Dumbo: Special Edition Blu-ray and DVD Discussion

[jpanimation]

Strange... There's no 'Disney DVD Classics' on the Dutch disc. What's on your disc under that header?

The Dutch disc includes:

- Deleted scene
- Deleted song
- Audiocommentary
- Making-of (26 min.)
- Fluff piece about Dumbo ride at Disneyland
- Walt Disney tv introduction (1 min.)
- Trailer 1941
- Trailer 1949

No art gallery, unfortunately. They dropped that from the previous DVD. Again, I must ask: WHY? There's not ONE logical reason to exclude it.

Did you buy the DVD? I think 'Disney DVD Classics' features are Blu-ray only. To quote myself:

Blu-ray Special Features

Deleted Scenes
Deleted Scene: The Mouse’s Tale (5:20)
Deleted Song: “Are You a Man or a Mouse” (3:31)

Backstage Disney
Taking Flight: The Making of Dumbo (26:56)
Magic of Dumbo: Ride of Passage (2:59)
Sound Design Excerpt from “The Reluctant Dragon” (5:40)
1941 Theatrical Trailer (2:09)
1949 Re-Release Trailer (1:15)

Original Walt Disney Television Introduction (1:04)

BD Only
DisneyView / Cine-Explore
Art Galleries
Featurette: “Celebrating Dumbo” (14:51)
Bonus Shorts: “The Flying Mouse” and “Elmer Elephant”
Games: “What Do You See?” (Family Play) and “What Do You Know” (Smart Play)

[David S.]

No art gallery, unfortunately. They dropped that from the previous DVD. Again, I must ask: WHY? There's not ONE logical reason to exclude it.

Unfortunately, in Disney's eyes, there is - to try to manipulate people towards "going Blu". Which of course, only makes strong-willed people like me more determined not to! Art galleries in particular, which are one of my favorite bonus features, seem to be becoming more and more a casualty on the DVD editions.

On the bright side, nearly everything "exclusive" to the BD of Dumbo is from the old DVD editions, (except the 2 new games) so at least the material is available on the DVD format, and if one buys the new edition for the better transfer and new features, this can be combined with the old edition to create a 2-disc DVD consisting of both editions.

I agree with you, though. They shouldn't drop this stuff, and it would be nice to just have everything on one edition.

[miniroll32]

Just thought I'd mention - my Dumbo copy has a documentary with that 'Canemaker' fella (or whoever he is) in it. I only say this because I know a couple of people mentioned his name, so don't know if its of interest....

Goliath - I also have the 'gallery' on mine. I'll just write out all the extras rather than going over them post by post...

Taking Flight: The making of Dumbo
The magic of Dumbo: A ride of passage
Deleted song
Deleted scene
2 games
2 'shorts'
2 'Classic DVD' documentaries
Sound Design Excerpt from “The Reluctant Dragon”
1941 Theatrical Trailer
1949 Re-Release Trailer
Original Walt Disney Television Introduction
“Celebrating Dumbo”


This includes content taken from the DVD included and the 'classics' DVD's...

Obviously, because this is only a Special Edition it was never going to be a full whammy release like Snow White, but although its quite modest, the new 30 minute documentary is awesome.

Though personally, I would have thought it'd make more sense this year to have released Fantasia early March, Dumbo around July, and then B & The Beast in October

[Goliath]

@ miniroll:

Just to make things clear: you bought the new 'Special Edition' DVD (not BluRay disc)? And it has *all* the features you mentioned? And it has an audiocommentary (not 'making of') by John Canemaker?

That sounds strange. The new DVD as I own it has an audiocommentary by Andreas Deja, Pete Doctor and some woman film historian.

Which country are you from?

Unfortunately, in Disney's eyes, there is - to try to manipulate people towards "going Blu". Which of course, only makes strong-willed people like me more determined not to!

Yeah, like me!

I forgot to mention the excerpt from The Reluctant Dragon is also on the Dutch DVD.

On the bright side, nearly everything "exclusive" to the BD of Dumbo is from the old DVD editions, (except the 2 new games) so at least the material is available on the DVD format, and if one buys the new edition for the better transfer and new features, this can be combined with the old edition to create a 2-disc DVD consisting of both editions.

Yes, I bought the new DVD and I'm very happy with it. I eventually bought the previous release about 6 months ago, because I figured there wouldn't be a better release. And the Dutch 'Big top' was just a repackaging of the 'Gold collection' DVD, without the Canemaker commentary. Then this new one came along. It's a huge improvement. I couldn't care less about Silly Symphonies that I own already in the Treasures-series or silly games.

