DVDizzy.com

So what do you think are Disney's worst DVDs?

From my collection:

Shipwrecked: Excellent movie. I loved this one as a kid when it came out. It's like Disney's version of the Goonies. I sill like it and that's why I picked it up on DVD yesterday at Walmart. So what's bad about it? Fullscreen, no chapter menu, grainy picture.

The Journey of Natty Gann: Another good movie I saw when it first came out. The cool thing about this one is that eventually I got to work on both steam locomtives that were used in the movie (even got to engineer one!). What's bad about it? Fullscreen, grainy picture.

White Fang: Again, a good movie from the 90s. What's wrong with it? Fullscreen, grainy picture.

The Rocketeer: A movie that deserves so much more. This could've been Disney's first big franchise, up there with Pirates, Narnia, and National Treasure. What's wrong with it? Grainy picture.

The Black Cauldron: An animated favourite. What's wrong with it? Grainy picture, white dashed line appears along the side during the second half of the movie. Hopefully the Gold Collection edition will be replaced soon.

These are the first few I can think of. I have some DVDs that I haven't watched yet.

Blackbeard's Ghost - The aspect ratio isn't the correct one, and it makes the picture look horrific. It cuts off almost everything to the point where it makes you dizzy from looking at the closeups of the character's faces throughtout the whole film.

_________________


http://teendramaforum.proboards.com/
http://twitter.com/clemxens

Regarding A/V quality, the worst are easily any that are found on this page as they're all P&S hackjobs that are (in most cases) available in OAR on non-R1 DVDs. It hasn't been updated since 2005 (to add releases such as Toby Tyler, The Boatniks, other DMC titles, etc.), but then again, just the fact that UD has page made warning consumers of which DVDs they shouldn't buy because they are pan&scan shows just how bad the situation is.

I definitely agree that The Rocketeer is one of the worst Disney DVDs currently out there. I love the film to bits and I absolutely despise the DVD because it's easily the worst transfer I've seen for *any* movie on *any* DVD (and this includes crappy public domain stuff, some of which looks better than this - ). Sure, it's watchable, but it's more like watching a worn out old VHS that's been sharpened up (only slightly) through the TV's display settings.

I am longing for the day that those WDSHE bastards take their heads out of their asses, realize that there's plenty of interest (and sales) for a great title like The Rocketeer, and set forth on both an extensive and meticulous high-definition restoration and remastering job and an extensive and meticulous filming, interviewing, and research period for an in-depth multi-disc DVD and Blu-Ray release. And have it ready by 2011 for its 20th Anniversary. Of course, if they were smart, they would have already done this in 2006 for a 15th Anniversary DVD/Blu-Ray release.

Another notable Disney DVD with one of the worst transfers ever authored to a disc: Blackbeard's Ghost. Even if they got the framing issues corrected (it's both pan&scanned then re-cropped in awkward places), the quality is atrocious and is one of the reasons I refuse to get the DVD (even though I enjoy the film).

Regarding bonus features (the quality of them, on DVDs that have them), I'd have to say one of the worst is the sloppily-produced extras for The Boatniks and The World's Greatest Athlete. Both include the trailer (which is rare and for which I have to wonder: "WHY, BVHE, did you do it for these two random and dull movies but not for most of your better ones???"), and in The Boatniks' case it's better than the actual film. But both offer such a headscratching inclusion that is given no context and thus becomes some of the worst extras I've ever seen. Simply titled "Outtakes", it's just a bunch of random footage (alternate angles of scenes, or just random shots from scenes) set to hokey music. Sheer laziness.

Albert

_________________
Saturday Matinee

The film at the very beginning of The Brave Little Toaster is incredibly filthy and I could not believe how atrocious it looked on DVD. It clears up after a bit though and looks more "normal" as the film progresses.

_________________
My Blu-rays.

We have a winner! Nothing can out crap the region 1 (note I said region 1, the region 2 DVD is actually not bad) DVD of Blackbead's Ghost.

However, the most annoying DVD IMO is The One and Only Genuine Original Family Band. On one hand it's got a crappy pan and scan transfer, but on the other it actually has bonus content (including a commentary, very unusual for a live action title). It's like someone was going to make a special edition DVD and then ran out of money to do so part way through.

