Your thoughts on.... Aladdin: Special Edition

[Bill W]

Watched the movie last night with the Disney Enhanced Home Theater Mix. Wow!!!! Maybe it was because I had the sound up a little louder than usual, but I thought this thing sounded awesome!! I got goosebumps during "A Whole New World". Video and Audio are excellent. 1,000 times better than the old VHS I watched recently!

[borghe]

My THX laserdisc always had some chroma noise on the first five minutes on each side of disc 1. this always bothered me. aside from that though the disc was gorgeous, second in quality only to Beauty and the Beast.

Well, this transfer blows that away. Stunning is definitely appropriate.

To those who are saying there isn't enough oomph in the bass, I would check your speaker setups.. My system is calibrated with Avia and there was plenty of oomph, and I would say Avia calibrates your .1 level to lower than what probably most would like it at.

the extras are excellent as well. The diamond in the rough feature is outstanding.

This was the third to last laserdisc in my set that hasn't been released on DVD yet. The only two discs left are Cinderella and Bambi.. should be finished up by next year.

[deathie mouse]

welcome to the forum borghe!

another laserdisc person

My THX laserdisc always had some chroma noise on the first five minutes on each side of disc 1. this always bothered me. aside from that though the disc was gorgeous, second in quality only to Beauty and the Beast.

That's cus CAV discs increase in quality as the side advances cus one revolution is one frame. and at the begining the revolution (or circle)'s diameter is quite small (slightly bigger than the label (which is about the size of a dvd! ) while at the end of the side the revolutions are the size of the 12" disc so the analog noise decreases

They also get sharper as the side progressses

That's one of the great advantages of the DVD digital component color system and one of the reasons it was a great leap (specially if seen on the proper direct digital display be it DVI or on a computer screen etc): Purer color with digital S/N ratio only limited by the mpeg compression characteristics

[Kingruler202]

hmmm imho i think they could have done better ask anyone at the aladdin.org page. like add the making of on tv or more behind the scenes stuff. but w/e. it was good overall presentation. don't screw up cinderella! lol

[MickeyMousePal]

The Film: A+
The Visuals: A
The Audio: A-
The Extras: A+

Aladdin is far better then The Lion King Platinum Edition DVD. I'm glad that I got it fast with a sample soundtrack that contains 2 songs. I was upset a little because Costco didn't carry Aladdin Soundtrack. But the extras on Aladdin were one of the best Disney has ever done and so is the music video of "A Whole New World". I can't wait for Bambi and Cinderella to come out on DVD next year.

[Tascar]

The only think I wish they had touched on more was the original original Aladdin, in which he had 3 best friends (Omar, Babkak, and Kasseem) and there were 2 Genies, and Jasmine was a spoiled brat!

I agree with you completely, especially with this comment. The documentary makes several mentions about the original version of Aladdin and considering that we obviously know that tons of this material still exists (both from elsewhere on the DVD and the out-of-print Music Behind the Magic CD), I really hoped that we would have seen more of this.

Nevertheless, the main documentary was so excellently done, especially in comparison to the god awful supplemental material work for The Lion King, that this little gripe really doesn't bother me that much.

[Evil Genie Jafar]

I was a little dispaointed in the "Disney 5.1 Theater Sound" thingy they created. After the excellent job Disney did with this mix on "The Lion King," I must admitt that the mix on "Aladdin" falls just a tad bit short of my expectations. .

I really don't think so. But even if it did take in consideration the environments of both movies. Remember that most scenes in Aladdin take place on inside buildings and/or don't have exteriors filled with animals everywhere. And even Aladdin exteriors can't compete with The Lion King's; you won't hear the same sounds if you were walking on a city than on a jungle.

[The Little Merman]

Movie- 10... Absolutley magnificent, I watched my '93 video before the DVD and the digital version is stunning.

Audio- 9.9...Great, but when I watch it on my computer some of the audio falls down a bit.

Extras- 9.5...Great Disc 2 and great documentary, games etc. but the music videos were terrible. Clay Aiken's song was watchable, but Jessica Simpson sings dreadfully on AWNW!

Overall it is a great dvd, and I can't wait until The Little Mermaid and Cinderella come out! (I'm finally going to get a box set for those!)

[Quasimodo]

I totally agree about Jessica Simpson being awful on A Whole New World! Nick Lachey was passable, but as soon as she started singing, I wanted to skip the rest of the video. I think she would be okay if she didn't try to add those little "Britney Spears" inflections, where she tries to sound like a little girl (sorry for the vague description, but I don't know of a better way to describe it).

I was pleasantly surprised with Clay Aiken's video. I'm not a big fan, but I think he did a really good job of performing Proud of Your Boy. His voice is tailor made for this type of music, and I think he would be better served taking his career in this direction rather than trying to be a pop star.

As for the important stuff, the movie looks better than ever. I know IGN recently added some video concerns to their review of the disc, but they really don't make much of a difference on my crappy TV. I don't own a laserdisc player, so I've been stuck with watching this on VHS for some time now, and this DVD makes me love this movie more than ever.

The "Diamond in the Rough" documentary was also excellent. This alone made this DVD a big step up from the Platinum Edition of the Lion King. I do wish they had been able to get Robin Williams to add some thoughts, but I didn't exactly expect that to happen either given his past issues with Disney. I also thought the feature on Alen Menken was a nice touch, for I believe he (along with Howard Ashman and his other collaborators) deserves a great deal of credit for Disney's resurgence in the late eighties and nineties. I do wish it could have been a little longer, so that the music from each of his movies could have been explored in more detail, but still I enjoyed it a lot.

