Song of the South Review

I recently saw Song of the South for the first time but before I get into the movie itself I should explain how I saw it. 

I don't own a VCR anymore.  Currently the only official copies of Song of the South are on VHS.  You can still find some copies of those online. 

How did I see Song of the South without a VCR?  I watched it on DVD.  It's well know that Disney has not released Song of the South on DVD but when searching online the other day I stumbled upon a website that was selling it on DVD.  I bought a copy figuring I had to see what was going on here.  I thought maybe it was an import or something like that.

A week later the the DVD arrived.  It had all the artwork you'd expect but no booklet.  It also had a purple surface, a sure sign that it was a bootleg. 

When I played the movie the quality wasn't bad but it was obviously not a remastered video.  It wasn't even in wide screen which tipped me off as to what makers of this DVD did.  They simply ripped a VHS copy to DVD and touched it up a bit.

I cannot recommend purchasing any "DVD" of Song of the South.  These DVDs are not from Disney and they are all bootlegs. Stay away.

Now the movie.


To be honest I was shocked that there is so much controversy in regards to Song of the South.  The movie is simply an old school movie that reflected many of the views of the days.  In fact there was only one scene that I shook my head at.  The infamous tar baby scene.  What shocked my was the fact they called the dummy made of tar a tar baby.  It seems like there should have been dozens of things they could have called the dummy instead of tar baby.

Other than that one scene you'll run into the typical 1930s racial standards.  It is upsetting if you take it out of context but I don't see why it's fare to hold things that are 50+ years old to todays standards.  We wouldn't do that to anything else so why would you do it to movies? 

Ignoring the racial aspects of Song of the South the movie is charming.  Many of the stories will make you smile.  You'll really enjoy this movie if you are a fan of Splash Mountain.  You can what scenes they used and how they tweaked them to make them fit into the ride.  In fact this movie is a must see for any Splash Mountain fan.

I'd say Song of the South isn't for everyone but it is a good movie that has been unfairly black listed.  I say that because Dumbo, the Three Little Pigs, and many of the old school Disney cartoons are loaded with racist themes but no one talks about them.