Alice in Wonderland: 60th Anniversary Edition Blu-ray, 2011

[Wonderlicious]

I have to also question Disney's use of the "Why not try...?" sticker in the UK. While it's ultimately nothing but a simple tactic to divert sales, it ultimately could come across as a sort of deterrent for some people to buy the film overall. Ironically, DVD copies still get stocked more often than the Blu-Rays (for example, I only saw four or five copies of Alice in Wonderland on Blu-Ray in a HMV, while there were dozens of DVD copies, practically all stickered).

Could someone please confirm me if the DVD released in the United Kingdom also includes the transfer used in the Blu-Ray?

Well, I actually went and caved in and bought the combi-pack with a HMV voucher I had (it was either this, or a pair of new headphones ). I'm going to be getting a Blu-Ray player this summer hopefully, but I did have a look at the DVD copy inside. I only took a peak at a few scenes as far as the film itself is concerned (since I only want to watch the film again in HD), but I can confirm that it is the new transfer. The 60th Anniversary Edition DVD seems to only contain the "Reflections on Alice", "Thru the Mirror", "Pig and Pepper" and "I'm Odd", and contains Dutch and French language tracks. No Virtual Tea Party, in any case!

[Old Fish Tale]

Thanks! I'm ordering it right now!

[BelleGirl]

The 60th Anniversary Edition DVD seems to only contain the "Reflections on Alice", "Thru the Mirror", "Pig and Pepper" and "I'm Odd", and contains Dutch and French language tracks. No Virtual Tea Party, in any case!

The bonus features "Reflections on Alice" and "Pig and Pepper" are also mentioned on my dvd-case. But in addition it says: "Plus over 2 hours of classic bonus content". That seems plenty of bonus features to me. Anyway, I think I will watch it all this weekend.

[bambi_nl]

I don't know if this is already mentioned, but having bought the UK edition of Alice in Wonderland, I have problems playing the disc on my Panasonic DMP-BD30 Blu-ray player. I do not have any problems playing other Blu-rays like Bambi or Fantasia (all the UK releases).

I live in The Netherlands and a Dutch forum I have read there are other people, with the same Blu-ray player as I have, that have the same problem with the Dutch release. There is no difference between the UK and Dutch release (they are made from the same master).

The disc starts correctly with the Disney castle and then the language selection screen. However, whatever language I select, after the selection the disc hangs and the only way to stop the disc is to turn off the player and turn it on again to eject the disc.
There seems to be a workaround, by inserting an empty SD card in the player which allows you to view the movie one time with DisneyView enabled, but not the bonus features nor the movie a second time. It will only play the movie when the SD card has been fully erased. I do not want to erase the SD card in the player and I don't have an empty SD card available at the moment, so I have not been able to verify this workaround.

I have already written an e-mail to Panasonic about this issue, but I would also like to contact Disney UK about this issue. However, on their site (disney.co.uk) I cannot find any contact information (preferrably by e-mail). Does anybody know how to contact Disney UK? (I have the same problem with Disney NL. Disney US can be contacted far more easily for any issues with their releases!)

[Scamander]

You can contact Disney UK via mail: help@disney.co.uk

[2099net]

I believe that Panasonic players cause a problem on the US release too, so it does appear that the manufacturer is at fault rather than Disney.

However, until you get a firmware update, here's a solution found on the UK forum of Bluray.com

That Panasonic problem sucks - it bit me too.

Turn off 24P in your HDMI settings before playing the film, and it will play. Sometimes it seems to get really confused and you have to actually remove power from the player for 15 seconds, then it'll play (with 24p disabled before it sees the disc) again.

It's not really a very good solution, but it'll get you by until Panasonic or Disney actually fix something.

[Wonderlicious]

The bonus features "Reflections on Alice" and "Pig and Pepper" are also mentioned on my dvd-case. But in addition it says: "Plus over 2 hours of classic bonus content". That seems plenty of bonus features to me. Anyway, I think I will watch it all this weekend.

Really? Hmm...as far as I'm aware, the 60th Anniversary DVD is one disc, and considering the DVD copy in the combi-pack just contains the four bonus features, I don't think that translates to more than two hours worth of bonuses. I don't wish to rain on your parade, but I think this is a case of false advertising (probably from someone's laziness, probably aimlessly reproducing the Un-Anniversary cover art as much as possible).

