DVDizzy Forum

Why Disney UK? WHYYYYYYYYYY?

Okay, two things pop to mind:

1. The cover art looks like it was pasted together in Photoshop from standard clip art that Disney had lying around. Not only is it amateurish and lazy, but it almost presents the film as though it's some tie-in to the Disney Princess line, as opposed to an actual film.

2. The whole idea of releasing this film to coincide with the royal wedding is just greedy and tasteless. A Diamond Edition is scheduled to come out next year anyway. The royal wedding is going to come and go in a flash, and to go comparing Kate Middleton's life to that of Cinderella's is a bit tacky (or Prince William's to the Prince's, for the record). From what I know, Kate Middleton wasn't really ever in the gutter; just by chance she met the future King of England and they casually fell in love.

On a mildly positive note, the Disney is possessive once more (Disney's), though I think that may be the case because they're reusing old clip arts. And of course, the film will be the same one we know and love.

I guess I was partially right then. There's no Blu-Ray as far as I can see.

This is only coming out in the UK? If so, that doesn't make sense. Europeans do not associate Disney characters with their royal families. Only in America are little girls desperate to grow up and become princess even though they have no concept of what a princess is or what she does.

I agree with Wonderlicious, comparing Kate Middleton's life to that of Cinderella is just laughable. I mean my God, Disney, this would have been like releasing Mulan in time for the Bejing Olympics... [/sarcasm]

TACKY and cheap. Just keep on cheapening the brand guys. It doesn't matter how much faith Tangled or the new Winnie the Pooh could ever restore. Crap like this just brings it back down. Disgusting.

I don't think it's part of a line now, looks like it's just a one-off.

Special celebration will see variety of Disney Princess products across multiple categories.

The Walt Disney Company UK is to kick off a special Disney Princess retail initiative - Royal Celebration - a month before the Royal Wedding on April 29th.

The Royal Celebration will see Disney offering a variety of Disney Princess products across multiple categories. In addition, Cinderella will also be available on DVD for the first time in over five years for a limited time.

The special edition Cinderella will be released on April 4th and distributed for a month in the UK. The launch will mark the first time that Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment has released a moratorium title from the Disney Vault ahead of schedule.

The UK will be the only market in the world to launch Cinderella in 2011.

"The Royal Wedding is a once in a generation opportunity and the Disney Princess franchise fits perfectly with the occasion," said Mike Stagg, VP of sales, UK and Ireland for The Walt Disney Company. "From Disney Princess party items to dress-up, music, video games and the special release of Cinderella on DVD, we're confident our offering will give retailers the right products to leverage the heightened consumer interest in all things Princess."

Disney is planning to support the initiative through online and its TV channels, while TV and print advertising will also run.

Source

Ok, that's all fine and dandy, but if the cover art actually seemed to indicated something royal and not trashy/cheap no one would have a problem with this release.

PatrickvD wrote:This is only coming out in the UK? If so, that doesn't make sense. Europeans do not associate Disney characters with their royal families. Only in America are little girls desperate to grow up and become princess even though they have no concept of what a princess is or what she does.

What is it with Disney being more willing to "take chances" with releases overseas? It seems like everyone but the US is getting re-releases of the sequels (BATB, Bambi, etc.) and then releases like this. I can't say that I am complaining, but it seems like they are holding back in the US because they know their image is a little tarnished. Maybe that is for the best?

I'm just trying to figure out why they think that consumers overseas would appreciate or be able to stomach these releases more so than those in the US?

Well, this is a new low, even for Disney ....

Why don't they just go all the way and make a DTV animation about Catherine Middleton's life, so she can be a brand new Disney Princess ??

This is AWFUL Disney. Please stop.

Sotiris wrote:

Bonus Features:

"A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes" - Music Video performed by Disney Channel "Circle of Stars"
"Every Girl Can Be a Princess" - Music Video Featuring Disney’s Animated Princesses

Was a music video for the song "Every Girl Can Be a Princess" ever released before?

http://www.ultimatedisney.com/cinderella.html

Luke's Review wrote:The second music video is "Every Girl Can Be a Princess" (2:23), a new song currently making a number of appearances on CDs from Walt Disney Records, "performed by Cinderella" (though it doesn't sound like Ilene Woods, then or now, because it's sung by Susan Egan of Hercules) and uncredited mice. It's sort of a catchy tune, in spite of the generic message. The video features clips of Cinderella and her fellow Disney princesses Ariel, Jasmine, Belle, Aurora, Pocahontas, and Mulan.

Oh lord, no! That proposal is so embarrassing for both the royals and for Disney. It just is tacky to tie toys produced by capitalists with such a major cultural/popular event, and a wedding at that. At least the craptacular DVD is only out for a month, though I still think it oughtn't be (especially considering that it looks like a barebones edition of the Platinum and will most likely not show the new restoration).

PatrickvD wrote:This is only coming out in the UK? If so, that doesn't make sense. Europeans do not associate Disney characters with their royal families. Only in America are little girls desperate to grow up and become princess even though they have no concept of what a princess is or what she does.

WIST. I know you're probably speaking mainly for the Netherlands, but I would say here in the UK that it's the same. I think a lot of girls go through a princess phase, but the princesses they fantasize about are ultimately perfect fairy-tale ones about as detached from reality as fairies and goblins; they ultimately couldn't care less about real-life royalty, which they'd associate with boring adult politics and tourist sites in London.

