DVD Review: Bedknobs and Broomsticks: Enchanted Musical Edition

Movie Info:
Writers: Ralph Wright, Ted Berman
Directors: Robert Stevenson
Cast: Angela Lansbury, David Tomlinson, Roddy McDowall, Sam Jaffe, John Ericson, Bruce Forsyth, Cindy O’Callaghan, Roy Snart, Ian Weighill, Tessie O’Shea
Rating: G
Studio: Walt Disney Video

Release Info:
Theatrical Release: December 13, 1971
DVD Release Date: September 8, 2009
Online Availability: Amazon for $19.99

I am a Disney kid. I was raised on both the live action and cartoon movies. Disney was innovative when I was a child. When it comes to animation, they still are. Prior to my birth, the Walt Disney Company experimented with combining live action with cartoon. One of those movies was Mary Poppins, one of my all time favorite live action, Disney films. Another was the less popular Bedknobs and Broomsticks.

Don’t get me wrong, I like this movie a lot. It’s just not nearly as good as Mary Poppins. That’s just a personal opinion, of course. I have spoken with a few people who think that the entire mixing of live action with cartoon is sacrilegious. I can see how they would feel this way, but honestly, this doesn’t bother me. I think it’s actually kind of funny to watch. I like how the penguins serve Mary in Mary Poppins. It’s just plain funny. Bedknobs and Broomsticks has less time spent in the animated world. It was as though Disney did this just to say, “Ha! Look how good it looks when we combine live action with cartoon.” Still, I don’t fault the film for that, much.

The story behind Bedknobs and Broomsticks is similar enough to Mary Poppins to get fans of this film into Bedknobs and Broomsticks, but original and unique enough to not be a Mary Poppins clone. I like the way they incorporated World War II into the story. It gave the movie a purpose. It wasn’t just a story about a witch. The characters had a very important reason to want to find the spell, which fuels their entire trip on the bed.

Regardless of it’s similarities to Mary Poppins, I still recommend that parents pick this movie up to watch with their children. You cannot beat the stories told by old Disney. Bedknobs and Broomsticks is a classic from the Disney vault. It has every element of a great Disney film. There are kids in it that children can relate to, there are catch tunes to sing along with, and the story isn’t too cerebral little ones will have to miss out on it, but also isn’t so childish that adults and older children will be bored to tears while watching the film. Essentially, Bedknobs and Broomsticks is a film everyone can enjoy, regardless of age.

The Bedknobs and Broomsticks Plot
With London full of uncertainty and bombings, three Cockney orphans, Charlie (Ian Weighill), Carrie (Cindy O’Callaghan) and Paul Rawlins (Roy Snart), are sent to the English countryside. The government hooks up children from London with families who have the room to take care of them. Eglantine Price (Angela Lansbury), a spinster with a large home, is left with the children, against her wishes. With no choice but to take them in, she attempts to make the best of it.

While Miss Price isn’t heartless, she doesn’t want the children to find out her secret. She’s been enrolled in a witchcraft class. She’s hoping her new witch powers will help her to aid the British war effort. When the children discover this, Charlie tries to use it to his advantage, but Miss Price realizes that the children can help her out. She ends up giving Paul a magical Bedknob that can transport them, on a bed, to any location they want to visit.

When Miss Price discovers her classes have been canceled, due to the war, without finding out how to do the last spell, the spell she needs to help her country, she uses the bedknob to transport herself, and the children, to London, to find her teacher, Emelius Browne (David Tomlinson). Brown, who has been sending the lessons to Miss Price, turns out to be a swindler and illusionist. The spells were all from an old book he found. When Miss Price informs him that his spells work, he decides to keep her around, hoping to convince her to swindle with him.

When Miss Price discovers part of the book missing, the part that explains how to do the spell she needs, Mr. Browne and the three children must accompany her on a musical adventure that takes them to the lost island of Naboombu and beyond. The hope of finding the spell, and using it to help their country, lies solely in their hands. If only they can use a little magic to find the spell they need, before the Nazis attack a little too close to home.