[miniroll32]

@ Goliath

It is the U.K Special Edition Blu-ray Would you like me to take some photos of the menu/cover?

[BK]

So the commentary is there?

Did you check it miniroll or does it just say on the back or inserts?

[miniroll32]

When you say Commentary, are you talking about the commentary during the movie or an actual documentary?

[marlan]

As nobody commented on the framing issue of Dumbo, I ventured to buy it in spite of the price.

However, the release is a big disappointment. At least the Scandinavian Blu-ray release is as tightly framed as the DVD releases were. I suppose the same goes for the other releases as well. Can you confirm this, and does anybody care?

In the following screenshot one should be able to see the feet of the pink elephants entirely, and also the frames of the big bubble inside of which they are marching on. In theatrical screenings you can see it, when projected properly, and that is surely how the directors meant it to be shown. It is very disturbing to watch this transfer when parts of characters, tops of hats etc. keep dropping off-screen all the time.

I complained this issue to Disney many years ago but apparently without results. I'm going to complain again. I think this is a much more serious fault than the temporary framing error in The Pirates of the Caribbean 1, which was duly corrected!

As the U.S. release has been postponed to 2011, there is still some hope that we could press Disney to correct the framing of Dumbo before that release. However, that would require that many people would write a letter to Disney (not e-mail), but I'm a bit skeptical about that. Can we really stop Disney from harming its products?

In the worst case, also the forthcoming Blu-ray release of Fantasia will suffer from too tight a framing, just as the DVD releases did.

Here's the strangulated screenshot from my disc:



Here are the technical specifications of this disc:

Code: Select all

Media is AACS protected!
AACS MKB version 15
Determined region(s): B
Disc Title: DUMBO_SCX
Disc Size: 37 424 224 784 bytes
Protection: AACS
BD-Java: Yes
Playlist: 00002.MPLS
Size: 16 744 151 040 bytes
Length: 1:03:56
Total Bitrate: 34,91 Mbps
Video: MPEG-4 AVC Video / 24630 kbps / 1080p / 23,976 fps / 16:9 / High Profile 4.1
* Video: MPEG-4 AVC Video / 1438 kbps / 480p / 23,976 fps / 16:9 / High Profile 3.2
Audio: English / DTS-HD Master Audio / 7.1 / 48 kHz / 3279 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 5.1 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit)
Audio: Danish / Dolby Digital Audio / 5.1 / 48 kHz / 640 kbps
Audio: Finnish / Dolby Digital Audio / 5.1 / 48 kHz / 640 kbps
Audio: Norwegian / Dolby Digital Audio / 5.1 / 48 kHz / 640 kbps
Audio: Swedish / Dolby Digital Audio / 5.1 / 48 kHz / 640 kbps
* Audio: English / Dolby Digital Audio / 2.0 / 48 kHz / 192 kbps / Dolby Surround
Audio: Icelandic / Dolby Digital Audio / 2.0 / 48 kHz / 320 kbps
Subtitle: English / 24,299 kbps
Subtitle: English / 30,175 kbps
* Subtitle: English / 185,597 kbps
Subtitle: Danish / 21,312 kbps
Subtitle: Danish / 0,624 kbps
Subtitle: Finnish / 21,088 kbps
Subtitle: Finnish / 0,308 kbps
Subtitle: Icelandic / 22,195 kbps
Subtitle: Icelandic / 0,487 kbps
Subtitle: Norwegian / 20,388 kbps
Subtitle: Norwegian / 0,557 kbps
Subtitle: Swedish / 21,046 kbps
Subtitle: Swedish / 0,291 kbps

[jpanimation]

Yeah, it ruins the effect of them walking around the frame. Hopefully it will be corrected for the US release, although it hasn't on any past DVD's, and we get something out of this HUGE delay. That said, it doesn't stop the overall PQ of the new Blu-ray restoration from being leaps and bounds over the old DVDs.

And it has an audiocommentary (not 'making of') by John Canemaker?

Just thought I'd mention - my Dumbo copy has a documentary with that 'Canemaker' fella (or whoever he is) in it.

Sounds to me like he's refering to the Celebrating Dumbo feature, carried over from the old DVD, that featured John Canemaker as one of the interviewees.

[marlan]

Hopefully it will be corrected for the US release, although it hasn't on any past DVD's, and we get something out of this HUGE delay.

My point is, however, that hoping isn't enough: we need expressly to confirm with Disney that the correction will be made.

That said, it doesn't stop the overall PQ of the new Blu-ray restoration from being leaps and bounds over the old DVDs.

