It's Dumbo, the flying elephant. Here's a closer look at the Italian dvd cover and a nice wallpaper for your desktops.

MovieWeb: What are your concerns, how do you manage to preserve the soul of these characters which by now live in the hearts of millions of fans?

Lella Smith: Well one thing I will tell you about the restoration is that it hasn't changed the feeling of the film or the tenor of the film. It basically took away the dirt and the fingerprints. Actually when they began to restore it in Blu-ray you could see the fingerprints of the artist who had laid the cells down onto the camera platen. So that's the kind of cleaning that was being done but it's a cleaning that just makes it look more beautiful. So the feeling of characters has not changed and basically the colors are only cleaner, not brighter.

MovieWeb: In terms of preserving the artwork, if you could talk a little bit about the work you do at the Animation Research Library.

Lella Smith: Glad to talk about that. Well we do take care of art as if it were in a museum. We have all the archival materials, in fact we have several materials that were developed specifically for animation. And so everything is kept in acid free boxes with acid free tissue. And we have extremely low temperatures because of course, you know, there is a little nitrate in the material that the cells were painted on so we want to make certain that those are kept very cool. And then we handle everything with gloves. So basically it's treating the art as if it's art and not drawings on paper that don't matter. And I think the challenge that we have is that the art was never intended to be put in a museum, it was created to make a film so they didn't always use, you know, the best papers, the kind of papers that Michelangelo would have used for example. So we have to take extreme care to make certain that those are carefully preserved because we want to have them around. For the artists...it's all we can do to keep them from drooling on the paper. (laughter) They love to look at the art for inspiration and to learn how the older animators would carry out a scene through their drawings. So they're for inspiration and for learning purposes.

MovieWeb: Were there any thoughts about a remake or a sequel?

Lella Smith: Yes indeed there were. There were some commercials that were done after the film was done, they were more like shorts to raise money for the war. But everyone wanted dwarfs and everyone kept saying to Walt we need more dwarfs. And Walt pretty much got fed up with it because he felt that the dwarfs should be represented just once and that they didn't need to see another film with the dwarfs. They talked about, I mean, the dwarfs were constantly being brought up as potential characters for cartoons and every time it was pretty much shot down by Walt Disney who felt we've been there, we've done that, let's move on. But they were used quite a bit in commercials and shorts.

MovieWeb: What does your work at the Animation Research Library consist of on a kind of regular basis?

Lella Smith: Ooh it's so much fun. I work with all the creative projects that come out of the library. For example we're opening an exhibition on November 15 in New Orleans called Dreams Come True, Art of the Classic Fairy Tales from the Walt Disney Studio. And that is an exhibition that celebrates fairy tales, talks about how Walt Disney Studio changed them, some of the reasons they did, the elements of animation are represented in the exhibition and there will be about 800 works. So I wrote the catalog and the text labels and then we'll go there for the opening. And then we're working on books. We're just coming out with a book now the second in the animation archive series on animation. And we've just finished designing the design book which this is the third in the series of books. It's called the archive series that goes back and picks out the finest of the finest of the stories from our library, the finest animation, the finest design pieces, and puts them into a big book available on Amazon.com. But that's - those are the kinds of things I get to do and it's just great fun.

Scrooge McDuck can only be Ebenezer Scrooge the main character tight with money and tight with feelings while Mickey plays his poor employee Bob Cratchit. More Disney stars such as Goofy, Minnie, Daisy and Jiminy Cricket do appear in the story.

This new re-release also contains The Small One another mini classic about a little boy who lives in Nazareth who has to sell his old Donkey because he can't work anymore. Also included are the two popular Disney Xmas shorts Pluto’s Christmas Tree (1952) and the 1932 colour Silly Symphony Santa’s Workshop.

In case you missed it, here's the official press release for the Disney Diamond Collection whose details have been announced at the D23 Expo:

Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment (WDSHE) announced the launch of the new Diamond Collection, the definitive collection of the Walt Disney Studios most historic and beloved animated classics that will debut on Blu-ray™ Hi-Def.

Beginning with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs on October 6, the Diamond Collection comprises an additional 13 of Disney’s most treasured titles, including: Beauty and the Beast; Fantasia and Fantasia 2000; The Lion King; Bambi; Cinderella; Lady and the Tramp; The Little Mermaid; Peter Pan; The Jungle Book; 101 Dalmatians; Sleeping Beauty; and Pinocchio.

“Walt Disney’s gift of telling captivating and engaging stories was matched only by his passion for presenting them in the most spectacular way,” commented The Walt Disney Studios Chairman Dick Cook. “We are proud to continue his pursuit of excellence with ‘The Diamond Collection,’ which brings the films that are the foundation of our Company to audiences of all ages across the globe.”

