Dumbo is the story of a baby circus elephant with extra large ears and his friend, Timothy J. Mouse. Dumbo's ears are his claim to fame, and he is the only flying elephant you'll ever see!
Did you know it's the 70th anniversary of the release of Dumbo? In honor of it's anniversary, Disney has digitally restored the movie. Depending on your TV setup and HDMI cables, of course, you can see a huge difference in the picture quality on this new release - it's incredible. The sound has also been restored as well, cleaning up some of the static and background noise as well. It's so hard to believe how old this movie is when you are watching it!
Dumbo has been released as a combo pack. It comes with both the regular movie DVD and the Blu-Ray disk, so you won't have to re-buy the same title in the Blu-Ray format down the road if you don't already have a Blu-Ray player or PlayStation 3. While these combo packs cost just about $10 more than just buying the regular DVD, you end up saving money in the long run. Plus, if you have a computer/laptop with DVD playing capability or portable DVD players, you can play the regular DVD disk on those.
As you can guess, Disney has rolled out the red carpet for this movie with the special features included on the discs. The DVD disc (disc two) features the restored movie. (You might not notice the fixes as much as you would when watching the Blu-Ray). It also contains a never seen before deleted scene and a song - both of which I am going to make you watch the movie to find out more about. (Even if you haven't seen the movie in years, trust me, you'll notice!) It also includes "Taking Flight: the Making Of Dumbo", and a look at Disneyland's most popular ride "The Magic of Dumbo: A Ride of Passage". There is also some audio commentary.
The Blu-Ray disc features the enhanced high definition restored version of the movie, and "Disney View", which is an expanded viewing experience - for those unfamiliar with it, instead of the black bars you see in movies shown on widescreen TVs, they fill them with artwork. DH hates it, he says it takes away from the movie, but it doesn't bother me or the kiddo. It also contains the Cine-Explore Experience - this is a picture in picture feature. As you're watching a commentary track of the movie, another picture will pop up in the frame. All of the other special features included on the DVD disc are included on the Blu-Ray disc, as well as a featurette celebrating Dumbo, art galleries, two animated shorts: "The Flying Mouse" and "Elmer Elephant", and two games that use your DVD remote - "What Do You See?" and the trivia version "What Do You Know?". There are also trailers and all that other good stuff!
It also contains Fast Play, which is a navigation utility that automatically starts the disc as soon as it's put in the player and pretty much remembers your viewing preferences.
Dumbo is rated G (special features not rated, of course), and this movie is pretty much safe for all ages. While there are a few slight scary scenes for the very young, being an animated Disney movie, you're in the clear with no questionable scenes and moments.
If you're interested in purchasing Dumbo for your family's collection, there's a coupon out right now that will save you $5 off your purchase here. Do hurry though, as the coupon is only good through September 25th! This title also qualifies as part of the Disney Movie Rewards program, so be sure to enter the code inside the box to get your reward points.
Dumbo: 70th Anniversary Edition will be released this Tuesday, September 20th, 2011, and will only be available for a limited time. (You know Disney and their vault!) Rated G, the total running time is 64 minutes long (not including special features). The suggested retail price for the 2 Disc Blu-Ray Combo is $39.99, but Amazon has it available on pre-order as of this posting for $24.99.
I received a copy of this DVD in order to view it and share my thoughts on it. All opinions are my own.
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