Buy These Movies…

By Michael - November 29th, 2010

A trio of must-see Disney related documentaries hit stores tomorrow, and I consider them to all be mandatory purchases for those interested in the company’s history and art. Over the next couple of days I’ll be providing full reviews for each, but I wanted to encourage everyone to check them out immediately (that’s the short review). See them however you can, but I will note that if you order through my links I get a tiny kickback. The documentaries are:

Walt & El Grupo – Directed by Ted Thomas, this is the story of Walt Disney and a band of artists and filmmakers from his studio as they travel to South America in 1941 to battle Nazis. Figuratively speaking. There’s lots of archival film and audio, and as a bonus the DVD features the entire uncensored version of Saludos Amigos (on DVD for the first time).

the boys: the sherman brothers' story – Directed by cousins Jeff and Gregg Sherman, this documentary details the secretly contentious relationship and career of Richard and Robert Sherman, the most prolific and successful Disney songwriters of all time. Shocking and intimate, the film is full of Disney luminaries and reminds one just how much amazing work these two men produced.

Waking Sleeping Beauty – Directed by veteran Disney producer Don Hahn, this acclaimed documentary chronicles the rise of Walt Disney Feature Animation in the 1980s and early 1990s. Told with archival video, interviews, and shockingly candid participation by Michael Eisner and Jeff Katzenberg, this is the tale of how Disney animation rose from near-collapse to glory, only to run apart at the seams in an explosion of ego.

So that’s your mandatory viewing for the rest of the week. You shall not regret it. And don’t forget that also arriving tomorrow are Fantasia and Fantasia 2000 on Blu-ray and DVD, as well as Warren Spector’s long-waited Epic Mickey for the Nintendo Wii.