DVD Review HTF REVIEW: "20,000 Leagues Under The Sea" (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED) (with screenshots) (1 Viewer)

[JackKay]

Jeffrey Nelson
thanks for the info. Jack

 

[Ernest Rister]

Believe me, I'm in your corner re: new folex f/x. I think the 5.1 "Enhanced Home Theater Mix" of Mary Poppins sets a new low. Not only are the new foley f/x completely unnecessary, the high end has been stripped out of the sound track, and the whole thing is a muddled 5.1 mess. They give out awards for the best such and such in DVD every year, the Mary Poppins disc should win an award for sporting the worst 5.1 soundtrack of a classic title, ever. It is flat-out horrible.

20,000 Leagues is not the same thing. There are no new foley f/x in the film, they take "off stage" sound f/x that were always present in the film and port them accordingly to the left or right channels. The only new addition - aside from the support from the surround tracks - is the LFE, which comes to life in a number of instances. True, this can be a bit jarring for those familiar with the soundtrack (particularly the scene where Arronax views the nuclear reaction down in the engine room), but it is not objectionable. Considering what might have been done, on the whole, the effort to bring 20,000 Leagues into a 5.1 universe was very restrained and tasteful.

 

[Jeffrey Nelson]

Ernest, thanks again! I was under the impression that the new mix suffered from new foley f/x. Glad to hear the opposite! I shall definitely be picking up this disc, although one more caveat popped up in my mind: didn't I also read somewhere that the LD shows slightly more onscreen info? Is the DVD slightly cropped on a couple sides?

The MARY POPPINS remix debacle is why I recently searched out the Archive Collection LD of that title. The sound is BRILLIANT, and the picture shows the most info on top and bottom of all the available versions. I know that the original mix is included as well (or something approximating it), but it is reportedly recorded too low, and I'll bet my LD blows it out of the water. I'll still be getting the DVD for the amazing exras though.