We all grew up with Disney’s Cinderella in the wrong colors

When veteran Disney animator and director Eric Goldberg got a chance to work on the studio’s most recent restoration of Cinderella,He had one goal in mind.

“For many years, Cinderella was not the right colors,” Goldberg laughs. “Her hair [is]Her dress is silver and dusty blonde. And over the years, we’ve seen her hair look the color of Cheez Whiz. We’ve seen her dress be bright blue. We’ve seen all sorts of stuff. The first thing that I and Michael Giaimo did was to make sure we were both ready. Let’s get that hair and dress right.”

Kevin Schaeffer, director of restoration at Walt Disney Studios, doesn’t know the specific reason that the colors in Cinderella The previous versions of the film have been so warped. He says that, while the previous restorers had good intentions, the final results sometimes strayed from the original color. The cycle continued.

“People will refer back to the last time that was done. They’re interpreting an interpretation, sometimes of an interpretation,” he says.

With this particular restoration, though, the team was able to access the original 1950 prints of Disney’s CinderellaThe Library of Congress. They weren’t copying a copy of a copy; they were going back to where it all started.

Image: Disney

“Eric brought in some art from the animation research library that said, This is her hair colour. This is the mother’s dress,” Schaeffer says. “That really helped us peg that and get it back to what it really should be, and what it originally was.”

The team of restoration experts, made up by people in the studio and animation departments, were determined to keep all little details uniform. Small elements, like the colors of the tiny animals’ clothes and the shapes in the darkness, became a particular focal point. Goldberg recounts Gus-Gus the mouse’s shirt specifically.

“In previous iterations, it was, like, mustard yellow. But in fact, it’s The green hue is a good alternative to the blue.,” he says. “We brought it back to green. We brought it back green. [Goldberg and Giaimo], it was very, very important to get back to what Mary Blair intended with all of her wonderful concept art.”

Goldberg adds that Giaimo was really great at working with the dark areas of the film and fixing them “so that you could see a dark against another dark against another dark, rather than it all kind of mushing together and being one flat dark. This was done in many scenes. This was great. It really gave you the sense of depth and lighting that was originally intended.”

Image: Disney

Schaeffer says one of the scenes that particularly stands out as unexpectedly beautiful is Cinderella’s coach ride through town.

“And now with the technology we have available, you actually see the lit coach going through the dark streets of town with the reflection about,” he gushes. “It’s just truly beautiful.”

The restoration was based on the idea of going back to original prints, but technology advancements gave the project a unique edge. After all, this isn’t the first time Cinderella has been restored, and it likely won’t be the last. Schaeffer and Goldberg are hoping to be able to restore other Disney movies, including the original. Fantasia, Sleeping Beauty” Alice in WonderlandThen, when they’re done with that? And then, when they’re done with that?

“I think of it like painting the Golden Gate Bridge,” says Schaeffer. “By the time you get through all the classics, technology has moved far enough where it’s time to go back.”

It was restored CinderellaDisney Plus is now streaming in 4K.