As part of the new Diamond Collection criteria, each film will be thoroughly restored to the highest level of picture and sound, feature groundbreaking, state-of-the-art immersive bonus content, and include unprecedented levels of interactivity, personalization and customization only made possible by Blu-ray technology. The Disney Diamond Collection will represent a major transformation of the home entertainment industry providing families with more engaging, entertaining experiences than any other format.

Bob Chapek, President of Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment adds, “Because today’s family rooms are more technologically-advanced and consumer expectations are higher than ever, we are excited to announce the launch of the Diamond Collection. We believe that the collection offers consumers the opportunity to enjoy these timeless classics like never before, and underlines Disney’s commitment to continue to bring the best quality product and immersive experiences in to the home.”

Kicking off the new worldwide collection in October will be Walt Disney’s first full-length animated feature film, the one that started it all, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Two titles will be selected each year, including Beauty and the Beast and Fantasia in 2010, as Blu-ray Diamond editions, each title will be released from the Disney vault for a limited time.

The new Diamond Collection takes full advantage of the newest breakthroughs in film restoration to exhibit these movies in Blu-ray Hi-Def, ensuring each film is digitally enhanced from their original negatives providing for the first time ever a pristine 1080p picture and Dolby Digital 7.1 surround sound.

WDSHE is updating each Diamond Collection disc to contain newly branded features that offer a more immersive, user-friendly experience that will keep families entertained for hours. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs' ‘Diamond’ treatment includes:

Hyperion Studios, a ‘Backstage Disney’ feature, which allows audiences to be digitally transported to 1937 to discover first-hand the Hyperion Studios, the original studio Walt Disney himself built and where Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was conceived and developed. Viewers will virtually walk the halls of this historic landmark experiencing life at Hyperion Studios back in the 1930’s. This “Backstage Disney” feature contains newly dimensionalized archival photos, animator recordings, archival transcripts and rare footage of Walt himself revealing how Disney’s gifted filmmakers crafted the very first animated feature.

The Magic Mirror offers ‘Smart Navigation’, using the latest in Blu-ray technology, the iconic Magic Mirror guides the audience through the Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs Diamond Edition features with ease serving as the “host” for an incredibly immersive experience. The Mirror will recognize viewing patterns, knows where the audience has left off and will even suggest where to navigate next. This marks the first use of artificial intelligence in a Disney Blu-ray release and provides viewers the control to personally create a customized Snow White experience.

Mirror, Mirror On The Wall is one of ‘Disney’s Family Play’ features, through BD-Live, this mirror can find the secret princess inside each viewer with a series of questions, then create for them a personal message from their favorite princess who will call them on the telephone. Additional Family Play features include What Do You See?, an interactive game where players must untangle scrambled images and Jewel Jumble, a game where jewels from the Dwarfs’ mine must be put in order to win the game.

About Disney’s New Blu-ray Diamond Collection:

The new Blu-ray Diamond Collection represents The Walt Disney Studio’s most prestigious animated classics. The Blu-ray Diamond Edition Discs will be comprised of 14 of Walt Disney’s most treasured animated classic titles to be released through 2016. These titles represent the highest level of picture and sound, feature groundbreaking, state-of-the-art immersive bonus content, and include unprecedented levels of interactivity, personalization and customization, only made possible by Blu-ray technology.

About Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment:

Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment, a recognized leader in the home entertainment industry, is the marketing, sales and distribution company for Walt Disney, Touchstone, Hollywood Pictures, Miramax and Buena Vista product which includes DVD, Blu-ray Disc, and electronic distribution. Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment is a division of The Walt Disney Studios.

This decision surprised a lot of people as Dumbo was not part of the ten best-selling titles originally chosen for the previous Platinum collection or of the "bonus" titles admitted in 2003. Let's wait and see

"La Bruja Novata - Edicion Special" will be released in Spain on August 26 2009, don't miss it!

The "Bedknobs and Broomsticks: Enchanted Musical Edition" will hit US stores on September 08, 2009 at the suggested retail price of $29.99. No details about bonus content are available yet.

The Two Disc DVD Platinum edition of Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs will be totally different from the final Blu Ray cover artwork released by Disney last week. Disney released the following image for the standard dvd edition that will be released almost a month after the October street date for the Blu Ray + dvd 3 disc combo.

The Blu-ray/single-disc DVD Combo of Snow white, priced at $39.99, will reach stores on October 6th 2009, while double disc DVD will be available in stores on November 24th 2009.

As you can see Snow White is the main protagonist of the dvd while the evil witch dominates the Blu Ray cover. This is the first time a Platinum edition dvd cover artwork differs so much from the blu ray artowork even if a different colour scheme of the same image (lilac for the dvd and blue for the blu ray) was already introduced with the release of Sleeping Beauty last October.