_________________

The fact that many films are still in pan-and-scan is quite depressing. And whilst I'm not a fan of The Fox and the Hound, it's especially depressing to know that it's is pan-and-scan when one considers the fact that it's a relatively popular animated classic. Aside from this, and anything severely edited (Make Mine Music, the Region 1 Melody Time etc), then I would nominate (not that I own any of them) a lot of the Disney Princess DVDs (such as the Princess Christmas and "Story" compilations) and inferior/needless re-releases of the likes of The Sword in the Stone etc.

_________________
-Joe

Blog | Deviantart

The Black Cauldron's R1 was bad, but there's a region 2 and a region 3 that have a good quality anamorphic transfer.

I also think that movies like Armageddon have a bad quality transfer... since it's non-anamorphic, and it has a lot of artifacts on the transfer. I realize that's not Disney per-se, but it's Touchstone which is owned by Disney.

Don't get me started on the Miramax Pokémon DVDs, either.

_________________


Howard Ashman:
He gave a mermaid her voice, a beast his soul, and Arabs something to complain about
Arabian Nights (Unedited)
Savages (Uncensored)
If it ain't OTV, it ain't worth anything!

The Shaggy Dog was a full aperture negative sadly and inappropriately cropped into a widescreen presentation that cuts off lots of important picture information top and bottom (including much of the dog and Moochie).

Also, those tired colorized versions of Shaggy Dog and Absent Minded Professor are from the 80's early-colorization days and look awful (not that the more recent Zorros look good, but the process had at least improved by then).

The recent "enhanced" version of Cinderella looks worse than two reissues ago when it was a true restoration. Her hair is on fire most of the time and her shirt is a different color in every shot.

The recent Mary Poppins sweetened soundtrack with modern foley is a travesty.

The color on Peter Pan has never looked right on video. This continues with the most recent versions.

The overly worked Bambi was a big mistake.

I'm glad I saved my laserdiscs with so many of the good, simple restorations and telecine transfers from the laserdisc era.

Ducktales the Movie: Legend of the Lost Lamp was a pretty lousy effort. It only had just one little special feature, that being a lazily-assembled DVD game...

I mean yes, the movie is extremely underrated and not much people would buy it unless they either really liked the movie or are huge DuckTales fans but they shouldn't of acted like it was a DVD that probably not much people will buy (only because the movie was never very well promoted)! =P

And I was pretty disappointed with the efforts they did with Robin Hood too. Of course, they restored the movie very well and the aspect ratio is correct so it wasen't a completely bad effort but it was a well-marketed special edition so the fact that there were very few really interesting special features (apart from the Mickey Mouse cartoon and the one deleted scene) was a major disappointment. They really could of done much more with it!

The Lion King: Plantinum Edition

Disgraceful!

Bad menu organization, failure to provide the actual theatrical version as advertised on the case, very poor selection of THREE measly deleted scenes (after they talked on the DVD of how they animated several different versions of CYFTLT, they only show you one version?).


I was also dissappointed that The Lion King 2: Simba's Pride did not have deleted scenes like the other dvds did. I know that this was because of one controversial animated deleted scene but still they couldve added a little more than just the One by One short.

I actually enjoyed The Lion King: Platinum Edition; of course it was my second DVD and i was barely being introduced to the good insight of DVD.


Sure the menus were random, but I think it included some of the best bonus features I've seen so far.
The unforgivable mistake made here was making the extended version the default version to be played.

_________________

I know this is pretty much a given, but any Limited Issue Disney released (save for Hercules and maybe Mulan). VHS-quality transfers, no decent bonus features, and I mean, come on "full color character artwork on disc!"?

I know that would definitely be the deciding factor for me!

I also agree that TLK PE is a pretty bad DVD, but mostly because of the menus. They are just confusing and not very easy to navigate through.

I'm also not a big fan of the presentation of the film on the BatB PE. I'm glad Disney remastered it, but I think they took it too far. It looks way too pastel-y, although that was their goal...sorta.

