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A Few Words About A few words about...™ Hercules & Tarzan -- in Blu-ray (1 Viewer)

Robert Harris

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I'm covering Disney's new Blu-ray releases of Hercules (1997) and Tarzan (1999) together, for the dual purpose of saving time, and getting word out as quickly as possible as to the quality of these new Blu-rays.

The Disney organization has stepped to the fore in the archival world for constantly returning, not to dupes or even to original printing negatives, where production was digital, but back to their film's foundations.  Last one that amazed me was Mary Poppins.

For this alone they should be supported for their efforts, and those efforts known by the Blu-ray buying public.

Hercules and Tarzan are each currently available via Amazon for $18, which based alone on the effort and cost of creating these releases, also demands to be recognized.

CAPS, which was Disney's proprietary digital ink and paint system, first used for a feature for a sequence in The Little Mermaid (1989).  It was used through around 2003-4, with a final count of less than twenty feature films, but representing some of the best of the era.

Both Hercules and Tarzan were CAPS productions, yielding 2k resolution.

Here's where things get interesting.

I'm not a believer in the sustainability of digital elements, unless they are handled very carefully.  Most everyone has had problems as digital files age.

Many IP owners would go back to a recorded negative for a Blu-ray release, but that's not the case with Disney.  As they had for some of their 3D and IMAX work, their archival staff has returned to the original CAPS files, which means that these Blu-rays are a perfect representation of the original digital artwork.

No intervening film elements, and zero loss -- of anything.

As such, the imagery on these discs is close to miraculous.  Detail, resolution, color, shadow detail and black levels are all at absolute levels.

Full use of multi-plane animation throughout the films, yields an almost other-worldly amount of precision and detail, as their are no cells involved in the capture.

Bottom line.

Terrific films.  Tarzan may not be fully appropriate for very small children.  However, DVDs packaged along with the Blu-rays allows multiple screenings for children of a certain age, away from a family's main Blu-ray home theater setup.

These are releases that could not possibly be any better produced.  It is my presumption that what we are seeing is precisely what the animators viewed on their computer screens during final QC.

Image - 5*

Audio - 5 (DTS-HD MA 5.1)

Very Highly Recommended.

An extra note, I'll request something once again from the folks at Disney.  People should know, without having to research, precisely where these films fit into the history of production at Disney.

I'd love to see information as to the actual date of production or release offered on packaging.  

RAH

 

Mark-W

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Thanks for your input, Mr. Harris.

You comments always carry a lot of weight with me and I know most (if not nearly all) of the HTF's membership.

More than once, I have purchased or passed on a title based on your "...few words..."

I do hope that as Disney starts to run out of back catalog to release on Blu-ray, they revisit some already-released Blu-ray titles that reflect poorly on their company, not the least of which is The Sword and Stone.
 

Robert Harris

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Mark Walker said:
Thanks for your input, Mr. Harris.

You comments always carry a lot of weight with me and I know most (if not nearly all) of the HTF's membership.

More than once I have purchased on passed on a title based on your "...few words."

I do hope that as Disney starts to run out of back catalog to release on Blu-ray, they revisit some already-released Blu-ray titles that reflect poorly on their company, not the least of which is The Sword and Stone.
They are fully aware.

RAH
 

FoxyMulder

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Robert Harris said:
Bottom line.

Terrific films. Tarzan may not be fully appropriate for very small children. However, DVDs packaged along with the Blu-rays allows multiple screenings for children of a certain age, away from a family's main Blu-ray home theater setup.

These are releases that could not possibly be any better produced. It is my presumption that what we are seeing is precisely what the animators viewed on their computer screens during final QC.

Image - 5*

Audio - 5 (DTS-HD MA 5.1)


RAH
I wonder what went wrong with the UK edition of Aladdin, i imagine the USA release will be substantially improved on that one.
 

Stephen_J_H

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Hercules does indeed look great. Still haven't gotten around to watching Tarzan, but it's on my to-do list.
 

Johnny Angell

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FoxyMulder said:
I wonder what went wrong with the UK edition of Aladdin, i imagine the USA release will be substantially improved on that one.
What was wrong with it?
 

FoxyMulder

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Johnny Angell said:
What was wrong with it?
Some banding, they could have added dither as they did for The Lion King to eliminate that.

There is also that 5.1 soundtrack, i love the 7.1 remixes, unfortunately in the UK we always get 5.1, it also looks like the USA edition will be full of extra content, okay i must admit i exaggerated the issues but i hate banding on animated titles, it's so easy to erase it, roll on 10 bit and higher video and i sure wish they would include the alternate extended editions when there is a dvd version of the film, i was really disappointed with Pocahontas not including the additional song within the film.

I still want some visible film grain with the classics, oh and the not so classic, fine detail suffers on large screens ( and small ) when they de-grain it all away, have you seen The Aristocats, every bit as bad as The Sword In The Stone in my book.

I was also very less than thrilled by Bambi, an atrocious release, while i'm on a roll let me say i was disappointed with Sleeping Beauty too, i expected much more from that release, i didn't think much of Dumbo and Pinocchio had a few okay moments but had a number of issues to my eyes, as for The Rescuers, don't get me started, major fail on blu ray.

I also preferred the 3D release of Beauty and the Beast, the 2D edition has ringing in a number of scenes, possibly related to how they did that early CAPS title, don't know, i also felt they brightened up the castle scenes and they reveal too much of the beast early on, i felt the 3D edition got some of the darkness and colours back to normal, yes i calibrate 3D in my home.

I have stopped buying Disney now, well i actually stopped a while ago, they are not catering to me and i wish i had not bought most of the above titles, the only Disney animated title i can say i am 100% happy with is The Lion King.*


*Of course i don't have Tarzan or Hercules.
 

JoshZ

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FoxyMulder said:
I have stopped buying Disney now, well i actually stopped a while ago, they are not catering to me and i wish i had not bought most of the above titles, the only Disney animated title i can say i am 100% happy with is The Lion King.
Which replaced some of the original animation with the redrawn IMAX version.
 

MatthewA

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If these releases prove they can get things right when they want to, then why are they so inconsistent overall?
 

JoshZ

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FoxyMulder said:
I didn't know that, okay i am now 99% happy with The Lion King. :D
For one thing, the crocodiles and birds in the "I Just Can't Wait to Be King" scene are new and look noticeably inferior to the original version, like they were drawn by Disney's TV animation department.

Here's an article from when the first DVD with these changes was released:

http://www.dvdizzy.com/thelionking2.html
 

FoxyMulder

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JoshZ said:
For one thing, the crocodiles and birds in the "I Just Can't Wait to Be King" scene are new and look noticeably inferior to the original version, like they were drawn by Disney's TV animation department.

Here's an article from when the first DVD with these changes was released:

http://www.dvdizzy.com/thelionking2.html
How hard can it be to just use seamless branching and give the viewer some options, i see Beauty and the Beast had alterations too, i wonder if they "improved" the waterfalls or made them worse, i cannot recall how my VHS copy looks.*

*I could get it out of the box but would VHS tape still be playable after 20+ years.
 

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