On a side note concerning the lack of knowledge in what real princesses do and don't do, I remember reading on IMDb someone posting which princess they'd like to see Disney tackle, and they proposed Marie Antoinette. I wondered if that nitwit even realised that the real Marie Antoinette was a selfish, frivolous and bigoted madam who manipulated her husband into trying to flee the country, ultimately leading to his dethronement and later execution. I also wondered if he/she knew that the French Revolutionaries accused Marie Antoinette of sexually abusing her son as an excuse to get her on the guillotine.

atlanticaunderthesea wrote:Well, this is a new low, even for Disney ....

Why don't they just go all the way and make a DTV animation about Catherine Middleton's life, so she can be a brand new Disney Princess ??

Or, they could make a film about Princess Diana...

A beautiful, fashion-savvy and caring humanitarian marries the first-in-line to the world's most iconic royal house. Expecting bliss, she ends up being cheated on by this so-called Prince Charming, and things go nowhere for both sides. Just as she escapes from this black hole and gets a new boyfriend, she dies under mysterious circumstances in Paris.

That's right kiddies, fairy tales may appear to come true, but they don't really. Bibbidi Bobbidi Boo Hoo!

I know what I just wrote was so deranged. Hopefully I won't actually give Disney ideas!

Wonderlicious wrote:

On a side note concerning the lack of knowledge in what real princesses do and don't do, I remember reading on IMDb someone posting which princess they'd like to see Disney tackle, and they proposed Marie Antoinette. I wondered if that nitwit even realised that the real Marie Antoinette was a selfish, frivolous and bigoted madam who manipulated her husband into trying to flee the country, ultimately leading to his dethronement and later execution. I also wondered if he/she knew that the French Revolutionaries accused Marie Antoinette of sexually abusing her son as an excuse to get her on the guillotine.

Disney would change the ending ala The Little Mermaid...or even the whole story ala to Pocahontas historical inaccuracies ...to a Happily Ever After of Marie Antoinette......and then we would have little girls saying I want to grow up to be like Princess Marie

Marie Antoinette wasn't <i>all</i> bad -- just a product of her society. I give my vote to her as the first member of the the Bitchy Princess Line.

Good gravy. That looks completely too silly to be real.

pinkrenata wrote:Marie Antoinette wasn't <i>all</i> bad -- just a product of her society. I give my vote to her as the first member of the the Bitchy Princess Line.

Of course I realise she would have been the way she was due to problems stemming from both the toxic ambiance of the court and an outdated, absolutist society. Needless to say, had she been a little more in sync with the needs of her people and been open to the idea of constitutional monarchy, then some of the bloodiest chapters of the French Revolution may not have happened.

The only thing this achieves is furthering the impression that Disney, UK or not, is a POS greedy short-sighted cash-crazy company.

NO ONE IN THE WORLD cares about the royal wedding. Why is it a celebration? It's not. It's a non-event. This whole celebrity high the media has is pathetic and our culture is such bullsh!t these days.

If Cinderella hasn't been available for 5 years this just lessens the bloody Diamond sales, how can anyone not see that? Since it's going to come out in a Blu-Ray combo pack chances are it will be more expensive and thus they lose again. Not to mention all the tweens or little girls who aspire to be princesses, which numbers in the zeroes I think, would never know who or care who Cinderella is. There's nothing to take advantage of except parents who won't know the difference. Absolutely stupid.

If this is Disney UK's doing, I'll say WTF. Run your stupid movie rewards properly for a start. Don't charge insane amounts to send out movies from your store. Release titles on time. Release MORE titles. Ensure there is some sort of CONSISTENCY in your bloody cover art and slipcovers. Lastly THE WILD IS NOT A DISNEY CLASSIC YOU MORONIC BUNCH OF FOOLS.

That feels better.

BK wrote:That feels better.

Although it'd be better if nothing was coming out, at least they are releasing this version INSTEAD of rushing out the Diamond in a mess of a hurry.

It's like Disney UK tried to beat the Diamond Edition Lion King cover for the ugliest cover ever... and won.

I kind of, sort of like the idea of a line actually connecting movies. May be make spines flow in a shelf? I don't know, A for effort, F for execution.

For Disney, Cinderella is a highly marketable commodity and it makes sense for them to take advantage of Cindy's earning power whenever they can. The copyrights on this character design aren't going to last forever (unless Disney manages to change copyrights to be perpetual - they may ! ). And we're talking about the original here, not another sequel (though C-III was very decent given its small budget).

The cover artwork I saw here isn't hideous, nor does it take Cindy & co to any new heights. It lets a customer clearly see what they are buying.

Disney could simply reuse the master from the last Cindy release, and hold off on any new "tweaks" until the predicted 2012 release comes out on Blu Ray. As for the latter, it'll be interesting to see if the last version's huge 4 1/2 minute main menu (including all the 3D elements for coach, etc.) gets re-created!

MJW wrote:

BK wrote:That feels better.

Although it'd be better if nothing was coming out, at least they are releasing this version INSTEAD of rushing out the Diamond in a mess of a hurry.

I agree with that....the last time they rushed a Platinum DVD it was disaster..

rs_milo_whatever wrote:It's like Disney UK tried to beat the Diamond Edition Lion King cover for the ugliest cover ever... and won.

Good grief another rotated title cover Who approves these decisions???