Disney's Aladdin DVD Press Release (Real One)

Joe Carioca · Post by **Joe Carioca** » Tue Aug 31, 2004 8:27 pm

DVD Talk has an article on the party that Buena Vista threw to promote its next DVD editions. Here are the parts concerning Mulan and Aladdin:

Bunea Vista Home Entertainment has a lot to be excited about. In the next few months they've got some pretty huge DVD releases hitting the streets including: Aladdin: Special Edition, Mulan: Special Edition, Clerks X: Tenth Anniversary Edition, Alias Season 3 (oh yeah... and Jersey Girl).
To kick things off for their 'Big DVD Season', Buena Vista threw a big kick off party at The Highland night club at the famous 'Hollywood and Highland' complex right next to the Kodak Theater - the home of the Academy Awards. Buena Vista Home Entertainment have journalists a sneak peek at their big releases, and I have to say - they've got a reason to be celebrating.

Of everything shown at the event, the most impressive was the DVD for Aladdin: Special Edition. The entire film has been re-mastered and retransferred in a direct digital process. I'm happy to report that it looks absolutely phenomenal, far better than the picture I saw when the film was released in theaters. In addition to the entire remastering of the picture, Disney brought back Terry Porter, the original Academy Award Nominated recording mixer for the film, to re-do all the sound mix for the film. Porter has completely redesigned the mix of the film for the home theater environment in a feature Disney is calling this a 'Disney Enhanced Home Theater Mix'. This mix is focused around sending more information to the rear and channels, more subwoofer info which ultimately creates a much stronger more enveloping surround sound (much like the sound on The Lion King). The mix for Aladdin is simply amazing, one of the better home theater mixes I've heard yet. Between the restored picture and remixed sound Aladdin comes to life in a way I've never seen before, it's definitely one to buy.

In addition to showing the Aladdin DVD, there was a great deal of 'Arabian' themed things including belly dancers, Middle Eastern food, and even sand on the tables. But hype and hoopla aside, the clear star here is the Aladdin DVD. In the area near where they were showing the DVD, Eric Goldberg, the lead animator for Genie in Aladdin drew sketches of Genie for the guests. It was amazing to watch him work as he crafted each one as if it were bound for production. Eric Goldberg was instrumental in helping convince Robin Williams to do the voice of Genie. Goldberg took a routine from one of Williams comedy albums and animated it as the Genie character. The result is on the Aladdin disc and is very fun to watch (it also managed to do the trick and convince Robin Williams to do the voice)!

I had an opportunity to spend some time with the Mulan: Special Edition DVD and it is as impressive as the Aladdin one.

After about an hour of food, cocktails and DVD previews we were ushered into the presentation area. In true Disney style the presentation was a real show. For Mulan, they had two Chinese Dragons and pounding drums introduce the DVD. Senior VP Marketing for Buena Vista Home Entertainment head Gordon Ho introduced the Mulan: Special Edition DVD and they showed a deleted scene from the disc in which Mulan is betrothed to an older man. It was an interesting scene but one of those which you can understand why it was deleted. Aside from previewing the Mulan: Special Edition DVD, they also showed a short clip from Mulan II (Due out early 2005), which looked good. Then, the evening's first 'special guest' Ming-na, was introduced. Ming-na does the voice of Mulan (and can be seen on 'ER'), she spoke briefly about her experience doing the voice for Mulan and how happy she has been to come back for Mulan II.

Next up was the presentation for Aladdin. It was introduced with similar hype and hoopla as Mulan, with belly dancers and Arabian music. Shortly after the DVD was introduced we were treated to a medley of tunes by the Academy Award winning Composer Alan Menken. It's amazing when you realize just how many of the most memorable Disney songs Alan Menken is responsible for. It was amazing listening to him play and sing. One of the most interesting things came after Alan Menken's medley, when he told the story behind the song 'Proud of Your Boy'. Composer Howard Ashman wrote the song for his mother shortly before he died. The song ultimately didn't make it into the movie, but it became a popular song within the theater industry, and a song often sung at auditions. Clay Aiken, from American Idol came to the Disney studios and did a recording of 'Proud of your Boy' in front of a full orchestra for the Aladdin DVD. Now let me say, I don't necessarily consider myself a Clay Aiken fan, but I was extremely impressed by the music video they showed from the DVD for 'Proud of your Boy'. It's a fantastic song, and Aiken does an impressive job with it. I'm sure the next time Disney goes looking for a musical lead for one of their major animated features Aiken will be at the top of their list. It's something absolutely worth checking out.

