Opera in German outskirts of the city. In 1791, he persuaded Mozart to set one of his libretti, "The Magic Flute". This proved to be no ordinary "Singspiel". Though the traditional farcical elements remained, Mozart added a new seriousness, particularly in the music for Sarastro and his priests. Even more than "Die Entführung", the "Magic Flute" pointed the way forward for future German opera. The greatest German composer of the next generation, Beethoven, seized on "The Magic Flute"'s blend of domestic comedy and high seriousness for his only opera, "Fidelio", the story of a devoted wife who saves her husband from political imprisonment.
The Smurfs and the Magic Flute version was released by Morningstar Entertainment in 2008; it was later re-released by Shout! Factory on 14 August 2012. The film was also released to DVD in Canada by Vivendi Entertainment on 22 November 2011. It is the UK dub sourced from PAL masters that is available on DVD. The film was released to both DVD and Blu-Ray in the UK on 11 October 2010. For reasons unknown, the Netflix and VUDU service in America currently streams the PAL-formated UK dub. Of "The Smurfs and the Magic Flute", animation historian Jerry Beck wrote in his "Animated Movie Guide": Is the