Won't Get Fooled Again

This is the cover of Disney's 70th Anniversary Edition DVD/Blue Ray of Dumbo. Notice anything odd or unusual about it?

How about the smooth, over-rendered artwork? Take a good look at Dumbo there. Why he almost looks like a 3D computer generated character, doesn't he? He'd fit right in with Woody and Buzz Lightyear.

Maybe I'm just a jaded cynic, but I can't help but wonder if Disney deliberately painted Dumbo and his mouse friend that way in order to fool kids into thinking this is another Pixar product.

Dumbo was one of Disney's earliest cel animated films, made in 1941. This is how he looked in the actual movie; ink and paint and flat colors. No smooth dimensional shading anywhere to be seen. So I can't think of any reason to render him on the cover in such a way, other than to confuse and deceive.

Dumbo's not the only DVD release to get the faux-CGI treatment: pretty much every release in stores right now have that same over-rendered 3D look.

So if your kids are clamoring for any of these releases, you might want to clue them in that they won't be watching a computer generated movie. Might save some tantrums and shoe-tossing later.