Pinocchio Platinum Edition Discussion Thread

[Ioz]

Anyone here get their Jiminy Cricket plushie with their "Pinocchio" at Wal-Mart?

I got it. I wish Wal-Mart would give you the sale price for Pinocchio like other stores with pack-ins rather than the full price, though.

[blackcauldron85]

(Just a warning- this might be a long post! )

Bobby finally hooked up the DVD player in the bedroom, so I finally watched Pinocchio last night! It was wonderful as always! Jiminy, Figaro, and Gideon are very funny. It has action, comedy, drama. The restoration looked great; just compare the film to the 3 trailers on Disc 2. I really felt for Pinocchio, Jiminy, Gepetto, Figaro, & Cleo...the film has an amazing emotional impact. It's just an overall great movie. I love the
multiplane camera anyway, but the village shots are just breathtaking. I hadn't seen Pinocchio in a little while...I had it on VHS, and then I bought one of the earlier DVDs online, but it was a bootleg. It was great to see this film since it had been a while.

I've gone through almost all the bonus features. I still have to go through most of the picture gallery, and I cut the deleted song short to feed the dogs. I love all the documentaries; even the one about toymakers was pretty interesting.

I haven't been looking at this thread much at all, since I just now got around to watching the DVDs...so I will have responses to things I'm reading now below!

and if you don't - i'll just say it even know ive never met you - you are just too old to 'GET IT' - sorry, i love you but thats what i think.

I just wanted to point out calling him "too old" is a bit ridiculous and age really has nothing to do with it. I know people under 20 with no interest in Blu-Ray, and people over 50 who are completely in love with it!

That's very true (and I don't think that Luke is that old!)...I will only buy a Blu-ray player if I get one for free or if they don't make DVD players anymore and one of my DVD players breaks. We only have one HDTV, which Bobby won in a raffle; we wouldn't have bought one of those for a while unless he had won one.As far as reviewers only getting Blu-ray discs from now on, when I got the HSM3 Blu-ray for interviews I was doing, at first I was disappointed (but grateful that Disney includes a standard-def DVD), but then I didn't care anymore, since the standard-def DVD included would be the disc I would buy anyway, so I wasn't missing out on anything.

Watching the film, I remembered how a lot of people here were complaining about the restoration; watching the film is different than looking at screencaps, I guess. I don't know much about restorations or anything, but, as I mentioned earlier, just look at the quality of the footage in the trailers- they're grainy and light (I don't know what the technical term is, but the colors were not rich at all, and it was just light-looking!). I thought that the colors and the clarity were beautiful.

would simply like to enjoy some really good movies and television shows

A movie is still a movie...no matter if you watch it in the theater, on VHS, on laserdisc, on DVD, on HD-DVD, or on Blu-ray. The content is what matters. I'm not judging, but those people who hold out on releases just because they're not yet on Blu-ray might be missing some amazing stories- when it comes down to it, movies tell stories! At the same time, though, I can't blame you for not wanting to buy a title twice, since that costs a lot of money!

I think it would be best for us Blu fans to accept that, at least for now, that Blu will have to co-exist with DVD. Many aren't ready to jump into Blu, for many varied reasons. The need for an HDTV, the cost of the players and the movies themselves, a resistance to re-buying films already owned on DVD and, to be fair, the current economic situation are all reasons why a person might choose to not buy into Blu-Ray. As a fan of the Blu format, we don't do ourselves any favors by constantly berating our fellow movie fans who aren't yet ready to make the jump. All we are doing is hardening their anti-Blu stance. While the hard-sell tactics might have worked in the HD vs. Blu war, I don't think this is the best "strategy" to convince DVD fans to jump on board "Blu."

Very well said. As someone who is perfectly happy with DVDs and has no plans to switch to Blu-ray, I applaud what you wrote! Especially since Blu-ray players upgrade the picture (and audio?) of standard DVDs, many people don't feel the need to upgrade to Blu-ray until it is necessary (i.e., when DVD players are no longer in production).

On a personal note, as someone affected, I applaud Disney's intro against second hand smoke. The execs have sent the correct message. Nothing healthier for someone in utero than a nice smoke.

Was this before the movie? Or even in the bonus features? Is it not on the standard-def DVD? Because I didn't see a warning against smoking.

