Jules Verne & Walt Disney: Explorers of the Imagination

This is one of several extras on a bonus disk for "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea". It specifically focuses on a parallel (though tenuous) between the genius of Jules Verne and Walt Disney. It uses interviews, existing footage, photos and film clips of SOME of Verne's movies (though several are oddly missing). However, on the same bonus disk there already is a long and very well done documentary all about "Twenty Thousand Leagues"--making "Jules Verne & Walt Disney" seem rather superfluous. Some of the same material is rehashed in this 2003 film and the bulk of the interesting information is in the other documentary. Now this is NOT to say "Jules Verne & Walt Disney" is a bad film--if you see the bonus disk, give it a try--it's only 17 minutes. But also be sure to see the 'making of' documentary as well.

This little documentary style short features commentary from many fans/experts in the Sci-Fi/Fantasy field. It's a bonus extra included in on the second disc of the two part 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea Special Edition DVD.

While perhaps sometimes a bit fanciful and fan-boyish in terms of the reactions expressed by fans who grew up loving both the works of Walt Dinsey and Jules Verne, it's nevertheless a nice little tribute and it is a joy to hear what names like the famous Forrest J. Ackerman, Science Fiction writer Gregory Benford, Collector Extraordinaire Bob Burns (It Came From Bob's Basement) and Science Fiction Illustrator Vincent Di Fate think of the many, generation spanning long-lasting works brought to life by both men. Dreamers who dared to dream and sparked that imaginative, creative spark in so many others.