DVDizzy Forum

Here's my take...

1. Bonus Features are called "Bonus" for a reason. The studios have no real obligation to give us anything except the movie. But they figure, "Hey, fans of this movie would want to know more about it!" So they put together features like trailers, tv spots, making-of's, deleted scenes, storyboards, etc. It's not a vital part of the movie itself, merely big honking easter eggs that are so damn easy to find. "Collectors" consider themselves collectors because they've got the movie with all the extras. The perks that make the movie worth buying. For me, I a bit of both. Some movies I have no choice but to buy a movie-only version. Others have the option of movie-only or movie-and-extras. I choose the latter because I'm interested in it, but not to the point where I'll make sure that every movie in my DVD library has in-depth documentaries and every scrap of film used. I choose my movies based on what I like. Bonus features are just that, a bonus. If Disney had decided in 1997 to release all their DVDs simply as movie-only, for a decent SRP of $14.99, with no hope of Special Editions, I'd still get them. Because it's the movie I enjoy, not the making of the movie.

2. Disney's PE line is just another marketing ploy. It's known that only in R1 it's called Platinum Edition, where everywhere else it's just "The Classics" or something similar. No line banners. So everyone else gets the "Disney" edition, while we get Disney + Gold Collection or Masterpiece Edition or Anniversary Edition or Platinum Edition. Disney does know that there are collectors who will grab the movie as-is, so they figure they can make an extra buck by throwing in extras. They don't HAVE to, as stated above about bonus features in general. But Disney is just so damn coy when it comes to releasing their DVDs. They know the value of their movies. They know that if someone's a "true" fan of a movie, they'll probably double-dip, triple-dip, heck, they could release the same movie with a new coverart every 6 months and someone's bound to buy it anyway. The sad thing is, they are trying to cater to everyone with the PE line. They had it right originally, a standard one-disc edition simultaneously released with the Collector's Edition. But that marketing went badly simply because they were overpricing and the movies didn't sell well anyway. So they decided to devote themselves to a special line for the "best of the best", and have it be the ultimate collectors item. But they also knew that their movies would be enjoyed by children, and a 7 year old girl won't want to have a two-disc edition of Cinderella and have commentaries, in-depth documentaries, and old promotional clips called trailers. So Disney compensates for it by adding nonsensical children's games that irk the collector. It's a win/win situation, but lose/lose at the same time.

3. "True Collectors" has a variety of definitions. There are those of us here like Pals who wants every version, hence him getting all the Gold Collection DVDs, and the new editions of Tarzan and TENG even though he has the CE's. Then we got the casual DVD fan, like maybe dvdjunkie. All they need is the movie in OAR and some kind of noise coming out of speakers, and they're happy. Then there's the extremely selective type, who feel that in order for a DVD to be granted position in their library, it must have every facet of information about the movie, and the movie is almost an extra among the features. The way DVDs are released, everyone's going to have something to complain about. Not enough features, too many features, why put features about the movie anyway? You can please some people most of the time, most people some of the time, but never all people all of the time.

In terms of the platinums, I have all except The Lion King, simply because even though it's a Platinum, I don't like the movie enough to add it to my collection.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs: A truly solid collection of material for the DVD release. The restoration on the movie is wonderful, and my ears don't exactly pick up audio the way other people do, so as long as I hear something, I'm happy. Movie: B+, Picture: A, Audio: A, Extras: A+

Beauty and the Beast: Though I understand the problem with the video quality, it doesn't affect me much, and probably never will. But the bonus features are pretty good. Movie: A-, Picture: A, Audio: A, Extras: A-

The Lion King: Can't comment objectively about this. The movie was good 11 years ago for me, but over time I grew to dislike it. And I borrowed it from Kram once to watch, the bonus features truly are a mess. Movie: C+, Picture: B+/A-, Audio: A, Extras: C-

Aladdin: Can't comment objectively about this either because it's my favorite of all platinums and one of my favorite DAC's. It essentially got the Snow White treatment to a lesser degree. Movie: A, Picture: A+, Audio: A, Extras: A

Bambi: It's been years since I saw the movie, so seeing it restored was wonderful. And their innovative commentary gets bonus points too. Movie: B, Picture: A+, Audio: A, Extras: A-

Cinderella: Oy. I loved this movie as a kid, and tried watching it a couple nights ago, but could NOT sit through it without fidgeting. Half the extras seem pretty useless, and the ones we do have could have been better. Why not more footage of the live-action models? What little girl would want to watch sports? What guy would buy this movie just for the ESPN bit anyway? Movie: B/B+, Picture: A-, Audio: A, Extras: B-

Escapay

Timon/Pumba fan wrote:Actually Disney DID think Aladdin was popular. I mean watch the previews for the Aladdin Platinum Edition and you'll hear the announcer say, "The wait is over... one of the greatest adventure films of all time is coming first the first time on a 2 Disc Special Edition".

