| Home | Movie Archives | Useful Information | Product Reviews | Recalls | Rating System |

Film Title: Disney Documentaries:

Walt & El Grupo

Waking Sleeping Beauty

The Boys: The Sherman Brothers' Story.

Best for ages: All Ages

Movie Website:  Click Here

Year Released: 2010

Rated: PG (All 3 Films)

The Review

      I have noticed a thread year after year with Disney: they have small documentaries that they release on DVD from time to time that have something to do with the company. The last one I saw was about the construction of Disneyland and how Walt Disney constructed his dream of a theme park with all of the ideas he had looming in his head. Recently, Disney launched its Disney Nature label featuring documentaries about the planet and the its animals. The latest documentaries they have released from their archives are three small films that have to do with the people behind the great Disney films we have grown to love, Walt & El Grupo, The Boys: The Sherman Brothers’ Story, and Waking Sleeping Beauty.

     Walt & El Grupo is about the man himself, Walt Disney, going on one of his first real adventures as a United States Cultural Ambassador to South American countries during World War II. During this time in South America, Hitler’s Nazi influence was spreading. The U.S. government asked Walt Disney to travel the region on a goodwill tour. Disney gathered a group of artists called El Grupo, and on their adventures together they, gathered material and learned about different cultures which later led to the Disney Company's creation of its classic South American-based films Saludos Amigos and The Three Caballeros. The film is told through footage of the trip, letters that were written about it and through the eyes of descendents of Disney and the crew as they recall the stories told to them. It’s a nice little documentary DVD which features the film and a few special features such as director Theodore Thomas' and film historian J.B. Kaufman's commentary, Photos In Motions, Scenes from the Directors Cut, Saludos Amigos: original 1943 release and the original trailers for Saludos Amigos and The Three Caballeros. This is a documentary that shows how great a person Walt Disney really was, that he could put a smile on anyone’s face, even in hard times.

     The second documentary is The Boys: The Sherman Brothers’ Story. This is the story of the brothers who created a lot of the famous songs for many of Disney’s classic films. Robert and Richard Sherman are the brothers who created Academy Award winning songs and scores in films such as Mary Poppins and The Jungle Book. The documentary includes footage, stills and interviews with talent such as Dick Van Dyke, Angela Lansbury, Roy Disney and many others about how the Sherman Brothers helped tell the stories of Disney’s films through their music. There are plenty of bonus features on the disc, including featurettes such as Why They’re “The Boys,” Disney Studios in the 60’s, Casting Mary Poppins, The Process, Theme Parks, Roy Williams, Bob’s Art, Celebration and The Sherman Brothers’ Jukebox.

      The last of the three documentaries, Waking Sleeping Beauty, concerns the second coming of Disney. The film is about, as the quote on the cover says, “the best comeback story of a studio in show business history.” This is the story of how Disney rose from a time in which the studio almost went under, and how films such as Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid and The Lion King helped put Disney back on top. This documentary is told by the people who made it happen, such as Roy Disney, John Lasseter, Jeffery Katzenberg and Michael Eisner.  The DVD includes features such as the featurette Why Wake Sleeping Beauty? The Sailor, The Mountain Climber, The Artist and The Poet, Studio Tours, Walt, A Reunion Deleted Scenes, and commentary with director Dan Hahn and Peter Schneider.

     All three of these documentaries are great pieces of history that define what the Walt Disney Company has accomplished since its conception. Children may not want to sit through these history lessons, but I’m sure once they get older, these films are something they will want to look back on. These documentaries are great and are well worth picking up to own or rent. All of them are a great look into the history of The Walt Disney Company and all that it has done to bring smiles to people’s faces from all over the world.

BUY THIS MOVIE.