Will Don Bluth's animated movies ever become SE?

[Nicky]

I just bought The Land Before Time on DVD, and was surprised at how bad the transfer was. Of course it was full screen and so on which was dissapointing, but the picture quality resembled that of an old VHS tape. The whole anniversary edition could have been so much more.

I know some of Don Bluth's other animated movies such as All Dogs Go to Heaven, An American Tail and The Secret of NIHM are out on DVD, but I'm kind of hesitant to buy them since they are all pan and scan. Does anyone know if these movies will ever become 2-discs special editions... or at least get a proper transfer?

[Raydawggie]

Hopefully not. Secret of NIMH was the only one that was even decent.

[Timon/Pumbaa fan]

Meh most likly not. Most of those films were cheap ways to get some of Disney's success! Though I haven't seen Secret of NIMH I've seen all the others and they were all pretty bad. Plus the box office scores were poor too.

[Disney's Divinity]

I don't know why people think Don Bluth's films were bad. I've seen most of them, and none of them I could honestly call "bad." I liked some of them more than a lot of Disney films.

[Wonderlicious]

Nicky, there is no need to worry in terms of whether these films are pan and scan; the mentioned Don Bluth films are simply open-matte films in that they open up the original widescreen frame slightly; the films were animated in fullscreen with the intention of the film makers to cut the top and bottom of the frame to create a widescreen image for cinemas, thus making the DVD presented, although not in widescreen like the director intended (there'll probably be unused spaces around the top and bottom of the frame), in the dimensions that it was animated in.

[Nicky]

Thanks for the info, Wonderlicious. I doubt a special edition disc will come anytime soon, so I'll get the discs available now. It's great that they all made it to DVD anyway .

[Maerj]

Anastasia and Titan A.E. both have good DVDs. You can also pick up Dragon's Lair and the other animated games he made on DVD. Secret of NIMH really deserves a nice special edition, its a really good film.

[Bebopgroove]

Hello everyone,

I'm sure that many people here have complained about this, but I felt like it would make a good topic. And it could be that I'm bored right now.

All the great Disney films are getting special editions, anniversary editions, and platinum editions; most of them getting restored to their original brilliance and supplemented with dozens of different special features. But after purchasing a couple of great films by Don Bluth, I got to thinking: Why don't his films get the same treatment?

I think one of the big problems, is that many of his films aren't under the same studio (Universal, MGM, and Fox). But I can't see why these studios can't restore his films, and then re-release them. It doesn't make sense when films like The Secret of NIMH and Anastasia get re-released, but the picture quality is the same. The only thing different is the box art (or in the case of Anastasia, the added sequel).

And really, the ones that I'm complaining about are the older Don Bluth films that have been re-released and need a restoration (i.e., The Secret of NIMH, Land Before Time, All Dogs Go to Heaven, Banjo the Woodpile Cat, and An American Tail; his other films from the mid-90s may or may not need to be touched; and Titan A.E. is too recent a film to need any fixing).

Maybe you can't have everything, but these films are some of the last great animated films that deserve a good restoration and re-release. So what do you guys think?

And while we're on the subject, whatever happened to the proposed "Dragon's Lair" movie?

[memnv]

Well his films are not Disney so that is one reason, I don't think his films are that bad to need restoration and some of them like Land Before Time still has new sequals being released every year.

On your question that is at the bottom that you try to make us go blind to read. I think you mean Dragon's Lair off the Video game. Not Dragon Slayer which was a movie in the 80's. They also had a tv series for Dragon's Lair

[Bebopgroove]

Well his films are not Disney so that is one reason, I don't think his films are that bad to need restoration and some of them like Land Before Time still has new sequals being released every year.

On your question that is at the bottom that you try to make us go blind to read. I think you mean Dragon's Lair off the Video game. Not Dragon Slayer which was a movie in the 80's. They also had a tv series for Dragon's Lair

That's what I meant: Dragon's Lair. I thought there were plans to make that a movie (I think I heard it from animated-movies.com, way back in the day). I didn't know there was a series.

[memnv]

It lasted a year or 2 in the early to mid 80's right after the video game came out

[Poppins#1]

It doesn't make sense when films like The Secret of NIMH and Anastasia get re-released, but the picture quality is the same. The only thing different is the box art (or in the case of Anastasia, the added sequel).