So, unless you want to advocate every dvd of every film made in technicolor out there, you should just enjoy this film, which is restored superbly, and looks great (even on dvd).

I agree. The film looks amazing, and it's such a great movie. I wish people would just enjoy it for what it is! Then again, at least for me, I don't understand all the technical "stuff", so if someone is passionate about restorations and whatever, I guess I can see where their complaining comes from, but, as some have mentioned here, unless you've seen the original artwork, then you can't really know what is "correct"...the film is such a visual triumph, among being a triumph of story, character, music, etc., I hope your viewing experience wasn't ruined because of a candle.

Also, if Disney is pushing Blu-ray so much, why not bring out ALL the new releases like Mary Poppins, Lilo and Stitch, ect. on Blu-ray? That doesn't make sense to me. By the time Mary Poppins is out on Blu-ray it will have five re-re-releases when we are still waiting for BETTER films from Disney to be released in a Special Edition format.

I think part of the reason is because Disney knows that certain people will double- (or triple-, or quadruple-...) dip once the film comes on Blu-ray. I mean, part of the reason also is probably due to bonus features and
restoration/making the resolution great for Blu-ray (or whatever you call it...I don't know!).

And your comparison of the laserdics to dvd is different, as a dvd player doesn't play laserdiscs. The situation can be compared to the regular CD and the super audio CD. Yes, the quality is better, but not interesting for Joe average.

I completely agree. Most people (eventually) upgraded from VHS to DVD. Some people upgraded earlier than others, due to the better picture quality and the addition of bonus features. Some people, though, probably took a while to upgrade from VHS to DVD, since they waited until VHS was more or less unavailable. Especially since Blu-ray
players will play (and upgrade the quality!) of standard-def DVDs, and since you need a special TV to get all the benefits of Blu-ray, many people are just not willing to spend the money right now. If HDTVs and Blu-ray players were free, I'm sure a lot more people would be upgrading! Even if the economy didn't suck right now, many people would probably rather spend their money on other fun things. Take into consideration the economy, though, and how many people either lost their jobs or can't even start their journey into the workforce (recent college grads like me, for example); some people are having a hard time paying their bills, so spending hundreds or even thousands of dollars on a Blu-ray player or PS3, a HDTV, and Blu-ray discs are just not something they're willing (or able) to do right now.

Luke's review was totally biased, and sounds completely lazy by the mere fact that he wants all his movies by a remote with no cool menu screens.

The job of a reviewer is to ultimately use his or her opinions in judging a film and the picture quality and the bonus features, etc. Like if you watch "Roeper & Ebert", for example, you may not always agree with what they have to say about a film, and they don't always agree with each other about a film, but they are paid to give their opinions. Same as Luke, only he doesn't get paid. Some people just don't have the money or the want right now...I think that my DVDs look great (I mean, a title like "The Journey of Natty Gann" could look a heck of a lot better...), and I just don't have the money right now to invest in Blu-ray and all that comes with it, and (gasp!) I still enjoy my movies, even knowing that there is an alternative format that may make them look extra good...

And that part was really what irritated me, that everyone MUST upgrade to BluRay or else. I mean, that is just plain inconsiderate! Do they not know that we're living in tough times? Or is it that they do know, but they're just being too selfish and bragging to admit that? And what's up with all those commercials on the DVD acting like that teeny-bopper rendition of "When You Wish Upon a Star" is the main bonus on the DVDs and the other bonuses only receive a passing mention (if any at all)?

1. I didn't mean for my post to mention Blu-ray so much, but I'm just responding to other people's posts, which I'm just reading now for the first time. I agree with you, though, BDF; maybe the people who are all "Yay, Blu-ray!" are financially stable right now, and that's awesome, but so many people aren't right now, and buying a Blu-ray player, HDTV, and Blu-ray discs just aren't and can't be a priority for now. I know for me, I have been looking for a job for a long time now (it'll be a year next month). Bobby's job laid off a lot of people lately, and if he looses his job, I don't know what we'll do. I already am frugal, so even if we both had secure jobs, I still wouldn't be buying an HDTV and Blu-ray players and Blu-ray discs, since our TVs and DVD players and DVDs work fine.
2. It's one thing for Radio Disney to be emphasizing the Meaghan Martin video on their Pinocchio commercials, but it is kind of strange for them touting that feature, when there is an almost-hour long documentary, in addition to probably over an hour of other bonus material! But teenagers have a lot of money to spend, and Disney wants to cater to them, which is understandable, I guess.

