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So, here’s something that I just found out.

While doing a little bit of fact-checking for my recent spiel about the 2003 Disney short Destino, I found that it was suddenly and mysteriously absent from Disney’s home video release slate. The film had previously been announced as part of this November’s Walt Disney Treasures Wave VIII release:

“Destino,” began in 1946 as a collaboration between Walt Disney and the famed surrealist painter Salvador Dali. A first-hand example of Disney’s interest in avant garde and experimental work in animation, “Destino” was to be awash with Dali’s iconic melting clocks, marching ants and floating eyeballs. However, “Destino” was not completed at that time. In 2003 it was rediscovered by Walt’s nephew, Roy E. Disney, who took on the challenge of bringing the creation of these two great artists to fruition. In addition to the completed “Destino”, this exciting addition to the Walt Disney Treasures line also includes an all-new feature-length documentary that examines the surprising partnership between Dali and Disney plus two new featurettes; “The Disney That Almost Was,” an examination of the studio’s unfinished projects; and “Encounters with Walt,” which addresses the surprisingly diverse group of celebrities and artists who were attracted to Walt Disney’s early work.

Well, it seems that Disney Home Video has updated their press release and Destino is nowhere to be found. The two other planned releases, The Chronological Donald, Volume Four and Dr. Syn, Alias The Scarecrow, remain on target for their November 11th debut. So what happened to Destino?

Judging from statements by the host of the Treasures series, Leonard Maltin, it appears that early fan concerns were correct and there just wasn’t enough material present for this title to support a 2-disc Treasures release. Destino had originally been planned as a one disc “Legacy Series” release, only to be promoted to the Treasures line when the “Legacy” brand was abandoned. Destino was an odd fit for the Treasures line, and apparently despite the fact that the supplemental materials they announced sound fascinating, it all wasn’t enough to wrap a 2-disc DVD set around a six minute animated short.

Luckily, Maltin has been quoted as saying that Destino will receive its home video release in a one disc format later this year. This is great news as the short definitely deserves its time in the spotlight and I’ve been eager to get a copy for years. I only hope they take care to include all the planned extras from this set; they all sound very interesting.

In the meantime, Treasures fans need not despair - according to Maltin, a replacement release, centered around Annette Funicello, will readied in time for November. The once imperiled DVD line looks to continue next year, as well; Maltin hopes for a release of Zorro episodes in 2009.

In addition to Ratatouille, Pixar has another release hitting stores on Tuesday, November 6. Pixar Short Films Collection, Volume 1 collects the 13 shorts released by Pixar since the company’s inception (one short, The Adventures of André & Wally B, predates the creation of Pixar itself). While the disc itself boasts a few interesting features (read the review on Ultimate Disney), it’s way overpriced considering that only two of the shorts included have not been previously released on Pixar DVDs. Still, there’s some great work here and if you’ve never seen these shorts it’s worth checking out. Thankfully, the new management at Disney Feature Animation has seen fit to reinstate a shorts program there, so we’ll hopefully have many new releases like this in the future. The Pixar collection is available on DVD and Blu Ray.

In other news, Disney announced specifics for the next release in the rapidly diminishing Platinum Collection of DVDs. 101 Dalmatians is now available for preorder and hits stores on March 4, 2008, just in time for me to not ask for it for my birthday. The movie is great, of course, but the specs for the disc (listed here and here) show that Disney continues its slide when it comes to these ‘deluxe’ releases. The line of releases which began with Snow White and the Seven Dwarves in 2001 have slowly devolved from archive-quality troves of information for animation fans to kiddie-game and cheesy cover song laden panderfests. But hey, the movie is still a classic and hopefully they won’t skimp on the transfer (who knows - they may need all that bitrate for the no doubt seminal Selena Gomez performance of “Cruella de Vil”).

Also coming down the pipe: A Special Edition of The Aristocats on February 5, 2008.

This Tuesday, Ratatouille (subtitled for the lawyers out there: “A Disney-Pixar Presentation of a Pixar Animation Studios Film”) comes to home video. Since the movie came out this summer, more press has been devoted to the performance of the film at the box office and how it reflected on the Disney-Pixar merger than was written about the movie itself. This is a shame, as the movie itself is fantastic. While it certainly received a lot of love from critical circles, a typically clueless performance from Disney’s PR machine contributed to the film never reaching the level of awareness it deserved; Remy wound up getting lost in the flood of other, more crudely conceived ‘funny talking animal’ films that have come out in recent years.

Thankfully, good word of mouth kept the film going at the box office and it is currently expected to break Pixar records overseas. The little film with a troubled development process found its audience and, as of this writing at least, is my favorite of Pixar’s films.

Sadly, the impending DVD release follows recent trends by presenting discs short on extras. Pixar discs used to be the gold standard in the early days of DVD; these “super genius” editions presented hours of background material on each film’s development process. Starting with Cars, however, Pixar DVDs have become mostly featureless affairs. A recent column on Jim Hill Media speculates on the reasons for this, and while two-disc premium priced ‘Special Editions’ of these titles may be coming out in two to three years, for now we’re stuck with the bare bones versions.

Thankfully, we’re not completely left out in the cold. The crown jewel of the DVD is the new 11 minute short “Your Friend the Rat”. The short, directed by Jim Capobianco, is not only the longest in Pixar history, but as can be seen in these stills is the first to incorporate traditional 2-D animation, live action, and stop-motion animation. The film features rat protangonists Remy and Emile as they indoctrinate viewers into the world of the rat so as to improve inter-species relationships. According to Sci Fi Wire, Capobianco cites the work of Ward Kimball as well as midcentury educational films as influences on the short.

In other Ratatouille news, director Brad Bird has spoken to Sci Fi Wire about his pleasure with the film’s performance and the benefits of viewing it in the home theater. He also tells Movieweb about the creative process behind the film, the quality of Blu Ray and digital film presentation, and hints about his future plans. Finally, Ultimate Disney reviews the disc itself and, while I disagree with most of their review, it does give a rundown of features and presentation. If you haven’t seen this movie, you should. It’s fantastic. And while you’re at it, buy the score!

Buy the DVD — Buy the Blu Ray