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Lady and The Tramp II - Scamp's Adventure: Special Edition
[Blu-ray]
Blu-ray A - America - Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment Review written by and copyright: Ethan Stevenson (6th October 2012). |
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The Film
 I have just three questions. How long a gap between original and sequel is too long? When is a sequel actually a remake? And lastly, why oh why did Disney make me (and I’m sure many other viewers) ponder these questions by dumping out a dumb direct-to-video sequel to one of the company’s most beloved features from the 1950's, “Lady and the Tramp”, a half-century after the fact for no discernable reason at all? “Lady and the Tramp II: Scamp’s Adventure” is one of many needless sequels produced by The Walt Disney Company at their most artistically disingenuous—i.e. during the Michael Eisner era (and in its aftermath), when making movies was purely about making money and absolutely nothing else at the House of Mouse. In that time, the company brought a number of absolutely atrocious, often contradictory, animated creations (some might say abominations) into being: “Cinderella II: Dreams Come True” (2001), “101 Dalmatians II: Patch’s London Adventure” (2003), “Bambi II” (2006), “Fox and the Hound II” (2006), among, sadly, many, many others. These horrible things, which I would rather wish not exist at all, may entertain the kiddies—and that was their intention—for children have no taste, and in point of fact, might not have seen the original film to be able to compare anyway. But that doesn’t negate the fact almost every single one of these direct-to-video sequels, prequels, mid-quels, and however else Disney decided to re-enter the worlds and rehash the ideas of some of their most famous films, are absolutely, positively, awful. With the Disney Renaissance, and the resurgence of some artistry at the studio in the late 1980's and predominately the early 1990's, giving way to more than a few excellent theatrical films, the company began to produce lower-cost sequels for the growing home video market. The earliest attempts, like “Aladdin 2: Return of Jafar” (1994), were near contemporaries of the films they followed, sort of decent, and were also usually, unbelievably, successful in that ever-growing VHS (and later DVD) market. With the diminishing theatrical returns, at least artistically—the creative fall off started around the time of “Hercules” (1997)—the direct-to-video projects only got worse. By the time the new millennium rolled around, and even the theatrical features were of questionable quality again, the DTV discs and tapes contained awful, near unwatchable, atrocities. Awful films that would probably keep kids entertained, but make any adult want to pull their hair out. As Eisner decided that the company coffers needed to be fuller of coin, and that they could make just as much money producing low-budget knock offs of their classic films as they could bad flicks that found their way to the theater, he looked further and further back into the catalog for pictures to retroactively tarnish. Having already ruined “Cinderella” (1950) with the horrible “Dreams Come True”, Eisner looked to another 50's gem, “Lady and the Tramp” (1955), to sequelize and essentially remake with far less finesse. “Scamp’s Adventure” was produced by the now-defunct Walt Disney Animation Australia—which regrouped as the DisneyToon Studios mid-cycle on this film—and, like many of its contemporaries, has an attractive, streamlined, look. It’s competently animated, if nothing else. In spite of being completely devoid of anything else, actually. The film—basically a remake of the original film, but with the gender roles reversed—steals its story, and some of its images, from the iconic originator. Yes, Scamp (voiced by Scott Wolf), the sprightly offspring of Lady and Tramp—now parents of three proper Spaniel-mix girls, and one rambunctious and bounding boy, who wishes to be a “wild dog”—falls for a pup from the wrong side of the tracks. The girl, an adventurous mutt named Angel (Alyssa Milano), is part of a gang called the Junkyard Dogs, and over a long 4th of July weekend, Scamp befriends her and falls for her, while learning the true meaning of family and love. Or something. The messages, of the dangers of caving to peer pressure and of flying a little too close to the sun too soon, seem forced into the plot amongst the many songs and other time-padding tricks tacking the film together. The themes, at least the one’s not taken directly from the original—itself a sort of Romeo and Juliet with Dogs—seem like an afterthought, as though added to fill in the eventual 70-minute runtime and give the entire adventure some meaning. An adventure which has “Lady and the Tramp II” shamelessly lifting pieces from the first film, most offensively recreating the iconic meatball and noodle kiss scene. Yet, even as a poor copycat, “Scamp’s Adventure” manages to be a bland bore, despite being overstuffed with song and an almost endless stream of action. Which is strange, because the original classic has few songs and even fewer moments of intense action, is six minutes longer, and yet sitting through it is an absolute breeze. For any adult, anyway. In some opposition to my thoughts on the first film, unless you’re a kid, I doubt most will be able to stomach the utterly inane “Scamp’s Adventure”, which feels twice as long as the original film and is not even close to being even half as good.
