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Blu-ray Review The Muppet Christmas Carol: 20th Anniversary Blu-ray Review (1 Viewer)

davidmatychuk

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I've got my DVD. IIRC it doesn't look so bad. But if the OAR version doesn't have the complete version, I might as well have the incomplete version in HD!

I'll get one someday.

I just found it odd that "EVERYONE'S" out of them.


People love that movie. A friend of mine who can barely stand Christmas movies has a real soft spot for the Muppets' Christmas movie, and for this specific one only, not the later made-in-Vancouver "It's A Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie" (which I think is a pretty good one but you can't beat Dickens at Christmas).

Speaking of why there isn't a complete version on Blu-Ray (and why there may be hope for the future):

http://www.vulture.com/2017/12/the-story-behind-the-music-of-the-muppet-christmas-carol.html?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Vulture- December 19, 2017&utm_term=Subscription List - Vulture (1 Year)

In the meantime, what I do is cue up the DVD to "When Love Is Gone" and pause the very nice but incomplete Blu-Ray at the appropriate time. Low tech solutions to high tech problems are my thing.
 

Rodney

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Osato

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I have the dvd. I never bought he blu Ray didn't to the cut song.
I would love to see a blu ray or uhd version that includes it back into the film.
 

Stephen_J_H

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Watched this on Disney+ yesterday. While "When Love is Gone" still isn't integrated into the HD master, it is available as as an extra on the Disney+ interface, in HD. I was watching on my fireTV stick on the main floor of my house, so I cannot comment whether it's a full 5.1 mix [I only have a soundbar hooked up to that TV], but it is definitely HD and looks flawless. Kind of puts the lie to Disney's claim that "there is no HD master of the sequence".
 

Tommy R

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It would be great if they integrated that scene back in for Disney+ if it really is HD quality, though I’d buy a blu-ray of it full price if ever released. Seriously my favorite Christmas Carol version and one of my favorite Christmas movies overall!

Come on, Disney! No more excuses!
 

Josh Steinberg

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At this point I don’t think it’s about excuses. It’s more about that since the mid-2010s, Disney has quietly put in place a “theatrical release only” policy towards new releases of their catalog titles which have in the past carried alternate versions.
 

Tommy R

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At this point I don’t think it’s about excuses. It’s more about that since the mid-2010s, Disney has quietly put in place a “theatrical release only” policy towards new releases of their catalog titles which have in the past carried alternate versions.
Great! So the theatrical editions of Star Wars will be our soon then! :rolling-smiley:
 

DVBRD

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Here's the actual reason. Simply put, Disney puts the visual quality of their library in higher regard, so whatever copy of the film that's up to their standards they put out. This is the reason why Disney reverted back to the theatrical cuts of Bedknobs and Broomsticks and Pocahontas.

I've seen the deleted scene in question on a 4K TV no less, and while it is in HD, the quality is slightly inferior to the rest of the film. You can tell at the end of the song when it cuts to Rizzo crying. I'm pretty sure that Disney took the footage from a workprint or something. I don't think that most people would notice, but at the same time I could understand why it hasn't been reinstated.

However, Brian Henson said in an interview last year that he calls Disney on a frequent basis and tells them they can't find the missing footage. Maybe they're referring to the actual trims than what I presume is workprint footage, but Disney has lied before.
 
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DVBRD

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MatthewA

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Almost everything restored to Bedknobs and Broomsticks was from a preprint source save one minute of "Portobello Road" that keeps getting closer and closer to matching everything else with each new release, and the one missing song from Pocahontas had to be colored in anyway to match the rest of that film anyway. I'm at the age of not believing anything Disney says.

Simply put, Disney puts the visual quality of their library in higher regard

Tell that to anyone who bought The Sword in the Stone on Blu-ray after foolishly hocking the DVD to partially subsidize it. One of the worst film-to-digital transfers of an animated film I've ever seen. I'm glad we have to wait for Song of the South if it means not subjecting it to the same smearstoration philosophy to which we have been subjected lately. Ironically, it's the hybrids that largely got spared the worst of it.
 
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richardburton84

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Tell that to anyone who bought The Sword in the Stone on Blu-ray after foolishly hocking the DVD to partially subsidize it. One of the worst film-to-digital transfers of an animated film I've ever seen. I'm glad we have to wait for Song of the South if it means not subjecting it to the same smearstoration philosophy to which we have been subjected lately. Ironically, it's the hybrids that largely got spared the worst of it.

I think that’s a bit of an understatement, as I found the Blu-ray of Sword in the Stone one of the worst transfers of any movie I’ve ever seen. I only hope Disney will acquiesce and put out a physical release of the improved transfer currently on Disney+, however unlikely that may be.
 

MatthewA

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I heard they did, and in 4k* no less, which makes me wonder why they would release a woefully substandard transfer on disc only to turn around and make a better one streaming-only so many years later. I actually went back to the 1990s laserdisc simply because the Disney Dust was less aggravating than the end result of removing film grain along with it.

*The name "Forky" sounds a bit like 4k, doesn't it?
 

Tommy R

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There is news from Brian Henson that a 4K remaster is going to be done with the “Love is Gone” segment put back in the film! I don’t know how to post articles on here, but there are at least a few out there if you google it. Sounds like no word yet on when/how it will be released (I’d love a physical disc), but the film’s 30th anniversary is 2 years away, which could be what they go for, though I’d prefer it sooner...like two days ago!
 

Mike Frezon

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There is news from Brian Henson that a 4K remaster is going to be done with the “Love is Gone” segment put back in the film! I don’t know how to post articles on here, but there are at least a few out there if you google it. Sounds like no word yet on when/how it will be released (I’d love a physical disc), but the film’s 30th anniversary is 2 years away, which could be what they go for, though I’d prefer it sooner...like two days ago!

Here you go!

This is GREAT news.
 

benbess

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That's good news! We had this movie on vhs about 20 years ago and watched it several times.
 

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