http://www.timeout.com/film/chicago/features/show-feature/3073/cartoon-crusader.html...

TimeOut Chicago has an interview with Brad Bird (Ratatouille,
Incredibles, Iron Giant).

One of the movies mentioned "off the record" is pretty interesting
though. It could be The Queen :-)

[BEGIN QUOTE]

Q:There was this moment in the 1930s through the 1940s when Walt
Disney got all the sort of respect you're talking about and more.
Intellectuals and artists and critics all over the world couldn't say
enough positive things about Walt as an artist. Why and when did all
that fall apart?

A:Well, I think for a while he was considered a folk artist, but the
minute he started becoming truly "the peoples' artist," I think they
started turning against him because he was no longer their discovery.
I think that happened with somebody like Spielberg too. Jaws is a
popcorn movie, but it happens to be an excellent popcorn movie, and I
think it's as worthy of being taken seriously-on its striving-for-
entertainment level-as any, you know, pompous film about...some, you
know...unknown cause.

On Oct 2, 10:07 pm, Terrence Briggs lycos.com> wrote:

On Oct 3, 3:33?am, Chris Sobieniak gmail.com> wrote:

nick wrote:

I don't remember Gandhi being so horrible that it couldn't beat ET in a
fair fight. I could barely sit through the precious dialogue with those
moronic kids and the unconvincing special effect puppet at the center of
the movie. Gandhi may not have been a classic, but it didn't make me
want to chew a limb off in order to escape it.

Kip W

Are we talking about the original release version of 'ET', or
Spielberg's wussy re-edit?

Oliver wrote:

In my case, the original release, or whatever version made it to video
way back when. I presume the director's cut came later

Kip Williams wrote:

I remember the Oscar push for portraying Richard Attenborough's movie as
so much more "noble" and "singlehandedly world-changing" than
Spielberg's poor little "kiddy" exercise in music/cinematography style.
(Which I also thought was insultingly pandering, but dang, did it look
and sound good enough for the AFI 100.)

On Oct 3, 6:07 pm, Kip Williams comcast.net> wrote:

The film was finally released on VHS around '89 I believe, and was the
'82 non-director's cut as well. What happened in the updated version
was certain things were added and older scenes were modified such as
agents that toted guns had them changed to walkie talkies. E.T. was
one of my great experiences in the theater as I saw that way back in
'82 at the age of 4 or 5. After that, I wanted to see it again, but
it never aired on TV or was released on home video for years, except
for several theatrical re-releases that occured around 1985 and 88 I
believe.

Chris Sobieniak wrote:

On Wed, 03 Oct 2007 18:07:26 -0400, Kip Williams comcast.net>
wrote:

The VHS versions I saw all were cut (in comparison to the theatrical
version) and had an inside-the-ship ending tacked on which /did not
work/ in pan-and-scan.