy and I like that they used the symbol of the human and bear footprints. I wish they hadn't gotten rid of the mountains of the poster where the artwork is from, though.

3. DVD-VHS: This one's not bad either. The main (animal) characters are on it, as well as some important elements from the film like the mountains or the Northern Lights and I like the style of drawing, the poses, and the placement of the title.

4. Zavvi Steelbook: This and the Japanese DVD are very similar to each other, but I like the steelbook slightly more because I prefer the colors. Both covers are not bad at all, but I find the animals in the background a bit distracting. In my opinion, Kenai and Koda don't stand out enough because of them. And I wonder where the blue light the characters have on their right side comes from. It gives them a nice effect, but is it realistic? It looks a little weird to me, but I don't know much about light and how it works, so maybe it's fine. I would like to know your opinion on that if it's possible, Marce82.

5. DVD (Japan)

6. 2-Movie Collection (France): I guess the characters are replicating a totem pole here, right? It's a fun cover. The Brazilian edition is very similar, but I think the composition is better in the French cover thanks to the addition of the girl from the sequel on the right.

7. 2-Movie Collection (Brazil)

8. Heroes Cover (France)

9. 2-Movie Collection (UK)

10. Heroes Cover (UK)

11. Prestige Case with Book (France)

12. Sing Along Songs DVD

13. Blu-ray: I don't like how the girl and the raccoon from the sequel (sorry, I don’t remember their names) have been included in this cover. They look too small, lack the lower half of their bodies and the style of their artwork doesn't completely match with the rest.

D82 wrote: 13. Blu-ray: I don't like how the girl and the raccoon from the sequel (sorry, I don’t remember their names) have been included in this cover. They look too small, lack the lower half of their bodies and the style of their artwork doesn't completely match with the rest.

The way I see it is that the sequels should have been treated as a bonus feature, so they really shouldn't have been on the covers at all. The most offensive was TENG. I think Brother Bear is the last film to have a DTV sequel so fortunately we shouldn't see these anymore.

farerb wrote:The way I see it is that the sequels should have been treated as a bonus feature, so they really shouldn't have been on the covers at all. The most offensive was TENG. I think Brother Bear is the last film to have a DTV sequel so fortunately we shouldn't see these anymore.

I agree, that would've been much preferable. I don't like that the sequels are given the same importance as the originals. But you're right, fortunately this was the last film to have a DTV sequel.

Here are some pictures of the French Prestige Edition packaging. This edition contains the film on DVD, a CD with four songs from the movie and a printing studio CD-ROM.

This edition is beautiful. I wish Disney made this kind of editions today. I guess the Target digipacks are the closest thing to that but they didn't made one for a film I want beside Aladdin, The Little Mermaid and Sleeping Beauty, but if I had gotten Aladdin, it wouldn't have felt right without The Lion King and Beauty and the Beast, and I didn't like the design of Sleeping Beauty and The Little Mermaid.

Thanks again for tracking those pics down and posting! The only time I might want to own Brother Bear is for that edition because of the packaging. It's a shame the US never gets anything like that.