"Proper HT equipment"? You mean like 100 dollar cables? No thanks, I'd rather spend that money on more DVDs and CDs, or trips to various locations, or any number of hobbies I have. Not everyone has the same approach to watching movies. Personally, I watch movies for the emotional journey they take me on, not to obsessively scrutinize the transfer looking for detail and flaws. And "High def" is not going to make the jokes funnier or the touching scenes more touching. If the more technical approach is more what you are into, more power to you, but I'm happy with my current setup. All that matters is, my DVDs look and sound good TO ME on MY television.

yet again! I feel the same way you do; I get absorbed in the story of a good movie or TV show, and I could care less if it's in 1080p (I don't even know what that means...I'm ignorant and I'm perfectly fine with that.). It's all about the overall story and the characters and the music. I, too, would rather use what little spending money I have to buy more DVDs (amongst other things), since my other DVDs and my DVD players work perfectly fine.

2. The entire subject of the article was "Pinocchio: Platinum Edition DVD Review", but most of the article was a bashing of blu-ray and had nothing at all to do with Pinocchio.

I can't believe all the Luke-bashing in some of these posts! He wanted to get an article/review up in time for the DVD release. He was unable to do a "real" review since he was unable to watch all of the content available. Sure, he could have reviewed the film itself in addition to his opinions on Blu-ray, and then he could have written that a review of the bonus material would come at a later date. But he didn't...at least he put up something that people could read for the DVD release. He could've just posted nothing, and people would have thought, "That UD is slacking!"...but he wasn't slacking. He still put time and effort into that early version of the review. But now the "real" review is up, and that's what matters!

I respect his opinion, I think I'm just disappointed that he doesn't want the best of the best in order to review all that's out there.

I can understand how someone who has adopted Blu-ray would be disappointed that the excellent UD reviews don't always include Blu-ray versions of movies, but people need to understand that money doesn't grow on trees...Luke gets some money from advertisements and some from people buying merchandise through the links here and from people using the Amazon Honor System, but UD isn't his job. He surely has a "real" job and what with the economic climate, it shouldn't be too hard for people to realize that some people have other things to spend money on than HDTVs and Blu-ray players and discs, especially when DVDs are very much adequate to so many people. He still reviews the movie, the audio and video, and the bonus content. The only thing the DVD reviews would be missing would be the audio/visual Blu-ray "stuff", and the Blu-ray exclusive bonus features. I would think that the vast majority of the DVD reviews also apply to the Blu-ray discs of the same movies. If Luke says that the DVD looks and sounds great, you know that the Blu-ray probably looks and sounds even better.

The DVD proper isn't bad, though I was cracking up at the anti-smoking ad... Here I was worried they'd censor the smoking out like they did with so many other DACs, it's only natural they try to persuade youths yet again with that crappy advertisement.

I know you got the standard-def DVD, and you saw the ad! How could I have missed it?!?! Where is it?!? It definitely didn't play on mine when the movie started or anything...

But what's up with the locking case?! Here I thought Disney stopped using those when Sleeping Beauty didn't have them but they're back again! Those things annoy me to no end, I suppose if I can find a 2-disc case that doesn't lock I'll move it over to that.

Mine isn't in a locking case...

Just watched the Blu-ray and had the Disney View feature on...
Must admit, I hated it...
It was really annoying and while it blended well with some scenes,
Others did not look that great at all and were kind of distracting
In the future I'll just stick with the black bars.

I'm glad that the standard-def DVD didn't include that. Even though I watched the movie on a non-widescreen TV, we do have a widescreen TV, and I'm sure I'll eventually watch it on that, and it would bother me! Do you have the option of watching the film with the black bars, or must you always watch it with the colored panels?
(Nevermind...tlc38tlc38 answered that for me...!)

...The bad guys never get theirs...not one of them!

Well, Strombolli was unable to make money off of Pinocchio anymore once he escaped...

I have a question for you all: which of you has read the original book by Carlo Collodi? It's always a nice object of study to compare the original work to the Disney adaptation.

