EricJ wrote:Over on the Blu-ray.com forum, it's become a running joke that every--no, seriously: EVERY. SINGLE. FREAKIN'.
SOLITARY--fanboy who'd heard about Sunflower on Wikipedia goes into an old-school 90's-DVD Disney Is Evil campaign about "Why don't we get the black centaurette back, why, why, why, why, why?
"
Um...I wasn't suggesting we get the film uncut and be done with it. As I said in the review I actually prefer the 1990 version as a linear film. But what I didn't take to was the way some footage had been repeated to fill a gap: it's noticeable and badly done.
What I also asked for was a viewers' choice: to watch the 1990 cut with Deems Taylor's original vocals and any digitally covered up shots they wanted to insert, but with an option, for collectors, to view the road show edition as originally produced. Failing that, the Pastoral section unaltered as a bonus.
Fantasia isn't the most "kid-friendly" of Disney films anyway, so I'm sure a more "grown up" collectors edition could have done more service to the film. Just as we now have Goofy smoking in Saludos Amigos, there's ways and means for
original versions (including non-dubbed voice tracks!) to see the light of day.
EricJ wrote:But on the upside, the darn movies look pretty spiffy.
Yes, yes they do...and I've been sure to mention that. But I've also been sure to point out to people that think they know what they're going to get that this isn't the original film in terms of the soundtrack, and that the extras are non-existent and bad quality at that.
James wrote:Dangit! I sold my Anthology set because this was coming!
I don't want to say "I told you so"...so I won't.
Randall wrote:I'm so glad I hung onto mine. I like the Blu-ray set for what it is, but there's a whole lot that it isn't!
Great review there, Ben!
Thanks! As I said at the end of the review...what this set
could have been! I've no doubt that there was a superbly lavish collection being put together under Roy Disney for release earlier this year. I honestly think we would have seen everything in there. After he died, I think they started to wonder why they were spending that amount of money on the set, and it was greatly scaled back.
They knew they had to get rid of Destino and the documentary we've heard about since 2002, and I think this was a dumping ground just to get the Fantasias out in a basic HD upgrade and use it as an opportunity to just get Destino and the doc out there by any means.
My biggest worry is that the virtual vault becomes a regular feature as a way to "include" the "classic DVD features" without having to remaster them. It's a really cheap and nasty approach that doesn't actually work.
Whippet Angel wrote:Very informative review. I'm rather disappointed now, as I was actually thinking about adding this release to my new BD collection. I never really learned to appreciate Fantasia as a kid, as I considered most of it to be utterly boring. To this day I still haven't seen the entire film in one sitting.
I'm still tempted to get it anyway, as it would be nice to have both films in HD, as well as Destino. I really do love that short.
Thanks Whippet! I can't tell you how disappointed I am with the set. I still have the Anthology (in fact, a problem is that I pretty much keep previous editions of discs like some people keep first, second, third editions, etc!) and so have access to the virtual stuff for "real", but it's basically what's not on this set that is frustrating.
Yes, both films look great! No, Fantasia doesn't have its original narration. And if you haven't been able to sit through it before, the extended and distanced road show edition won#t really help that. So what you get is basically what I said at the end: Fantasia 2000 looking and sounding excellent, a good looking Fantasia, and Destino. But I was very disappointed in that short's quality: it's like a print from around 20 years ago, or maybe more, and I can't believe the exposure fluctuations, gate weave and scratches when surely this was created digitally?
You may love the short, but shelling out this much if that's your goal is a sting for the way this looks and sounds (is anyone else getting distortion at a couple of points on the soundtrack?). In addition, the documentary is padding for 35 minutes, the making of Destino for 15, and the re-making of the short for around 20 minutes at the end, and it seems to have only been produced in standard def, some bad upscaling artefacts plaguing my viewing (again, is this just me or are others noticing this?).
GeorgeC wrote:BUT tell people how you really feel about Fantasia on Blu ray, Ben!
I actually love the film and hope that came out in the review. That's actually my problem: I have all of Deems Taylor's vocal inflections burned into my brain and Burton's recreations are clever but not accurate enough. If they'd spent more time getting the nuances right it would have been passable, but he goes up when Taylor's voice goes down, he forces some words when Taylor retracts, etc.
It may have been too disjointed to do a Spartacus and only replace the lines they didn't have audio for, but I'd have appreciated that option, or at least the option of 1990's more "one film" approach that would have had his original recordings.
GeorgeC wrote:But yeah, what's new about a not-so-special release. They seem to be about 50/50 when it comes to being everything you want from Disney to "I'll skip it for the next release!"
Actually, Disney's been pretty good at porting over much of their previous DVDs to the new BDs, especially on catalog live-action titles. The presentation isn't always great, but at least the extras are
on the discs! If you don't know Taylor's vocals well enough to care, Fantasia looks great and the sound won't probably bother you, but Fantasia 2000 is really the reason to get this set. There's usually no problem recommending a Disney BD upgrade, but here the problems are just too big to overlook.
GeorgeC wrote:Advance word is that Tangled will be one of the first Disney releases to be released with 3D Blu ray + Blu ray + DVD + Digital Copy on the first round of printing.
Zemeckis' A Christmas Carol takes the honor of the first title: 3D/BD/DVD/DC combo packs hit stores the same day as the other editions.