[stevemcqueen]

Hello everyone,

Long time reader here, this is my first post.

I just wanted to ask the people from the UK who got the new Alice In Wonderland edition if one of the editions (the blu ray or the 2 disc DVD) were released with a slipcover?

Sorry if i'm posting this at the wrong thread

Thanks

[Scamander]

Hey Steve,

welcome to the forum
I'm not from the UK but I know, that the UK blu-ray has no slip and that there's no 2-Disc-DVD. You could import the Blu-ray from amazon.com or axelmusic.com though, if the slipcover is important to you.^^

[MattDean]

As Scamander says above, the release has NO SLIP in the UK - which is a real shame as I believe it has been released with a slip in other parts of Europe...maybe someone around here has a list of what releases have been released with/without slips in Europe, etc. The US slip is so cool - well worth the import:)

Matt

[BelleGirl]

The bonus features "Reflections on Alice" and "Pig and Pepper" are also mentioned on my dvd-case. But in addition it says: "Plus over 2 hours of classic bonus content". That seems plenty of bonus features to me. Anyway, I think I will watch it all this weekend.

Really? Hmm...as far as I'm aware, the 60th Anniversary DVD is one disc, and considering the DVD copy in the combi-pack just contains the four bonus features, I don't think that translates to more than two hours worth of bonuses. I don't wish to rain on your parade, but I think this is a case of false advertising (probably from someone's laziness, probably aimlessly reproducing the Un-Anniversary cover art as much as possible).

You are right, unfortunately. Besides 'Refection on Alice" and "Pig and Pepper" the only bonus features are: "I'm odd"(unused song from 'Alice in Wonderland') and the Mickey Mouse short "Through the mirror". False advertising indeed!

Yet I don't want to buy any blu ray edition, even if it includes a common dvd, before I have a blu-ray player.

[stevemcqueen]

Many thanks Scamander and Matt for the help

Scamander, the two disc DVD version I was refering to is this one:
http://hmv.com/hmvweb/displayProductDet ... sku=173949

It was released alongside the blu ray version last week, it's basically the same as the american un-anniversary edition, but with the 2011 transfer (someone please correct me if i'm wrong).

Matt, I actually have the R1 blu ray with the slipcover. I just want to get the UK DVD as well as I want to have the new transfer on a dvd copy too

After reading here that the new UK DVD features the newly remastered transfer I think i'll give it a go and import it.

[stevemcqueen]

Sorry Scamander, I just realized you were right!!! it's only a 1 disc DVD version...
I thought it would be similar to the un-anniversary edition from the US which had two discs but i was wrong.

[bambi_nl]

I believe that Panasonic players cause a problem on the US release too, so it does appear that the manufacturer is at fault rather than Disney.

However, until you get a firmware update, here's a solution found on the UK forum of Bluray.com

That Panasonic problem sucks - it bit me too.

Turn off 24P in your HDMI settings before playing the film, and it will play. Sometimes it seems to get really confused and you have to actually remove power from the player for 15 seconds, then it'll play (with 24p disabled before it sees the disc) again.

It's not really a very good solution, but it'll get you by until Panasonic or Disney actually fix something.

Thank you for pointing this out to me. I was able to play the disc without a problem after turning off the 24p in the HDMI settings.

[bambi_nl]

I believe that Panasonic players cause a problem on the US release too, so it does appear that the manufacturer is at fault rather than Disney.

However, until you get a firmware update, here's a solution found on the UK forum of Bluray.com

Thank you for pointing this out to me. I was able to play the disc without a problem after turning off the 24p in the HDMI settings.

After some mailing with the help desk of Disney UK, yesterday I received an official response from their representative: turning off the 24p option in the HDMI settings is their official solution to the playability issue!

[cms382]

Very impressive transfer, possibly the best for non-digital traditional animation.

[Jules]

Very impressive transfer, possibly the best for non-digital traditional animation.

I haven't bought the Alice in Wonderland Blu-ray but I expect it would look sharper than other (earlier) features such as Fantasia or Pinocchio simply because it is, for lack of a better word, simpler. I think there are very few multi-plane shots in Alice and no special treatments to the cels (such as the dry brush, stipple and airbrush effects in Fantasia).