It's Supercalifragilisticexpialidocous!

I am doing a Happy Dance.  Well technically, it’s more of a Pooh Wiggle, since my injured foot still prohibits anything more ambitious.  But celebrating I am, because a DVD release date has finally been announced for some Disney documentaries I have been eagerly anticipating.

November 30, 2010 will see the release of all three critically acclaimed documentaries which offer insights into historical periods of The Walt Disney Company.  The Boys: The Sherman Brothers ’ Story, Waking Sleeping Beauty, and Walt and El Groupo will all be available for purchase.  Here’s the skinny on those:

The Boys: The Sherman Brothers’ Story is an intimate journey through the lives of Robert B. Sherman and Richard M. Sherman, the astoundingly prolific, Academy Award®-winning songwriting team that defined family musical entertainment for five decades with unforgettable songs like “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocous” from Mary Poppins, “I Wanna Be Like You” from The Jungle Book and the theme songs to many Disney theme park attractions.  The feature-length documentary, conceived, produced and directed by two of the songwriters’ sons, takes audiences behind the scenes of the Disney Studios, and also explores a deep and longstanding rift that has kept the brothers personally estranged throughout much of their unparalleled professional partnership.
Bonus features include:

• Why They’re “The Boys”
• Disney Studios in the ’60s
• Casting Mary Poppins
• Theme Parks – A look at their theme park music songbook and how they went about composing a song for a ride
• Roy Williams – A Disney Animator and also famous for being on the original Mickey Mouse Club, we learn through his artwork some of the stories of what it was like to work in the Animation Building in the 1960’s
• Bob’s Art:  A look at Bob Sherman’s other passion, his artwork
• Celebration:  Testimonials from celebrities and Hollywood legends
• Sherman Brother’s Jukebox:  A collection of Sherman Brothers songs and the stories behind them including: “Tall Paul”, “Chim Chim Cher-ee”, “Feed the Birds”, “There’s A Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow”, “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious”, and more

Waking Sleeping Beauty:  This is no fairy tale. It’s the true story of how Disney regained its magic with a staggering output of hits – “The Little Mermaid,” “Beauty and the Beast,” “Aladdin,” “The Lion King,” and more – over a 10-year period.

By the mid-1980s, the fabled animation studios of Walt Disney had fallen on hard times. The artists were polarized between newcomers hungry to innovate and old timers not yet ready to relinquish control. These conditions produced a series of box-office flops and pessimistic forecasts – maybe the best days of animation were over. Maybe the public didn’t care. Only a miracle or a magic spell could produce a happy ending.

Bonus features include:

• Why Wake Sleeping Beauty? – Overview featurette
• Untold Bedtime Stories – Deleted scenes from the feature
• The Sailor, the Mountain Climber, the Artist and the Poet – Celebrating Roy Disney, Frank Wells, Joe Ranft, and Howard Ashman
• Studio Tours – Randy’s tours, Roger Rabbit studio, Oliver studio, and the tour we shot at ARL
• A Reunion – Rob Minkoff and Kirk Wise
• Walt – What would Walt do AND compare Walt’s era and this era
• 3 webisode shorts
• Gallery – Photos, caricatures, and art from the era

Walt & El Grupo: For ten weeks in 1941, Walt Disney, his wife Lilly, and sixteen colleagues from his studio visited nations in Latin America to gather story material for a series of films with South American themes.  The feature documentary film Walt & El Grupo uses this framing device to explore inter-American relations, provide a rare glimpse into the artists who were part of the magic of Disney’s “Golden Age” and give an unprecedented look at the 39 year-old Walt Disney during one of the most challenging times of his entire life.

Bonus features include:

• Audio Commentary – Director Theodore Thomas and Historian J.B. Kaufman
• Photos In Motion – How the photos literally came to life
• From The Director’s Cut – 3 different segments taking you deeper into the story
• Saludos Amigos – Original theatrical version
• Original Theatrical Trailers: Saludos Amigos (1942); The Three Caballeros (1944)

These are currently available for pre-order through Amazon.com.  List price per DVD (each of the three are of course, separate) is $29.99, and the Amazon price is $20.99.  You can bet your bottom dollar I’ll be getting them.  Are you excited, too?  Let me know at http://www.facebook.com/disneygene!