Which Disney Animated Films Are Widescreen?

[Neal]

I recently bought the 25th anniversary edition of Fox and the Hound, and forgot to check the box. I though it was going to be widescreen. It was full screen. I was disappointed at this. Is it possible not all Disney Animated features are available in widescreen? I mean, widescreen didn't always exist, right? If some are not, which are they?

Are any of the 46 released Disney Animated Feature films not available in widescreen?

Are some/any of them better fullscreen than widescreen?

Thanks!

[Joe]

Lady and the Tramp was the first Disney film to be shot in a widescreen format. I'm not sure about the details about their 60s and 70s releases, but it seems that some, such as 101 Dalmatians and The Aristacats were actually made in fullscreen dimensions, but matted when they were shown in theaters. I'm not sure if this applies to Fox and the Hound, though

Edit: http://www.ultimatedisney.com/oar.htm

This sheds a bit of light on it. Most DVDs for the 60s-70s movies were released "open matte," meaning the fullscreen ratio before being matted for the theares into letterbox. However, it seems that the DVD releases of Fox are a Pan & Scan job. There seems to be quite a bit of controversy regarding how these should be released on DVD.

[Neal]

Thanks for the answer, but this is still confusing! You helped me a bit, though. Can any expand further?

[MagicBox]

Here's a list of of Walt Disney Feature Animation films in chronological order: http://www.ultimatedisney.com/ultimateclassics.htm

What aspect ratio they were produced in and intended for depends on the time in which they were animated. Here's how they should be seen.

Snow White - Peter Pan: Created in and intended for Fullscreen.

Lady & the Tramp: CinemaScope. Very wide widescreen. A proper fullscreen version was made, but the DVD only includes a pan-&-scan hackjob of the widescreen version.

Sleeping Beauty: CinemaScope. Intended for widescreen.

101 Dalmatians - Robin Hood: Animated in fullscreen, but matted to widescreen for theaters. Either ratio is fine for presentation.

The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh: Comprised of three earlier shorts produced and intended for fullscreen.

The Rescuers: The first Disney animated feature animated for non-CinemaScope widescreen.

The Fox & the Hound: Still a mystery. Chronologically, it's surrounded by widescreen films, but Disney keeps releasing the thing in fullscreen. This is the only movie in Disney's animated canon where it's original/intended aspect ratio is uncertain.

The Black Cauldron - Present: All intended for widescreen. Not all of the films have the same apsect ratio, but they all fall under the general category of "widescreen."

That should answer your question. DVD wise, every one of these films are presented in the ratio for which they were intended, with the possible exception of Fox & the Hound, but that's unconfirmed. That's the only one that should raise concern. All of the films between 101 Dalmatians and Robin Hood, despite all being animated in fullscreen with the intent of cropping for widescreen in theaters, aren't presented consistantly on DVD. Some are on DVD in cropped theatrical widescreen and some are on DVD in original fullscreen. But since both ratios are technically correct for these films, Disney didn't screw up anywhere. Hope that helps.

If anything still confuses you, you could just read the DVD reviews in the Animated Classics list that I linked to at the beginning of my post. Their reviews are always very in-depth and explain everything regarding picture.

[RayChuang]

It should be noted that with the exception of a parts of Brother Bear and Atlantis: The Lost Empire and the Pixar movies, most Disney animated features done since the 1970's use the 1.66 to 1 aspect ratio, mostly because 1.66:1 aspect matched the aspect ratio of the paper they used to draw the animation.

[Dee]

When at all possible, I try to buy widescreen. After I saw an example of widescreen and formatted shots of Ben Hur---I realized how bad formatted can look.

Some pan-and-scan shots are just horrible. I would hope they could settle for The Fox and the Hound. It's a great film, but I'm not going to buy something when it's pan-and-scan. Learned my lesson during the days of VHS.

[Neal]

Lady & the Tramp: CinemaScope. Very wide widescreen. A proper fullscreen version was made, but the DVD only includes a pan-&-scan hackjob of the widescreen version.

101 Dalmatians - Robin Hood: Animated in fullscreen, but matted to widescreen for theaters. Either ratio is fine for presentation.

DVD wise, every one of these films are presented in the ratio for which they were intended, with the possible exception of Fox & the Hound, but that's unconfirmed. That's the only one that should raise concern. All of the films between 101 Dalmatians and Robin Hood, despite all being animated in fullscreen with the intent of cropping for widescreen in theaters, aren't presented consistantly on DVD. Some are on DVD in cropped theatrical widescreen and some are on DVD in original fullscreen. But since both ratios are technically correct for these films, Disney didn't screw up anywhere. Hope that helps.

Well, two more questions. How come you said they are all presented in the proper ratio DVD-wise at the end, but initially said the Lady and the Tramp DVD is just a hackjob pan and scan? So that one is not in its proper ratio?

As for 101 Dalmatians through Robin Hood, is there anything that one misses out on between fullscreen and widescreen? Is there anything cropped out between the two versions?

I want to get all the Disney Animated Films on DVD - but ensure I have a DVD that presents the intended ratio.

[MagicBox]

Well, two more questions. How come you said they are all presented in the proper ratio DVD-wise at the end, but initially said the Lady and the Tramp DVD is just a hackjob pan and scan? So that one is not in its proper ratio?
The Lady & the Tramp Platinum Edition includes two viewing options: widescreen and fullscreen. The widescreen version is the full CinemaScope version: it's correct. The fullscreen version, though, ISN'T the true reformatted fullscreen version that was made when the film was originally released; it's just a pan-&-scan hackjob of the CinemaScope version.

With the widescreen version included on the DVD, though, you've got it the way it was mainly intended to be seen.


As for 101 Dalmatians through Robin Hood, is there anything that one misses out on between fullscreen and widescreen? Is there anything cropped out between the two versions?
Yeah, the widescreen versions crop off the top and bottom of the fullscreen versions. To get the full animation on these particular films, you'd want the fullscreen versions. To get them the way the directors/animators intended them to be seen in theaters, the widescreen versions are the way to go. But yeah, the fullscreen versions have more picture on the tops and bottoms.

101 Dalmatians and Sword in the Stone have only been released to DVD in fullscreen, so you're getting the full picture there, regardless of which release you buy. I recommend the most recent releases for each.

The Jungle Book, AristoCats, and Robin Hood have had both versions released, though, so which release you get depends on how you want to view the films.

If you want Jungle Book in cropped theatrical widescreen, get the new Platinum Edition release. If you want it in original fullscreen, you could try to track down the out-of-print, hard-to-find, barebones, and all-around worse Limited Edition disc.

For AristoCats and Robin Hood, the original fullscreen versions are on the older Gold Collection discs, while the cropped theatrical widescreen versions are on the newer releases (the Special Edition and the "Most Wanted" Edition, respectfully)

But really, the newer discs are superior to the older discs in video quality, audio quality, and bonus features, so it's hard for me to recommend the Limited/Gold Collection discs of these films even if you want the original fullscreen versions.

[Neal]

Okay, thanks for all your help. I got Lady and the Tramp on DVD last night.

I already have all the rest of those films on VHS, but I will see about which version I want to buy on DVD.

I'm a bit of an OCD purist - I want to ensure the version I'm watching is exactly the way the animators would have wanted me to see it.

Any idea why they'd animate it in fullscreen but then choose to chop off parts of the top and bottom for theaters? That doesn't make sense to me.