Cinderella (Anniversary Edition) (Signature Collection) [Blu-Ray]

Directors: Clyde Geronimi, Wilfred Jackson, Hamilton Luske

Cast:  Ilene Woods, James MacDonald, Eleanor Audley (VOICES)

Release Date: June 25, 2019

A Review By: Kevin Lovell

Disc Rating: 9.5/10

Synopsis:

Recently added to the prestigious National Film Registry, the animated classic centers on kind and hardworking Cinderella, who is ordered around by her cruel stepmother, her awful stepsisters — even the big clock in the church tower tells her when to start another day of drudgery. But they can’t stop her from dreaming, and Cinderella has faith that someday her wishes will come true. When an invitation to the royal ball arrives, Cinderella is sure her time has come — until her stepsisters, with the encouragement of Lady Tremaine, tear her gown to shreds. Just when Cinderella believes all is lost, her Fairy Godmother appears, and with a wave of her wand and “Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo,” transforms an ordinary pumpkin into a magnificent coach and Cinderella’s rags into a gorgeous gown, then sends her off to the Royal Ball. But Cinderella’s enchanted evening must end when the spell is broken at midnight. It will take the help of her daring animal mice friends and a perfect fit into a glass slipper to create the ultimate fairy tale ending.

Walt Disney’s animated masterpiece ‘Cinderella’ returns home on Blu-ray, marking the ninth title to join the Walt Disney Signature Collection lineup. Now you and the entire family can revisit the classic fairy tale of young, beautiful and kindhearted Cinderella who spends her life leaping to the every whim of her cruel stepmother and unpleasant stepsisters who treat her as a servant in her own home. But when a magical opportunity to attend an important ball for the handsome prince seeking a wife arises, she soon learns that magic is quite real and even when things may look hopeless, there’s always a path to your destiny, or at least the help of a fairy godmother.

Disney’s animated classic ‘Cinderella’ makes its way back to Blu-ray, following the Anniversary Edition Signature Blu-ray of ‘The Little Mermaid’ released earlier this year, and serving as the ninth installment in the ongoing Walt Disney Signature Collection lineup. Even while quite likely featuring the same transfer used on the previous Blu-ray edition of ‘Cinderella’ (I’m unable to confirm for certain as I don’t own any prior releases of the film) it still serves up satisfying high definition video and audio presentations of the unforgettable classic, in addition to enough extras to please the whole family, even including a couple brand new extras exclusive to this release such as the option to view the movie with the new ‘In Walt’s Words’ mode which offers the viewer behind the scenes photos, along with original conversations and more chronicling the process of bringing the movie to life. Along with numerous other fun supplements (please see the special features section in the technical specification coverage of the review below for more detailed information) it should altogether make this one a definite must own for any fans of the film (or die hard Disney fans in general) who don’t already own ‘Cinderella’ on Blu-ray, along with many who do already own it and may find these couple new extras worth the double dip. Families with kids in the house who don’t already own this animated gem will also likely want to consider picking up a copy in order to introduce yet another new generation to this timeless and unforgettable tale that isn’t likely to lose its charm anytime soon.

Overall, Disney’s new Anniversary Edition Blu-ray release of their animated masterpiece ‘Cinderella’ (and the ninth title to join the ongoing Walt Disney Signature Collection lineup) sees the animated masterpiece’s return home to Blu-ray accompanied by wonderful high definition video and audio presentations, not to mention hours of fun extras including a couple brand new and noteworthy bonuses exclusive to this new release. Originally debuting 69 years ago, Disney’s ‘Cinderella’ still effortlessly holds up in nearly every way with its beauty, wonder and charm around every turn, ready to showcase its magic for a new group of kids, as well as many more generations to come. This new Anniversary Edition Signature Collection Blu-ray release of the Disney classic is definitely highly recommended, especially for anyone that doesn’t already own one of the previous Blu-ray releases, and quite possibly also for some that do.

VIDEO:

The Anniversary Signature Collection Blu-ray release of ‘Cinderella’ features a full 1080p High Definition presentation utilizing the film’s original 1.33:1 4X3 Aspect Ratio (aka the ‘Original Theatrical Version’). The release also offers the option of 2 additional ways to view the film, either via a ‘DisneyView’ presentation which fills in the black spaces on the left and right of the screen with original artwork, or in a brand new ‘In Walt’s Words: The Envisioning of Cinderella’ format which features behind the scenes conversations and photos throughout the film. The general presentations for the film (Original Theatrical and DisneyView) look great overall and provide clean, sharp and richly detailed presentations of the Feature Film that look quite wonderful for the most part, and suffering no notable faults throughout. Overall, these are great high definition video presentations of the animated classic sporting vibrant colors and detail that shouldn’t disappoint its fans.

AUDIO:

The Anniversary Edition Signature Collection Blu-ray features a 7.1 channel DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack, along with the alternate option of viewing with the film’s original 1.0 soundtrack. As I so often do, I went with the 7.1 channel DTS-HD MA soundtrack utilized which offers a crisp, clean and generally great audio presentation throughout. It occasionally takes advantage of all seven available channels in order to send the music and some other minor elements throughout the various speakers, while never getting carried away either, and therefore helping to retain its simplistic charm at the same as further complimenting its wonderful original songs. Overall, this is a pretty fantastic 7.1 DTS-HD MA soundtrack that keeps things sweet and simple, while sounding smooth and sharp every step of the way.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

The Anniversary Signature Collection Blu-ray release of ‘Cinderella’ is absolutely jam-packed with extras, featuring a few noteworthy new supplements, combined with heaps of classic, previously released bonus content. One great new extra exclusive to this release is the option to watch the film in a new mode; ‘In Walt’s Words: The Envisioning of Cinderella’ which includes tons of recreated conversations, behind the scenes photos and plenty more throughout the duration of the film, diving deeper into what went into  bringing it to life. Also included on the release is ‘Try This Trivia on for Size’ (running approximately 5 minutes in length) along with heaps of previously released ‘Classic Bonus’ goodies which includes a ‘Diane Disney Miller Cinderella Film Introduction’ (running approximately 1 minute), plus ‘From Rags To Riches: The Making of Cinderella’ (approximately 38 minutes), ‘The Cinderella That Almost Was’ (12 minutes), ‘The Magic of the Glass Slipper: A Cinderella Story’ (10 minutes), ‘The Real Fairy Godmother’ (12 minutes), an ‘Alternate Opening Sequence’ (1 minute), ‘Storyboard to Film Comparison: Opening Sequence’ (7 minutes), ‘Cinderella Title Song’ (2 minutes), plus ‘From Walt’s Table: A Tribute to the Nine Old Men’ (22 minutes), ‘The Art of Mary Blair’ (15 minutes), ‘Behind the Magic: A New Disney Princess Fantasyland’ (8 minutes), ‘1922 Laugh-O-Grams: Cinderella’ (7 minutes), and an ‘Excerpt From “The Mickey Mouse Club” with Helene Stanley’ (original airdate January 24, 1956) (4 minutes). Also included are 3 ‘Radio Programs – Original Radio Shows from the 1940’s/1950’s’ (approximately 12 minutes altogether) and 6 ‘Trailers’ for the movie (9 minutes combined).

*Please note that the above images are taken from the Blu-Ray and resized. They will additionally suffer quality loss as a result of .jpg compression. Larger versions of each image can be viewed by clicking on the image. All images and content included on this Blu-Ray release are the property of their respective owners.

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Disc Rating: 9.5/10

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Disney’s ‘Cinderella: Anniversary Edition’ is Now Available to Own On Blu-ray & Digital as part of The Signature Collection from Walt Disney Home Entertainment