The
Little Mermaid - Diamond Edition
(1989/Disney Blu-ray 3D + Blu-ray 2D + DVD + Digital Copy + Music)
3D
Picture: A- 2D Picture: B+/B Sound: B+/B+/B Extras: B
Film: B+
Now
also available in a 4K Ultra High Definition edition reviewed
elsewhere on this site, I had previously reviewed the Disney Studio
1989 The
Little Mermaid when
it was released on Platinum Edition DVD; please refer to the link
below for my feelings on the film:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/4396/The+Little+Mermaid+-+2+Disc+Special+Editio
I
will say that since that review and viewing it again on Blu-ray
2-D/3-D that I like the film even more. Not only does it hold a bit
of nostalgia for this reviewer, but it is an all-around well done,
classic Disney film.
The
Little Mermaid uses
a classic tale with Disney's ability to spin archetypes into family
friendly fun. The film is not only a visual masterpiece, but a
fantastic tale to watch again and again. Each generation discovers
this film and remains fascinated; exemplifying that this is a
timeless film.
The
technical features on this 3 Disc Diamond Edition are quite nice and
a clear upgrade from the previous 2-Disc Platinum DVD release of
several years ago. This release (as the title mentions) contains not
only the Blu-ray and DVD releases, but the 3-D feature as well; of
course a television/Blu-ray player with 3-D capabilities will be
needed to view that presentation. The 3-D Blu-ray looks wonderful
here on home video and is almost on par with The
Lion King and
Beauty
and the Beast 3-D
Blu-ray releases. The
Little Mermaid on
3-D is the usual MVC with 1.85 X 1 aspect ratio (the same as the
standard Blu-ray in this set).
What
Disney does right with this 3-D conversion is that colors are kept
bright and maintains immersive/framing/deep/inky black levels
throughout. What I was somewhat disappointed with was the occasional
motion
blur
when viewing in 3-D and the lack of depth as compared to the
aforementioned Disney 3-D releases. Certain under water sequences
felt engaging, but overall I felt the conversion lacked complexity
and was not nearly immersive enough. Granted I love The
Little Mermaid,
but I don't know how worthwhile this 3-D conversion was in the end.
The
2-D Blu-ray actually may be better than the 3-D release as the
aspects which are distracting in 3-D are stripped away and the film
gets back to its original artistic vision. In 2-D the colors remain
superbly bright with inky black levels. No motion blur is seen. The
film's combined use of computer graphics and classic hand drawn
animation displays wonderfully here. At times the backdrops feel a
bit basic, whereas other moments host supreme extensively detailed
imagery; making this classic film a bit unbalanced (from an artistic
perspective). This is a minor gripe and something that I noticed now
that the film is so clean and nearly 25 years old. The film was
ground breaking for its time, but can feel bare occasionally.
The
DVD here is an upgrade from the previous release, but again not on
par with the Blu-rays.
The
audio presentations on the 3-D and 2-D Blu-rays are the same and
displays somewhat on par with the picture quality. The sound is a
7.1 DTS-HD Master Audio upgrade that utilizes the entire speaker
range; filling the room with music, voices, and ambient noise. The
problem is this immersive experience mostly occurs during more epic
sequences and musical numbers, while the rest of the film feels
rather basic and lost in the mix. The sound isn't perfectly balanced
as certain aspects of the musical numbers seem poorly prioritized;
but nice never the less. The DVD here is an upgrade from the
previous release, but again not on par with the Blu-rays.
The
extras are as follows:
10
Music Track Download (via iTunes)
Digital
Copy
Music
Video ''Part of Your World'' - Carly Rae Jepsen
Crab-E-OKE
Sing Along
Never
Before Seen Deleted Character - Harold the Merman
Part
of Her World: Jodi Benson's Voyage to the New Fantasyland
@Disney
Animation - GO Behind the Scenes with today's Top Disney Animators
Howard's
Lecture - Music in Movies
Under
the Scene
Ported
over from the DVD release:
Deleted
Scenes
Disneypedia
Backstage
Disney
Audio
Commentary
Under
the Sea Adventure
Overall,
this is a worthwhile upgrade that takes The
Little Mermaid visually
to the next level. I personally like the 2-D Blu-ray better than the
3-D release, but each has its merits.
Make
this Blu-ray part of your world today.
-
Michael P. Dougherty II
