DVD Review HTF Review: Mulan (2-disc SE) - RECOMMENDED (1 Viewer)

[Dick]

If you like trailers, better hold on to that first release, because inexplicably Disney decided not to include it on this new set. D'ya 'spose they didn't have two more minutes of time between the two discs?

 

[Ryan Wong]

Shouldn't it be horizontally cropped from 1.66:1?

 

[Mike Frezon]

Good one, John!

 

[Ernest Rister]

I chuckled at that as well...the disc also includes "Full-Color FBI Warning" and "Full-Color Menu Screen"

 

[Chris]

Thanks for clearing up the AR issue. I picked up and saw 1.66 AR and thought "damnit" and wondered what the hell was going on. Glad you answered that question.

 

[DaViD Boulet]

Hey Ryan,

If you have a native animated image that's 1.66:1 in shape...to convert this to 1.85, which is 'wider' or 'less tall' depending on how you look at it, you crop part of the top and bottom off of the original 1.66:1 image to create the 1.85:1 shape. This is similar to "soft matte" 1.85:1 movies which are actually filmed in full-frame 1.33:1 film stock and then cropped/masked to 1.85:1 for projection. In either case, *vertical* domain picture content has been removed--hence my term "vertical cropping".

So, maybe we're just confusing semantics. I call an image "vertically cropped" when it has had vertical-domain picture content removed. Of course, the result is letterboxing that runs from right to left so I guess the terminilogy can get confusing...and is to a large degree subjective. As long as we're in agreement/understanding about what is actually taking place...then we're ok.

-dave

 

[Kevin_H]

Hey David,

Is there no mention made to Jerry Goldsmith? It seems like an odd exclusion considering he just died. Its a shame because it is one of his better "late" scores, and his last oscar nomination if I'm not mistaken.

 

[Aaron Silverman]

Ernest,

If you think that's bad -- I have a DVD of a Chinese-made musical film of the story in which nearly everyone DIES at the end!!! I mean, pretty much all Mandarin-language historical epics have depressing endings, but the traditional Mulan story has a *happy* ending!


My fiance (who is from Beijing) nearly had a cow when we watched it. ("That's not how Grandma told me the story!!!")

It was otherwise a good film, though.

 

[Steve Christou]

 

[Dan Hitchman]

Unless it was my DVD player, the lowly Pioneer 563A, I saw some blocky pixelization (like typical MPEG mosquito noise) in solid colors and some color banding throughout the film. Color banding problems are not only related to MPEG compression issues, but also rather poor downscaling conversion of 10 or 12 bit 4:4:4 color files to 8 bit 4:2:0 color. This is an issue that must be addressed with HD-DVD and Blu-Ray. Hopefully, they will address color sampling.

I wonder if Disney isn't using older MPEG-2 encoders as even the progressive flagging of their discs is usually incorrect and a bitch for flag reading progressive scan players, and the bitrate was usually pretty high while still having these problems associated with unimproved MPEG encoding software.

At least they didn't have horrid brown stripes going through their animation like Brother Bear (which they haven't recalled)!

Will Disney improve when HD discs come out, or will they be behind the times with these as well?

I didn't see any of these severe encoding and compression problems with Warner Brothers' The Iron Giant. Even Fox kept compression issues to a minimum on their direct digital transfer of Family Guy.

Hopefully, at least, Hunchback will be re-released with an all digital transfer soon... now that disc looked horrid!

Dan

 

[JoSAN]

.

 

[RomanSohor]

Yes Mulan was definately made by WDFA-Florida, I Was a tour guide at the MGM Attraction the winter after it was released, and it was still a big deal to them, even though they had just begun work on Lilo & Stitch

 

[Mike Frezon]

Well, I just watched the new release of Mulan on my 26" WS Samsung HDTV. The artifacting is not nearly as bad as on Beauty and the Beast. It is there, but not distracting. I did NOT notice much of a difference between scenes from the beginning of the film or scenes from the end of the film.

I thought the 5.1 was fine but could have had a little more pizzazz considering the various sfx in play--avalanche, fireworks, cannon, etc.

Now! On to the bonus features!

 

[Ryan Wong]

What??!! I'll have to double-dip it?
I hope the next Hunchback 2 disc special edition won't have DTS.

Thanks for the answer Dave.

 

[James_M]

If you buy the Hong Kong versions, Disney movies always come with English, Mandarin, and Cantonese.

I've always thought that putting Chinese tracks on Mulan would be a natural extra. But I didn't think Disney would ever do it for the R1. I wanted the Cantonese track too, so I still have to buy the R3 HK version.

I also kind of agree with Ernest Rister's comments that it could have been a better movie. I don't think the climax was that bothersome. The out of place cartoony gags and content bothered me more. But then I realize, it's modern Disney. That's how their films are manufactured.

 

[Ernest Rister]

What a beautiful disc! Issues with the last act of the film aside, Disney has created a beautiful package here. David is correct that the new disc stomps the original Gold Collection version into the ground, there is no comparison.

I know this is going to sound odd, but I get the distinct feeling that some of these bonus features have been sitting around for a while -- as if they were produced for a laserdisc SE that was never made. The text that precedes certain bonus features even resembles the text and format used on the Exclusive Archive laserdiscs and Hunchback and Sleeping Beauty box sets. This is not a criticism, mind you, just an observation.

As usual on the recent Disney 2-disc SEs, I could live without the music videos and trailers for upcoming cheapquels, but the bonus content is very strong. I especially appreciated the collection of deleted scenes and abandoned concepts, especially the moments featuring Shan Yu. It is clear to me that the creative team struggled with him, and it was illuminating to see them try out some cliches (even motifs from Beastmaster) in an effort to find the character.

In a similar vein, it was also illuminating to see that film began life with a lead character that was a re-tread of previous modern Disney heroines (particularly Jasmine in Aladdin), until this was abandoned to make Mulan a self-less character as opposed to a self-obssessed character. Disney heroines in the late 80's and early 90's had a tendency to be struck from the same proto-Western-self-empowered stock, and Mulan was originally no different. Mulan is easily the most interesting female character to come out of the Disney studios in the 90's, and in my opinion, she has a strength of character the other 90's heroines cannot match.

Concept art gallery is also very strong -- beautiful prepatory work was done for this film, and the still-frame gallery is unusally compelling this time out. Worth a look.

Perhaps my familiarity with the Gold Collection disc is shading my opinion a bit, but I found the video quality of this disc to be sensational. I'm starting to pity you guys with 100" screens - on a 46" screen, this is a beautiful image, and though it has the occasional hard-edge and some ringing, compared to the last disc, I was immensely pleased with it.

If you liked the movie or at the least, were interested in it, don't hesitate to pick this up. Great disc.