_________________
UDer #3495

Yeah, I'm annoyed with that too. There's quite a few live-action catalogue titles that feel just like that. I've always had this theory that a good deal of their catalogue titles were actually supposed to get better treatment on DVD (stuff like Darby O'Gill, Family Band, The Black Hole, etc.), but the less-than-expected sales on the Vault Disney Collection discs caused BVHE to instead decide "eh, why put the effort into them now?" and they just released wave after wave of disappointing titles, some which only had bonus features because they were being created in anticipation of a Special Edition that would be worth it.

Albert

_________________
Saturday Matinee

You said it! let's just hope they fix it!

Hunchback Of Notre Dame DVD really stinks too!

_________________
Check Out My Disney Music Videos now in HQ!

I'll jump on the bandwagon and saw that all of the pan & scan discs are poor show on Disney's part; especially because so many of them are remastered and shown in their OAR on R2 discs.

Personally, I think some of the worst Disney DVD presentations are:

Blackbeard's Ghost
Miracle of the White Stallions
Third Man on the Mountain
The Moon-Spinners
The Journey of Natty Gann
Cheetah
Follow Me, Boys!
No Deposit, No Return
Night Crossing
White Fang
The One and Only, Genuine, Original Family Band

All of those films have absolutely terrible film transfers! Any distribution company worth there salt would be embarassed by such trash. I only hope that Disney does some sort of restoration on these films for future releases. DVD was a format that set fire to the film restoration craze. Now people could experience films in their best possible format, and almost every company delivered quality remastered transfers in the original theatrical aspect ratio.

Disney, on the other hand, let many films "fall through the cracks" and get released without any attention being paid to it. It is this kind of business that causes a loss of trust in a company's name. And when a consumer has to stop and think about whether or not they really want to buy that item...chances are they put it back. Disney has now experienced some declining sales in the DVD market and I can only say that it is almost completely their fault.

They had better have their act together for the Blu-ray releases of these films if they intend to gain my trust and NOT put those discs back on the shelves.

_________________
"It's Kind Of Fun To Do The Impossible"
- Walt Disney

At least Hunchback is anamorphic and not grainy!

I mean, I don't mind Hercules but I do want one with more special features and an anamorphic transfer...

The Lion King PE sucks not just because of the menus, but because it wasn't the true OTV! Cheers to Disney for actually making it 1.66:1 (when neither of the laserdiscs were... which strikes me as odd since just about EVERY OTHER laserdisc Disney made was done in the original animated ratio, and they come along and make The Lion King 1.85:1) but that special edition was a joke and I hate the redrawn colors.

And as I said, don't get me into the Miramax DVDs of the Pokémon movies... they were actually worse than those that WB did, and are probably my least favorite of all of them (not movie-wise, but authoring-wise)

_________________


Howard Ashman:
He gave a mermaid her voice, a beast his soul, and Arabs something to complain about
Arabian Nights (Unedited)
Savages (Uncensored)
If it ain't OTV, it ain't worth anything!

A Goofy Movie, without a doubt. It's one of my favorites, but the DVD is just horrible. Barely any special features besides a pointless silent quiz, an old Goofy feature and a Goof Troop episode (and Goof Troop isn't even mentioned). Not to forget the fact that the DVD is in fullscreen! The Region 2 and 4 DVDs are widescreen though. I'm going to do some research, hopefully An Extremely Goofy Movie has a widescreen release here in the states.

Here's a very brief widescreen/fullscreen comparison of A Goofy Movie (which I made!): http://geocities.com/barryo1994/fullwide.html

Journey of Natty Gann was the one that shocked me the most when I bought/saw the DVD for the first time. That one is like a bad VHS tape. From the others I own, Blackbeard's Ghost might be the second worst, but I still have to watch a few.

The Lion King was the lamest Platinum Edition I think.

_________________

Another lame Disney release,

Tall Tale: The Unbelievable Adventures of Pecos Bill: No chapter menu. No chapters (the movie is one chapter), full screen. Also, how come they shortened the title from its theatrical release title?

Hey Disney, don't you know the capabilities of a DVD? Yes? Then why cheap out on movies like Tall Tale and Shipwrecked?