The Little Mermaid: digitally restored

[Rumpelstiltskin]

On the backside of the cover we can read that the movie now is digitally restored, and we see a before and after image. Was the visual quality of the movie really that horrible that are seen on the picture before it was restored? It was made in 1989, so I find it a little hard to believe. Is it correct, or just a little trick to make the restoration look more impressive?

[Disney-Fan]

Probably a marketing trick [and a lame one, I might add].

[Simba3]

I thought the same thing, I didn't remember the film looking quite that bad.

[Dottie]

Could you all please stop opening TLM threads. There are so many of them and half of them deals with the picture. These are really too many!!
I love that movie just like everyone of you, I adore it, but please look for all the other threads and stop opening new ones!!!

[Disney Duster]

Yes, it definately is a frame from the film they changed to make look worse than it actually was. They did the same with Cinderella, only it wasn't a frame from the film they used but just a promotional image they made to look unrestored!

[Rumpelstiltskin]

In my opinion, such methods will have a negative effect in the long run since it actually is dishonest marketing practices, and not something one wants to associate with Disney.

Dottie; I checked all the threads' titles on the first two pages before I posted this one, and there is nothing that mentions the image or restoration. A thread's title should tell, or at least give a hint, what it is about. I'm not the one to tell people what to do, but just starting a thread called "The Little Mermaid", without having anything to say about it, is not my idea of how to make threads. And when it has over 100 or 200 replies, very few takes the effort to read it all or find post number 75 just to see if it mentions the same thing that is the main subject in a new thread.

[Dottie]

But there was one called Little mermaid compression, so it should be obvious that it deals with the picture. It just annoys me that people open threads for topics or questions that can be solved with three replies.
Could someone open a TLM Picture quality thread? That would make all the others unnecessary.

[akhenaten]

yahoo my friend bought me the japanese TLM dvd from japan!!! for only erm..letsee.. rm95.00 that would make..hmm USD25 cant wait to see it!

[Rumpelstiltskin]

Maybe so, but no one can except people to search every topic written in the last weeks. Unless there is to be found on the two or three first pages, there is nothing wrong in making a similar thread.

"It just annoys me that people open threads for topics or questions that can be solved with three replies."

A forum exists not just for long threads, they are meant for everyone who has something on their mind about a relevant subject.

[Beastboyravenz]

I totally agree with you, I tried using the search tab for the old Little Mermaid pages and couldn't find them. I guess I would have to write what the post was called in the exact words, but obviously I didn't know since I was looking for it. Therefore I don't end up writing anything and if I started a new thread people will get mad and frankly I wouldn't want to deal with the annoyance.

[akhenaten]

ok just a little lamenting. I DIDNT KNOW JAPAN HAD TWO VERSIONS OF TLM DVD!!! MY FRIEND COULDNT FIND THE NICE SLIPCOVERED ONE SO HE BOUGHT ME A SINGLE DISC TLM SPECIAL EDITION WHICH HAD ONLY THE CRUCIAL FEATURES.ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

OH WELL..AT LEAST ITS MY FIRST JAPANESE DISNEY DVD.

[DisneyRoyalty]

I thought that the green in the digital restoration was really too bright. It was a bit harsh I thought, it looked out of place. Especially in the "Daughters of Triton" scene with the clam shells opening. The inside of the shells looked almost neon! And also Ariel's tail at points in the movie.

[jeremy88]

For me personally I think the resotration looks beautiful.


Platinum Edition
<img src="http://img299.imageshack.us/img299/4920/pdvd000ve2.png" alt="Image Hosted by ImageShack.us" />

Limited Issue
<img src="http://img299.imageshack.us/img299/8046/pdvd017wo2.png" alt="Image Hosted by ImageShack.us" />

[RachelSmachel]

Wow, that looks pretty amazing! Technology these days...still kinda makes me wonder that we might pass this off as "only average" many more years into the future.

[Beastboyravenz]

Wow, her tail really changed it's color. I must say the backgrounds just look exquisite. Would you mind adding more screencaps to compare?

[Thomas J]

I noticed the restoration the second the movie started.

I had watched TLM on VHS the day before (well, basically the week before - I watched it a lot) because I hadn't seen it in a while.

Once the ship scene began, I already noticed the difference.

I personally think it was an amazing restoration.

[Beastboyravenz]

The pics above, I mentioned the tail looked way different. So I was watching Sleeping Beauty and I noticed my tv's colors were way too bright! So I adjusted it so the colors looked more accurate and the way they should. Then I put in The Little Mermaid and the her tail looked exactly the same color as the limmited issue, except way nicer and not washed out. All this time my tv was too high on brightness. I should have noticed this before since everytime I played Pocahontas her face looked almost orange and not a brown.

[Anders M Olsson]

A film only 17 years old shouldn't need restoration. Restoration is by definition something you do when a film has degraded over time, or due to inappropriate storage. Restoration is your last resort when you find that film preservation has failed.

With the correct film preservation, restoration shouldn't be needed for many decades.

Since Disney is known for taking very good care of its negatives, I can only assume that what they've done here has nothing or very little to do with actual restoration. It's only mislabeled as such. With a film as new as The Little Mermaid, all they need to do is bring out the negatives, and strike a new copy.

A new and better transfer - yes, most certainly!
Computerized enhancements and tampering - possibly...
But restoration - not very likely!

[akhenaten]

upon my inspection, i've decided that the little mermaid was restored.this is evident when u look closely at the storm scene. when the ship is high on the waves. when the lightning struck.u can see there r some dirt on the waves that just pops for a few seconds. and during the 'vocal recording' of ariel's voice..some white dirts/spots can be seen at the swirling lights in the background. this are clearly unintentional by the artists. also they fixed the changing color of one sailor. this is during the scene where grimsby said "silence,silence, it is now my honor and privilege..." look at the handsome sailor standing next to eric. in the limited issue dvd/LD/VHS it changed from white to blue but in the platinum edition it remains white.

btw, i didnt remember the inner part of the clamshell during daughters of triton to look that green.

i hope someone can post a screencap comparison of this to support my theory. thanks.

[Beastboyravenz]

You guys, I've been telling you all that the reason it looks almost neon green is because your televisions tint is wrong, I fixed mine because the shells did look way to bright. Then after I adjusted the tint the inside of the shells turned a more natural green color. Not to mention Ariel's tail went back to the original teal aqua greenish color it was. It's all matter of adjusting the tint of your tv's. Although Disney did change the inside of the sister's shells so don't expect them to turn back to a blue color.