As impressed I was with the video from the Aladdin DVD for 'Proud of Your Boy', I was totally unimpressed with the music video from Nick Lachey and Jessica Simpson for 'A Whole New World'. If any feature shown that evening felt like it was there to sell DVDs, this one was it.

To read the complete article: http://www.dvdtalk.com/features/003179.html

2099net · Post by **2099net** » Wed Sep 01, 2004 8:44 am

First UK review here:

http://www.dvdtimes.co.uk/content.php?contentid=12647

Kram Nebuer · Post by **Kram Nebuer** » Wed Sep 01, 2004 12:03 pm

Cool! Thanks for the article, Joe! It looks like they remastered Aladdin to be better than it was in theaters! Also, it seems like everyone at Disney is more confident about this release of DVDs, with all that partying, lol.

Goldberg took a routine from one of Williams comedy albums and animated it as the Genie character. The result is on the Aladdin disc and is very fun to watch (it also managed to do the trick and convince Robin Williams to do the voice)!

Wow! That's totally awesome! It would be like a deleted Genie sequence no one has ever seen before! 20th Century Fox did this with a Meg Ryan movie for Anastasia. I wonder if that's included in the Anastasia DVD...

Joe Carioca · Post by **Joe Carioca** » Wed Sep 01, 2004 4:08 pm

It must be a very positive DVD, since the reviewer seems to be a pretty picky guy (though his review is not the most complete). Thanks for posting, Netty!

Disneykid · Post by **Disneykid** » Wed Sep 01, 2004 4:40 pm

Awesome link, Netty! Those screencaps are gorgeous, especially when you've been raised on a worn out pan and scan VHS like moi.

Like I've said before, this DVD seems to be a bit better than Beauty and the Beast's (which I thought was a great DVD, but most people for some reason find it shallow). Hopefully Bambi and Cinderella will be of Snow White-level quality.

OC Films · Post by **OC Films** » Mon Sep 06, 2004 10:24 pm

To clarify some mis-information Ive been reading here about the Genie & Robin Williams, I'll try to shed some light on the subject;

Williams was happy to voice the Genie under the condition that his name or image not be used to promote the merchandise from the film. He felt that companies, especially Disney, were fouling up the minds of children and parents by marketing everything under the sun.

Disney went as far to maintain this aggreement by not even MENTIONING Robin Williams' name in the Making Of Aladdin hardcover.

A yea or so later, Robin's voice showed up on the promotional screens at the Disney Stores shilling some Aladdin fottie PJ's (Im exaggerating here, I dont remember the exact product) and Mr Williams sued the company for breach of contract.

During this time, Return of Jafar was made, thus Dan Castelenetta , (Homer Simpson) instead of Mork.

A year od so later, Disney settled with Robin, including an undisclosed sum of money (Which was donated to a mutually agreeable charity) and a high-priced Picasso original, which Mr Williams kept.

The agreement allowed Disney to use Robin's name in promotion of 'King of Theives', but that was all!

Joe Carioca · Post by **Joe Carioca** » Mon Sep 06, 2004 10:40 pm

OC Films wrote:.... and a high-priced Picasso original, which Mr Williams kept.

Which I've read turned out to be a fake

(seriously).

JCG · Post by **JCG** » Wed Sep 08, 2004 11:13 am

Does the Zone 1 include spanish language track?

Post by **Luke** » Wed Sep 08, 2004 12:52 pm

JCG wrote:Does the Zone 1 include spanish language track?

Yes, the Region 1 DVD will have French and Spanish 5.1 tracks.

JCG · Post by **JCG** » Wed Sep 08, 2004 1:28 pm

Luke wrote:
JCG wrote:Does the Zone 1 include spanish language track?
Yes, the Region 1 DVD will have French and Spanish 5.1 tracks.

Thnk u so much!!! i was thinking to preorder this dvd to amazon, but today i went to blockbuster and saw that it si going to be released in my country just a few days after the US release

MickeyMousePal · Post by **MickeyMousePal** » Wed Sep 08, 2004 2:59 pm

I wonder if Luke already got Aladdin Platinum Edition and can't wait for the review he's going to make.
Umm. Luke do you get Star Wars Triolgy in advance also???

