Vault Disney

Two treasures from the past make their debuts on disc, along with a new 'Stitch'

By Tom Russo, Globe Correspondent, 10/5/2003

Depending on how you look at it, Disney has either been holding out on us with its animated DVD releases or saturating the market. Not that that's the kind of flood most of us mind wading through, of course - the kids especially. Among the offerings being pulled freshly polished from the vaults or still inky-wet off the drawing boards:

"The Lion King'' (1994). It took nearly a full decade for "Finding Nemo'' to come along and unseat this contemporary classic from its throne as the top-grossing animated feature ever. Confoundingly, it's also taken that long for "King'' to make its debut on DVD. The best- picture-nominated ``Beauty and the Beast'' notwithstanding, we'd argue that this film is in fact the best of the traditional animation Disney has produced since reviving the genre with ``The Little Mermaid.'' Spectacular imagery, a terrifically redemptive archetypal story, music that's energetic enough to sustain, well, an actual musical - everything is enough to make the extras on this double-disc set seem almost beside the point.

Almost. So what bonuses are offered in this widely advertised special edition? A new, seamlessly interwoven musical number, for one, that gives cheeky bird Zazu a bit of warble time. Of greater interest is the rough demo track and storyboard footage for "Warthog Rhapsody,'' a number that was ultimately dropped in favor of the signature "Hakuna Matata.''

The various DVD menus get a little dizzying after a point; one of them divides the material into categories named after the continents, perhaps subliminally plugging Epcot. But those taking the time to explore will be rewarded with a variety of games and, for the older crowd, commentaries, production features, and a whole section on the development of the stage musical. The disc doesn't let viewers glimpse so much that they'll feel like they don't need to pony up for tickets to the show, but the footage is a welcome teaser, at least.

Unbilled bonus: Now that the movie is on DVD, you can really take a good, long, freeze-frame look at those split-second Mickey Mouse references. During Mufasa's solemn talk with young Simba about the great lion kings of the past, look to the stars and you'll see Mickey; and when Nathan Lane's Timon starts scarfing down jungle bugs while singing, don't look away or you'll miss the grub with the mouse ears. (Available Tuesday from Walt Disney Home Entertainment, $29.99; also on VHS, $24.99)

``Sleeping Beauty'' (1959). The final animated feature produced by Walt Disney himself also graces DVD for the first time. But with its sophisticated brushwork and Tchaikovsky-rooted score, it's not quite the natural that ``The Lion King'' is for Disney's all-audiences special edition treatment. There's no question that kids today know Belle and Ariel by name. But when this double-disc set breaks out, say, the ``Rescue Aurora Game,'' we're guessing that the proceedings might kick off with a momentary scratch of the head. For all that it echoes ``Snow White,'' this one has always boasted a touch of ``Fantasia'' as well.

Indeed, the strength of this package is when it embraces the film's history and stylistic vision, rather than just trying to contemporize its kid appeal. A segment on the picture's restoration shows what a striking difference the cleanup made. Interviews with the now-retired Disney artists who worked on ``Sleeping Beauty'' remind us just how much the animation process has changed over the decades - and how much it's remained the same. Then, as now, the animators sometimes turned to live-action models to choreograph particularly complex movements. Witness the film's climactic dragon-slaying sequence -which, dare we say it, kicks it old school in a way that somehow couldn't be more fantastically timeless. ($29.99)

"Stitch! The Movie'' (2003). It's obviously nothing unusual anymore for Disney to go back to the well on its classic animation and produce sequels, many of them made specifically for video. As the ``Lion King'' DVD informs in its parade of opening previews, "The Lion King 11/2'' is on its way next year. What's somewhat less typical is for the studio to go the automatic sequel route on a release like 2002's ``Lilo & Stitch,'' an amusing trifle, but one lacking "King'''s creative roar.

Still, "Stitch! '' doesn't sweat it, delivering a story that feels closer even to the modest ambitions of the new TV incarnation than to the lightweight original. Wacky alien scientist Jumba is abducted, and spunky Hawaiian tyke Lilo and her overcaffeinated E.T. of the title have to rescue him - with a little help from several hundred other creatures concocted in the same lab as Stitch. Here, the animators make even clearer the debt they owe to the mild mayhem of "Gremlins'': The freaky-yet-cuddly little space cases come to frenetic life when, yes, they come in contact with water. And there are enough of them to fill a deck of Pokemon cards - no doubt as intended. (The bonus materials feature a critter gallery to help fans keep track of who's who.)

But hey, this is reasonably good, clean fun, save for a bit of rambunctious-alien nose picking. And adults can also continue to yuk it up at Kevin McDonald of "Kids in the Hall'' doing his under-the-radar turn as cross-dressing alien Pleakley, one of the more delightfully subversive casting choices ever in this genre. ($29.99; also on VHS, $22.99)