Disney classics get Blu-ray makeover

[Angie_Duke]

Originally Posted by sailerm

I hear that the color palette of Pinocchio has been adjusted to make the film 'pop' more and make it more compatible for 'modern' audiences.

I hear the colours on the Blu-ray look more like the 1940 and 1984 trailers presented on disc 2 and not the 1992 "restored" version. Too each his own.

[BC_DisneyGeek]

From Blu-ray Reviews - Pinocchio: 70th Anniversary Platinum & Let the Right One In

Addresses some of the issues...

I would personally say that it's even just a little too clean for my tastes. While no detail feels lost, there's a certain analog warmth that comes from hand-painted and, in this case, hand-inked animation on film, with all its little imperfections - the uneven application of paint, a slightly wavy ink line, film grain. These things give character to the image, and much of it is simply gone here.

There's been a lot of debate online in Disney fan circles as to the color timing here. I've been assured by people in the know that Disney's archival teams are second to none in this respect, and that they've referenced the original cell animation artwork from the studio vaults to best determine the color timing for this release. So if the color differs here from past editions, it's much more likely because those were inaccurate. Video releases of Disney titles in the 90s tended to have a high brightness push, to make them look as colorful as possible, and so many people have gotten used to those presentations, as opposed to the more varied, nuanced and accurate presentation here.

[sailerm]

This web site has frame grabs from the original DVD, current DVD and Blu Ray edition.
From these frame grabs I like the clarity of the new resto, but the warmer tone of the previous edition

Pinocchio Blu-ray - Disney Platinum

[sailerm]

Here is DVDfiles opinion on the artistic matting:

Note: for those afraid of black vertical bars on the left and right of their HDTV screens, an option to view the film with "paintings" that fill the left/right pillarboxing area so that they aesthetically match the look of the on-screen imagery has been provided. While I understand Disney’s desire to help ease viewers into viewing 1.33:1 1080p images that don’t make full use of the left/right width of their screens, this attempt to provide an alternative viewing mode is problematic as the paintings change frequently to blend with the on-screen material and become a source of great distraction. Also, at times even when they aren’t changing, the "matting" imagery is too easily confused with real image content which alters the visual composition of the film frame. Bad idea; pretend this "feature" isn’t even there.

Pinocchio: 70th Anniversary - BD Review at DVDfile.com

[Coheteboy]

I got used to the older look of the dvd presentation. But what I want is what it's supposed to be. Kudos to the bluray.

[BC_DisneyGeek]

I watched a bit.

The Blu-ray picture looks great, although I agree the image is a little too polished.

The framing instead of black bars on the sides is nicely done for what it is, but I don't like it personally. I find it distracting, and I think is best suited for those people who just can't understand why there are empty spaces on their widescreen TV.

[sailerm]

I bought the Standard Def DVD (again) This will make Seven times I've bought the film between VHS, Laser Disc, and DVD. I agree the film looks too 'polished', It looks great, but so clean, that it's almost like a current direct to vdeo production. I wondering how they got ALL of the film grain out.

I still think the color palette leans to much to the blue/green spectrum, but I can live with that (I guess).

My bigger issue is that the DVD (unlike the Blu Ray) is not anamorphic encoded and pillar boxed, as I was hoping it would be. It would have made the standard def. version of the film that much 'crisper'

[Angie_Duke]

No ones going to give anamorphic enhancement to an academy ratio film on DVD. The black windowboxing on 4x3 TVs would drive many nuts.

Also, Pinocchio, like all pre-1954 technicolor films, should look grain free. It wasn't until the late 1970s with the inferior Eastmancolor reprinting process did grain become really apparent with these older films. As pointed out on another Disney board the great expense of technicolour came from the printing with was realy high quality and which is why they have held up so well over the years. You can still see the grainy texture on the paper used for the backgrounds and the quailty of the dry brush and charcol colouring efects done with this new restoration. It still looks like something made in 1940, but now better preserved.

The 1992 job could have been done using the reprints and not the originals on top of the inferior restoration technology they had in those days (not to mention the analog printing process when making those laserdiscs). Just because this Blu-ray is new does not make it "evil", "bad" or "wrong" in anyway. It's just different from what your used to seeing. If people don't like that, they can watch the movie in thier other formats.

[sailerm]

Anamorphic encoding can and should be added to 1:33 ratio films, with the pillar boxing as new TV's are 16:9. It can be encoded so that the black bars on the sides won't be visible on 4:3 TV's. Disney has done this before with menu's and bonus material on previous DVD releases.

As for grain. All film stock has grain, which isn't a nessesarily as bad thing, it's part of what sets motion pictures apart from stuff recorded on video tape(and why Sony and others have for over 10 years created software programs to replicate the look of film) It has a certain look. This DVD has NO GRAIN, which is remarkable, but at the same time a bit jarring. No doubt that no expense was spared to clean up the source materiel.

As you stated it's not how we have been used to seeing this.