The Secret of Nimh: Family Fun Edition 6/19/07 (1 Viewer)

Anybody going to get the 2-Disc Family Fun Edition of The Secret of Nimh on 6/19/07? I'll certainly pick it up, I just hope that other Don Bluth films will get the same treatment.

Family fun edition? Please, this is a rather somber film. Still, it should be an improvement over the P&S edition.

Yeah, Rat torture in the National Institute For Mental Health. Always a great film for a family to bond to!

I do like the film though, so if this is wide screen, it will be an improvement.

I'm kind of holding off on a lot of DVD purchases since we have Blu Ray and HD players in our home. Just hoping as time goes on odd flick like this will come out in Hd. Maybe in time........

Found this on Don Bluth's website:

Posted: 04/05/2007
From: Adam McDaniel
Email: [email protected]
Subject: NIMH retrospective
Message: I'm happy to learn that www.aintitcoolnews.com, a popular site about the entertainment industry, will soon be including a discussion of THE SECRET OF NIMH as part of their look back at 1982 as "the best genre year ever." (I'd volunteered to write about it, only to be informed that someone else was already on top of it!) Naturally, we're all very excited about the film's upcoming DVD re-release, and hope that it's given the comprehensive, deluxe, "all out" treatment that it deserves. Any news or details to share with us yet? "Making of" interviews with the animators and surviving voice cast? Is there anything you wish could have been included that wasn't? I know, I know...we'll probably just have to wait, but it's been 25 years now, so you can't accuse us of being impatient. I'm particularly interested in your thoughts on the film now, as well as its large cult following. As much as people love and enjoy your other films, it's fair to say that "NIMH" is the one that you guys will be known for...and will still be enjoyed another 25, even 50 years from now. Heartfelt regards, Adam McDaniel
Reply: Adam, Thank you for writing. Actually, this re-release will not be the HD Blu-Ray release, but it will have the color corrections made by Gary and the new master was digitally cleaned up and ridded of scratches and dust by the technical people hired by Fox Home Entertainment (for MGM/UA). The HD version will come out later. The folks at Fox Home Entertainment marketing have decided that this first re-release will not be the "25th Aniversary Edition" but a Fox Family Fun Edition, with a Fox Home Entertainment choice of cover art and an edited interview to service family audiences. It will also have a producer/director commentary over the film as part of the extras. We provided the Extras producer with several links and leads to materials that could be used in the extras but I do not believe that interviews were done with the likes of Dom DeLuis, or Wil Wheaton, or Shannen Doherty, or the beloved Derek Jacobi. That would have been great. There are a lot of the animators who have gone on to have great careers and some have even directed animated features. Maybe for the HD Blu-Ray version we can get the extras producer to go after these contributors and expand the backstories of many of those involved. Hopefully, you and all the other fans will enjoy the color-corrected remastered film, and the extras that have been made for this release. By the way, we haven't seen a release copy yet, only the remastered digital copy on professional equipment...but it looks great!
Reply Posted: 04/11/2007

and yes according to dvdempire, it's in Widescreen

i'll buy it right away if its wide sceen.

seems like this was already a topic from before.

I'm all over this. Don's Pebble and the Penguin already got the same treatment (even though I haven't seen it yet due to no one being able to recommend that movie). I can't believe they're using the exact same cover art as the previous release of The Secret of NIMH. They should be using the original poster art for this release.

And before anyone even attempts to start a debate on the issue, here is a quote from Don Bluth's website, from the man himself:

"We made those early films, Banjo the Woodpile Cat (1979) thru The Pebble and the Penguin (1995) in the full frame, 1:1.33 format. As did Disney up into the nineties. Full screen standard television screens would pretty much represent that format, though there is some loss, very little, on the left and right of the screen. However, a wide screen or letterboxed version or even the new 16X9 format cuts off the image at the top and bottom, losing some of the background and part of the character and effects on closeups of the charcters. The format shown in theaters, a wide screen affect at 1:1.85 does the same, cuts off a portion of the top and the bottom. In fact if the projectionist doesn't find the proper north/south center, the image may have more chopped off one end or the other. On the new mastering of our films we are making sure we do a shot by shot adjustment to make sure no pertinent information is not cut off. So that the Letterboxed, widescreen version will be as accurate as possible to reflect what you saw in the theater (or what was intended for you to see.) .... Actually most of our films were shot 1:1.33, even while we were at Disney 1972-1979. Here's the list of independent product. Banjo the woodpile Cat, The Secret of N.I.M.H., An American Tail, The Land Before Time, All Dogs Go to Heaven, Rock-A-Doodle, A Troll in Central Park, Thumbelina, The Pebble and the Penguin were all shot 1:1.33, we had some of the later films' dupe negatives matted to 1:1.85 format to avoid projection error with the 1:1.85 clip used to adjust the fomat to a wider screen. At Fox, we became digital and we produced Anastasia in CinemaScope 1:2.35 as was Titan A.E.. "

Sounds to me like they shot them "protected", if you will.

The Digital Bits is reporting that this edition will feature both the full frame & widescreen versions, which is what Bluth or Goldman has previously stated that he would like to see on the DVD release. Also: deleted scenes with audio commentary by directors Don Bluth and Gary Goldman, a 10-minute "making of" featurette. And, as previously mentioned, the color has been corrected.

As I said before, I am all over this DVD and will be ordering it ASAP.

I suppose I'll get flamed for saying the book was better, but Bluth's animated version is also very good up until the ridiculous supernatural ending with the "magical amulet." The ending of the book was a downer, but the film's ending really ruined it for me the first time I saw it. I've begrudgingly learned to accept it.
I'm holding off on whether I'll buy it, because my kids are getting older and this is not one they return to on a regular basis.

Cover has been confirmed now:

At least they somewhat modified it. Hopefully they've changed it enough for people to notice that it's different...