Listening to the previews, I thought Disney was saying it was one of their most popular movies. But for some reason, it didn't sell too well. So I don't think the Aladdin one was predictable.

Hmm, you know what? I know it would cost more money, but I'm thinking that different angles being taken when promoting a DVD (as is often done when promoting a film's theatrical release) might help, particularly in the case of Aladdin.

They did try to sell it as an adventure, which it is. But it's also a very funny comedy AND a very sweet love story. They should have played THAT up more; maybe have had different sets of previews. I know the comedy aspect could have been a tough one to manage, with the Robin Williams fall-out and everything.

Another thing is that Aladdin has an extremely devoted fan base, however, a lot of the 'general public' may have forgotten how great of a movie it was (and it is...I always state my favourite movie as being TLM, but you know, sometimes I wonder if it really is Aladdin...SUCH a close call) because it had the misfortune of being stuck between Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King, which are VERY easy to sell with just the respective "Best Picture Nominee!" and "Highest Grossing Animated Feature Ever for Nearly a Decade!" labels. Those labels have ensured that BatB and TLK are milked for all they are worth by Disney and Aladdin gets lost in the shuffle. Not that people don't like it, but it sort of was forced into a shadow, undeservingly.

Another thing I can't BELIEVE that they didn't do when marketing Aladdin was use it to push the Princess line. I'm not a huge fan of the Princess line (I LOVE the Disney Princesses but feel that much of the products out there destroy who their characters are), but if they had played up THAT aspect, I am almost certain that sales would have been better. Maybe it's because Jasmine is easily the most frequently omitted of the 6 'core' princesses on that merchandise, but hey, Cinderella got a ton of new product to promote HER DVD; they could have done the same with Jasmine. The Princess line is SO huge that playing up the fact that Aladdin does feature one of the 6 Princesses could have been huge. Though I'm sure Western gowns have a lot to do with it, the downplaying of Jasmine boggles my mind now more than ever. I work in a Merchandise location at Epcot in Walt Disney World, and there is a Princess character breakfast in the Norway pavilion, and little girls often dress up for said breakfast. Since I arrived down here in May, the most popular princess costumes I've seen on the children are Cinderella, Aurora, and Jasmine (not necessarily in that order; I haven't kept THAT close track)...and among young girls to whom I ask "Who is your favourite princess?" (and that's a LOT of girls, not just the costumed ones), those same three princesses are the most frequent responses. So...yeah, though I don't really care for the line...from a business standpoint, I cannot understand why they didn't milk the princess/romance aspect for all it was worth. I'm sure plenty of little boys were attracted to the DVD because it was sold to them as an adventure, and adults probably remembered Robin Williams' performance as Genie and wanted to have it on DVD.

Ah well, I contributed to the sales of that DVD, it's one of my very favourite movies ever, and it is one of my favourite Disney DVDs out there. (I think feature-wise, it's #3, after Snow White and Sleeping Beauty.)

Disney Princess Ariellen wrote:I work in a Merchandise location at Epcot in Walt Disney World

Woohoo! Another UD'er to add to the list of current/former WDW castmembers!

Escapay

my theory is that the people who put these discs together get instructions from lazy, mindless, incosistent executives who are convinced that princess/personality games and magical sport stories are what the people really want, but they´re just dumb.

DVDjunkie Wrote:

It is all in the eyes of the beholder when it comes to 'best' and 'worst' editions. I personally think there is nothing wrong with Cinderella and recommend it to friends to buy. I don't understand what makes it a "crappy" release as opposed to Sleeping Beauty. Can you explain that to me? What makes Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs such a great PE and this issue of Cinderella a bad PE. I don't see any difference in quality or presentation - oh yeah, no THX, big deal, the average person can't tell the difference in that anyway!

Okay I'll do justice for all PE's I'm not saying Snow White is the best or Cinderella is the worst but Snow White, BatB, Aladdin and Bambi had great information and more extras then Cinderella and TLK but that doesn't make them worst it just makes them my less favorite DVD's.
Oh Aaron Disney only release one Masterpiece Edition and it's Alice in Wonderland.