New extra features make Platinum Edition of “Peter Pan” worth picking up

Jim Hill

18 years ago

Okay. Let’s be honest here, folks. If you’re a JHM reader, you’re already a great big honking Disney dweeb.

Which means that you probably bought the Special Edition of “Peter Pan” when that DVD went on sale back in February of 2002. Not to mention the Limited Issue disc of this same Disney classic, which hit store shelves back in November 1999. And how about the VHS versions of this 1953 release? The “Walt Disney’s Classics” cassette from 1990 as well as the “Masterpiece Collection” tape in 1998? You’ve got those too, right?

So that means that you already own four versions of the very same film? So why the hell would you ever want to buy the new 2-disc Platinum Edition of “Peter Pan” (Which officially goes on sale next Tuesday, March 6th)?

And the answer is … The extras. All of the extremely cool additional features that the nice folks at Walt Disney Home Entertainment have crammed onto this 2-disc set.

“What sort of extras?,” you ask. Well, let’s start with “The Peter Pan That Almost Was” featurette that you’ll find on Disc 2. Hosted by John Musker & Ron Clements (Who know a little something about what it takes to make a great animated film. Given that these are the guys who directed “The Great Mouse Detective,” The Little Mermaid,” “Aladdin,” “Hercules” and “Treasure Planet“), this 20-minute-long documentary walks you through many of the story ideas that Walt Disney considered and eventually discarded as he & his studio’s staff struggled to turn J.M. Barrie‘s popular stage play & book into a feature length cartoon. Including one proposed opening for the picture where Peter was flying off to London to kidnap a girl — any girl — so that she could then be a mother for the Lost Boys.

Then there are those great galleries of concept art. Where you then have the chance to walk through the 17-year development history of this animated feature. Starting back with the darker, much more ornate version that David Hall envisioned back in the late 1930s right through to the more stylized take on this same material that Mary Blair designed back in the late 1940s & early 1950s.

There’s also some amazing character development drawings to be found on this new 2-disc set. Where you can see Disney artists try to turn Barrie’s characters into toons. And some of their initial attempts are downright hilarious.

Take — for example — this early attempt at depicting Peter. Which was obviously heavily influenced by the Lampwick character from “Pinocchio.”

But you want to know what my favorite part of the new Platinum Edition of “Peter Pan” is? It’s all of the photos from the live action reference footage that was shot for this 1953 release. Where we get to see the always lovely Margaret Kerry working on a empty soundstage, dressed only a swimsuit. Where she interacts with all of these bare-bones oversized props. As Margaret tries to give Disney’s animators some idea how Tink would actually think & act.

Or — better yet — how about these shots of the live action versions of Captain Hook & his pirate crew? That’s Han Conried himself standing in that rowboat on the left. And that tall lanky pirate in the photo on the right? Would you believe that that’s Buddy Ebsen? Jed Clampett himself helping to provide live action reference for this Disney animated classic.

And then there’s that sneak peek at “Tinkerbell.” Which — in the end — may wind up being the real reason that most Disneyana fans want to pick up this 2-disc set. Given the version of this 2008 video premiere that’s being previewed on the Platinum Edition of “Peter Pan” (according to Chuck Oberleitner, anyway) may have already been abandoned. To be replaced by an all-new storyline that John Lasseter reportedly believes is more in keeping with the Neverland that Walt Disney first introduced us to back in February of 1953.

So (to cut to the chase here) even if you already own the four earlier versions of “Peter Pan” that Disney Home Entertainment has put on the market over the past 17 years, the 2-disc Platinum Edition of this animated classic is still worth picking up. Just so you can then savor all of those cool new extras that the Mouse has added to this DVD.

But if you’re not a big honking Disney dweeb who really gets off on seeing behind-the-scene stuff AND you already own a copy of “Peter Pan” … Well, maybe you can then take a pass on this particular trip back to Neverland.

But what do you folks think? Are you actually planning on picking up the 2-disc Platinum Edition of “Peter Pan”? Or is it just too soon after the release of the 2002 DVD to buy yet another copy of this Disney classic?

Your thoughts?