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Lion King 1½ (1.5), SE of Lion King 2, and Finding Nemo DVDs (1 Viewer)

James Reader

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Finding Nemo, due on home video this fall, will open on 5,500 screens and have major tie-ins with McDonald’s, Pepsi, Frito-Lay, Kellogg’s, Dreyer’s and Orville Redenbacher
I hope the "quick" turn-around on Finding Nemo doesn't mean the supplements are compromised (assuming it's 2 discs).

All other Pixar 2 disc sets have had a considerably longer window until released - Monsters, Inc was almost a whole year.
 

Peter Kline

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Finding Nemo is the first Pixar film to be released during the summer. It's been in the works for a looooooong time, about 3 years plus. According to one animation site, there will be lots of stuff for the DVD. However, it's the film that is important don't you think?

Buzz (not Lightyear) is very good on it. Pixar made many changes during the last six months. One thing to look for will be a "preview" of the next Pixar film, "The Incredibles" with a character from the film popping up in Nemo.
The new trailer is beautiful by the way.
 

GlennH

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LK2:SE ... Wow, now we're to the point of having Special Edition re-releases of direct-to-video animated sequels. The mind boggles.

I can't wait for the inevitable "Hunchback of Notre Dame II: Special Edition." I think the current DVD lacks an audio commentary. :)

I think I'd prefer barebones DVD releases of Bambi, Cinderella, Aladdin, etc., while we wait for the Platinum versions.
 

Brenton

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All this new information leaves only one question in my mind: WHY?

LK2 wasn't that good as far as I remember, and it certainly isn't confusing enough to require a "mid"-quel.
 

David Lambert

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...and it certainly isn't confusing enough to require a "mid"-quel.
Disney certainly didn't think it was...it was probably just convenient placement of the new story that they had worked on. Such placement allowed them to have "young Simba" again, a character which was a large part of the success of the first movie. I'm sure they hope it figures into more money for this release as well.


Conclusion: It's all about making a profit. Without that motivation, noone's in business to begin with. :wink:
 

Iain Jackson

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I think they mean there will be 5,500 prints available (i.e. they are actually using screens in it's real context, rather than meaning number of cinemas). In this case, it isn't all that much - Harry Potter had something like 8,000 prints in the US on release, and The Matrix Reloaded will have something similar...
 

James Reader

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The DVD of LK1½ will feature numerous extras, such as a mockumentary tracing Timon's childhood; a making of featurette; a collection of funny moments in Disney animated movies; an interactive tour of the Pridelands; a trivia game; deleted scenes and music videos.
Presumably the "Music Videos" will be Timon and Pumbaa singing "Stand By Me" (which I think was released as a pre-movie short) and "The Lion Sleeps Tonight".

It has a Feb 4th 2004 released date.

From
Video Premier Awards
 

AaronJB

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Saw "Nemo" a few days ago. Just a tremendously entertaining film. Amazing animation. I'm seeing it again - and maybe just sitting through a couple of showings - when it comes out 5/30. Good sound, too (Gary Rydstrom sound mix)
 

MatthewLouwrens

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Personally, I really wonder why Disney even bothers with direct to video sequels
Personally, I really wonder why Disney even bothers with sequels to be released to cinemas. I mean, Return to Neverland? Jungle Book 2? Toy Story 2 being the exception, they're crap.

Now, regarding LK2 - Only saw it once, thought it was awful. If LK was Hamlet without the incest (which it was), then LK2 was Romeo and Juliet without the tragedy. I finished watching it and just thought "What was the point, other than money?"

Now, regarding Belle's Enchanted Christmas - a truly awful concept (although I confess to having never seen it). As I understand it, that is a film set during the time of the original "Beauty and the Beast", which clearly only spanned a couple of weeks (let's leave the issue of falling in love over such a small period of time). How is it possible they celebrated Christmas in that small time period with no mention of it in the original film? The whole approach of Disney in churning out sequels (or in this case, midquels) without giving thought to whether they even make sense in the context of the original films is appalling.
 

David Lambert

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Disney really doesn't care if the films make sense to adults, or if the sequels/prequels/midquels make sense to us in the context of the big storyline of these characters.

