Swiss Family Robinson reviews? (1 Viewer)

[Blu]

Does anyone have this DVD? I looked all over town today but to no avail. I was looking forward to seeing this tonight too! How does it look? How does it sound?

 

[Jeremy Conrad]

The DVD looks great. It's 2.35:1 and anamorphic, but the 5.1 mix isn't too impressive. Most of the audio is restricted to the center channel, and your sub will really only see a lot of action towards the end.
Still, just having it in widescreen is a real treat, and the amount of extras on disc two is stunning.
Link Removed

 

[Blu]

Wonderful Review!

Thank you for the link, I am ordering it now!

 

[Rob T]

Still, just having it in widescreen is a real treat

I agree with that!
I haven't had time to take a look at the extras yet, though. I'll do that tomorrow.
I couldn't find The Parent Trap today, though. :frowning:

 

[Jeremy Conrad]

I saw all four, but only picked up Swiss Family Robinson, Old Yeller, and Winnie the Pooh.

 

[Peter Overduin]

Thanks for the review. I picked it up, along with Pooh. Look forward to watching these!

This going to be an expensive month. Joined CH; pre-ordered a wack of titles from the 21st (Legend, Starship Troopers, etc.) and the 28th (Roughnecks x 2, HP, etc.) Ouch!

 

[Kajs]

The special features are super extensive!!!!! A whole 23 min "Disneyland" show is on there about the making of, adn there are trailers, clips, galleries, audio, interviews, cool menus, stories, unseen footage from the opening of the treehouse at Disneyland, a Donald Duck short, commentary, anamorphic, 5.1 sound, THX approved.

Run to the store to get this, I cannot wait for 20,000 Leauges!!!

 

[Jeremy Conrad]

The extras alone are worth picking up the disc for. Having the movie in anamorphic widescreen is just icing on the cake.
I was surprised on the colors as it really didn't have that Technicolor "look" to it where all of the flesh tones are all over saturated. Really nice. Some people may not like it, but I did.
If 20,000 Leagues is this good, my god...

 

[Kajs]

Jeremy

Not to be picky, but you mention the Treehouse is still in Disneyland (unlike the subs in both parks), but actually it was turned into Tarzan's Treehouse a few years ago. Walt Disney World still has the Swiss Family one though.

 

[Jeremy Conrad]

What? Those idiots! ARRGGGH!

Sorry about that, last time I was there it was still the Swiss Family treehouse, but the sub was gone. I'll print a little mention of my mistake in the letter section tomorrow.

Why do they have to mess with those? I mean, really. I can deal with the Haunted Mansion as the Nightmare Before Christmas during holloween, but to remove the subs from both parks and mess with the TREEHOUSE? It's a damn tree sitting there in Adventure Land!

 

[Jeffrey Noel]

Grrrr...Wal-Mart didn't have this today. I am still steamin!

 

[Tim RH]

I bought this without seeing any reviews, but the picture quality is great, the menus are really well-done and the extras are all well chosen. I liked the addition of the cartoon before the movie . Definately recommended for Disney fans!

 

[Ken_McAlinden]

Most of the audio is restricted to the center channel, and your sub will really only see a lot of action towards the end.

The sub gets a pretty good workout during the first half hour of the film as well. Overall, it sounds a bit strident. I think it was partly a victim of the recording technology used and perhaps even more a victim of the misguided modern audio remastering idea that "hiss" is the enemy. The video quality on this title is superior to the other two "Vault Disney" titles I have seen: "Pollyanna" and "The Parent Trap". I have barely scratched the surface of the extras, but they seem wonderfully comprehensive.

Regards,

 

[DaViD Boulet]

Grrrr...Wal-Mart didn't have this today. I am still steamin!

Must be because it's widescreen
Hey, just a thought folks. Feel free to call/email Disney at the number below and THANK them for the glorious 16x9 WS transfer of this classic film. They need to hear feedback like this. Consumers call all the time to explicitly complain about black bars but rarely call to express appreciation.
While you're at it...you can put in a plug for getting 20,000 Leagues here this year (rumor is that it's been delayed till next year because disney marketing execs don't think we want their "older" movies!!!) and...as usual...put in a plug for Muppet Treasure Island in 16x9
go to it folks! Telling Disney what they do right will help them do right again in the future!!!!

 

[streeter]

I will be buying these discs shortly as well. But I'm anxious to know, who specifically do the commentaries on each one?

