A Few Words About A few words about...™ Beauty and the Beast 3D -- in Blu-ray (1 Viewer)

[Robert Harris]

Released on Blu-ray concurrent with Disney's brilliant The Lion King, Beauty and the Beast, produced three years earlier, is the second of the top three animated Disney films of the era. Hopefully The Little Mermaid will follow.

I'm a stickler for the use of the "restoration" in regard to the cinema. I recall the folks at Disney mis-using it back in the laserdisc days, with the words "Fully Restored" emblazoned at the top of the cover. I believe TLM was a foray into capturing animated imagery on Eastman color negative, and while this may have caused some problems, I somehow doubt that a full "restoration" was necessary just a few years after its release.

We've seen this before with Beauty and the Beast, produced two years after TLM, and again, I highly doubt the need for any true restorative efforts. Re-working imagery, digital clean-ups? Absolutely. But I'll let that rest.

Like The Lion King, Beauty and the Beast is another magnificent Blu-ray from Disney, a company whose post-produced 3D work I've found exemplary. As with The Lion King, the 3D work here is fine. It adds another layer of dynamics for the viewer, but after checking out both versions, I came away preferring the 2D, for the same reasons that I voiced for The Lion King.

I'm not suggesting that potential buyers shy away from the 3D. It's something that's very interesting to view. And for a difference of $6 at street, with the addition of digital copy, its really a no-brainer, even if one doesn't' currently have the ability to view 3D technology.

Disney Home Entertainment really has created the perfect home theater storm with these two releases. They both truly need to be in any serious collection, and if there are kids around, they become essential.

Highly Recommended.

RAH

 

[I-C-Blue]

After seeing the new Theatrical 3D trailer, I've realized two things:
1) There's new effects. The background has blur effects in scenes with a lot of motion
2) The color changes - for the better.
To take this both into account, reference the 3D trailer and pause at 1:12
[VIDEO]http-~~-//www.youtube.com/watch?v=xD5pcGp62ec&feature=player_embedded[/VIDEO]
2010 Diamond Edition - Pause at 4:28
[VIDEO]http-~~-//www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJQr6bmmRt8[/VIDEO]
Small but significant changes and again, for the better. Belle's hair and overall color is much more faithful to the original, even more so than last years blu-ray. Just watching the 3D trailer alone gets me feeling all the familiarity of the classic I remembered.
That said, does the 2D blu-ray off the 3D combo pack carry these updated changes? Or do you know if the 3D blu-ray works on 2D setups, without a 3D TV? That'd be the only reason for me to buy the 3D combo pack otherwise.
Here's another video, where someone else compared side by side, further stating the color changes:
[VIDEO]http-~~-//www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTTeye6HGl4[/VIDEO]

 

[Ronald Epstein]

I have said this elsewhere but it bears repeating here....

Disney needs to be commended for their commitment to
3D home entertainment.

They have released more quality programming to the format
than any other studio. And by quality, I don't mean just titles
but grade of transfer. When you buy a Disney 3D release, you
are getting an exceptional 3D transfer.

If you are just buying into 3D now, titles that are absolute
must buys include The Lion King, Beauty and The Beast,
All 3 Toy Story Films, Bolt and The Nightmare Before Christmas.

What is rather amazing about the recommendations I have
just given you is that most all those films (with the exception
of Bolt and Toy Story 3) were not originally conceived for 3D
and only recently unconverted. Yet, they look spectacular with
their new level of depth. Beauty and The Beast looks spectacular.

You just can't go wrong with any of these Disney titles.

 

[FoxyMulder]

I am not sure if the blur effect is good or not, slightly darker colours, perhaps, maybe if the dungeon scenes are now darker it would impress me, are they. ?

I would imagine on the 3D edition that Belle is in the foreground with the background in the distance behind her, maybe it works better when viewing it with the glasses on than it does looking at it via the computer.

 

[Mark-P]

Josh, I think your post is probably meant as a "isn't this interesting" commentary rather than a criticism of the changes. Of course converting a film to 3D in the first place is a major change and and essentially a re-inventing of the movie. So making these kinds of changes such as adding blur and changing colors are all necessary parts of the process. The blur-effect actually makes sense because in natural vision when we focus on something closer, things that are farther away ARE out of focus so blurring some of the deeper backgrounds would probably help with the depth illusion. Colors and contrast are also likely to be different as the 3D lenses cause some dimming of the picture and colors can also be affected.

 

[I-C-Blue]

Yeah but I don't think the colors were changed just for the sake of converting to 3D. The colors in the Diamond Edition had a lot of red it made Belle's hair look too brownish light, or Gaston's shirt ridiculously bright red (it's a lot darker now in the new trailer), along with all the other colors being too bright and vibrant.

While this is far from the laserdisc/VHS colors, it is most definitely closer. I for one am not satisfied with their transfer on the 2D blu-ray it killed it (other than the blue sky ...). For the 3D blu-ray, I think they've realized their mistake, took their chance and made it more faithful to the original. Even the kid I babysit, who watches my 1992 VHS copy a gazillion times at his place (his family has yet to adapt to DVD), said "why is Belle's hair different?" when watching my blu-ray copy.
Anyway I'm sad to report from a friend who owns a 3D combo pack, that the 2D blu-ray does not carry over the new effects or more importantly, the new colors. It's the exact same 2D copy from last year. Does anyone know if the 3D blu-ray works on a 2D set up or did Disney lock it for 3D only, like they did with The Christmas Carol?

 

[Robert Harris]

For those who have not yet added BatB to their library, and wish to do so, be aware that it goes "back in the vault" on April 30.

These discs are out of production.

RAH

 

[John Weller]

The actual theatrical version needs releasing properly. Some new animation from the Special Edition was included on the "theatrical" by mistake.

 

Duplicate.

 

Yeah, the animation at the end of "Something There" was changed, or at least the backgrounds...I MUCH prefer the original.

 

Yeah, the animation at the end of "Something There" was changed, or at least the backgrounds...I MUCH prefer the original version. They need to correct this mistake.

 

Duplicate

 

[John Weller]

Yes, that's what came to mind. The version on the 2002 dvd DOES preserve that shot, though it has replaced backgrounds for later scenes.

 

I didn't care for Belle's reflection in the ballroom window that was added to the start of the song "Beauty and the Beast" either.

 

[John Weller]

I didn't care for Belle's reflection in the ballroom window that was added to the start of the song "Beauty and the Beast" either.

To be honest, never noticed that one...and it's my favorite film! It'll probably stick out now lol