"The Lion King" DVD - my review:

Discussion in 'Visual Arts' started by AKA, Oct 7, 2003.

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  1. AKA

    AKA Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Spokane, Washington
    Two words - holy cow!

    Go out and get this if you haven't already!
     
    AKA, Oct 7, 2003
    #1
  2. Beatlelennon65

    Beatlelennon65 Active Member

    Location:
    Pepperland of course!
    I've never seen it. I thought about picking it up for 16 at BB but I got Christmas vacation and some speaker stands. I think I will just rent it.
     
    Beatlelennon65, Oct 7, 2003
    #2
  3. Beatlelennon65

    Beatlelennon65 Active Member

    Location:
    Pepperland of course!
    I will be buying Alladin next year though!
     
    Beatlelennon65, Oct 7, 2003
    #3
  4. Cliff

    Cliff Magic Carpet Man

    Location:
    Northern CA
    Bought 2 copies already :D

    Such a deal at Toys R Us. You buy The Lion King for $19.99, and any second Disney Title in stock, is only $5! I even found an OOP Pinoccio at one location. Can't wait to watch this tonight.
     
    Cliff, Oct 7, 2003
    #4
  5. JohnG

    JohnG PROG now in Dolby ATMOS!

    Location:
    Long Island NY
    CC has it for $14.99 plus a free AM/FM Radio that has the LK logo on it.

    For that price you can't beat this movie....it was the best till Finding Nemo arrived but its still a killer DVD.
     
    JohnG, Oct 7, 2003
    #5
  6. duse

    duse Senior Member

    Location:
    SC
    I picked it up impulsively at BB tonight. I went in there to find that Digital Video Essentials DVD, because I have heard good things about it. They did not have it, but they did have a free LK mousepad/calender, which I will not use, but grabbed anyway. Also, BB had a DVD that previewed new theatrical releases/DVD releases/Music releases/Game Releases. It also had some coupons included. Somehow, I wish I'd spent the extra $4 and bought another Disney DVD at Toys R Us. I may return it, since it has not been opened yet. It looks great, though. I've never seen the movie. It is amazing what stores will do to lure you in.
     
    duse, Oct 7, 2003
    #6
  7. Cliff

    Cliff Magic Carpet Man

    Location:
    Northern CA
    Wow. Just finished watching it. Excellent picture. Colors are vibrant, and there is no hint of graininess, etc. I listened to the "Enhanced Home Theater" sound, and it was very active, and clean. You can also choose to watch the SE, or Original Theatrical Release of the film. Then, for each version, you can choose regular 5.1 or "Enhanced 5.1 for Home Theater". I love choices :)
     
    Cliff, Oct 7, 2003
    #7
  8. Scotian

    Scotian Amnesia Hazed

    Location:
    Nova Scotia, Canada
    The enhanced home theatre sound is the most aggressive mix I've heard since LOTR:Extended Version. Very immersive. Oh, by the way...its also a terrific movie. :)
     
    Scotian, Oct 7, 2003
    #8
  9. Ken_McAlinden

    Ken_McAlinden MichiGort Staff

    Location:
    Livonia, MI
    There's a nice featurette buried on the second disc about the new mix, which is a "re-eq'd for close listening" version of the remix that was done for the IMAX special edition. "Sound re-recording mixer" Terry Porter mentions that when he did the original mix it was fairly early in the digital 5.1 film mixing era, and he was pretty conservative. That's one of the reasons that I generally preferred the PCM pro-logic track on my laserdisc, since for mixes where there is not aggressively directional surround use, fidelity is the key discriminating characteristic, and the non-data compressed track had the advantage.

    For the new mix, he spreads the orchestra around all 5 channels and is a lot more aggressively "3-D" with his sound effects placement. It works really well most of the time. About the only thing I didn't like about it was during the closing credits, the egregious reverb on Elton's vocal sounds even more gruesome than on the original track. :)

    I am very happy that they included both the original cut of the film and the original sound mix along with all of the new stuff. It's nice to see them respecting their history. I don't really have a problem with the fact that the DVD was derived from the "re-rendered extra detail" IMAX version since all they were really doing was "polishing" the existing animation rather than re-doing it.

    The extras were okay, but not as great as the previous laserdisc box set or the Snow White DVD. The menu structure for the second disc is unfathomable. It has not taken long for Disney's "Platinum" series to devolve into just another special edition line, but since it's cheap and the film itself looks and sounds top-notch, I can't pretend to be too upset.

    Regards,
     
    Ken_McAlinden, Oct 8, 2003
    #9
  10. cliff barua

    cliff barua New Member

    Location:
    Toronto
    I bought the special edition box for about $39 CDN ($28+ US). No extrad discs are anything but a nice box of lithograph charchter drawings and a beautiful hardcover 150-page box. Very nicely packaged.

    I'm just a sucker for some of these box sets.

