(1) As always, the packaging is superb. The cover has handsome gold foil stamping on it and a more majestic cover image than the US/UK cover. Sadly, the packaging got a little squashed in transit.
(2) The Soundtrack is, as expected in French (apart from an Elton John "Can You Feel The Love Tonight?" at the end). That's cool. I have most of the other tracks already in English. And the "Morning Report" sounds better in French anyway.
(3) The first disc forces you to make a language selection as it 'boots up'. English is an option, but the Disney EHT Mix is French DTS only.
(4) The presence of the DTS track sadly means something has to go (apparently)... thankfully it's the dreadful "Making of the Circle of Stars Music Video" featurette! Maybe they just dropped it because most of them mean sod all to none US residents.
(5) The Lion King 3 trailer is the same as the US 1 1/2 trailer, but it simply stops on the Lion King 3 - all of the Timon and Pumbaa banter about the title is edited out. I was hoping the R2 disc would have a Lion King II trailer too, but I cannot find one.
(6) There is no insert explaining about the navigation system anywhere, yet it still has the same confusing menu system. I feel sorry for the French trying to find the background galleries etc, being as they are well hidden.
(7) The Bonus disc, like the Film Disc allows you to select a language on first 'booting'. English is an option, and the disc seems to be an exact copy of the R1 version.
(8) As expected, the PAL transfer looks better (more lines, better colour). To balance this out, the soundtrack is speeded up 4% which some people notice (especially with a musical), but I don't.
I'm not too thrilled with the Lion King set supplements. I've got a UK version on order too, and I may cancel being as I have a perfectly decent PAL transfer here, in a wonderful collectable package. However, for now I'll keep it on order for the free soft toy from Amazon.co.uk and somebody I know will get the discs for their Christmas present.
I sometimes do notice it, but less often than the difference in resolution. That's why I prefer PAL discs. My TV also has some troubles with NTSC, making the picture annoyingly flickery most of the time. Why it does that is beyond me.