One of my goals in life is to read all the original stories that Disney films have come from...I've read most of the fairy tales, but not any of the novels or short stories (although I did write a report about the Blue Fairy and Fairy Godmother for 12th grade English class, which had quotes from the original works).

So the reviewer of the whole thing mentioned something about Jiminy's reassuring "Right!" to Pinocchio's utterance of his name during the song "Give a Little Whistle" has vanished. Does anyone who have the DVD catch that?

It stuck out to me. I wonder if it was a mistake? I mean, it's such a non-important part, compared to if they cut out other dialogue, but it's making me quite curious.

Just watch the movie, and enjoy and be happy that you own a copy of one of the most-loved Disney animated feature films.

Yay! And this coming from someone who loves his Blu-ray player!

[Big Disney Fan]

So the reviewer of the whole thing mentioned something about Jiminy's reassuring "Right!" to Pinocchio's utterance of his name during the song "Give a Little Whistle" has vanished. Does anyone who have the DVD catch that?

It stuck out to me. I wonder if it was a mistake? I mean, it's such a non-important part, compared to if they cut out other dialogue, but it's making me quite curious.

I'm pretty sure it was just accidental (sort of like what happened with part of Donald's dialog on all DVD releases of "Clock Cleaners" (save for the Alice In Wonderland DVD, where it was shown as part of something else).)

[The_Iceflash]

It stuck out to me. I wonder if it was a mistake? I mean, it's such a non-important part, compared to if they cut out other dialogue, but it's making me quite curious.

I'm pretty sure it was just accidental (sort of like what happened with part of Donald's dialog on all DVD releases of "Clock Cleaners" (save for the Alice In Wonderland DVD, where it was shown as part of something else).)

Yeah. The "Right!" is missing from my DVD as well (R1)

[ajmrowland]

Watching the film, I remembered how a lot of people here were complaining about the restoration; watching the film is different than looking at screencaps, I guess. I don't know much about restorations or anything, but, as I mentioned earlier, just look at the quality of the footage in the trailers- they're grainy and light (I don't know what the technical term is, but the colors were not rich at all, and it was just light-looking!). I thought that the colors and the clarity were beautiful.

I think you mean "blown out". If you look, you'll also see that the colors of the new restoration are much closer to the original trailer than the others.

On a personal note, as someone affected, I applaud Disney's intro against second hand smoke. The execs have sent the correct message. Nothing healthier for someone in utero than a nice smoke.

Was this before the movie? Or even in the bonus features? Is it not on the standard-def DVD? Because I didn't see a warning against smoking.

It comes right after the "Only One Disney" ad at the start of the disc.

ackcauldron85"

Luke's review was totally biased, and sounds completely lazy by the mere fact that he wants all his movies by a remote with no cool menu screens.

The job of a reviewer is to ultimately use his or her opinions in judging a film and the picture quality and the bonus features, etc. Like if you watch "Roeper & Ebert", for example, you may not always agree with what they have to say about a film, and they don't always agree with each other about a film, but they are paid to give their opinions. Same as Luke, only he doesn't get paid. Some people just don't have the money or the want right now...I think that my DVDs look great (I mean, a title like "The Journey of Natty Gann" could look a heck of a lot better...), and I just don't have the money right now to invest in Blu-ray and all that comes with it, and (gasp!) I still enjoy my movies, even knowing that there is an alternative format that may make them look extra good...

Well, I admit I was kinda *disappointed* at first, but now that I'm cooled of, I can say I never meant to diss all reviewers. It's just they usually dont go into a rant about how much they dont like something, unless it's part of the subject of the review.

And that part was really what irritated me, that everyone MUST upgrade to BluRay or else. I mean, that is just plain inconsiderate! Do they not know that we're living in tough times? Or is it that they do know, but they're just being too selfish and bragging to admit that? And what's up with all those commercials on the DVD acting like that teeny-bopper rendition of "When You Wish Upon a Star" is the main bonus on the DVDs and the other bonuses only receive a passing mention (if any at all)?

