Great Mouse Detective "widescreen"

[Logoliker2004]

Hey, am I the only one who noticed this? On that Disney "The Great Mouse Detective" DVD, the film is merely in fake widescreen instead of true. I compared it with the same frames from an old GMD website that had full-frame screengrabs. I was wondering if that movie was originally filmed in full-frame, and was matted for widescreen in most theaters?

Plus, during one part of the movie (during the part when Basil and crew chase Ratigan's blimp, and then fight in Big Ben) the music sounds really distorted. Only one part of the music comes out one speaker, nothing on the other. I have heard the full music back when I rented the 1992 VHS. Has anyone else noticed this audio goof?

[hopesethigh]

I don't know about GMD, but I have noticed that quite a few of Disney's DVDs are in what is called "Family Friendly Widescreen" which either isn't "true" widescreen or is a full-frame print that has been squished and stretched into a "fake widescreen".

"Pooh's Grand Adventure" and "DuckTales The Movie" are a few examples.

No idea about the audio though...sorry!

[AwallaceUNC]

I'm not sure about The Great Mouse Detective DVD... I don't have anything to compare it with. UD's review says it's properly presented, so I would go with that.

I don't know about GMD, but I have noticed that quite a few of Disney's DVDs are in what is called "Family Friendly Widescreen" which either isn't "true" widescreen or is a full-frame print that has been squished and stretched into a "fake widescreen".

"Pooh's Grand Adventure" and "DuckTales The Movie" are a few examples.

"Family Friendly Widescreen" is just a marketing term that Disney uses to try to convince people that widescreen isn't as scary as they think it is. Only in very few cases have they faked widescreen (<i>Aladdin and the King of Thieves</i> is one example). You might be right about <i>Pooh's Grand Adventure</i>... as the UD review explains, it's not really clear which presentation is the "right" one, but neither should be considered too annoying in this particular case.

By the way, is your username by any chance a reference to the Amy Grant song, "Hope Set High"?

-Aaron

[hopesethigh]

By the way, is your username by any chance a reference to the Amy Grant song, "Hope Set High"?

Yep

My only thing with Pooh's Grand Adventure was that the "widescreen" presentation, at least on my widescreen TV, was that it appeared to have black bars on all four sides, and it ended up looking like it was just a full-screen movie stretched out. However, the menus were really well done.

[AwallaceUNC]

Yep

As you may have already noticed, I'm a huge Amy Grant fan. Glad to see another here! Welcome aboard!

-Aaron