Jim on Film: The Problem with IMAX Releases - Part Two
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For Beauty and the Beast fans, the DVD release of the original print of the film escaped fairly unscathed, except for a dialogue change that slightly affected the characterization of the Beast. For The Lion King purists, the recent re-release was not quite as pleasant since alterations to the film remained in both editions on the DVD. Because many had watched the film so many times on video, the alterations were particularly jarring since the original images were ingrained in their memories. And while one cannot argue with the artists’ desire to improve their work, it leaves the die-hard purists, who have supported the Feature Animation department through some very lean times, in the cold.

In addition to that aspect, hindsight is always clearer, and the alterations made to The Lion King no longer represent the film that spoke for the artists in 1994. After such stunning releases as The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Lilo and Stitch, and Treasure Planet, the studio could probably do touch-ups to many of its earlier classics, but these touch-ups could become a slippery slope. The most die-hard of Disney animations fans, the ones who really know the film inside out, had no qualms about the original The Lion King, so one must wonder why the changes would be made when the average viewer wouldn’t really care, particularly when every other aspect of the department is being micromanaged. Furthermore, and more importantly, the changes made to The Lion King appeared on both versions on the DVD of The Lion King, the “original�? and the “Special Edition.�? When the artists commented that they made changes to improve the film, it called into question all the other films released by the Feature Animation department. If the crown jewel of the studio’s animation department was never as good as we all thought it was, one must wonder what is wrong with its other films from that era.

The true artistic travesty started by the release of films to Imax theaters was the creation of “Special Edition�? versions of their films. At the time of Beauty and the Beast’s “Special Edition�? release, the studio was careful to suggest that new songs would not be added to all of their films. But as Disney has a history of doing, with the insertion of Human Again, this trend became a slippery slope.

Being a writer myself, one of the most fascinating aspects of studying the Disney films has been in reading about the construction of story. In every film released by Walt Disney Feature Animation, there has been something that has been cut from the original production. In Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the story was constructed so tightly, Walt Disney had to eliminate two great scenes, including one fully-animated song sequence, because he understood what would be best for the story (anyone watching Chitty Chitty Bang Bang or An American Tale, for example, can appreciate a streamlined story). Since then, every film released by Walt Disney Feature Animation (as well as with Pixar) has undergone the same story transformation, creating a tight narration that will move the audience. Every choice was made deliberately.

When Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King made the leap to the Broadway stage, songs were added to accommodate the change in medium. The delightful stage versions of both films were constructed to incorporate additional songs, just as the original film versions were constructed to incorporate only the original songs. It is a testament to the original artists and story department that Beauty and the Beast was so damaged by the inclusion of Human Again into the film. A beautiful song, it was originally cut because, according to Bob Thomas in his book Disney’s Art of Animation: From Mickey Mouse to Beauty and the Beast, it pulled the focus away from the two central characters. In its place, Alan Menken and Howard Ashman wrote Something There. When the song was added for the “Special Edition�? of the film, it brutally interrupted the steadily building relationship between Belle and the Beast, which flowed so delicately from Something There into the title song. In the new version, the focus on this relationship gets muddied down, with an attempt to keep this focus by the inclusion of a new scene between the two main characters. Set so un-romantically at a table, the new ideas added to the movie are not developed (as opposed to how well it is done in the stage version), and the whole scene feels forced. The “Special Edition�? made the whole second half of the film feel less special than it ever did before.