DVDizzy Forum

Well, my French Lion King plus Soundtrack CD 3 disc Digipack came today. Here's my first impressions:

(1) As always, the packaging is superb. The cover has handsome gold foil stamping on it and a more majestic cover image than the US/UK cover. Sadly, the packaging got a little squashed in transit.



(2) The Soundtrack is, as expected in French (apart from an Elton John "Can You Feel The Love Tonight?" at the end). That's cool. I have most of the other tracks already in English. And the "Morning Report" sounds better in French anyway.

(3) The first disc forces you to make a language selection as it 'boots up'. English is an option, but the Disney EHT Mix is French DTS only.

(4) The presence of the DTS track sadly means something has to go (apparently)... thankfully it's the dreadful "Making of the Circle of Stars Music Video" featurette! Maybe they just dropped it because most of them mean sod all to none US residents.

(5) The Lion King 3 trailer is the same as the US 1 1/2 trailer, but it simply stops on the Lion King 3 - all of the Timon and Pumbaa banter about the title is edited out. I was hoping the R2 disc would have a Lion King II trailer too, but I cannot find one.

(6) There is no insert explaining about the navigation system anywhere, yet it still has the same confusing menu system. I feel sorry for the French trying to find the background galleries etc, being as they are well hidden.

(7) The Bonus disc, like the Film Disc allows you to select a language on first 'booting'. English is an option, and the disc seems to be an exact copy of the R1 version.

(8) As expected, the PAL transfer looks better (more lines, better colour). To balance this out, the soundtrack is speeded up 4% which some people notice (especially with a musical), but I don't.

I'm not too thrilled with the Lion King set supplements. I've got a UK version on order too, and I may cancel being as I have a perfectly decent PAL transfer here, in a wonderful collectable package. However, for now I'll keep it on order for the free soft toy from Amazon.co.uk and somebody I know will get the discs for their Christmas present.

Well I'm French too but I resigned to buy the French Edition tihs year... Well I just received today The Exclusive US Set, and it is soooooo wonderful ! THAT is real exclusive" !
In France, the "exclusive edition" is an 2DVD set plus, what ?? Oh yeah the soundtrack (in French of course !). I just think it sucks ! I mean, what the hell is te aim for this "exclusive edition" ??! The well-known "collector edition" is fine ! I saw it last week and it is... regular.... compared to the Exclusive US Set !

Plus I don"t know if you guy konw it but on the french fet, there are few DVD players in which the "interactive contain" do not work ! You dont have access to the menu, so you cant watch te movie ! And it doesnt work on about 20 players ! I konw don"t if the UK edition will be the same, I hope not for the English... 'cos in France it's the Revolution ! Everyboby wo bought it wants an explanation that we cannnot really gave them. And Buena Vista France has openned a case on that... Hope that it will be overs soon...

Anyway, The US Exclusive Edition is the best DVD I've ever seen !

Well, I wasn't impressed with the US book. It was a good idea to have one, but it wasn't created with enough care and attention in my opinion. When it comes down to it, half of the book promotes the DVD (which you have) and the other half tells the story with minimal text (when you have the proper story on the DVD). So all you get are the pictures really.

As for the second disc, it seems to work on my player - I've not watched everything, but everything seems to be there, present and accounted for. I've only watch the supplements after selecting ENGLISH from the initial menu.

Thanks for the report, James.

2099net wrote:(6) There is no insert explaining about the navigation system anywhere, yet it still has the same confusing menu system. I feel sorry for the French trying to find the background galleries etc, being as they are well hidden.

There was no insert in my local version, either. It took a while before I understood the whole continents concept on disc 2. Being as this is probably the most difficult-to-navigate DVD ever released, the exclusion of inserts is very stupid. Maybe somebody could scan the R1 insert for us poor region 2:ers to print out?

2099net wrote:(8 As expected, the PAL transfer looks better (more lines, better colour). To balance this out, the soundtrack is speeded up 4% which some people notice (especially with a musical), but I don't.

Actually, the picture speeds up 4% as well... I sometimes do notice it, but less often than the difference in resolution. That's why I prefer PAL discs. My TV also has some troubles with NTSC, making the picture annoyingly flickery most of the time. Why it does that is beyond me.
Sorry, I'm getting off topic. Thanks for the review, 2099net.

And once again the R2 artwork and overall design is head-and-shoulders above the US release. Maybe I need to start purchasing R2s as well.

You think this set is better ? I can tell you that I saw in in a store ans that i openend it (shh !;-), and i can tell you there's nothing fabulous about that... i mean compred to the R1 set, in my opinion...

For the interactive problem, I think that ws on the first disc but "only" with 20 players or so.

And The Us book, i think it's great ! It's not relly a promotion of the DVD 'cos it explain you how it was made, and i thought that interesting. Ok for the summary of the film...

To conclude, do you konw how the regular french "collector's edtion" look like ? I mean inside, because i'd like to know if it is the same as the Us one.

what players are easy to make region free? where do i get them and how do i do it?

hi guys.
i just don´t understand a thing: the picture show three disc, the freench edition has three discs? what are in that third disc?

Thanks

Thiago

ThiagoPE wrote:hi guys.
i just don´t understand a thing: the picture show three disc, the freench edition has three discs? what are in that third disc?

Thanks

Thiago

As Netty reported, it's the soundtrack in French...plus an Elton John track.

MickeyMouseBoy, check out this thread from early summer. http://www.ultimatedisney.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=320

It's really helpful I think, even if some of it may be changed now.

thanks luke, sound hard.