Jake Lipson · Post by **Jake Lipson** » Wed Sep 08, 2004 8:41 pm

MickeyMousePal wrote:I wonder if Luke already got Aladdin Platinum Edition and can't wait for the review he's going to make.
Umm. Luke do you get Star Wars Triolgy in advance also???

I'd assume Disney will send Luke a screener of their biggest release of the year, yes. But as Star Wars isn't Disney or even released by any of Disney's branches (ie, TouchStone, Mirimax, Dimension, Hollywood Pictures, etc.) I doubt he'll end up with that one early. It's Fox.

Now if he wanted to start The Ultimate Guide to Fox DVD or The Ultimate Guide to Lucasfilm DVD...that might be a different story.

....For future releases, that is. But in any case t's too late in the game now to do that and get this release in advance. The press event at which screener copies are being distributed is this week.

The Little Merman · Post by **The Little Merman** » Thu Sep 09, 2004 5:03 pm

The Aladdin dvd looks great to me and I'm just counting the days to it's release (from this date- 27)!!! One more thing though: Circle....of....Stars.

I cannot believe they are doing this again!!!! On The Little Mermaid Platinum are the going to do Under the Sea?!?! And if we're really lucky on the Cinderella Platinum maybe they will have a special Funk-master version of Bibbidi Bobbidi Boo!!

Joe Carioca · Post by **Joe Carioca** » Thu Sep 09, 2004 6:01 pm

ThinkTink wrote:The Aladdin dvd looks great to me and I'm just counting the days to it's release (from this date- 27)!!! One more thing though: Circle....of....Stars. I cannot believe they are doing this again!!!!

Actually, they aren't... For some reason, Disney canned the Circle of Stars music video and replaced it for a music video by Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey (is that the guy's name?). But don't rejoice just yet... According to some people, this video clip is very bad too, hehe.

DreamerQ18 · Post by **DreamerQ18** » Thu Sep 09, 2004 8:07 pm

Joe Carioca wrote:
ThinkTink wrote:The Aladdin dvd looks great to me and I'm just counting the days to it's release (from this date- 27)!!! One more thing though: Circle....of....Stars. I cannot believe they are doing this again!!!!
Actually, they aren't... For some reason, Disney canned the Circle of Stars music video and replaced it for a music video by Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey (is that the guy's name?). But don't rejoice just yet... According to some people, this video clip is very bad too, hehe.

Awwwww thats kind of sad I actually like the Disney Channle stars version of the Circle of Life. was thinking we would get both

. but then again guess I udnerstand a lot of the singing bunch from the Disney Channle is really no longer around they have all grown up and moved on to other things.

Barty · Post by **Barty** » Fri Sep 10, 2004 10:35 am

About the UK review; it's a shame he didnt mention anything about the lines "where they cut off your ear if they don't like your face" / "where it's flat and immense and the heat is intense"

I think it's still the changed version (like laserdisc) considering they also changed the 'good teenagers take off your clothes' thing, according to the review.

in the laserdisc the stars are much more visible

and on the laserdisc the genie isn't as blue as he is here, and the textures on the left/right wall are new

btw; first post

Anaël · Post by **Anaël** » Fri Sep 10, 2004 10:56 am

I'm some excited to have Aladdin in DVD !!!! I can't wait to get it on October 6th !!!!

Post by **Luke** » Fri Sep 10, 2004 11:18 am

Welcome to the forum, barty!

With regards to the stars, sized-down screen captures can be deceiving. I bet with a Sharpen or Enhance Edge photediting effect, they might be more visible in that picture, and they're probably more defined in the actual full-sized DVD transfer.

DreamerQ18 · Post by **DreamerQ18** » Fri Sep 10, 2004 12:28 pm

Yo Barty Welcome to the Forum

I hope you like it here and I look foward to posting with you.

Barty · Post by **Barty** » Fri Sep 10, 2004 6:09 pm

thanks Luke, dreamer (look forward to posting with you too

)

I hadn't even thought about the resizing thing, Luke.. i think you're right - it would make more sense as well since the pre-release info stated that many stars had been enhanced or something

cudos,
Bart.

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