1. I didn't mean for my post to mention Blu-ray so much, but I'm just responding to other people's posts, which I'm just reading now for the first time. I agree with you, though, BDF; maybe the people who are all "Yay, Blu-ray!" are financially stable right now, and that's awesome, but so many people aren't right now, and buying a Blu-ray player, HDTV, and Blu-ray discs just aren't and can't be a priority for now. I know for me, I have been looking for a job for a long time now (it'll be a year next month). Bobby's job laid off a lot of people lately, and if he looses his job, I don't know what we'll do. I already am frugal, so even if we both had secure jobs, I still wouldn't be buying an HDTV and Blu-ray players and Blu-ray discs, since our TVs and DVD players and DVDs work fine.
2. It's one thing for Radio Disney to be emphasizing the Meaghan Martin video on their Pinocchio commercials, but it is kind of strange for them touting that feature, when there is an almost-hour long documentary, in addition to probably over an hour of other bonus material! But teenagers have a lot of money to spend, and Disney wants to cater to them, which is understandable, I guess.

But that's what Disney does in almost all their advertising, aside from touting games and restoration. And I only rarely met a teen who thought that Disney was meant for anyone older than 12.

"Proper HT equipment"? You mean like 100 dollar cables? No thanks, I'd rather spend that money on more DVDs and CDs, or trips to various locations, or any number of hobbies I have. Not everyone has the same approach to watching movies. Personally, I watch movies for the emotional journey they take me on, not to obsessively scrutinize the transfer looking for detail and flaws. And "High def" is not going to make the jokes funnier or the touching scenes more touching. If the more technical approach is more what you are into, more power to you, but I'm happy with my current setup. All that matters is, my DVDs look and sound good TO ME on MY television.

yet again! I feel the same way you do; I get absorbed in the story of a good movie or TV show, and I could care less if it's in 1080p (I don't even know what that means...I'm ignorant and I'm perfectly fine with that.). It's all about the overall story and the characters and the music. I, too, would rather use what little spending money I have to buy more DVDs (amongst other things), since my other DVDs and my DVD players work perfectly fine.

Watching Pinocchio, I did not care much about the quality of the picture as I did the quality of the film.

1080p is the number of pixels used, with the "p" meaning that they're all used at the same time.

And even us big blu fans say that $100 cables are ten times overpriced. You can find perfectly good ones for under $15 or even under $10.

2. The entire subject of the article was "Pinocchio: Platinum Edition DVD Review", but most of the article was a bashing of blu-ray and had nothing at all to do with Pinocchio.

I can't believe all the Luke-bashing in some of these posts! He wanted to get an article/review up in time for the DVD release. He was unable to do a "real" review since he was unable to watch all of the content available. Sure, he could have reviewed the film itself in addition to his opinions on Blu-ray, and then he could have written that a review of the bonus material would come at a later date. But he didn't...at least he put up something that people could read for the DVD release. He could've just posted nothing, and people would have thought, "That UD is slacking!"...but he wasn't slacking. He still put time and effort into that early version of the review. But now the "real" review is up, and that's what matters!

Dont we all just find ourselves backed into a corner by people who aren't satisfied? Granted, I was one of them, but it goes for everyone.

I respect his opinion, I think I'm just disappointed that he doesn't want the best of the best in order to review all that's out there.

I can understand how someone who has adopted Blu-ray would be disappointed that the excellent UD reviews don't always include Blu-ray versions of movies, but people need to understand that money doesn't grow on trees...Luke gets some money from advertisements and some from people buying merchandise through the links here and from people using the Amazon Honor System, but UD isn't his job. He surely has a "real" job and what with the economic climate, it shouldn't be too hard for people to realize that some people have other things to spend money on than HDTVs and Blu-ray players and discs, especially when DVDs are very much adequate to so many people. He still reviews the movie, the audio and video, and the bonus content. The only thing the DVD reviews would be missing would be the audio/visual Blu-ray "stuff", and the Blu-ray exclusive bonus features. I would think that the vast majority of the DVD reviews also apply to the Blu-ray discs of the same movies. If Luke says that the DVD looks and sounds great, you know that the Blu-ray probably looks and sounds even better.

The reverse is true, too. A blu-ray only review can very much apply to the DVD, minus a couple features.

Just watched the Blu-ray and had the Disney View feature on...
Must admit, I hated it...
It was really annoying and while it blended well with some scenes,
Others did not look that great at all and were kind of distracting
In the future I'll just stick with the black bars.