    Cliff
     
    cliff barua, Oct 8, 2003
    #10
  11. -=Rudy=-

    -=Rudy=- ♪♫♪♫♫♪♪♫♪♪ Staff

    Location:
    US
    Went to Toys-B-Us today and got their overpriced Lion King, plus I picked up Country Bears ($5 special) since it seems the store hid all the GOOD Disney movies in the back until the offer is over. ;) The kids will like 'em both; I'll go work in the yard or schedule a root canal when Lion King is on. ;) :D (Although I DO like the parts with Scar and the Hyenas...many good quotable lines around the house after we got the LD version. :) )
     
    -=Rudy=-, Oct 8, 2003
    #11
  12. -=Rudy=-

    -=Rudy=- ♪♫♪♫♫♪♪♫♪♪ Staff

    Location:
    US
    Just put it in for the kids...what is up with these damn annoying menus that take half a minute before they display?? Shoot...give me the days of Laserdisc and CD when you just put the disc in and it played.

    Also, didn't see the option to watch the original vs. the new version. Is it on the 2nd disc, or as an additional layer on disc 1?
     
    -=Rudy=-, Oct 10, 2003
    #12
  13. Cliff

    Cliff Magic Carpet Man

    Location:
    Northern CA

    I think I remember it being under sound/picture option (choice), or something like that. I always select the setup of audio and/or video, just to make sure it's in DTS or DD, if no DTS encoding...
     
    Cliff, Oct 10, 2003
    #13
  14. -=Rudy=-

    -=Rudy=- ♪♫♪♫♫♪♪♫♪♪ Staff

    Location:
    US
    It must default to the new version...the movie seemed to last forever last night.
     
    -=Rudy=-, Oct 11, 2003
    #14
  15. Oatsdad

    Oatsdad Oat, Biscuits, Abbie & Mitzi: Best Dogs Ever

    Location:
    Alexandria VA
    ??? The new version runs a whopping 44 seconds longer than the original. I can't imagine that extra few seconds made the movie seem any longer...
     
    Oatsdad, Oct 11, 2003
    #15
  16. -=Rudy=-

    -=Rudy=- ♪♫♪♫♫♪♪♫♪♪ Staff

    Location:
    US
    They claim there's a new song in the film....did they edit out something else to make room for it? I was in the middle of doing some work and didn't pay much attention to it, but it just *seemed* to drag out longer than usual.
     
    -=Rudy=-, Oct 11, 2003
    #16
  17. Oatsdad

    Oatsdad Oat, Biscuits, Abbie & Mitzi: Best Dogs Ever

    Location:
    Alexandria VA
    "Morning Report" is the new song. It takes up the place in the original when Zasu reported on the pridelands while Simba practiced pouncing. It's a short song anyway, but it takes up so little time because it replaces the old scene...
     
    Oatsdad, Oct 12, 2003
    #17
  18. -=Rudy=-

    -=Rudy=- ♪♫♪♫♫♪♪♫♪♪ Staff

    Location:
    US
    Aaaaaah, I see. I checked--my laserdisc is listed at 88 minutes, and the new version is 90 minutes. Weird. Could have sworn this was a typical 75 minute story...
     
    -=Rudy=-, Oct 12, 2003
    #18
  19. YaQuin

    YaQuin Formerly Blue Moon

    Location:
    Madison, WI
    Overall review of Lion King is an A minus:

    Video Quality 5/5

    Sound Quality 4/5

    Only watched the original and NOT the special edition yet.

    I wished they would have added a DTS version.
     
    YaQuin, Oct 13, 2003
    #19
  20. Ken_McAlinden

    Ken_McAlinden MichiGort Staff

    Location:
    Livonia, MI
    To which sound mix did you listen? The original sound mix is the default. The remix has to be selected manually. The disc is authored so that you can watch either cut of the film with either sound mix. The remix is not conformed for 2-channel downmixing in any way, and it sounds pretty close in quality to a half-bitrate DTS track to my ears.

    Regards,
     
    Ken_McAlinden, Oct 13, 2003
    #20
  21. Cliff

    Cliff Magic Carpet Man

    Location:
    Northern CA
    Agreed, Ken. Funny you should say that. I had to get up and look at the DVD Player to make sure it was outputting DD instead of DTS! The remix is one of the best DD tracks I've heard yet...
     
    Cliff, Oct 13, 2003
    #21
  22. YaQuin

    YaQuin Formerly Blue Moon

    Location:
    Madison, WI
    Apologies Ken,

    I chose the original edition with the original/standard DD 5.1...not he remix. I probably should have evaluated the entire disc before giving my opinion.

    I look forward to hearing the remix.
     
    YaQuin, Oct 13, 2003
    #22
  23. Dave D

    Dave D Done!

    Location:
    Milton, Canada
    Well, we watched it last night. Selected the "Enhanced Home Theatre" mix. Nice. But the wife hates it loud, so this morning, I was all alone...........

    OH MY GOD! I just played the intro (the best part of the movie IMHO)....gotta love the elephants...the house was falling apart!!
    A good workout for any HT system!
     
    Dave D, Oct 19, 2003
    #23
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