While I haven't yet purchased the new Anastasia DVD, various reputable internet reviews have confirmed that it is a NEW 16x9 enhanced transfer.

[Bebopgroove]

Well his films are not Disney so that is one reason, I don't think his films are that bad to need restoration and some of them like Land Before Time still has new sequals being released every year.

I know they're not Disney, but Disney animated films shouldn't be the only animated films getting restorations.

About Land Before Time...I don't think those sequels are even Don Bluth's. I think they're being churned out by another studio. And since they're not Don Bluth's, I like to pretend the sequels don't exist. LBT needs a restoration badly, and I've read that there was several minutes of finalized footage that never made it to the final film, so something like that would make great special features for a new dvd.

[Wonderlicious]

Another point to consider is that Don Bluth's films aren't as well remembered as much as the Disney animated films are. I'm sure that the restoration of a film like Pinocchio or Cinderella would easily take back all that it cost to do in DVD grosses, whereas a somewhat forgotten film (at least to a younger generation) like All Dogs Go to Heaven might not be as successful, causing the studios that have the rights to the movie to be a bit more neurotic about restoring the movies.

[Karushifa]

Another point to consider is that Don Bluth's films aren't as well remembered as much as the Disney animated films are. I'm sure that the restoration of a film like Pinocchio or Cinderella would easily take back all that it cost to do in DVD grosses, whereas a somewhat forgotten film (at least to a younger generation) like All Dogs Go to Heaven might not be as successful, causing the studios that have the rights to the movie to be a bit more neurotic about restoring the movies.

I'd agree on All Dogs Go To Heaven, as well as later films like Thumbelina, etc., but most people in my generation and older remember An American Tail quite well. This is the kind of movie that we might like to show to our children (*shudder* people born in 1982 are starting to reproduce!!!), and I doubt there would be little demand for such an edition. The Secret of NIMH is another film that's popular at least among animation aficianados, and is well due for a restoration. I'd say start with those two and see how it goes.

[Lazario]

I think I can figure this one out (forgive spelling ahead-of-time, please).

It's basically because no one knows who Don Bluth is except animation-conscious people, like the people here at this site. His movies are mostly seen as obscure animated films that each have their own fanbase, at least in the case of Secret of Nihm, Anastasia, and the American Tail's. It's a little more than the fact that the studios aren't the same. Look at how quickly a remake ensures the re-release of the original film on DVD, or when a famous actor has a new movie, how one of their older films gets a first or second release. Again, no one makes the connection between Don Bluth and his films other than the animation and film buffs. Even I wouldn't remember this guy's involvement in his own films without this board and one of my best friends who is an aspiring animation artist.

We all know Don Bluth's films saw their bloom and rush when The Little Mermaid revolutionized the marketability for animated films. And that even Disney owes Bluth some of their success for making his films and keeping the public's interest for animation while Disney was off making their next big movie. In essence, the Disney studio got the credit for popularizing animation as blockbusters again, because of their famous name, even to the point where thousands of people mistook Bluth's films as Disney product. I was a kid when all this was going on and even I made that mistake. Families were going to see all these animated films, buying kids the toys at McDonalds, Burger King, and Pizza Hut, not to mention all the other merchandizing that cluttered K-Mart's, WalMarts, Ames, Sears - you name it. The only way parents or the kids were going to make the distinction between Disney and non-Disney was if they were quiet during the opening credits, where they'd surely notice the Universal or MGM/UA logos rather than Disney - going to see family films in the theatres was (and still is, I imagine) an absolute nightmare. That's where you see the most parents ushering in screaming babies and rambunctious cretons in need of Economy-sized bottles of Ritalin.

It took too much time to recognize Don Bluth's studio. In fact, I remember his films getting a lot of attention at one point for the violence in films like All Dogs Go to Heaven. Disney knew never to show much blood in their animated films, which we know they did every now and then. But I remember a lot of parents not being very happy with some of Bluth's movies.

[Karushifa]

What's interesting about An American Tail, at least, is that it was released and gained attention at a time when Disney was still reeling somewhat from the bombing of The Black Cauldron and before the "renaissance" ushered in by The Little Mermaid three years later. Probably one of the reasons why some people associate An American Tail so much with Disney is that this is a film that Disney SHOULD have made - it felt like a return to the glory days of Walt's movies, instead of yet another exercise in relative mediocrity (and this is not intended as a criticism of films like The Rescuers, The Fox and the Hound, etc., but they are clearly not as iconic as Cinderella, Aladdin, etc. among the general public).