Video
Disney hasn’t done any additional work to bring “Scamp’s Adventure” to high definition. (In fact; this is the rare animated title from the company that has its original, era-appropriate, castle logo intact.) Not that they really needed to do anything to make it look great in HD. Like all of the animated films produced by the house of mouse since, about, 1990, “Lady and the Tramp II” is sourced from digital files—the original artwork having been scanned, composited, colored and shaded via computer. The result is a near-faultless digital-to-digital 1080p 24/fps AVC MPEG-4 encoded transfer framed in the original 1.78:1 widescreen aspect ratio. Colors are bright, line art crisp and defined. Unlike some of the earlier, 90s era direct-to-video productions, the animation of “Scamp's Aventure” is actually pretty decent and about even with what the studio was releasing theatrically in 2004. The disc shows no signs of aliasing, artificial sharpening, noise reduction, artifacts, or other issues—including the occasionally bothersome problem of banding, which can crop up in many an animated flick, but is completely absent here. The opening logo and a few frames following show very faint posterization, but that might be inherent to the source, and the disc is otherwise pretty much perfect.
Audio
“Lady and the Tramp II: Scamp’s Adventure” includes an English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz/24-bit) mix, with English Dolby Digital 2.0 surround, French Dolby Digital 5.1 and Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 tracks and optional subtitles in English, French and Spanish. The lossless DTS is very good, offering clear dialogue, excellent fidelity and doubly good dynamic range. The highlight, at least in terms of sonic prowess, are the many musical interludes composed by Danny Troob and Norman Gimbel, offering a clean and fully enveloping sense of rich warmth. Surrounds are surprisingly active, and LFE has some heft too. Neither is consistently aggressive, but the brief moments of power certainly surprise—especially considering the project’s originally presumed low-fi, direct-to-video, origins. Optional subtitles are included in English for the hearing impaired, French and Spanish.
Extras
Disney slaps a celebratory “Special Edition” on the “Lady and the Tramp II” Blu-ray package and actually gives fans a set of supplements to match that title for once. Although not overflowing with content, the included making-of featurette is surprisingly decent, ported over the old DVD. A trio of pup-themed theatrical shorts from Disney circa the 1940's makes for an interesting watch, too. The Blu-ray disc is authored with the resume playback function. A DVD copy of the film has also been included. DISC ONE: BLU-RAY Audio commentary with director Darrell Rooney, animation director Steve Trembirth, and co-director/producer Jeannine Roussel “Puppy Trivia Tracks” is an interactive BonusView pop-up trivia track that provides frivolous little factoids like “A dog’s hearing is 4 times stronger than that of a human”. The track is interactive and uses the picture-in-picture capabilities of the format to animate the card flip each time another bit of trivia is clicked on with accompanying cutesy graphics. Like the movie itself, this feature is more geared towards the young crowd. Also included is the “Discover Blu-ray 3D with Timon and Pumba” (1.78:1 1080p, 4 minutes 23 seconds) featurette found on so many other Disney discs. A menu marked “Classic DVD Special Features” hides a major of the extra content, and all of the stuff actually worth checking out. “The Making of ‘Lady and the Tramp II: Scamp’s Adventure’” (1.33:1 480p, 16 minutes 34 seconds) is a far better making-of featurette than this dowdy direct-to-video Eisner-era Disney-quel deserves. The piece, refreshingly adult in tone, is a decent discussion from the voice-cast and crew of how the film came together, offering both a little history on this film and its far