The Blu-ray/single-disc DVD Combo of Snow white, priced at $39.99, will reach stores on October 6th 2009, while double disc DVD will be available in stores on November 24th 2009.

This separate release scheme for the two formats (already tested in the US with Bolt) is of course aiming to increase the sales of the new digital disc.

The two Blu Ray disc present different image of Pinocchio and his apple (Disc One) and Geppetto with Figaro).

Bolt will be available on 3-disc Blu-ray on Sunday, March 22, and on 2-disc DVD on Tuesday, March 24, 2009. The full press release interview follows:

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW with THE DIRECTOR OF BOLT

Can you tell us exactly what a television director does?
A director is the top dog on a television show. He’s the person in charge, the person who everyone reports to. He’s also the guy the network comes to when things go wrong with a show.

Sounds like it’s a very important job…
Oh, it is. I’m in charge of everything from the look of a show to the casting of actors and animals.

How would you describe your star dog, Bolt, and his TV show?
Bolt is the greatest superhero on television. He has amazing super powers including super speed and super strength. He’s always saving a girl called Penny from the evil clutches of Dr. Calico. It’s an amazing show.

There’s a rumor going around that the network have been to see you recently…
Really? Who told you that? Have you been snooping around or something?

A little birdie told us…
Well, you’re right. Mindy Parker from the network came down to the studio recently. Oh, Mindy. Poor, poor Mindy. I didn’t like her one bit. She didn’t have a clue about the show or the dog.

What did Mindy say?
She told me that 18-35 year olds weren’t very happy with the show. The network didn’t like the way that we weren’t appealing to that age group, so they asked us to make some changes. They wanted more drama and said the show was predictable. How outrageous!

So you didn’t like her comments?
I didn’t like them one bit. How dare she come into my edit suite and talk to me like that! She didn’t know a thing about Bolt. She didn’t even know that he doesn’t even realize he’s in a television show.

What do you mean by that?
Bolt thinks his powers are real. He doesn’t know he’s the star of a TV show.We jump through hoops to make sure he believes everything he sees is real.

Really?
Sure! That’s why we don’t miss marks. That’s why we don’t re-shoot.And that’s why we most definitely don’t let the dog see a boom mike, which is something that happened recently. If the dog believes it, the audience believes it. That’s the key to our success.

Did Mindy agree with you?
Mindy didn’t care. All she wanted to see were increases in viewing figures and that’s it.

Did Mindy get to meet Bolt?
No way. I wouldn’t let that happen. Mindy didn’t care for the dog. She just thinks of him as any other animal, but I don’t.

What do you see when you look at Bolt then?
I see an animal who believes with every fiber of his being – every fiber – that the girl he loves is in mortal danger. I see a depth of emotion on the face of that canine that has never been seen on the small screen before.

You sound very passionate about the dog and the show…
That’s because I’m the director! I put my heart and soul into this project – and I’ll be damned if a network executive like Mindy Parker is going to ruin my show. I’ll make sure she doesn’t if it’s the last thing I do!

The fact Lilo and Stitch was a box office hit in summer 2002 came amost as a surprise for the Disney studio, that was quite disappointed by the poor reaction of both public and critics to the couple of pre-Stitch films and that probably wasn't expecting the new release to go on such a significant different route. The success of the film is almost entirely due to the comic originality of its lead character Stitch, or Creature 626 if you prefer, who in the meantime has become one of the best loved Disney characters, adored by the public and in terms of merchandise her's now up right there with the likes of Mickey Mouse, Winnie The Pooh and Thinkerbell. US fans had to wait quite a lot to get this double disc crowded with bonus features. A European/UK double disc was released in 2005, while sequels and tv series episodes also ended up on DVD.

This two-disc set reprises almost all of the supplements from the previous release, and of course adding many more new ones. The bonus feature on disc 1 include two music videos, one for "Your Ohana" by The Hawaiian Chorus and A-Teens with their Disneymania version of "I Can't Help Falling in Love With You" and special featurette titled "A Stitch in Times" in which actor David Ogden Stiers tells the story of how Stitch unsuccessfully attempted to infiltrate himself into other Disney films. In "DisneyPedia: Hawaii" actress Tia Carrere describes famous Hawaiian landmarks. The now famous four teaser trailers in which Stitch tries to get into four classic Disney films, Beauty And The Beast, The Lion King, Aladdin and The Little Mermaid, are of course included.

The bonus material on disc two is even more fascinating for die hard fans of the film such as the brand new two-hour "making of" documentary that documents how the film was created from day one of the early stages to the final days of production. Deleted scenes and alternate ending ideas, already seen in the UK/European releases, are also included on this disc.

Japanese Pinocchio will be released in three formats: Double disc Dvd, Double disc Blu Ray and Triple Pack 2 Disc Blu Ray + DVD