Well, I wasn't so impressed. I could have managed with the old DVD which is framed as badly.

I forgot to mention that the Scandinavian release is indeed Region B only, and it does not have the original monophonic theatrical audio track. Will the U.S. Blu-ray contain it (as. for instance, the U.S. Snow White does)?

[Jules]

Interestingly, whenever I noticed the obvious chopping off of those elephants' bodies while watching Dumbo, I always attributed it to my television's overscan.

Poor television. It was innocent all along.

[miniroll32]

My copy doesn't have that problem. The only time I notice any frame issue is at the very beginning with all the rain in the night sky - the very edges of the screen look a little fuzzy. Apart from that, everything is in frame perfect.

I don't understand why some would get this problem and others not. Is your player set-up correctly? It must be something to do with the disc, because the film was restored in full frame. If mine had this issue, then I would suggest it was zoomed in slightly maybe to hide a defect in the film that couldn't be corrected.

[Heil Donald Duck]

@ miniroll:

Just to make things clear: you bought the new 'Special Edition' DVD (not BluRay disc)? And it has *all* the features you mentioned? And it has an audiocommentary (not 'making of') by John Canemaker?

That sounds strange. The new DVD as I own it has an audiocommentary by Andreas Deja, Pete Doctor and some woman film historian.

Which country are you from?

Unfortunately, in Disney's eyes, there is - to try to manipulate people towards "going Blu". Which of course, only makes strong-willed people like me more determined not to!

Yeah, like me!

I forgot to mention the excerpt from The Reluctant Dragon is also on the Dutch DVD.

On the bright side, nearly everything "exclusive" to the BD of Dumbo is from the old DVD editions, (except the 2 new games) so at least the material is available on the DVD format, and if one buys the new edition for the better transfer and new features, this can be combined with the old edition to create a 2-disc DVD consisting of both editions.

Yes, I bought the new DVD and I'm very happy with it. I eventually bought the previous release about 6 months ago, because I figured there wouldn't be a better release. And the Dutch 'Big top' was just a repackaging of the 'Gold collection' DVD, without the Canemaker commentary. Then this new one came along. It's a huge improvement. I couldn't care less about Silly Symphonies that I own already in the Treasures-series or silly games.

The presentation of those two Silly Symphonies are not up to the WDT standard. They really should re do the Treasury line as blu-Ray.

[Heil Donald Duck]

Those framening problem could be for few reason.

1. Your TV
2. Your DVD/Blue-ray player.
3. The transfer from the film/print to the digital format

Im not sure but I see little more than the pic above show but I don't see on my computer the feet of pinks all the time (good way to rule out some over scans).

[ajmrowland]

I dont think I have this issue. I cant tell on hand what this is. It sould be you accidentally have your player set to zoom in a little.

EDIT: A littel OT, but in the shot where Dumbo blows the "Big One", his collar is missing.

It is confirmed after viewing the youtube video of the scene that no such framing issue exists on the new restoration.

[miniroll32]

Yeah exactly. On the scene where the pink elephants waltz around the border of the screen, their feet do sit right on the edge. They only leave the frame as they take stride - if it was zoomed in, they wouldn't be touching the border properly.

[Heil Donald Duck]

I dont think I have this issue. I cant tell on hand what this is. It sould be you accidentally have your player set to zoom in a little.

EDIT: A littel OT, but in the shot where Dumbo blows the "Big One", his collar is missing.

It is confirmed after viewing the youtube video of the scene that no such framing issue exists on the new restoration.

At what minute? is the collar missing?

[ajmrowland]

Ill tell what minute in the vid, but since I dont have my copy on me, I cant specify the moment on-disc.

<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/J61IemcP5lE&hl ... ram><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/J61IemcP5lE&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>

Precisely 5:47

[Goliath]

@ Goliath

It is the U.K Special Edition Blu-ray Would you like me to take some photos of the menu/cover?

No, it seems like it was just a misunderstanding. I was talking about the audiocommentary, and you were talking about the documentary. And regarding the other features, I was talking about the DVD, and you were talking about the BluRay. Just a miscommunication!

I didn't know this release was delayed at all in the US. Any reason given for this?

[ajmrowland]

None. It was announced on Feb. 4th, two full days after the initially announced release date. Some of us just caved and imported it from Mexico, which already got released mid-January.

No official reason has been given, but we think that either

a) in a rare and stunning move, Disney wanted to release the disc in the actual year of the film's 70th Anniversary

b)some sort of tie-in we dont know about.