 

[Jeff Ulmer]

I watched Polyanna last night, and while it wasn't what I'd call a stunning transfer, it was still pretty good, and a great movie. The preview cartoon isn't anamorphic, so those with widescreen sets need to change modes between the cartoon and the feature. Haven't even looked at the supplements for any of these yet.

 

[Michael Warner]

I've spent the better part of the afternoon going over the extras on disc two of "Swiss Family Robinson" and I am happily stunned by the quality and amount of the bonus features. Favorites so far include the "Pirates!" section featuring short bits from pirate-themed Disney films and cartoons set to the music from the Pirates of the Caribbean ride and the audio storybook which offers a condensed 24-minute retelling of the story (I'm assuming this was an LP released along with the movie) with numerous behind-the-scenes photos serving as the backdrop.

Can't wait to watch the main feature tonight.

 

[Jeff Ulmer]

As a follow up to my comments about the Pollyanna transfer, after watching the supplemental features, I have to hand it to Disney for the job they did on this. When you see what they had to deal with for source material, it is amazing that they were able to do what they did with it. The supplements are also very impressive - well done mini documentaries, tons of period advertising and just about everything you could possibly ask for in the way of extras. For the $22CAN this cost, this is a steal, and if Disney keeps bringing out sets like this, I'll be buying every one of them.
I haven't decided what is being screened tonight, but I aam very happy to be able to own these titles on DVD.

 

[Jeremy Conrad]

I'm going to watch Old Yeller in a few minutes and possibly write up a review of it tomorrow.

I didn't pick up Pollyanna or The Parent Trap. I'm sure the extras are great, but Swiss Family Robinson and Old Yeller had a higher priority to get in my collection.

 

[Adam_S]

I got all four of these today and have only watched portions of Old Yeller and Swiss family Robinson before sampling the commentary and extras on Old Yeller. The extras are fantastic, there is a good quantity of them and they are all fairly interesting. the central documentary is excellent, the dogs! section was nice, and the menu design was intelligent and fun. The commentary was done criterion style. They edited many things together to create a fairly consistent commentary with few gaps, it seems they took audio from different interviews with the four commentary participants (Fess Parker, the two boys from the film and a dog trainer (son of the trainer who handled Spike, aka Old Yeller)) and also had a sit down scene specific commentary with the boys together. of the first twenty minutes or so that I listened to were very important with the longest pause being about fifteen or twenty seconds. A little bit repetitive initially because they're editing togetehr several people saying similar things. However you can probably skip the commentary if you watch the documentary and some of the other extras because several things are exact matches between the commentary and docu.

The thing that really struck me was that Kevin Cochran, who played the younger Arliss, kept saying how intelligent the dog was and you could talk to him and he'd be talking back. It's a very sincere admission and I think shows how young (i'd say no more than eight or nine) he was at the time and what a bond there was between him and the dog. For him the dog was the smartest most wonderful thing in the world on and off the job, but listening to the animal trainer you find out how much of it really is the dog, the acting, and or the training.

Can't wait to dive into the extras on Swiss Family (my favorite of all the vault movies) and actually sit down and watch all the films!

Absolutely fantastic job on Disney's part, I'll happily buy all their quality product (Vista Series, Platinum Collection, Treasures, Collectors series) If only they could put more love into all their releases (or at least anamorhpic clean transfers)

The image looks remarkable, especially when you see the uncleaned up promotional materials, and what might have been with the blown up pan and scan footage in the docu.

My only two complaints are:

1.) you can't switch between audio tracks on the fly (though there is only one commentary), but I assume because this is a family film, they don't want to confuse the family whose child/pet/SO steps on/bumps the remote and cause the audio to switch and they don't know what happened.

2.) the footage used in the docu is pan and scan, though I suppose that is slightly forgiveable because the other footage shot is all 4:3 and it's more consistent, I'd still rather have letter box.

Funnily enough, on all the vault disney chapter selection inserts is a picture from the film that has text to the effect: this is an anamorphic widescreen presentation, if your picture looks distorted consult your dvd owners manual to change it to the correct setting. Next to the text is a picture from the film. ON Old yeller and Parent trap the pictures are excellent examples of why not to pan and scan (though PT is cropped to make it appear almost 2.76:1) but the widest AR, swiss family robinson, and pollyanna both have pics that are cropped into a vertical frame (think of a 5x7 picture).