German 3-D Conversion of THE LAST UNICORN (1982)...Buyer Beware! (1 Viewer)

[Dick]

Saw this on the Amazon Germany web site and, because I thoroughly enjoy the movie, thought I'd chance picking up this new 3-D release. I am not completely bummed by it, but it sure ain't THE WIZARD OF OZ.

Whoever converted this film needed to spend more time and money doing it right. As it is, the images often look strange, playing tricks on the eyes. Pieces of the background seem to come forward from time to time. It's difficult to make sense of the depth sometimes, while at other times it looks quite good. Cameras pans and the instances of multi-plane work appear screwy -- hard to describe, but this is careless work. The unicorn herself, pure white, is generally a bit soft, lacking outline detail. Even THE LITTLE MERMAID (1989) 3-D conversion looks better than this, but that was done by Disney with endless financing at their disposal, but they didn't do especially well with it, either, in my opinion.

The single disc also offers a 2D version, some documentaries, and two trailers, one of them a German-language 3-D. The commentary track is English and is the same as the one appearing on the domestic Carlton/Lionsgate release. Most of the other features are ported from the Lionsgate edition as well. In my player, the sound defaulted to German, but English can be chosen on the fly. English & German subs are included. Even though this new edition also features a 2-D version, I would still hang on to your domestic copy until you check out this one, should you decide to purchase it. The very good sound on both releases is the same dts/5.1 surround track. Region coding is A-B-C.

https://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B0094M6DTC/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Hope this helps.

 

[battlebeast]

WOW!!!

 

[David Norman]

Somewhat of an excuse for the 3D -- I'd say at best this was done on a shoestring budget (maybe a gumball machine profit budget). Single Country, Small studio, but sold in Germany where they do tons of computer auto conversions many which are downright abominable. Last Unicorn is not in the same league as a film made for 3D initially or with a massive Disney budget to do it at a high level designed at least initially for a Full Theatrical release.

The Last Unicorn conversion had a least some thought put into it so more than just a goof project, but I'd consider this more of a fan edit designed for a few hundred or a couple thousand audience members. It unique, it's interesting, but obviously it has some severe limitations and is trading on it near Cult Animation status and the German appetite for 3D Animation. I've seen worse and paid a lot more. I have a new copy (or a copy for myself) on it way from Germany for around $10 since I only saw it on someone else's system a few years ago.

Even mentioning a multimillion dollar post conversion like TLM is a bit like comparing a home brew souped up engine tuner racing the weekend small track vs a Race team building a Drag racer to compete at the National level.

 

[Stephen_J_H]

I'm going to hazard a guess and say this was one of the "automated" conversions that have been done, like I, Robot, Predator, Jumper or Gamer.

 

[David Norman]

I'm going to hazard a guess and say this was one of the "automated" conversions that have been done, like I, Robot, Predator, Jumper or Gamer.

Not exactly, but similar. I think it's far better than the pure autobot conversions. As I understand it involved some or quite a bit of human manipulation and though put into it rather than being completely an autobot generated project, but it was certainly not done on the high tech level