The Black Cauldron has finally been released on DVD and with a handful of extra features. The DVD version is widescreen, it has behind the scenes and making of stills and finally has a mini trivia game. Now if you already own the VHS (I own several copies myself) you are probably asking yourself why get the DVD. Well the main reason besides the extra stuff and widescreen mode is that the quality of the video on the DVD is 100X better then any of the VHS versions I've encountered. I mean it really is the difference between night and day. After watching the VHS you might not have been that impressed with the animation quality especially when compared to more recent Disney films. After watching the DVD you really notce a big difference, the color, clarity and the overall presentation over the VHS or Laserdisc releases.
This just an incredible improvement. While many people complained that the animation in the movie was not up to par with other Disney efforts from the same time perioid, the DVD really proves this not to be the case. It is obvious that Disney did a terrible job mastering a 70MM movie onto VHS in pan and scan mode. After watching at themovie scene by scene in both versions I have noticed an incredible difference, The DVD is much cleaner looking and obviously gives you the full view, another part of the reason why the VHS looks so bad is just how far in during certain scenes the movie had to be zoomed into to be paned and scanned, the aspect ratio used was much lower meaning a less detailed and very zoomed in picture. The only way to see this movie is on DVD. This is the first update I have made to this page in roughly a year and the DVD release of the Film is a most own for all fans of the movie.
I do have a few criticisms of the transfer. It is not anamorphic meaning the film will not expand on 16x9 (Widescreen) TVs to better fit the wider aspect ratio. Since the Black Cauldron has a wider aspect ratio than most movies 2.20:1, on higher definition displays it doesn't look as great as it could if it were an anamorphic transfer. The next complaint is a lack of bonus featues, while there is a trailer and a few games, some galleries and a short Donald Duck cartoon. Commentary from directors, producers or others involved would be nice as would be television commercials and even the trailer shown on the 1985 Pinnochio VHS tapes.
Overall this is a HUGE improvement over the VHS or Laserdisc transfers and is really the only way to watch the movie. My only regret is that it is not an anamorphic transfer, and that Disney didn't go all out on this release as they have with other films. Hopefully a Platinum Edition will be released someday that will address these concerns.