So while it may be true that a lot of folks assume that An American Tail was made by Disney, I don't think that people have forgotten about the film entirely. In addition, now as it was back in 1986, the "A Steven Spielberg Film" label may help to wake people up to the film.

[2099net]

I think the main reason is, Disney created and owns the entirity of their films. So Disney has full financial interest in the films.

But who owns Don Bluth's films (apart from his later ones with Fox, where he ran a company owned by Fox as far as I know, Fox Animation Studios)?

Fox, MGM, Universal don't actually own the films - I don't think - although they may have control of the characters. So who will pay for the restoration? Bluth? Fox/MGM/whoever? Should both parties will pay a share each? What about An American Tale? Who owns that Bluth, Amblin or Universal? The ownership for his films are just not clear cut.

Big full scale restoration work has only been carried out by studios on properties 100% owned by the studio. Disney restores its films. Warner has a wonderful restoration process, but only for Warner titles etc. Warners want to restore the old Popeye cartoons, but won't until an agreement can be made with King Features who also have ownership.

Even Lucasfilm paid for the restoration of its titles - not Fox (who only have part-ownership of the first Star Wars IIRC).

A similar problem is holding up the restoration of the hours of deleted scenes for David Lynch's Fire Walk with Me. Being as ownership of the film (and the Twin Peaks property itself) is shared by many investors, nobody can agree on whoshould/how to pay for the work.

[anger is pointless]

Hello everyone,

I'm sure that many people here have complained about this, but I felt like it would make a good topic. And it could be that I'm bored right now.

All the great Disney films are getting special editions, anniversary editions, and platinum editions; most of them getting restored to their original brilliance and supplemented with dozens of different special features. But after purchasing a couple of great films by Don Bluth, I got to thinking: Why don't his films get the same treatment?

I think one of the big problems, is that many of his films aren't under the same studio (Universal, MGM, and Fox). But I can't see why these studios can't restore his films, and then re-release them. It doesn't make sense when films like The Secret of NIMH and Anastasia get re-released, but the picture quality is the same. The only thing different is the box art (or in the case of Anastasia, the added sequel).

And really, the ones that I'm complaining about are the older Don Bluth films that have been re-released and need a restoration (i.e., The Secret of NIMH, Land Before Time, All Dogs Go to Heaven, Banjo the Woodpile Cat, and An American Tail; his other films from the mid-90s may or may not need to be touched; and Titan A.E. is too recent a film to need any fixing).

Maybe you can't have everything, but these films are some of the last great animated films that deserve a good restoration and re-release. So what do you guys think?

And while we're on the subject, whatever happened to the proposed "Dragon's Lair" movie?

i agree the secret of nimh an american tail the land before time and all dogs go to heaven are all wonderful movies and they all need a major restoration

and i wanna see them in widescreen

[anger is pointless]

Hello everyone,

I'm sure that many people here have complained about this, but I felt like it would make a good topic. And it could be that I'm bored right now.

All the great Disney films are getting special editions, anniversary editions, and platinum editions; most of them getting restored to their original brilliance and supplemented with dozens of different special features. But after purchasing a couple of great films by Don Bluth, I got to thinking: Why don't his films get the same treatment?

I think one of the big problems, is that many of his films aren't under the same studio (Universal, MGM, and Fox). But I can't see why these studios can't restore his films, and then re-release them. It doesn't make sense when films like The Secret of NIMH and Anastasia get re-released, but the picture quality is the same. The only thing different is the box art (or in the case of Anastasia, the added sequel).

And really, the ones that I'm complaining about are the older Don Bluth films that have been re-released and need a restoration (i.e., The Secret of NIMH, Land Before Time, All Dogs Go to Heaven, Banjo the Woodpile Cat, and An American Tail; his other films from the mid-90s may or may not need to be touched; and Titan A.E. is too recent a film to need any fixing).

Maybe you can't have everything, but these films are some of the last great animated films that deserve a good restoration and re-release. So what do you guys think?

And while we're on the subject, whatever happened to the proposed "Dragon's Lair" movie?

i agree the secret of nimh an american tail the land before time and all dogs go to heaven are all wonderful movies and both versions of the films need a major restoration job done on them