Blu-Ray Review: ‘Peter Pan: Anniversary Edition’

Peter Pan is one of Disney’s most beloved classics, and it arrives on Blu-ray this week as the seventh entry into the Walt Disney Signature Collection. Fans who skipped out on the Diamond Edition from a few years ago will definitely want to pick this up, but the handful of new extras makes it difficult to recommend for anyone who already owns the previous release.

The film itself has aged very well in the 60-plus years since its theatrical release, with the skills of the legendary Disney animation team on full display. The advent of digital restoration techniques has allowed for the grain to be removed from the image and for colors to be re-balanced, which ensures that Peter Pan looks better now than it ever has. Hand-drawn animation has largely fallen by the wayside, but this release makes a strong argument for why it should continue to be appreciated.

As mentioned above, there are a handful of extras that are exclusive to the Signature Collection release, including a Stories from Walt’s Office featurette that explores his fascination with flight, and a short conversation with voice actors Kathryn Beaumont and Paul Collins (Wendy and John Darling, respectively). Some fans may also be delighted by the inclusion of a deleted song, ‘Never Smile at a Crocodile,’ presented in a sing-along version.

Missing from this version are the introduction by Diane Disney-Miller, and the Disney Intermission feature that would pop up whenever the film is paused, allowing viewers to engage in some “pirate training” with a series of mini-games. The exclusion of these extras is hardly a deal-breaker, and one could argue that the new additions are a better value for anyone that skipped the previous release – but if the Diamond Edition is already resting on your shelf, it’s probably not worth forking over the cash unless you’re a serious collector (like me), as the audio and video presentation remains unchanged.