Animal Treasure Island on DVD

Out of curiosity, I checked Amazon to see if the 2005 Animal Treasure Island DVD was still available, and to my surprise, copies are still in stock. Yay! This Discotek Media release has been out-of-print for many years, so be sure to pick up a copy while you can. I see that Puss in Boots is more difficult to score, so don't dawdle.

This DVD is pretty bare-bones, but does include both English subtitles and the original US English-language dub. The cover design is pretty good. I do wish Toei would reissue this movie on Blu-Ray, but they seem very reluctant to preserve their history. Horus remains the only "classic era" title on BD, and all of the movies on DVD were single-layer discs released around the year 2000. Oh, and they're all LaserDisc rips.

I really can't explain that. Am I really the only one who cares about these classic animated feature films? Maybe. Anime fans, who are mostly high school and college students, won't touch anything older than a decade, and they especially won't touch old Japanese cartoons that were modeled after Walt Disney. Whatever.

Get this movie. Click on that link at the beginning of the post and buy Animal Treasure Island on DVD. Don't bother waiting for a BD to arrive. It won't.

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Thanks For Nothing, Lasseter-San

Well, there goes any chance of ever getting this DVD released in the US. Thanks for nothing, jerkwad.

This rolling wave of harassment scandals sweeping Hollywood and Washington reminds me my freshman year in high school in 1989, when the Berlin Wall and Iron Curtain both crumbled. Every day, you were asking, "Who's next?" There was music in the cafes at night and revolution in the air.

I have great admiration for the Pixar movies, and will always respect John Lasseter the film artist. He helped to transform animation in a manner not seen since Walt Disney, for better and for worse. But his behavior is shameful, degrading and deeply destructive to countless lives. He needs to go. Now.

Let Pete Docter run the place instead. He's from Minnesota, he's nice. He's not a disgusting, hypocritical pig.

P.S. You just know that Hayao Miyazaki is going to dish out the trash talk, sooner or later.

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Beware Studio Ghibli Pirate Bootlegs

One of the biggest issues surrounding Studio Ghibli fandom in recent years is the explosion of pirate bootleg DVDs. Many online retailers are stocking DVD box sets that are, in fact, illegitimate and entirely unauthorized, and of questionable quality. If you see any of the packages shown above, avoid at all costs.

In the United States, Ghibli movies on DVD and Blu-Ray come from only two official sources: Disney and GKIDS. The Disney titles are well known and have been available on a number of home video formats for nearly two decades. GKIDS is a newer partner and are now in the process of releasing Ghibli features under their banner. Both brands are easily recognized and well known. They can be trusted.

The Collected Works of Hayao Miyazaki is the only officially-sanctioned Studio Ghibli box set available in the US. This Blu-Ray package includes all of the director's feature films, from Lupin the 3rd: Castle of Cagliostro to The Wind Rises. This deluxe set was released in 2015 and is available exclusively at Amazon. This is the same package as the one that was released in Japan, and exported to all major global markets.

All other "Studio Ghibli" box sets available online are bootlegs. All of them. Don't be fooled into thinking that you've found a bargain or a rare gem. The audio/visual quality on these pirated discs are sub-par at best, and often merely ripped from the ancient (and sub-standard) Video CD format, and nearly always come from China.

As always, caveat emptor. If it seems too good to be true, it probably is. Don't be taken in by pirate scams. And do not buy from online retailers who are selling you this junk. They're ripping you off. The official releases are widely available and easily affordable. Support those who are working hard to provide you with these great movies. Don't support the Chinese mafia, kids.

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