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Nice to hear this one actually looks like film... Might pick it up when it's released as a single disc (not interested in the 'Direct to video' sequel).

On a side note, I recently bought the 'Waking sleeping beauty' documentary which was released on Blu-ray in France and it contains some HD footage from Disney movies not yet released on Blu-ray (Black cauldron, Little mermaid...).
I posted many screenshots on the french animation forum Catsuka: http://www.catsuka.com/interf/forum/viewtopic.php?p=382004#p382004
They might be helpful for future comparisons... ;-)

(Posted on Sunday, September 11, 2011 at 8:29 AM)

Glad you liked it...
Well, if the real Blu-rays of BLACK CAULDRON and LITTLE MERMAID look like that, I'll buy them... no need to add some extra DNR... ;-p
(RESCUERS DOWN UNDER and ALADDIN should look spectacular anyway, if they use the original digital files...)

What I most worry about is WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT?... If Disney/BuenaVista add an extra layer of DNR on top of everything, we could have a NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS Blu-ray situation, where most of humans/puppets look waxy... I sincerely hope that Bob Zemeckis will supervise the transfert/remastering of the movie...

Oh, and thanks for the FOX AND THE HOUND advice... I didn't get both movies were on the same disc... I'll wait for the UK Blu-ray announcement and if the content is the same, I'll get the US Blu-ray...

(Posted on Sunday, September 11, 2011 at 1:44 PM)

The problem with the Fox and the Hound is that it's not actually a particularly good film transfer. It doesn't look like a modern scan, there's still DNR, there's some kind of edge filtering going on, smudging some of them in the process, and even a hint of ghosting. If I had to guess I'd say this was done in the same manner as the lazy "restoration" of the Little Mermaid on the Platinum DVD (which had some nasty ghosting.)

I'd much rather take a complete Lowry overhaul, than... whatever this is.

(Posted on Sunday, September 11, 2011 at 4:30 PM)

Actually, THE FOX AND THE HOUND never made it to Laserdisc, at least not in the USA. But, yes, both the first and second DVD releases used an early '90s analog video master as their source, the same that was used for the initial VHS release at the time. Sad... The Blu is SO MUCH better! Why they never took the time to make a new master in the past 20 years I'll never understand.

(Posted on Sunday, September 11, 2011 at 10:14 PM)

Mrs. Kentai actually really likes this one, so thanks for confirming that the Cheapquel (the TV ads for which, I swear, gave her hives) is part and parcel with the original - at least there's no sense importing or waiting or what have you. "Bambi II" got its own separate release, for one reason or another - go figure.

Frustrating to know that Disney hasn't actually changed their policy on retaining film grain. Makes me wonder if they simply do not give the slightest f*&# about this particular film and the lack of a full blown "restoration" - and the resulting grain structure - is just a the end result of that.

(Posted on Monday, September 12, 2011 at 12:36 AM)

Good to hear that it hasn't been DNRed. It seems like everyone loves the way the Disney titles look, but every time I wish they weren't that way. I think they look too smooth, pasty, blurry, not sure how I'd describe it.

(Posted on Monday, September 12, 2011 at 2:14 AM)

It's a breath of fresh air to see Disney not give enough a shit about some titles to not give them the "royal treatment," thus making them look better, ha. It's just a shame they don't show the same "care" for their big catalog titles.

It's like the UK Blu-ray for The Transformers: The Movie. Really fucking awesome transfer, a real treat to behold—and it looks just like a worn film print, scratches, dirt, and all sorts of oddities. It looks wonderful; I'd much rather have something like that than a mucked-up "restoration." Of course, ideally, all films and animation would be restored properly and looking their best with no print damage and that, but........

(Posted on Monday, September 12, 2011 at 10:06 AM)

I love this film. Since I was a little child this was one of my favourite Disney movies!! :) Guess I have to buy this one :)

(Posted on Monday, September 12, 2011 at 9:14 PM)

You reviewed Dumbo last year, i think this interview might interest you.

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/t/314907/disney-s-restoration-of-dumbo-and-efforts-to-preserve-their-film-library#post_3852413

(Posted on Tuesday, September 20, 2011 at 6:31 PM)

Interesting, but that doesn't explain the scenes that have clearly had the grain frozen. The best example I remember is of the stork flying through clouds - although perhaps this was always an optical effect of some sort?

(Posted on Thursday, September 22, 2011 at 1:57 AM)

No idea David but some of you should come onto that thread and make your points, if enough do that we might get some sites asking tougher questions to Disney, and who knows we might even get Disney listening to the criticisms and leaving more film texture in their releases.

(Posted on Friday, September 23, 2011 at 8:33 PM)

This is what has been said at Home Theater Forum regarding Disney classics and film grain.

Disney doesn't use DNR much on their features. They *repaint* the characters digitally and replace backgrounds with digital freezes based on multiple frames. The process of recreation that they use (I can't bring myself to call it restoration) eliminates the grain completely as a by product. They *can't* preserve grain doing it this way. It's all or nothing.

"Disney doesn't use DNR much on their features. They *repaint* the characters digitally and replace backgrounds with digital freezes based on multiple frames. The process of recreation that they use (I can't bring myself to call it restoration) eliminates the grain completely as a by product. They *can't* preserve grain doing it this way. It's all or nothing."

"You'll notice DNR is applied in scenes with complex optical effects, like the multiplane shots in Bambi. Those scenes can't be broken apart into layers to clean up because there aren't hard lines around the areas of color and the backgrounds aren't flat art. Unfortunately, in order to get these shots to match with the other grainless shots, they have to really crank up the grain smoothing, obliterating textures in the background paintings. Everything looks like airbrush in the multiplane shots on the blurays. The watercolor brushstrokes have been blurred over."

"I have yet to see a review of these blurays that mentions this. It's probably because reviewers don't understand the difference between the process Disney uses and the process everyone else uses, and they just aren't familiar with the way the film should look."

(Posted on Sunday, September 25, 2011 at 3:24 PM)

IT'S MAH BIRTHDAY! WOOHOO!

Hammer time... or is that "time to get hammered"?

(Posted on Sunday, September 25, 2011 at 8:01 PM)