Song of the South DVD legally avalaible (sort of)

[GreatGreg]

I've seen this DVD on sale at various comic book conventions.

I was actually all excited to watch it after not having seen it for so many years since the theatre.

The truth is when I sat down to watch it... I fell asleep. Not as wonderful as I had imagined and frankly a little boring except for the classic tunes.

[dvdjunkie]

You must have watched a different movie than most of us. This movie is brilliant in its storytelling, and the cast is perfection at its peak. The animation is first rate, and the music is extraordinary.

You must have needed the sleep, so I think you need to watch this movie again after you have a good eight hours sleep. It is a masterpiece and a crime that it is not out on video of any form.

[RowMan]

This review is specifically for the Chinese import DVD version of "Song of the South" produced by the company Bo Ying. It has English and Chinese text on the front and back cover.

I was excited to see an official (looking) release of this classic film on DVD. Unfortunately, this is not the one you're looking for.

It is a factory pressed DVD (not a burned copy), but the quality is substandard. By seeing the picture quality and occasional video dropouts, it was clear to me that this was made from a PAL VHS tape version of the film converted to NTSC. To make matters worse, there is a blue animated logo that appears EVERY 4 minutes and 45 seconds. It starts at the top right and moves across the screen to the left and stays on the screen for 20 seconds at a time. Really? Who wants to see that every 5 minutes? Certainly not me.

However, if you're so inclined, there are a few good things about the disc. There are optional dubbed languages in Chinese and Mandarin as well as subtitles for those languages. There are surprisingly good English subtitles, too. They duplicate the natural "dialect" of all of the characters. Other than these things, the DVD is bare boned. Just the movie and no special features.

I doubt that this is authorized by Disney as there is no mention of the Disney company anywhere on the cover, the disc, or in the DVD content itself. In fact, the very beginning of the opening credits are cut to avoid "Distributed by Buena Vista" and even "Walt Disney Presents".

Bottom line, if you love the movie, you're better off getting an un-authorized copy of it from a place like MayanCastleDVD or just doing research and downloading it from the internet. There are versions out there that are much better than this Chinese import.

[estefan]

I can't be the only person who first thought Bobby Driscoll was a girl upon seeing that image.

[Linden]

^You're not. Me too.

Someone said it's available at Comic-Con, right? I'm going to try to make it this year and look for it there. It's about time I got myself a bootlegged copy. Maybe I'll find Star Wars Holiday Special too.

[GreatGreg]

I picked up my copy at Comic-con. Not San Diego, but Charlotte, NC, however I'm sure it's there too.

Mine is a fairly high-quality transfer. Looks like it could have been from a laserdisc.

It also does not have any annoying Chinese logos floating across the screen.

Yes, they have lots of stuff there including the full series of the BATMAN TV show, the SW Holiday special and more. All 'bootlegs' of course.

[RowMan]

Here's a rundown of SOTS DVDs made from NTSC sources:

If the color is a bit faded and the night scenes near the beginning of the film seem a little too dark (especially when Uncle Remus is in his cabin talking to Johnny), that one is sourced from the Chinese laserdisc.

If there are Japanese subtitles over the title card of the movie and then pop up during the songs, it's made from the Japanese laserdisc.

Japanese subtitles during the entire film? That's sourced from the Japanese VHS.

Pretty much anything else has to be converted from PAL which can reduce the quality considerably if not done properly.