I'm glad that the standard-def DVD didn't include that. Even though I watched the movie on a non-widescreen TV, we do have a widescreen TV, and I'm sure I'll eventually watch it on that, and it would bother me! Do you have the option of watching the film with the black bars, or must you always watch it with the colored panels?
(Nevermind...tlc38tlc38 answered that for me...!)

Oddly, the feature is used in the HD commercials. It distracts a little, but one might get used to it.

So the reviewer of the whole thing mentioned something about Jiminy's reassuring "Right!" to Pinocchio's utterance of his name during the song "Give a Little Whistle" has vanished. Does anyone who have the DVD catch that?

It stuck out to me. I wonder if it was a mistake? I mean, it's such a non-important part, compared to if they cut out other dialogue, but it's making me quite curious.

Strange, though I'm among the millions of people who didn't notice. I'm too to remember it from the days when we had the VHS tape, anyway. They probably just "lost" the line?

Just watch the movie, and enjoy and be happy that you own a copy of one of the most-loved Disney animated feature films.

Yay! And this coming from someone who loves his Blu-ray player! [/quote] I say yes to that!

[pap64]

Those were probably from the Blu Ray Pap, which apparently is the devil around here.

Nope, I checked. It was from the DVD (the store had a different display for Blu-Ray movies and that had a different movie running).

[DarthPrime]

Wal-Mart usually runs the DVD unless its on a Blu-ray setup. Sam's Club has started to show more Blu-ray movies on different TVs. However they sometimes mess up the picture and zoom with the HDTVs to get rid of black bars. I have never seen a 4:3 movie at any of these stores that wasn't zoomed/stretched.

$100 cables are a waste of money in my opinion. Cheaper cables are just as good, and sometimes the same quality of cable. Monoprice.com is a excellent place to order cables for anyone looking for an alternative to Best Buy's expensive Monster Cables.

Anyway I watched the movie last night and really enjoyed it. I haven't seen it in so long that I honestly forgot a lot of it.

[ajmrowland]

^my point exactly on the cables. Though there are some in stores that don't cost nearly as much as $50.

[Big Disney Fan]

2. It's one thing for Radio Disney to be emphasizing the Meaghan Martin video on their Pinocchio commercials, but it is kind of strange for them touting that feature, when there is an almost-hour long documentary, in addition to probably over an hour of other bonus material! But teenagers have a lot of money to spend, and Disney wants to cater to them, which is understandable, I guess.

But they should also cater to other people, not just those 18 years of age and under.

[CampbellzSoup]

My HDMI cables cost 2 dollars

www.monoprice.com

Cables are not expensive at all.

[CampbellzSoup]

Marky I would just also like to add that I did infact just saw the DVD version that someone put up on youtube that wasn't the Platinum edition. There is NO light source that you keep throwing up...all of Gepetto's hosue is this werid orange tint, so while screenshots may do your argument some justice...in motion has nothing. The whole 2003 DVD is so off color wise everything looks like it was turned up in contrast!

[Goliath]

(Just a warning- this might be a long post! )

That's okay. I, for one, enjoy long posts. And I always enjoy your posts, by the way; just wanted to let you know.

A movie is still a movie...no matter if you watch it in the theater, on VHS, on laserdisc, on DVD, on HD-DVD, or on Blu-ray. The content is what matters. I'm not judging, but those people who hold out on releases just because they're not yet on Blu-ray might be missing some amazing stories- when it comes down to it, movies tell stories!

Well, I would argue it's a big difference whether you watch a movie in a theatre, or in your own home on tv. The viewing experience is totally different. I tend to be much more emerged into the film when I watch it in the theatre. I think this is true for most people. This is only natural, since there are nearly no distractions in the darkness of the theatre, and the big screen and the wall of sound draw you into the film. But at home, you get easily distracted. Even if it still is the same movie, the way you experience it is quite different.

[Flanger-Hanger]

Has anyone read this yet?:

"It’s been a long time coming to see Pinocchio properly brought to life in home-cinema: the early DVD was authored from the laserdisc master and not only revealed the flaws of that NTSC-limited "restoration" effort, but also compounded the DNR and edge-enhancement of the laserdisc master with compression noise that caused backgrounds to shift with an unsteady annoyance. No degree of upscaling or post-processing could clarify the image and correct for the problems on the DVD and the result was difficult to enjoy on any wide-angle viewing system.

