Beauty and the Beast Discussion

[JeanGreyForever]

Thank you for the information about the restoration. I guess I'll just keep my fingers crossed for the 4K physical release but I'm not holding my breath. I agree that just watching the trailer for the original film shows the very rich colors like the gold of Belle's dress or the brown of her hair or even the dark red of Gaston's shirt and all of that is missing in the Blu-Ray and even in those clips.

I probably should get a laserdisc player but they seem like such a hassle of operating, not to mention finding one in working quality. It would probably be easier to get the laserdisc ported over into a DVD. There are some laserdisc special features I would like in that format as well, mainly Alice in Wonderland, The Lion King, and Pocahontas.

[Farerb]

Of all animated films, why is it Beauty and the Beast that Disney decided to make the "Star Wars" of Disney Animation?!

[JeanGreyForever]

Yeah, I don't understand how they can treat their crown jewel like this. Should have kept this revisionism for a film like Robin Hood.

[Farerb]

I blame Don Hahn for that. They actually changed the colors in The Lion King as well, though not as drastic as they did in Beauty and the Beast.

[Farerb]

I also wanted to note that even a direct CAPS master won't look the same as a 35mm, which would darken everything, so Belle's hair might be more light in the files than it is on film. The laserdisc, original trailers and IMAX trailers were made from a film print, not from the CAPS files and the only way to have the film that way is if Disney release a 35mm scan, which I'm sure they have. They only provided it for the WIP as a PIP on the Diamond Edition.

[Marce82]

Um.... I would be 100% ok with an HD or 4K version of BATB taken from a 35mm print... I think it would look awesome.

And Fareb, you are more right about Don Hahn than you might know: from what I recall, his idea to put Human Again back into the film WAS inspired by George Lucas' additions to Star Wars in the late 90's. Dammit.

[Farerb]

Um.... I would be 100% ok with an HD or 4K version of BATB taken from a 35mm print... I think it would look awesome.

I agree.

[JeanGreyForever]

Um.... I would be 100% ok with an HD or 4K version of BATB taken from a 35mm print... I think it would look awesome.

And Fareb, you are more right about Don Hahn than you might know: from what I recall, his idea to put Human Again back into the film WAS inspired by George Lucas' additions to Star Wars in the late 90's. Dammit.

Same, I'd rather see a film print of the film at this point than the CAPS file. Basically what happened with The Rescuers Down under.

I like the idea of additions but messing up the color scheme is inexcusable. We're only just now getting Star Wars with its proper colors after years of Hoth looking completely blue, Vader's red saber coming across as pink, or Luke's blue saber looking green. Yet, it still seems like we won't get the color accurate BATB.

[Farerb]

As for this BATB palette... it's better, but still not accurate. I recently looked at the IMAX trailer for BATB.... damn.... THOSE are the right colors. The dress is gold... the hair is brown. No doubt about it.

After looking a few times and comparing it to other editions. The colors seem close to the 3D colors, but darker, especially the yellows and greens.

[JeanGreyForever]

I'm not a huge fan of the 3D colors but it's better than anything else we've gotten so that sounds promising, especially since you said darker. Does Belle's ballgown look yellow or actually golden?

[Farerb]

I'm not a huge fan of the 3D colors but it's better than anything else we've gotten so that sounds promising, especially since you said darker. Does Belle's ballgown look yellow or actually golden?

It's not radioactive like in the 3D. IMO it looks golden. I had a chance to watch the whole thing in my TV today and I actually was very pleased. My only issues were the Something There mistake and maybe that the lighting should be darker (but that could be easily fixed with set up). I really wish I could take screenshots so you all could see what I see, but everytime I do they revert back to the icky Blu-ray colors and that's just makes me feel like I'm spreading misinformation.

[Farerb]

Another thing to add is that the upscale does not do the animation any favors, you can see a lot of places where it really doesn't look very good, especially People's faces during "Belle" whenever they're far away.
I'm personally not bothered by it since this kind of "bad" animation is actually something I like in this film (and The Little Mermaid, Aladdin and The Lion King).

[JeanGreyForever]

This film never had very good animation in the first place so that doesn't bother me. I'm glad you support the colors and feel they are mostly accurate which is all I could ask for. Does this mean that Gaston's shirt is a dark red instead of a bright, firetruck red? And I'm curious, what eye color does Belle have, brown or hazel? There's been a long debate about what her original eye color was and if the restorations changed it from brown to hazel because Paige O'Hara always used to claim that Belle was the first brown-haired, brown-eyed princess.

[Farerb]

Gaston's shirt seemed pale red, I guess it should have been richer or darker, but it wasn't that bright red from the Blu-ray. Belle's eyes seems to be hazel, but they should be brown (however that could have been something that was done because of the transfer to 35mm).

[JeanGreyForever]

Wow, pale red, that's shocking. I can't even imagine what that would look like.

I figured about Belle's eyes although to be fair, if you look at the original film trailer, her eyes look hazel there as well. Also in the original doll and in the movie sequels which use accurate colors otherwise. However, I always preferred Belle with brown eyes myself.

[Farerb]

I think it depends on the scene, her eyes in the invention scene seems hazel, but in Belle (reprise) they seem brown.

[Marce82]

Hey everyone, and fareb specifically,

I just re-watched sections of Snow White on my Diamond blu ray... I have to say, Im very happy with the restoration. Yes, I tinkered a bit with the tv settings... but there is still grain in many shots, and I don't see sections where the detail has been scrubbed away. I can tell this was done very very carefully.

[Farerb]

Hey everyone, and fareb specifically,

I just re-watched sections of Snow White on my Diamond blu ray... I have to say, Im very happy with the restoration. Yes, I tinkered a bit with the tv settings... but there is still grain in many shots, and I don't see sections where the detail has been scrubbed away. I can tell this was done very very carefully.

Yes I agree.
I find their restorations of Snow White, Bambi, Lady and the Tramp, Sleeping Beauty and The Little Mermaid to be the best ones.

[Marce82]

I haven't seen the restorations for Bambi and Lady... but I will take your word for it.

I like the TLM restoration a lot, except for the small changes that were done on purpose (opening credits, priest's "knee")... but I am pleased with the grain and colors.

Sleeping Beauty.... I'm mostly happy with it... my one objection is Maleficent's too-blue skin tone... and that one laughing closeup where they modified the color of her eyes (which has been discussed before).

For Snow White... I noticed that even the discrepancies in cel paint colors have been retained, which is GREAT. Shows they respected the original art and didn't try to correct it.
I mentioned that I tinker with the settings so get what I consider to be a more pleasing palette... contrast, saturation, hue... here is a comparison:

https://ibb.co/LzY0s3p


https://ibb.co/mqnppYd

The first one is the blu ray with the default settings... the second one is the one I tinkered with. It is supposed to be sunset... the shadows should be more prominent!

[Farerb]

Yeah I get what you mean. With animated films I find contrast to be very important otherwise they look flat.

Did you see both restorations for The Little Mermaid or just the Diamond Edition?