Storyline/Plot:
Replayability:
Acting:
Directing:

Audio/Visual:
The DVD claims that Bedknobs is remastered and in some ways I am pretty sure that they are right, it does appear to offer significant differences than a standard movie made in the 70s and transferred to DVD. The only problem is that this was released previously, a few years back, and it does not appear to offer a hugely different look from that DVD. Like the former DVD, Bedknobs is presented with a 1.66:1 aspect ratio in anamorphic widescreen. In a general sense there isn’t too much to complain about. Things look much better than what you might expect from a older movie. The biggest problems that I noticed had to do with the scenes on Portobello Road and with scenes dealing with the transporting on the bed. Many of the problems in these areas deal with shoddy special effects and with bad coloring. These area seemed to be filled with more noise and dirt than the other areas. Other than that, things look good. It’s not a bad transfer, it’s just not as cleaned up as they might want you to believe.

When it comes to the Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack, it’s a bump up. They obviously didn’t stick to the mono sound, but it doesn’t sound like a hugely different undertaking either. The music is done well, the dialogue is always easy to hear and understand, and the sound effects are dated, but work for this particular feature. In addition to the English track, there is a French Dolby Digital 5.1 track that is also available. Subtitles are available in English for the Hearing Impaired, Spanish, and French.

Visual:
Audio:

Bonus Features:
There is a small selection of DVD special features available here. Some of the previous features have been dumped in favor of others and depending on your feelings about the classics, you will either love the changes or hate them. I don’t think kids will notice either way, unless you count the loss of a few cartoon shorts. Things begin with previews that include Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, The Princess and the Frog, Santa Buddies, Up, Like Stars on Earth, Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure, Disney Blu-ray, Disney Movie Rewards, and D23. All of these are accessible through the Sneak Peeks section and the first three are shown before the movie actually begins.

Next up, Ms. Stone from from Wizards of Waverly Place arrives to talk about the differences in special effects from then to now. In her seven minute feature she talks about how the sodium vapor screen differs from the green screen. It’s not anything that is overly interesting or incredibly worth watching. In some ways I am not sure why they would bother to add this at all, unless they were just trying to add in something from one of the Disney shows in hopes to bump up the audience.

Next up is “Music Magic: The Sherman Brothers”: This is one of the recycled extras on the disc. Basically, what you have here is a talk with the songwriters, Richard and Robert Sherman. They talk about a lot of things, including how the project got started and various songs in the Bedknobs arsenal. There is some behind the scenes footage that has been included, as well.

“A Step in the Right Direction” is presented while showing a slideshow of photographs to show the gist of how the footage would have looked if it had been available. I am not sure why “Portobello Road” was even included here because it’s not much at all. David Tomlinson sings a brief bit of the song and there isn’t much else there.

Four trailers are available that last between just over a minute to around four minutes. Three of them are older and the last looks like it could be from the re-release of the DVD.

Things are wrapped up with one of the dumbest and most pointless features on the disc. In fact, this is worse than the Wizards feature. Here you have Dylan and Cole Sprouse with their mom talking about Blu-ray and how it is “Suite.” This lasts longer than most of the Bedknob specific features and is nothing more than a fluff-induced infomercial. Both this and the Wizards feature were in poor taste considering the useless and overly promotional nature of them.

Bonus Features:

Bottom Line:
If you do not own a copy of Bedknobs and Broomsticks already, I recommend you purchase one. This Enchanted Musical Edition is a great version to purchase. However, if you already own the last, remastered copy of Bedknobs and Broomsticks, you may want to consider whether the few bonuses are worth the upgrade. The quality for this release looks nearly the same as its predecessor. As a movie, I highly recommend, Bedknobs and Broomsticks. I’m just not sure if this version is worth the upgrade.

Overall Rating:

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Written by Dominick Evans - Visit Website
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Dominick is in his late 20s. He lives in Michigan with his life partner, Ashtyn, their 14 year old son Robert, and their Shih-Tzu, Oliver. Dominick is a writer and the head editor for both LI Kids and Literary Illusions. He enjoys composing music and is an aspiring director/screenwriter. In his free time he enjoys spending time with his family, playing and watching sports, playing video games, watching movies, and singing.