MadonnasManOne wrote:It's funny. The reviews have mostly been positive, with most of them saying the bonus features are extensive. However, the UD community seems to feel otherwise. I, for one, haven't put my copy in, yet. I plan to do that, this weekend. I just find it odd that so many review sites seem pleased with the bonus features, while the UD community feels they are lacking. I guess it's just because we have come to expect more?
I think the main reason other sites are praising this release is because not many of them are doing their homework. Sure, they'll compare the video quality, commentary, and two older featurettes from the SE, but I've still yet to see a review saying, "Yet the excellent Nine Old Men documentary from Region 2 is still a no-show here", or "Isn't it sad that we only get a glimpse of the Walt Disney Christmas Show in the short making-of featurette, but Disney won't give us the whole thing?" or "What a difference a year makes, when
Lady and the Tramp gets an excellent 52-minute documentary and then some, while
Peter Pan has to settle for their 10-year-old 17-minute laserdisc piece and a couple new featurettes".
At a glance, the
Peter Pan set could look impressive. A commentary, deleted songs, four featurettes (amounting to about 46 minutes), one vintage featurette, and a still gallery sounds mighty nice to the Average Joe who hasn't seen the film in years and isn't too gung-ho about having to buy a second disc that'll take him a day to watch. But when you ask a fanatical Disney fan, "What do you think of this release?", they can honestly say it's a huge letdown compared to previous two-disc releases, and for the following reasons (reason a, reason b, reason c, etc.).
Of the various non-UD reviews I've read for
Peter Pan, none of them even make comparisons to previous Platinums, like how at one point, the
Snow White and
Aladdin bonus discs had about 3 hours of worthwhile and in-depth material, while
Peter Pan has only about a third of that. None of them say, "Well, the bonus material isn't as extensive as other titles with the Platinum banner, but what we get is a nice set of features." Instead, most will just gloss over them with lines like "these features cover the film nicely" or "it's a great featurette sure to get repeat viewings". I never like reading those types of lines because they're far too broad and makes the review sound like it came off an assembly line. Like there was a template and you simply change the titles in certain areas.
Example:
(insert film title) is a joyful (insert genre) film that has remained a favorite for (insert number) years, and (insert studio) is revisiting the title in a new (insert banner name) edition, chockful of bonus features.
On Disc Two, we have a nice documentary called (insert title). This covers the making of the film and includes great interviews by (insert person), (insert person), and (insert person). Also, there's a couple shorter featurettes like (insert title) and (insert title), which are more specific and worth watching a couple times over.
All in all, this is a great set for (insert title), and worth owning, even if you already have the earlier (insert banner name) edition.
I think my main bone of contention with the
Peter Pan release is that it's an impressive set, had it come four years ago as a regular Special Edition. It shares the same qualities as the
Sleeping Beauty: Special Edition, in that it delivers a nice amount of bonus material, but isn't quite as exhaustive as other titles, and could do with a serious revisit a few years later. To release
Peter Pan today when people expect so much more when they hear "two-disc special edition", it makes it look so disappointing.
From the IGN review, I just have to give my non-praise to the following lines...
Newly released in a Platinum Edition boasting a new transfer and plenty of new bonus-material bells and whistles
Excuse me while I go off and pound my head against the wall...
...then I'll go off and cry after reading this...
As mentioned above, much of the content on the discs is designed exclusively for youngsters - save perhaps the sudoku game, which smacks of timeliness; but overall there isn't anything significant missing from this set that will leave fans new or old unsatisfied.
If only they visited UD...
Escapay