Lion King R1 Review Online (DVDFile)

[Jack]

Well I liked both the Snow White and Beauty and the Beast "general Disney" featurettes, and it's too bad that there won't be anything like that here. But "Disney Through the Decades" is about as promotional as you can get. It was almost like a corporate video for prospective investors. ("And then we opened this theme park, and bought ABC...")

Not that it wasn't informative and interesting, but if you're labelling Beauty's as fluff, I think "Disney Through the Decades" fits that bill, too.

Yeah, you do have a good point. But still: Disney Through the Decades actually incorperated Snow White. Story Behind the Story didn't incorperate Beauty and the Beast.

[Starion]

http://www.dvdfile.com/software/review/ ... nking.html

Bad news, not only is the R2 missing the trailers, so is the R1

Also hidden in this section is a parody "Lion King 1-1/2" trailer. But where are the real trailers?

Bill Hunt from TheDigitalBits.com says:

oddly, however, nowhere on either of these two discs will you find trailers for The Lion King

He also says that the film is presented in letterboxed 1.85:1 aspect ratio. Disney says that aspect ratio is 1.66:1. I'm confused.

Film Rating (both versions): A
Disc Ratings (Video/Extras): A/C+
Audio Ratings (Original/Enhanced): B+/A

Read his review at: http://www.thedigitalbits.com/reviews3/lionking.html

[Paka]

Bill Hunt from TheDigitalBits.com says:

oddly, however, nowhere on either of these two discs will you find trailers for The Lion King

He also says that the film is presented in letterboxed 1.85:1 aspect ratio. Disney says that aspect ratio is 1.66:1. I'm confused.

Film Rating (both versions): A
Disc Ratings (Video/Extras): A/C+
Audio Ratings (Original/Enhanced): B+/A

Read his review at: http://www.thedigitalbits.com/reviews3/lionking.html

Uh, yeah - Jack already posted the Digital Bits review, Starion. And he already informed us that the trailers are indeed nowhere to be found. You are a bit repost-happy with net articles, aren't you?

And the thing with the 1.66 vs 1.85 is explained on Luke's own FAQ page. "Anamorphically-enhanced DVDs that present films in the 1.66:1 widescreen ratio actually encode the film within the 16x9 frame. So there are actually tiny black bars on the sides of the image, in addition to top and bottom. You probably don't see the side bars if you're watching on a standard TV with overscan. Television sets' overscan, in general, loses a small percentage of the edges of the picture, to compensate for tiny shrinkage in the picture over time. With 1.66:1 anamorphic widescreen DVDs, not only are you seeing the entire animated frame, you're not missing anything to overscan but the tiny black bars on the side. (Playback on a PC monitor, which generally are set to have zero overscan, you will see the entire image, side bars and all.)"

There's also some sample graphics on the page itself. ^_^

Not to say what grade they actually deserve, but its very possible the review skipped over a lot of material in the Continents menus of the disc due to the confusing organization. There is some extra materiel that is a bit more in-depth than the basic journeys - like early concepts, storyboards, art design, etc. These were touched on in the UK review.

Nope, Bill covered the concept art too, Jack. Quotage -

But as a fan of the animated film The Lion King, all I wanted to learn about was the making of the animated film The Lion King. While you get some of that here, particularly in a plethora of production and character design galleries, you don't get nearly enough.

*sigh* This really is turning out to be a crappy dvd. What a waste of potential. My favorite feature on the disc though - even over the new "Circle of Life" music video, is this -

We're also given new interviews with a number of Disney studio executives, talking about the phenomenon that The Lion King became, but frankly I just don't care much what Michael Eisner has to say. No offense, Michael.

.... so, you don't have any real in-depth interviews with the filmmakers, musicians, or voice actors... yet there's room to include the valuable comments of the suits?

[philipp616]

http://www.dvdtalk.com/forum/showthread ... did=320068

a few pictures of the gift set.. VERY nice


Can't wait to get it. My set shipped yesterday from dvdsoon...


greetings
Philipp

[Starion]

Uh, yeah - Jack already posted the Digital Bits review, Starion. And he already informed us that the trailers are indeed nowhere to be found. You are a bit repost-happy with net articles, aren't you?

I did not see Jack's post. I missed it. Let me look for it now.

[Joe Carioca]

Another review, now from DVD Town

http://www.dvdtown.com/review/Lion_King ... 0911/1775/

[Jack]

Nope, Bill covered the concept art too, Jack. Quotage -

But as a fan of the animated film The Lion King, all I wanted to learn about was the making of the animated film The Lion King. While you get some of that here, particularly in a plethora of production and character design galleries, you don't get nearly enough.

Don't know how I missed that. Thanks.

It's still posibble he missed another gallery in the Continents section though. I believe there were 2 in the Journeys, and 1 in the Continents, but I'll have to go look at the UK review to make sure of that.

Either way, I agree with you that there is a lot of missed potential on this DVD. I wouldn't go so far as to say its crappy though. I still think the extras will be entertaining - just miles away from what they could have been.

Maybe the companion book in the box set will make up for it though.

[Jack]

Yet another R1 review is up: http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htforum ... did=161157

This seems to be the most positive of all the reviews I've read so far, with the DVD being labeled as "Totally Recommended" by the reviewer.

Once again, he addresses the matter of the "original theatrical cut". His quote really puts any small hopes I had to rest:

Ok, as most of you know by now, there are two ways to watch this film on DVD...one is the original theatrical “cut” and the other replaces Zazu's spoken morning-report with a new animated sequence that incorporates the “morning report” song that performed in The Lion King stage production. Oh yes, might as well say it...both versions, be they original theatrical cut or “SE” with the morning report, are the same basic video stream. So all the new brushed-up animation that was commissioned for the IMAX presentation is present no matter which version you watch.

