Credit: DisneyDisney recently announced an upcoming re-release of the original animated Cinderella in 4K definition on home media. While the company has made many strides in the field of film restoration, there’s a certain amount of scandal that comes with this little package. It’s not the first time that Disney has “restored” the film for a modern audience.
The last time Cinderella was re-released and restored, Disney washed out the details and gummed up some of the frames from the film’s original print. By eliminating smudges, sketch marks, and imperfections left behind by Walt’s original artists, is Disney truly restoring their most iconic princess movie?
Cinderella: Enhanced or Erased?
Cinderella’s last Blu-Ray re-release from Disney’s restoration team left a bad taste in many mouths and glossed over elements of the film’s animated composition. While it appears that Disney is learning from its past sins, there’s still a heavy risk that the new 4K prints do the same thing. Moreover, if this pattern continues, how long will it be before the film’s originality is lost entirely?
While the uncut and unedited version will still exist on VHS and in the Walt Disney Archives, the studio’s recent restoration practices have many classic Disney fans biting their nails. The images shown so far appear to be a decided improvement on the last attempt, but that still doesn’t erase the issue.
A big part of the allure of Disney’s original animation style was that it was all drawn by hand. The original Cinderella was made before drawing tablets, CGI, and other modern conveniences were invented. In short, mistakes were part of the process, and the fact that Disney wants to erase evidence of that process does not paint them in a good light.
It goes back to a metaphor we’ve used before. If you take the blade off of Abe Lincoln’s hatchet, is it still Abe Lincoln’s hatchet? Likewise, if Disney’s restoration team removes the marks left by Walt Disney’s original artists, whose movie is it now?
Should Disney restore the film or leave it alone? Tell Inside the Magic what you think in the comments below!