And now with the Blu-ray Disc in hand, I think I can fairly say that Pinocchio’s upgrade from the DVD edition to this breathtaking AVC-compressed 1080p capture delivers one of the most dramatic "before and after" Blu-ray Disc transformations yet. The image is literally PERFECT, and that term applies without reservation to every aspect of image quality I can ascertain. I presume that Lowry/DTS Digital Images is responsible for the immaculate restoration, and the results are beyond reproach. And yes, in case anyone is wondering, the original 1.33:1 image is faithfully preserved by left/right pillarboxing matting in the 16x9 1920 x 1080 frame.

The image has been stabilized rock-solid from all gate-weave movement, and any spurious signs of noise, damage, and grain have been completely eradicated without harming any actual image detail. This is remarkable because much of the real picture detail resides in unpredictable frame-by-frame variations such as the sparkle from the fairy’s wand, rain drops, or the foam of the ocean surf during the encounter with the whale – precisely the sort of detail that usually falls prey to noise reduction efforts no matter how carefully applied. Somehow, all of these random microscopic details are preserved with 100% integrity while all signs of grain and noise have been completely abolished. To my knowledge no algorithm exists that is able to distinguish such subtle nuances on its own, and so I can only imagine the time and expense Disney commissioned to have the original film frames cleaned by hand.

But that’s only the beginning: color timing, contrast, and exposure variances that cause frame-by-frame fluctuations visible in the former DVD edition have been corrected to perfection in reference to the hand-painted-cel artwork. The result of all of these efforts combine to produce the clearest, most richly textured, sumptuously hued, and stable images possible... one that surpasses my highest expectations. I hadn’t imagined that it would be possible to render Pinocchio in HD with a picture so clean, so immaculate, without some inevitable sacrifice in detail. But Disney has proved me wrong."

From a guy at DVDfile.com who knows what he's talking about.

[ajmrowland]

I call that good news! If all the anti-restoration bashing hasn't been put to rest before now, that should do it!

[yukitora]

How does this restoration compare to Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs? I finally finished watching Pinocchio at 2am this morning (after falling asleep evey 20mins, I don't know why), and I couldn't help but think that this restoration was just as strong, if not stronger than Sleeping Beauty's.

[ajmrowland]

Snow White's restoration was good, but this one is better. As for the comparison to SB, I'd say SB looks better because of all the artistic detail. Both restorations are great!

[Mason_Ireton]

I aboustly enjoyed the film, wonderful to see a clean, pristine picture along with a fully restored soundtrack, I'll admit that I was surpised by two soundbytes that got edited but I'm ok with it. It's still the same characters, dramatic effects and such. The bonus feats were a treat, I liked the deleted "Honest John" song, think it could've worked alil bit as Honest John's Villain song yet Hi Diddle A Dee works better though *ha ha* I also recommend listening to the commentary to as its full of rich details bout plotpoints, characters being devloped. The film is a sheer joy to watch and it's delightful songs will cheerish your heart forever.

[blackcauldron85]

But they should also cater to other people, not just those 18 years of age and under.

I completely agree- I was just saying that, in terms of Radio Disney or even Disney Channel hyping the Meaghan Martin video, that makes sense, sort of, since teenagers will be excited about that. I mean, hopefully there are lots of teenagers who are interested in the movie and the other bonus features, too! But for non-teen-oriented marketing to hype the music video, that just seems strange and sad.

And I always enjoy your posts, by the way; just wanted to let you know.

Aww, thanks, Goliath!

I'll admit that I was surpised by two soundbytes that got edited but I'm ok with it.

2 soundbytes?!? I know about Jiminy's "Right!", but what's the second one?!?

[Mason_Ireton]

Yes they "deleted" Jimminy's response to Pinocchio sayin his name during "Give A Lil Whistle" then towards the end of the song when Pinocchio sings "And Always let your Consincse be your guide" and stumbles usualy you hear Jimminy saying "Look Out Pinoke" as he falls

[Dottie]

I don't really think they deleted it, it's more of a glitch in the audio, since apparently the sentences are on the European Blu-Ray and DVD.