2/5 DVD vs VHS
  by Allen Eaton (Longmont, CO USA)
I have been familiar with this film since I worked for Disney in 16mm film distribution in the 1970s. I started at Disney after just coming back from Europe, so the French settings were nice to revisit.

I am very familiar with the various negatives of this film. I agree with several reviewers that a DVD should contain the best possible picture and sound element. It should also present the film in its original, projected aspect ratio, which for BON VOYAGE was 1:85.1 (Academy 'flat') which gives the film a slight, rectangular image. However, full frame, 4 by 3 transfers of 1:85x1 pictures are not necessarily all that bad. You loose a little picture on the sides, but not really that much. Some work could have been done on color correcting, although the DVD's 'look' exactly matches the projected film.

I also agree that a few 'extras' would have been nice, even just the theatrical trailer. Walt Disney filmed 'everything' to do with his studio's product, so there must be a good amount of 'extras' for BON VOYAGE in the Disney film vaults. Why aren't they included?

Anyway, it's still nice to have this some-what overlong film back on the market. I grabbed a copy at BestBuy as soon as I spotted it. I have always felt that it was about 20 minutes too long, and that it incorporated two scenes (Fred McMurray and the French prostitute in Paris, and the attempted extortion of son Elliot on the Riviera) that should not have been in the script. The film might have done better with its intended audience. Tommy Kirk's performance as Elliot, however, is a treasure; he was a very polished actor, and gave wonderful comic relief it wasn't 'mugging' but was built solely out of his character.

Look for one mistake the original director made, and it's in the original negative, although it shouldn't have been included. When McMurray punches the Casanova in the casino at the film's end, immediately go frame by frame for a few seconds and you can see the sound stage floor, complete with ladders for the cameras, and even some of the crew in the background.

Some of the scenes bettween McMurray and James Callan (father to young suitor) still resonate even in today's society. And McMurray lost in the Paris sewers is still very funny.

5/5 SS UNITED STATES
  by James J. Varela (Sarasota, FL United States)
The real star of this movie was the old ocean liner SS UNITED STATES. Parts of the film were shot aboard this great ship www.ssunitedstates.org. This is another Disney family film in the tradition of the Swiss Family Robinson & That Darn Cat. A bit dated for modern kiddies but this film was Disney's most UNDER-RATED film.

2/5 Is cutting off picture information "Family friendly"?
  by
Oh, Disney! Disney! Why do you stab me in the heart so often?
This company seems to think that avoiding black little bars at the top and bottom of 4:3 television screens makes families happy and content. Why not consider us grownups instead, who are very saddened indeed to watch movies like this with the sides cut off?
Besides, what child or teenager today would tolerate viewing this movie anyhow, cropped or in letterbox format? This is definitely a film for people BORN in the fifties and sixties. Yes, it's overlong! Yes, it's corny a lot of the time! Yes, it's often dull and even boring! And yes, I still enjoy it for all its faults! But I would be ten times happier if Disney had given me this film on DVD in the correct aspect ratio of 1.78:1 - with anamorphic enhancement, of course! WHEN WILL THEY LEARN?

2/5 Was this trip necessary?
  by lewis jackman (Sleepy Lagoon)
Draggy family comedy about Americans on vacation abroad wasn't anywhere near top-drawer Disney when it was first released back in 1962--trite, unfunny and decidely kid-unfriendly with its tiresome bickering parents, dreary teen romance subplots and several bizarre un-Disneylike scenes involving drunkeness, a bidet, a French hooker, public urination and even a few mild four-letter words.

It doesn't play any better today in an un-color corrected DVD transfer that frequently makes MacMurray, Wyman and other cast members look like corpses.

One of the biggest live action misfires to be personally overseen by Walt Disney, this DVD edition (with no extras) is a bum trip. Stay home.

4/5 Good family movie.
  by Mystery Lover (Saugus, MA)
I love the old movies and Fred McMurray so I enjoyed this though I do think it was longer than it needed to be. I love him lost underground. If you are not into old movies and Disney flicks you probably won't enjoy this.