A cool tidbit:

There is a wonderful printed booklet in the clamshell that has everything from a listing of chapter stops to comprehensive “map” of the special features on Disc 2—making navigating to the extra you want much less challenging that sifting through a serious of nested menus to hunt for it. Oh, and you’ll love this: the second to last page in the booklet shows a little diagram illustrating the difference between widescreen and pan-and-scan and says “On standard TVs there will be black horizontal bars on the top and bottom of the TV allowing you to see the expansiveness of the full picture from side to side.” BRAVO Disney!

[Joe Carioca]

DVD.ign.com also posted a review. The reviwer thought that the extras weren't good enough, though it seems he also missed the bonuses from the continents. It's Disney fault, who didn't organize the extras very well.

http://dvd.ign.com/articles/451/451579p1.html

[Luke]

IGN did a decent review, that gives a low score to extras, and high marks to everything else. It's rather professional compared to the tongue-in-cheek junior-high writing from DVD File:

http://dvd.ign.com/articles/451/451579p1.html
(It's 3 pages, which of course means you'll get hit with ads at least once.)

And here are some links to cool pictures of the Gift Set:

http://home.pchome.com.tw/guide/chucky717/LK001.jpg
http://home.pchome.com.tw/guide/chucky717/LK002.jpg
http://home.pchome.com.tw/guide/chucky717/LK004.jpg
http://home.pchome.com.tw/guide/chucky717/LK007.jpg
http://home.pchome.com.tw/guide/chucky717/LK008.jpg
http://home.pchome.com.tw/guide/chucky717/LK009.jpg

[Jack]

It's rather professional compared to the tongue-in-cheek junior-high writing from DVD File

You said it, brotha. I'm beginning to get fed up with DVD File all together. Their reviews have been consistently sucky lately - with unreasonably low or high grading marks, inaccurate summaries of the movies/special features, and reviewers that suck monkey butt.

[Joe Carioca]

Another review is up!
http://www.dvdtoons.com/reviews/234

The most positive, so far.

[Prince Phillip]

And here are some links to cool pictures of the Gift Set:

http://home.pchome.com.tw/guide/chucky717/LK001.jpg
http://home.pchome.com.tw/guide/chucky717/LK002.jpg
http://home.pchome.com.tw/guide/chucky717/LK004.jpg
http://home.pchome.com.tw/guide/chucky717/LK007.jpg
http://home.pchome.com.tw/guide/chucky717/LK008.jpg
http://home.pchome.com.tw/guide/chucky717/LK009.jpg

OK, so I'm confused, cause from the pics, it looks like this special book that comes with The Lion King Giftset is just a Story Book! Is this the case, cause who needs a stupid story book when you have the movie!?!? I thought it was like an Art of The Lion King kinda book, or had backround on the movie... was I right or is this merely just a story book?

[Joe Carioca]

OK, so I'm confused, cause from the pics, it looks like this special book that comes with The Lion King Giftset is just a Story Book! Is this the case, cause who needs a stupid story book when you have the movie!?!? I thought it was like an Art of The Lion King kinda book, or had backround on the movie... was I right or is this merely just a story book?

According to DVD Toons' review, it's both an art book and a story book!

Inside, in addition to the 2-disc set, you’ll find the “DVD Companion Book”, The Lion King: Special Edition – The Journey, a hardcover volume that simply feels like quality. Featuring storyboards, concept art, production stills and final frame blow-ups, the book is cut in two halves: the first part being about the making of the film, the eventual stage show, the Imax and DVD restoration, and the theme-park inspirations; and the second being a re-telling of the story. The one drawback for me was the reliance on the final frames that fill the book, when the selected pencil-test and production art is so much more appealing and rarely seen that it would have been nicer to have more of these kind of illustrations that only pepper the book. It feels a little like a light edition of “The Art Of…” books that traditionally accompany the Disney features on theatrical release, but this is not simply the Lion King cut down, but a whole newly designed “mini-coffee-table” book that offers up a new angle on the movie.

[Luke]

http://home.pchome.com.tw/guide/chucky717/LK007.jpg

That's no story book, that's a book on the making of the movie first and foremost. It's talking about November 1991 when the filmmakers took a trip to Africa.

[Prince Phillip]

Thanks Luke and Joe, I really couldn't read what it said, but that is good to know.

[Tangela]

I stop reading that review as soon as I saw a mean thing again'st the Black Cauldron at the beginning, Gee! The Lion King is getting on my nerves, Check out the review I left for it at amazon.com, I'm pretty sure it is the only One-star review for TLK.

[Prince Phillip]

I stop reading that review as soon as I saw a mean thing again'st the Black Cauldron at the beginning, Gee! The Lion King is getting on my nerves, Check out the review I left for it at amazon.com, I'm pretty sure it is the only One-star review for TLK.

I just read your review! I must admit, it does get on my nerves how much the Lion King is hiped up, I remember last year working at Suncoast for the holiday season, so many people came up to me asking if we had the Lion King, and I would say no, and explain about the platinum scheduling, and at the time I though Sleeping Beauty and Aladdin were both going to be released as Platinum this year and that Lion King was 2004, and I must say a bunch of people told me they didn't give a crap about SB or Aladdin they just wanted the Lion King, "The Greatest Animated Film of all time", and that really got on my nerves, I mean I think it's definatley good and all it just urks me, when people act like no other disney feature can compare to it... Still I don't think I would give it a 1 star review! ...but I understand why you did

Are you going to buy it anyway? I still am

[Joe Carioca]

Another review is up!
http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=7728

[Jack]

Hopefully, Disney's paying attention to the lukewarm-at-best reaction to their weightless features on this DVD. Bout time it got through their thick skull.