Blu-ray Review HTF BLU-RAY REVIEW: The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (1 Viewer)

[David Wilkins]

It's another case of engineered double-suck. I'm sorry, double-dip.

 

[Jim_K]

Thanks for the review, sounds like it was a sound pre-order on my part.

This should've contained both cuts though.

 

[Dave H]

I saw this in the theater and thought it was "okay." I'll give it a rental again to see if my opinion has changed and I'm curious to see how this will look/sound on my set-up.

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

I never got around to picking this one up on DVD for the family -- as I didn't think it was *that* good and never saw it discounted much. But since the extended cut doesn't seem to add much (as pointed out by some others), I guess I'll probably bite on the BD soon enough (mainly for the kids what w/ summer coming and lots of free time on their hands).

RE: the 480i vs 1080i/p thing regarding extras, yeah, they really should be switching to 1080i/p nowadays, *BUT* it's not really that big a deal to me for many of the extras, particularly on older films that likely didn't have much that can be done in 1080i/p -- it really depends on what it is, IMHO.

And thanks, Matt, for the fine review...

_Man_

 

[Neil Joseph]

Thanks for the review. I plan on getting mine soon enough.

 

[TonyD]

......

 

[MarekM]

great !!! thanx for info !!! ordering

Marek

 

[TonyD]

.....

 

[Arild]

Hm. Where'd you get 113 minutes, though? Because it's definitely longer than that.

 

[TonyD]

......

 

[Bryan Beckman]

IMDB: 143 min

This BD release is the theatrical version.

 

[Mike Frezon]

Sometimes I just really wonder what I might have missed...

 

[TonyD]

you just had to do that didn't you.

 

[Mike Frezon]

Yup!

 

[David Norman]

Still lots of confusion over this release due to some of the bizarre running time lists.

As best as I can piece together -- the theatrical release is 143 minutes (or 142:50+ if you want to be picky) despite being listed as less. The extended release runs a bit over 150 minutes according to all the reviews which were almost entirely disappointed with the extra minutes (several extra extended scenes non really adding much to the film). None of the reviews I read suggested double dipping if you already had the first DVD release unless you wanted the extras. I had had forgotten just how miniscule the differences were and there was a reason I never bought the extended release and I admit to being the king of double dipping.

 

[Bryan Beckman]

I held off on buying the theatrical cut on DVD because of the strongly swirling rumors at the time of an extended release coming down the line.

The extra minutes on the extended cut consist mostly of additional battle footage. I didn't think the battle was too long already, so I welcomed the extra scenes. They're edited into the film quite nicely, and the A/V experience is awesome.

I revisited the movie a few nights ago, and I don't think I could go back to the theatrical cut. I do hope the extended version gets its due on Blu-ray before the year is out (perhaps a tie-in with Prince Caspian?). The best thing in my opinion would have been to do a branching option on this release, but since that isn't the case here I hope the extended cut doesn't become an afterthought.

 

[Jake Lipson]

I loved the movie, but I'm going to pass on this upgrade until the price comes down a bit. Even though it's great, it's not one of my most frequently revisited titles. I paid $35-$40 or so for the four-disc DVD a couple of years ago, so I'll stick with that for a while. I've only ever seen the extended version, and even though I've heard that the extensions aren't much, it's more a principle thing that it should have been included too -- in addition to the exclusive suppliments for that release. If Disney expects me to shell out another $30 to upgrade this, it better at least have everything my standard version did so I can dump that to soften the upgrade cost. I might consider getting it and using the $10 upgrade offer later, but it's not a huge priority. How long is the upgrade offer valid for?

 

[Ron Reda]

I think this is the theatrical version as evidenced by my perusing of it last night. When you hover over the "Play" menu option, it displays the film as being 142:50 minutes.

That being said, this BR is nothing short of spectacular from an A/V standpoint. The video is top notch with the first scenes in the snow looking like you're viewing out of a window. The scene with Tumnus and little Lucy immediately sucked me in by how real it looked, yet it had a very film-like appearance. When the White Witch arrives by sleigh to meet the other younger brother, the audio track of the deer (or whatever they are) hooves shook my whole room...thunderous indeed. I must admit, I really fought the urge to watch the whole thing due to it's presentation but it was just too late to do so. I decided to skip around a bit and when I saw how good the scenes with the army getting ready, I knew I had to shut the movie off or else I was in for the long haul. The greens of the landscape mixed with the golds and reds of the army's uniforms looked so real, you could almost reach out and touch them. I'm really looking forward to watching the whole film tonight. Well done, Disney!