Alice in Wonderland: Masterpiece Edition Press Release

[Jack]

Those menus are great looking, and dare I say a bit creepy. I would prefer animated menus, as I always find those cool, but still, this DVD has shaped up to be better than I'd hoped.

[Disneykid]

Upon looking at the menus some more, I'm beginning to wonder (no pun intended) just WHERE exactly is the "and more!" the press release stated. Everything that's on here has been mentioned in the press release (except One Hour in Wonderland, but even on the original list that had it there was still "and more!"). Perhaps there are easter eggs?

[Joe Carioca]

Upon looking at the menus some more, I'm beginning to wonder (no pun intended) just WHERE exactly is the "and more!" the press release stated. Everything that's on here has been mentioned in the press release (except One Hour in Wonderland, but even on the original list that had it there was still "and more!"). Perhaps there are easter eggs?

I'm wondering that too... The list of extras is exactly the same that Luke posted some time ago. Well, I hope the galleries are really galleries, not just a single one.

Oh, and the menus on disc 1 are animated... as for disc 2, I don't know.

[MPeriolat]

I'm just relieved that One Hour in Wonderland is safe! WANT this DVD NOW, especially with the loss of the Treasures until May!

Now, let us hope the quality continues to improve, even with the loss of Roy's guiding influence.

[Billy Moon]

Guys, if you take a really close look at everything listed on the menus Luke posted, you'll see that one of the features listed ON THE BONUS MENU is "I'm Odd, Unused Song."

I noticed that too, and felt quite relieved.
Now, let's just hope that "If I Never Knew You" WILL be inserted into the film on the Pocahontas DVD.

[Jake Lipson]

Amen to that. If any Disney film ever deserved an alternate DVD cut, Pocahontas is that film, and If I Never Knew You BELONGS there (although I do want the original there for the sake of completness.)

[2099net]

Amen to that. If any Disney film ever deserved an alternate DVD cut, Pocahontas is that film, and If I Never Knew You BELONGS there (although I do want the original there for the sake of completness.)

Er. No. I have the UK Pocahontas DVD which includes the deleted scene and the introduction. In the introduction one of the directors clearly states the song was cut from the final film because it slowed the pace of the film down and destroyed the tension of the story that they were carefully building at the time. No mention is made of focus groups, bored children, demands from "on high". He simply says that the decision was made for the good of the story, even though it was a beautiful song and the animation was almost finished. And don't the people on this forum constantly parrot "the story is the most important. It's the story that matters."?

And I agree. This is why I am against revisionist filmmaking. More often or not scenese are deleted for a reason, and putting them back into the main body of the film only makes it longer... not better. Never assume more is better.

I suppose if we get both versions on the disc, no harm is done. Or is it? Being as Disney don't use seamless branching but duplicate the whole section of the film on a different layer including the film with or without the song will most likely result in lower bitrates and will almost certainly lead to no DTS soundtrack option.

They should just leave it as a deleted scene.

[Billy Moon]

Although it is a matter of taste, I don't think the filmmakers did the right choise with Pocahontas back then. They're only human after all, and I feel I have the liberty to question their original decisions and not to take them as the word of God.
Never assume original is automaticly better.
I think the story WOULD benefit from the song - it is a more sentiment-driven than action-driven story, anyway. And I'm quite sure that a big reason (if not the only one) for deleting the sequence was to make the film more appealing to young children. What the directors tell in interviews isn't necessarily always the complete truth.
BTW, I thought the B&B and TLK DVDs do use seamless branching - at least the European ones. Am I wrong?

[2099net]

No they're all the same - they all make the branching point on the layer change. That's why the layer change is always just before (or after) the changed bits. So one layer contains 2 versions of the film and the other layer contains a single version. Lion King as the two versions at the start of the film, BatB have the two versions in the latter half of the film.

But I'll agree the PAL discs do have much better picture quality (especially the BatB disc).

All in all, it probably doesn't make a difference for Pocahontas - no games have been announced or passed by the BBFC.

I'm just one of these old geezers who perfers to get the theatrical release for everything.