DVDizzy Forum

(Update 12/7/02) The Region 2 European DVD release of The Rescuers (1977) is in the widescreen format, and readers' comparisons have noted that the DVD actually presents more of the animated frame on the sides, indicating that the Fullscreen VHS release was actually Pan & Scan for The Rescuers. The Rescuers has yet to be released on DVD in Region 1, but this information would suggest that it SHOULD be released in widescreen. The only DVD releases that seems to be affected, though, is The Fox and the Hound. It's been confirmed from actual cels that Robin Hood (1973) was animated in the 1.37:1 Academy Ratio, and thus the fullscreen DVD presentation is correct. Likewise, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1977) was edited together from a series of shorts animated in the 1960s, when Disney was undoubtedly still working in Academy Ratio. So, if The Rescuers marks the first Disney animated feature to be created in widescreen (not counting the two Cinemascope features of the 1950s), then logic would have it that all animated features since 1977 should be in widescreen on DVD. And all of the animated features post-1977 ARE in widescreen on DVD...except for The Fox and the Hound (1981). This leads me to withdraw the claim that Fox and the Hound was animated for 1.37:1 and matted for widescreen theatrical presentation. Oddly enough, it seems that The Fox and the Hound is the ONLY animated feature that Disney has released to DVD in a compromised Fullscreen ratio, i.e. Pan and Scan. It certainly seems odd for just one film out of the whole batch to be released in the wrong ratio, but this is my new conclusion. With accurate information on the aspect ratio of these films so hard to come by, it's difficult to draw conclusions...but from the best information I've gotten, The Fox and The Hound is the only Disney animated classic to not be in the aspect ratio it was animated or exhibited in.