They are trying to please the kiddies. And they count on the kiddies to beg, plead, cajole, and demand of their parents that these things get bought.

And it works very well!


Further, I will go on to say that BatB: Christmas works well enough (so what if they didn't mention the holiday season in the original storyline...think of it as "edited for time", and here's a missing chapter that makes its own semi-interesting story). LK2 is pretty decent (my big problem with it is that Simba seemed to have forgotten some of the lessons of the first movie...but then, we all forget our life lessons from time to time, don't we?). Return to Neverland was another decent one. At first I was uncomfortable with the war stuff in "our world", but as the story unfolded it all made more sense. I just wasn't sure I was ready to explain "war" to my son yet. But he really didn't bother with it once Peter Pan appeared on the screen regularly (and of course since then the whole Iraq conflict appearing on the news has become a different way of having to deal with that issue with my son...but that's another topic).

While I agree that the graphics on these three are below the level used for the films they spun off from, they are hardly not-film-worthy and definately above the class of animation used for TV fare (Tarzan & Jane, for example).


Even when you have a clearly inferior spin-off product on your hands, you will fork over $15-$20 sometimes to make the child happy. Disney counts on this. It is too bad that they must look like they are being so mercenary about it, but after all, a business is in business to make money. That means make it cheap, and sell it for as much as you can. Sorry.

Indications are that they will take at least as much care with LK 1.5 as they did with LK2, perhaps more. And Timon & Pumbaa remain highly popular with the kids, my own son included. So this will probably sell pretty well. I'm looking forward to seeing what they do with it.
 

Colin Jacobson

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How is it possible they celebrated Christmas in that small time period with no mention of it in the original film?
Well, there IS the "getting to know you" montage in the first flick - theoretically it all could have happened there, though the fact that Christmas includes a major piece of drama makes it an odd story to insert into the middle of things.

In any case, Christmas does bite. But at least it's better than Belle's Magical World, one of Disney's sorriest direct-to-video pieces...
 

MatthewLouwrens

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Even when you have a clearly inferior spin-off product on your hands, you will fork over $15-$20 sometimes to make the child happy. Disney counts on this. It is too bad that they must look like they are being so mercenary about it, but after all, a business is in business to make money. That means make it cheap, and sell it for as much as you can. Sorry.
I don't know. I just hope, when I'm a parent, that I will teach my kids to watch good quality films rather than any old crap Disney produces. That means I show them Snow White or Beauty and the Beast, but not Atlantis: Milo's Return or The Jungle Book 2. Plus I'll try to introduce them to the many other great non-Disney children's films. I want my kids to be happy if they're watching good films, not rubbish.

I probably won't succeed, and the parental pressures will probably be too much, but I want to think I tried.
 

Colin Jacobson

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The truth is, the timeframe of the film is very much distorted - problem is, "Christmas" amplifies the problem by throwing in an entire holiday seasons that was never even mentioned.
I'm sure the folks at Disney figured, "Hey, it snowed in the movie - there's your Christmas!" And they also figured - probably correctly - that the intended audience wouldn't pick these particular nits. I agree with you that it's a crock, though...
 

MatthewLouwrens

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I probably won't succeed, and the parental pressures will probably be too much, but I want to think I tried.
But why exactly should it be difficult - I mean, if you're the parent, you surely have some control over what they watch. If you don't want your kids watching "Lion King 49" because its rubbish, don't buy it, don't rent it, don't allow it in your home. It's not as if an 8-year old could afford to buy it without the parent's help. Hell, give the kid a book, get them to run around outside, rather than watching and re-watching the same bad film over and over and over...

Of course, I am speaking here from a position of a single person, with no current prospects of becoming unsingle in the next few years, let alone having kids, so I am speaking with pretty much no knowledge or experience or anything to give my comments any validity.
 

Dan Rudolph

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As the seasons change in the getting to know you sequence and it's winter again at the end, Beauty and the Beast happened over a year. As they say in the commentary track, that doesn't make sense as LeFou was apparently waiting outside Belle's house and Maurice was lost in the woods the whole time, but there you have it.
 

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