superior predecessor. There’s much discussion of the animation process, and we get a glimpse at the voice recording sessions. Sing-a-long songs (1080p, 13 minutes 31, play all) is a collection of five songs from the film, presented in karaoke fashion with the lyrics running across the bottom of the screen. Skippable, although I suppose if the kiddies like the music… the songs are: - "(Prologue) Welcome Home" - "World without Fences" - "Junkyard Society Rag" - "I Didn’t Know I Could Feel This Way" - "Always There" By far the best extras on the disc are the three bonus, theatrical shorts from the 1940's. The three dog-themed Disney cartoons that have been included on this disc are presented in decently remastered high definition in their original aspect ratio and are truly wonderful, Technicolor, relics of Disney lore. They are: - “Pluto Junior” (1.33:1 1080p, 7 minutes 7 seconds)—While Pluto naps, his son gets into scrapes with various other animals and other hazards. Pluto eventually wakes up and comes to his rescue. Originally released 1942. - “Bone Trouble” (1.33:1 1080p, 8 minutes 42 seconds)— Pluto's dish is empty, so he goes after the bone in the dish of Butch the bulldog, which is sleeping next door. Can he make it home with the bone before Butch wakes up? No. Soon, a chase, through carnival, ensues. Originally released 1940. - “Pluto’s Kid Brother” (1.33:1 1080p, 6 minutes 50 seconds)— Pluto's kid brother, K.B., keeps getting into trouble. When Butch the bulldog passes by, K.B. latches onto him. Butch gets K.B. to crawl into a meat market through a small slot. Pluto comes along, he tussle with the bulldog and they set off the burglar alarm, which brings the dogcatcher, who grabs Butch. Originally released 1946. Pre-menu and sneak peak bonus trailers are included for: - "Disney Studio All Access promo (1080p various AR, 1 minute). - “Cinderella: Diamond Edition” (1.33:1 1080p, 1 minute 7 seconds) on Blu-ray and DVD. - “Finding Nemo: 3D” (1.78:1 1080p, 1 minute 53 seconds). - "Disney Movie Rewards (1.78:1 1080p, 19 seconds). - “Tinkerbell: Secret of the Wings” (1.78:1 1080p, 1 minute 4 seconds) coming soon to Blu-ray and DVD. - “Pocahontas/Pocahontas: Journey to a New World” (1.78:1 1080p, 1 minute 18 seconds) 2-movie collection on Blu-ray. - “The Tigger Movie” (1.78:1 1080p, 1 minute 9 seconds) on Blu-ray. - “Chimpanzee” (1.85:1 1080p, 1 minute 21 seconds) on Blu-ray + DVD combo pack. - “The Aristocats” (1.75:1 1080p, 51 seconds) on Blu-ray. - “The Rescuers/Rescuers Down Under” (1.66:1/1.78:1 1080p, 1 minute 19 seconds) 2-movie collection on Blu-ray. - “Beverly Hills Chihuahua 3” (1.78:1 1080p, 37 seconds) on Blu-ray and DVD. - “Disney/Pixar’s Planes” (1.78:1 1080p, 1 minute 24 seconds) coming soon. DISC TWO: DVD The second disc in the set—a DVD-9—includes the film in 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen standard definition with Dolby Digital 5.1 mixes in English, Spanish and French with optional subtitles for the same. Special features include the sing-a-long songs feature.
Packaging
“Lady and the Tramp II: Scamp’s Adventure” scurries onto Blu-ray dubbed a “Special Edition” release from Walt Disney Home Entertainment. The film arrives in a 2-disc package featuring a region free dual layered BD-50 and a region 1-locked DVD in a keep case with a cardboard slip-cover. The title is Disney Movie Rewards eligible and includes a slip for 150 points towards a user account.
Overall
“Lady and the Tramp” is one of Walt’s most masterful classic films, and quite possibly the strongest of his 50's-era output. The less said about this sequel, produced almost a half century later, the better. The kids might like it, many more adults most certainly won’t. The Blu-ray features excellent video, very very good audio, and a few noteworthy extras. If there’s one reason to grab this disc, it’s for the three bonus—Pluto-centric—shorts from the 1940's, presented in HD.
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