I bought the gift set, and I have to agree with other's sentiments that I wish they wouldn't dumb down the book that is included. I don't see the point in repeating the story in the book. Let parents buy a story book separately if they want to read something to their kids. Being a "collector's" gift set, I hope they do a better job of producing something that appeals to collectors in future gift sets.

Still, all in all, I am extremely happy with this set, and I hope future platinums are as good as this one.

[BrandonH]

I've been away from UD for a couple of days so I could watch the set with minimal spoilers. Now, you can find out my thoughts about this DVD.

I picked up the Aladdin Platinum Edition DVD on Tuesday and watched the content over the last three days. I'm sure you know the story by now, and the movie is just as great, if not better, than when I saw it at the theater and all the times I watched it on video at home. I don't have the equipment to know, but I'm told the audio/video quality is top-notch. I can tell you that I love the extra features on these two discs. The games and activities were actually entertaining, and the navigation system is infinitely better than what was on the Lion King set. I really liked the deleted song "Proud of Your Boy." I agree that it would not have fit in the movie, but it was a delight to see it in this fashion. The three commentary tracks are fabulous, even if the text commentary has a lot of information overlap with the rest of the features on the set. The crowning jewel is the 2-hour documentary on Disc 2. I love Leonard Maltin, and he makes a great host. I was afraid I might suffer from Gilbert Gottfried overload, but they spaced his material nicely. Being such a fan of movie music, I loved the retrospective with Alan Menken. This man is one of the great composers of our time, and his melodies will love on long after his 1992 mullet is forgotten. The directors of this movie, John Musker and Ron Clements, also directed Treasure Planet, a fine film and one of the best examples of what a single DVD disc is capable of. This Aladdin set raises the bar even higher for animation DVDs, and I eagerly await the Little Mermaid Platinum Edition DVD, which is another collaboration of Clements and Musker. To borrow a phrase, this DVD is "practically perfect in every way." Rating: 9.97/10

For more reviews like this, click the WWW link in my post.

[Mystique]

Did anyone else get 2 senitypes in their gift set?

[Jordan]

That's true : the new Disney 5.1 Home Theater Mix is awesome !

Ay any scale, I really love this set except fro onr thing : the coverart, which I do not like at all (the too flashy colors, the bad drawn characters, the disposition of them, etc.). What is really lame is that in the publicity art gallery, there's a terrific poster from the original threatical release in China or Japan and we see Aladdin, Jasimne, the carpet all in shadow and this is just gorgeous ! I wish we had a such beautifl coverart on the DVD, and not that horrible, childish one !

[DreamerQ18]

Well I havent been able to actually watch all of Aladdin and its extra features howevere I did see the movie and it LOOKS FANTASTIC I mean tak about cleaning up I am extremley pleased with how it turned out. I have yet to pop in disc 2 and see the features on disc 1. But I just could not contain my excitment on how great I thought it was so I'll be back with my comments on the extra features.

[Jordan]

I've noticed that on my copy, I didn't have any sticker on the slipcover (neither commercial nor the "First Time Ever On DVD" sticker), niether do I have the commercial DVD booklet inisde the DVD; I jsut have the Aladdin DVD Guide.
I wonder if it's because it's part of the Gift Set and not a copy bought individually...

Well, that's not a big deal, just a remark

[AwallaceUNC]

I haven't had a chance to delve into the special features thus far. I don't have a great home theater system in the dorm, so I'll have to wait before really judging those. What I saw and heard here was great, though.

The Clay Aiken song didn't do it for me- it didn't show off his vocals, the song was bland, and his lips weren't synched with the words.

The Jessica and Nick video was pretty good, I thought. Jessica held back, whereas Nick delivered a better-than-usual performance. Still, I thought Jessica sounded great as always (and I just found out that she'll be covering an Amy Grant song on her upcoming album!! ).

I'm surprised/saddened by the not-so-grand reception of the DVD by the masses, though. I can tell you that as I was marketing them in the stores, I got a lot of "If it was The Lion King, I'd buy it,"... "I barely remember it"... "What's Aladdin? It doesn't look good enough to buy." I'm not saying it hasn't sold well, but it hasn't sold as well as would have been hoped for and expected. Hopefully that changes.

-Aaron

[deathie mouse]

Mystique: Are the two film frames the same or different?

I'm surprised/saddened by the not-so-grand reception of the DVD by the masses

woot?!? It's a great movie and a great dvd!

de masses..

[Evil Genie Jafar]

It will sell good enough basically because of two main reasons: they have it well placed at stores and with nice stands (I always keep on feeling to buy lots because of this) and because it's Disney. Everyone ends up buying movies just because they're Disney.

[Wonderlicious]

Overall, this DVD was fine. The film wasn't quite as good as I remembered, possibly due to the fact that I'd revisited Beauty and the Beast and Little Mermaid lately and I was expecting a felt love story in it, but I found the romance a bit formulaic. Aside from that, it was still enjoyable.

I haven't looked at all the bonus footage, but the bits I have seen were great.

[Mystique]

[quote="deathie mouse"]Mystique: Are the two film frames the same or different?

********

Same image but two serial different numbers

Mwuahhahah!

[Escapay]

Guys, maybe it was just me, but Kram and I were watching his copy on Saturday night, and I was a bit surprised at how good the quality of the picture was. Now, that's a good thing, but I think they did a little tinkering with skin color.

Did anyone else notice that nearly all the flesh characters had lighter skin? Like, rather than the tanned skin they had back in 1992, it looked almost like they were...untanned?

Or maybe it's just my eyes, and my brain remembering things darker. But I was a little surprised at the skin color.

Escapay