Set during World War II, Angela Lansbury stars as Eglantine Price, a quiet woman secretly training to be a witch. Her professor is the mysterious Emelius Browne (David Tomlinson), who offers mail-in enrollment in his witchcraft university. Her plan is to use the skills she's learned to help the war effort, but her initial contribution turns out to be providing a home for three orphans named Charlie (Ian Weghill), Paul (Roy Snart) and Carrie (Cindy O'Callaghan). On their first night staying with Ms. Price, they spot her attempting to fly on her broom for the first time, and when a letter comes with the news that Browne's witchcraft course is coming to a premature end, she uses a traveling spell to take the trio with her to London to track the man down.

As a child, I didn't think about it, but it seems obvious now that the film was directed by Robert Stevenson, who also directed Mary Poppins. Along for the ride are Poppins screenwriters Bill Walsh and Don DaGradi and songwriters Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman. As an adult, it's hard to ignore how the song "Substitutiary Locomotion" sounds awfully similar to "A Spoonful of Sugar" mashed with "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious", and glaringly obvious that film is straining to get in an animated sequence. Further investigation reveals that the studio both reused a song that never made it into Poppins and even tried to cast Julie Andrews. Since Poppins is another film I haven't seen in at least fifteen years, it's hard to measure if this hurts Bedknobs and Broomsticks, but it's definitely as clear as day.

The good news is that the movie remains mostly charming. The producers may have wanted Andrews, but Lansbury's performance is easily the best part of the whole movie: her Ms. Price is perhaps one of the nicest witches ever written, and she's got just the right blend of prim unflappability and charming eccentricity to go with her overwhelming kindness. Not only does her performance hold the film together, but she elevates it constantly through sheer warmth. She also gets a couple of good songs, including "The Age of Not Believing" and "Locomotion". The visual effects also hold up. Even now, the sight of inanimate objects coming to life has enough magic that it's more fun to roll with it than to sit there and wonder how it was done.

Opposite Lansbury, Tomlinson can seem a bit flat. For one thing, they have no chemistry; although both give good performances and their friendly rivalry is fun, but it's really hard to believe that these two have feelings for one another. A couple of Browne's jokes have not aged well (oh, women!), and his lesser numbers are a slog ("Elgantine" is, frankly, not very good). The three child actors fall in the middle of the road, with are some flat notes here and there. The strangest moment in the movie combines all of the above and wraps it in a cliché: the kids cry when Browne thinks about leaving, and actually comment outright on the fact that he's become their new father figure, despite being almost a total stranger.

Since I haven't seen the movie in so long, I can't say exactly which parts are new to this cut, but the additional 23 minutes (!) definitely hurt the film. The dancing after the song "Portobello Road" is interminable, and some of the overwhelmingly English dialogue is too complicated for its own good. Some of the issues are likely true in both cuts: Tomlinson's songs aren't as inspired as Lansbury's (althougb "Portobello Road" is good before it runs off track), and The trip to the cartoon world of Namboobu isn't great, with a so-so musical number and reused chunks of animation (at least the soccer game is lively).

It's hard to gauge how hard it would've been scraping through the rough patches of Bedknobs and Broomsticks without childhood memories fueling my interest, but it seems likely that Lansbury's charm and the overall cheery and visually exciting nature of the film would've been enough. Ten years on, and I'm still not at the age of not believing. Even with the skepticism that comes from revisiting old favorites, this fitfully charming film manages to squeak through, even in its unwieldy alternate form.

The DVD
I do like slipcovers; they can make a DVD really stand-out on the shelf. However, I don't like embossed slipcovers, I think they look tacky. Embossed, however, is the name of the game here. Underneath the slip is identical artwork, featuring a jumble of animated characters surrounding the cast on the flying bed. Inside the case, you get a booklet promoting Disney Blu-Ray and an insert with a free Disney Movie Rewards code on it. The disc has a plain silver screen finish and the menu is a corny animated affair. There's also a sticker attached to the slip that allows you to instantly save $6 if you purchase Bedknobs and Broomsticks - Enchanted Musical Edition with Disney Princess Enchanted Tales: Follow Your Dreams on DVD.

The Video and Audio
Bedknobs and Broomsticks gets a pillarboxed 1.66:1 anamorphic widescreen presentation from Disney, and overall, it looks pretty good given the age and the technical nature of the movie. The movie's primary colors are vivid and bright, and you can see plenty of detail in people's faces and the various buildings. The only issues I see are the occasional speck of print damage or dirt and and film grain that varies wildly (the foggy streets of London are more grainy, and some of the optical shots are downright drowning in it).

A Dolby Digital 5.1 track is alright, coming to life during the movie's numerous songs, but sounding kind of flat otherwise. Directional effects are limited. I doubt it will make anyone jump out of their seats, but it works as well as can be expected given the age of the film. English, French and Spanish subtitles are included, along with a 5.1 French track.

The Extras
Two featurettes are included on this disc. "The Wizards of Special Effects" (8:07) is a strained clip hosted by one of today's Disney stars. I'm all for tie-ins when they're well-done, but in this case, I'd much rather have seen this short piece without the modern-day crossover, since it takes up 6 of the 8 available minutes. Star Jennifer Stone enthusiastically spits out horribly-written crud before and after a "Disney Historian and a "Visual Effects Historian" explain the sodium-screen vapor process used on Broomsticks. Thankfully, the second featurette, "Music Magic: The Sherman Brothers" (11:27), is more substantive, with the Shermans chatting about how they got involved with the movie and the process of creating songs for the film. It's a joy to watch the pair singing, and Angela Lansbury even pops in to make a comment or two. One wonders why the rest of her interview wasn't included.

Next, a deleted scene of sorts called "'A Step in the Right Direction' Reconstruction" (3:48) patches together a cut scene using photographs. It's another musical number with Angela Lansbury, and it's okay, although within the film, it'd probably be another bit dragging the running time down. Similarly, there is a short clip entitled "David Tomlinson 'Portobello Road' Recording Session" (1:10) that gives the audience a good look at Tomlinson off-set, but not much else.

The disc is rounded out by a gallery of four extremely awesome original theatrical trailers (3:43, 1:33, 2:22 and 1:39) and a weird promo called "Dylan and Cole Sprouse Blu-Ray is Cool!" (4:45), which outlines the format for dummies. Not quite as strained as the featurette, but still pretty strained. Trailers for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs on Blu-Ray, The Princess and the Frog and the still-awful-looking Santa Buddies play before the main menu. Additional trailers for Disney Blu-Ray, Disney Movie Rewards, Up, Like Stars on Earth (practically miniaturized non-anamorphic video windowboxed in an anamorphic frame), Tinkerbell and the Lost Treasure and the D23 online Disney fan community can be found under Sneak Peeks on the main menu. The bonus features are subtitled in English, French and Spanish.

Conclusion
I don't have the previous edition of Bedknobs and Broomsticks to compare, but all of the extras except the terrible new featurette are the same (plus you lose two shorts with Mickey and Donald and a set of still galleries), and both are the extended edition adding 23 minutes of footage. I doubt the remastered image would be worth upgrading for unless this is a favorite. For newcomers, with no theatrical DVD available, this would be the edition to check out, but I'd rent it first if you haven't already seen the film.