Walt: The Man Behind the Myth (2001) Reviews

• He shaped the world we live in

  anth-22005-08-11

  It was great seeing a more balanced biography of Walt Disney after all these years. I felt like there have always been 2 extremes: the sugary and perfect Walt who loved children, and the diabolic Communist smasher that hated Jews. Well, here's a news flash: he was human. Walt was a taskmaster, and perfectionist, but he was dedicated to entertaining people and making them laugh. This movie showed us how he was a 12-year old at heart, full of the vigor that made his cartoons great and prone to being naive when it came to labor and politics. To work for Walt was probably a roller-coaster, being "under the eyebrow" one moment when he was concentrating on a project, then elated when he dispensed a single iota of praise from his gruff businessman persona. The next second he could transform himself into a character from the storyboard he was demonstrating, brimming with energy and enthusiasm like a middle-aged Huck Finn. People have tried to villify him over the years, pecking away and trying to drag down his overly-sweet reputation perpetuated by the studio after his death. But you can say this about him: he loved children, wanted to make people laugh, and in some small way felt that by making the childhood of others happier, he was a happy child himself.

• Loved it

  slayerbecca2005-01-12

  I never really knew much about Walt Disney, so I bought this film. And I think it was a great place to start. It gave a lot of background information, and you really got to see things from the point of view of the time. Instead of looking at it from 2005, I was looking at the film from the early 1900s and into the future. Walt's early life really interested me. He was basically a regular guy (aka genius) following something that really interested him. I recommend this to anyone who wants a nice base of information about Disney. It's got that warm fuzzy feeling to it as well, but without hiding much. I think most will enjoy it.

• Highly Recommended

  miz bell2005-06-02

  I've always been interested in the man and have read biographies on him but it was another thing to see this wonderful film footage. He always had a camera around so there's tons of actual footage from his very early days and you get to see what a dynamic, charismatic this guy was (not just cozy "Uncle Walt" that we're most familiar w/from the TV show). It's easy to see why his employees were so committed and inspired by him. Being a Disney production (his grandson was one of the producers and Walt's daughter contributed a lot) I feared a "whitewashed" sort of thing but was pleasantly surprised by the well roundedness of it. My boyfriend who had no desire to see it was crying by the end and filled w/ a new found appreciation and even wants to see a movie made about him now. It's important to see because this was an exceptional person who risked everything time and again for his visions. He was a perfectionist w/high standards who literally created his own world (Disneyland)- not some money grubbing CEO that the name "Disney" has come to symbolize.

• A Magical Experience

  StreepFan1262002-10-02

  I usually don't find documentaries all that entertaining, but this one sure was. It had the Disney touch all over it. It is so interesting to see how Walt Disney came up with his ideas, and how his tem, made them happen. I even cried when it got to the point where Walt Disney died. I heared that this is going to be shown every year now around Walt Disney's birthday, so watch for it.

• Walt, what a wonderful world you created for so many generations of families

  Ed-Shullivan2017-10-14

  I have always been interested in the story behind great industries, and/or persons who devoted their lives to make the world a better place. This documentary which provides great insight into both Walt Disney's early life before he created "The Wonderful World of Disney" and his latter life when he and his brother Roy (who handled the financing end of the Disney empire) created and then every year grew the Disney brand name to become synonymous with family values and highly entertaining animated and adventure cinema. I was fully engulfed in learning from this documentary all I could about the history of Walt Disney and the film proved to be worth every minute of film time. Walt passed away at a relatively young age of 65 from lung cancer but his Disney production company was the recipient of 26 Academy Awards, which is a record he holds all by himself. I laughed, I listened in awe, and I cried in some scenes as Walt's life was not without his own personal tragedies. Although some viewers may see this Disney produced documentary as self promoting the Disney brand, I for one would have loved to have been involved in producing this documentary as in my personal opinion, there are far and few in between who had to overcome so much adversity and with so many financial constraints, but yet Walt persevered and he created an empire with the Walt Disney brand that will eventually go down as one of the most influential companies that denotes family values and a quality of cinema that is unsurpassed by even the big box office CGI (Computer Generated Imagery) films of this century. My hat is off to this documentary and I thank the producers for providing a well crafted documentary that explains in some detail (without going into the nitty gritty of the financial deals) the life and the family man, Walt Disney, who loved trains. I give the documentary a perfect 10 out of 10! Thank you Walt for providing myself and my family so many decades of wonderful entertainment. Ms. Shullivan and I also recently visited Disneyland in California and although we are well past our mid life point we had a hoot!