Disney fans can get an in-depth look inside the Walt Disney Archives, starting this weekend on the Disney+ streaming service.
"Adventure Thru the Walt Disney Archives" debuts this Friday, November 19 on Disney+. Directed by John Gleim and hosted by Disney Legend Don Hahn, the documentary offers a look at some of the iconic treasures held by the archives, as well as interviews with Disney Executive Chairman Bob Iger, Marvel Studios' Kevin Feige, Pixar's Pete Docter, Disney Legend Mark Hamill, and others.
"They work in dark rooms all day long with white gloves on, which is not unlike Mickey Mouse himself," Hahn said of the Walt Disney Archives' cast members, in an online press event earlier this month. "To be able to go there and talk to these people and see their enthusiasm for what they're doing, then see them open a crate full of Peter Ellenshaw matte paintings and stuff, it just makes me giddy."
The film takes its cue from The Reluctant Dragon, a 1941 Disney film that followed comedian Robert Benchley as he wandered around the then-new Walt Disney Studios lot in Burbank.
"John put me in the exact same place that Robert Benchley started back in the '40s," Hahn said. "And we spend our whole tour kind of looking for Walt Disney's office, which is a little bit like the plot of that movie was. So that was really fun."
"The archives was created was to document the creation of The Walt Disney Company and who Walt Disney was, and what what he did," Becky Cline, Director of Walt Disney Archives, said. "And so, by making the end goal being [visiting] Walt Disney's office, we learn a lot about him, too."
"Adventure Thru the Walt Disney Archives" joins a growing list of Disney Parks-related content on Disney+, including "The Imagineering Story," "Magic of Disney's Animal Kingdom," and "Behind the Attraction."
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I love "The Reluctant Dragon" and consider it a criminally underrated Disney flick, so any comparisons to that will get an automatic watch from me.
Colonel, skip that series and watch "The Imagineering Story" instead. It has a more serious tone to it if the "punny" humor is what bothered you the most about "Behind the Attraction". I can't promise it has any more information that you can't find on the internet. It was also a day 1 Disney+ release, so it is now slightly more than 2 years old. At the very least, you can be entertained by a then-new interview with Michael Eisner as he very critically and honestly analyzes his failures as Disney CEO.
Seconding the recommendation for The Imagineering Story. Great series. I wish that Disney+ would commission a second season for that at some point.
Thanks @TwoBits, we saw that one and agree that it was superior.
Another more informative, overlooked early Disney+ series (also less punny) is Prop Culture. Behind the Attraction felt derived from the Travel Channel / TLC vibe, with quick cuts and a tone that talks down to the audience. Understandably some folks like these types of shows, so I can see why they were produced. I appreciate something more like Walt's early shows, as the anthology Wonderful World series and even the Mickey Mouse Club didn't talk down to the audience, not even to kids. Also, I'm not that old, but old enough to have watched Walt on 1980s Disney Channel--again, why isn't all that content on Disney+?
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We signed back up for Disney+ when they released the "Behind the Attraction" series this summer, and were so disappointed with that series (which was more concerned with making stupid puns than with telling you anything you couldn't read on Wikipedia), we won't be fooled again.