DVDizzy Forum

1. The Aristocats - I'm a cat person, so this movie always appealed to me. I like the characters, humor and the setting, even though the movie's a bit clunky in parts (Edgar and the dogs), but it's a fun little adventure,

2. The Rescuers - from a technical and narrative point of view, this movie is much better than The Aristocats, I just like the latter more. The Rescuers is pretty great, has a lot of heart, and is very melancholic. It's arguably the best of the decade. One thing I don't like much are the swamp critters.

3. Robin Hood - really funny and great characters designs. Again, recycled animation is annoying, but thankfully the movie is very entertaining.

4. The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh - I just never got into Winnie the Pooh. It's cute and inoffensive, but not my cup of tea.

Mooky wrote: 2. The Rescuers - from a technical and narrative point of view, this movie is much better than The Aristocats, I just like the latter more. The Rescuers is pretty great, has a lot of heart, and is very melancholic. It's arguably the best of the decade. One thing I don't like much are the swamp critters.

The swamp critters feel like relics from Robin Hood or The Aristocats, the one aspect of The Rescuers which dates it to the same era as those aforementioned films. Thankfully they don't take up too much screentime.

1. Winnie the Pooh
2. Rescuers
3. Robin Hood
4. Aristocats

1. Robin Hood- Easily ranked at the top for me; it's one of my Top 10 DACs, one of my "happy" films that just makes me happy if I'm sad or in a mood. This is one that I grew up with since before I can remember. It's like putting on a favorite sweater or favorite blanket- it's comfy, I know it well, it makes me happy. One of my favorites.

The rest is hard but I will force myself to!

2. The Aristocats- Because of Napoleon & Lafayette. It's not a huge favorite of mine, but I like it when I watch it.

OMG ranking the next two without a tie is impossible for me, sorry!

3. TMAoWtP & The Rescuers- One is so easy-going and sweet, and the other is so sad, but hopeful. I think they're both good movies, but pretty different.

Do you think that Robin Hood being the first film to be released on VHS for sale gave it a boost in popularity?

^ I've been looking online for an hour for info/data to support that, but haven't found the answer yet...

*edit* I'm still looking, but this is mildly interesting, a promotional video given to retailers for Robin Hood's initial video release:
http://imaxination1980svideocorner.blog ... e.html?m=1

*edit* It only makes sense that home video allowed for a larger audience to see these films, so surely video contributed to the popularity of the films...(Robin Hood was not the first film, or even the first Disney film. Out if the DACs, Alice, Dumbo, + TMAoWtP (The Three Caballeros?, + Fun & Fancy Free?) were released first. Since Alice and Dumbo had been shown on TV before they were released to video and the others were package films. Robin Hood was the first of the "Untouchables" as they called them, the non-package DACs minus Dumbo and Alice.)

https://disneyvideonerd.tumblr.com/post ... otionwas-a

Robin Hood became one of the fifteen best selling titles of 1984.

https://books.google.com/books?id=ESUEA ... D3oECAgQAQ

October 11, 1986 issue of Billboard magazine: #10 on the Top Kids Video chart, had been on the chart for 49 weeks.

December 26, 1987 issue of Billboard magazine: #13 on the Top Kids Video chart, had been on the chart for112 weeks

March 19, 1991 LA Times article:
https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm ... ?_amp=true

Cumulative Retail Sales of Disney Animated Classics as of January, 1991.

THEATRICAL VIDEO VIDEO TITLE RELEASE RELEASE PULLED COPIES SOLD “Robin Hood” 1973 1984 Unavailable 500,000

This is interesting:
https://www.deviantart.com/mryoshi1996/ ... -680183354

Beauty and the Beast came to video. It was a huge hit, selling 20 million cassettes and landing $200 million in revenue.

So just add a zero to how many videos were sold and that gives his much Disney made!?

Also interesting:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/ ... 3969fc675/
July 14, 1985 Washington Post article:

In addition, the ratio of cassettes bought to cassettes rented will increase, industry forecasts say, from a mere 1.4 percent of total cassette transactions to 25 percent by 1990.

Speaking of Robin Hood, here's some cool merchandise I found during my research!
http://danalexanderdizmentia.blogspot.c ... d.html?m=1

I've always heard a lot of Robin Hood fans say that part of the reason they love it so much is because they grew up watching it readily on VHS.

Thanks for all that info, blackcauldron85. I think the films that were released before Robin Hood were only for rent and Robin Hood was the first one for sale, but I'm not sure.

For me, I would go Winnie the Pooh, then Robin Hood, then Aristocats and finally Rescuers.

farerb wrote:Thanks for all that info, blackcauldron85. I think the films that were released before Robin Hood were only for rent and Robin Hood was the first one for sale, but I'm not sure.

Per Wikipedia(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walt_Disn ... prov=sfla1) (not including live action or package films on DiacoVision or tape or laserdisc):

The first of the Disney animated features canon to be released on videocassette was Dumbo on June 28, 1981, for rental only. The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh was released for rental and sale at the same time. Alice in Wonderland was released on October 15, 1981, for rental only. Fun and Fancy Free was released in 1982 as 'Fun and Fancy Free' Featuring: Mickey and the Beanstalk, to capitalize on the best-known segment of the film...Dumbo was released for sale on tape in summer 1982, while Alice in Wonderland was released for sale in November 1982. The next major animated feature to be released (excluding the "package" anthology features) was Robin Hood on December 3, 1984, starting the Walt Disney Classics collection. By 1982, all the video releases were for sale and rental, along with newer releases, but at high prices.

Thank you for the clarification I don't know why I thought it was the first one.

No worries! I've always been interested in BVHE/WDHE, but there sure is a lot of history to keep track of!