Disneyland Handcrafted is the latest documentary from Emmy and Academy Award-nominated Leslie Iwerks. Disneyland Handcrafted is a unique documentary in her lineup of work, fitting for an unbelievably unique time in Disney and American history. Disneyland Handcrafted trades pixie dust for sawdust, giving viewers an unprecedented look at the construction of The Happiest Place on Earth. We were recently invited out by Disney to an early screening. In this article, we’ll give our review of the 75-minute film that hits Disney+ and YouTube on January 22nd.
Disneyland Handcrafted Review – Instant Required Viewing for Any Disney Fan
I’m not going to bury the lede here. Disneyland Handcrafted has instantly become required viewing for any Disney fan. Iwerks and her team combed through 50 hours of archival footage, much of it never before seen, to give fans an unprecedented inside look at the grit and determination that it took to build Disneyland.
I believe that Disneyland Handcrafted will especially resonate with readers of this site. If you’ve visited BlogMickey.com before, there’s a good chance that you’ve seen our coverage of construction projects. My interest in watching something magical come to life over the past 10+ years of this website made me a very captive audience for archival footage of the creation of Disneyland. I think it’ll resonate with you, too.
Here’s a look at the official trailer before we jump into some thoughts about the film.
RARE ARCHIVAL FOOTAGE
While the heart of the movie is certainly the people who did the work, it wouldn’t be possible without the discovery of nearly 50 hours of archival footage. This footage had been sitting in the Walt Disney Film Archives for 70 years. The film reels were left over from the creation of the Disneyland television series that introduced guests from around the world to the concept and creation of Disneyland.
The genesis of the Disneyland Handcrafted project started with another one of Iwerks’ projects – The Imagineering Story, a favorite among the most dedicated of Disney fans. Iwerks gave credit to Mo Stoebe (editor) and Mark Catalena (producer) from The Imagineering Story. As Iwerks recalled, they came to her and said, “What if we put this together in sort of archivally construed way, where you’re not cutting away to talking heads? You’re living in the footage.”
During an advanced screening, Iwerks gave us a glimpse into what it took to make binders of 16mm film reels spring to life in 2K resolution – no easy task. In addition, all of the footage was silent. Iwerks and her team took the footage to famed Skywalker Sound to have the soundtrack and background noises of construction added in to bring the visuals to life. It works flawlessly.
The restoration of the footage creates this visceral step back in time. In fact, one of my favorite storytelling devices used throughout the film is when Iwerks presents some of the Disneyland television series footage that we’ve all seen before, in a 4×3 ratio and in black-and-white, and then jumps right into beautifully restored, full color 16×9 ratio cutting room floor footage to continue telling the story beyond the polished presentation from the Disneyland television series.
The restored footage makes you feel like you’re there, walking the construction site, watching Disneyland rise out of the orange groves. Actually, “rise out of the orange groves” makes it seem like magic, and the documentary shows that it was anything but magic.
SAWDUST, NOT PIXIE DUST
As Disney fans know, anything you consume from The Walt Disney Company has a layer of pixie dust sprinkled on top. It’s that same pixie dust that captivated us as children, and continues to captivate the young and young-at-heart to this day. That pixie dust extends to the theme parks, movies, and even behind-the-scenes content. Disneyland Handcrafted trades pixie dust for sawdust, offering a raw look into what it took to create The Happiest Place on Earth. This concept of sawdust over pixie dust is present throughout the film, and it’s captivating in an entirely new way.
I found myself not only captivated by the sheer determination that it took to build a place like Disneyland at a time when something like this didn’t exist, but also by the fact that this raw, unfiltered look at the creation of Disneyland was released by Disney at all. The choice by Iwerks to simply let the footage exist without a layer of polish and pixie dust (beyond the technical restoration) not only honors those who worked tirelessly to create the theme park, but it is also a gift to us, the viewers.
A DARING UNDERTAKING, TOLD BY THOSE WHO WERE THERE
While the film shines thanks to beautifully restored and vibrantly colorized footage, it’s not all construction noises. Iwerks decided that she didn’t want talking heads cutting into this footage, so she said the team “scoured transcripts from all over the place to find the best soundbites that tell the story of what everybody went through, and what Walt went through, to pull this off.”
The film is loaded with original, archival soundbites from some of the most impactful Disney employees who were there with Walt to create Disneyland. Hearing these Cast Members talk about what it took to create Disneyland drove home the point that it was a miracle that the place was even built at all.
The film opens with a shot of an empty field, and then text appears that lets viewers know that we’re just one year away from the opening of Disneyland. A one-year deadline seems impossible from the start of the film, and it continues to seem nearly impossible right up to opening day. Just like the restored footage pops off the screen, so too does the tension that everyone felt in trying to hit that mid-July opening date.
There are more than a few moments throughout the film that show the construction shortcuts that were likely very common in a pre-OSHA environment. Workers scaling up a steel structure in Tomorrowland without safety harnesses or jumping out of a multi-ton construction vehicle as it tips over on a pile of dirt would shut down any construction site for months these days. However, that was that exact kind of daring that it took to build what had never been built before, and Iwerks and team don’t hide any of that gritty determination from the viewer.
DISNEYLAND…HANDCRAFTED
I wanted to close out with the lasting impression that I had after watching the 75-minute film. The title, Disneyland Handcrafted, couldn’t be more perfect. For all of the amazing footage that exists, it is the craftsmanship that really stuck with me. It’s that same craftsmanship from 70 years ago that you can feel walking into Disneyland today. It was amazing to be a fly on the wall as these talented workers created everything from scratch, crafted everything by hand, to create a place that has been so impactful in not only individual lives, but also American history.
Disneyland Handcrafted is an instantly required piece of viewing for any Disney fan, and Disney is making the film extremely accessible. While it will be available on the Disney+ streaming platform, Disney is also making it available on YouTube. Watch it for yourself below and let us know what you think!
As always, keep checking back with us here at BlogMickey.com as we continue to bring you the latest news, photos, and info from around the Disney Parks!