Customer Reviews

Max Fleischer's Gulliver's Travels [Blu-ray]

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(19)

 

 

GULLIVER'S TRAVELS has been butchered by a combination of cropping and geometric distortion to fill (or almost fill) a wide screen TV. The fact is that Hollywood movies made prior to 1953 were virtually all shot and framed for a 1.37x1 aspect ratio (all but identical to standard def TVs). For years movie fans have been hounding television stations and video distributors to show films made after 1953 in their proper wide screen ratios. Now that we have wide screen TVs the opposite situation exists, and it's the films made before 1953 that will suffer. I urge people not to support this practice. This is not a product that anyone who has an interest in movies should purchase.

I had the chance to view this disc and it's a definite no sale for me. The video quality is poor and the original academy aspect ratio 1.37:1 (roughly 4:3) has been cropped and stretched to 16:9. This is not the way it was meant to be seen.

It's very disappointing considering this is a classic that could really stand a decent transfer. Unfortunately, this is not it.

I don't often write reviews, but I felt the need to serve as a warning to others on this one.

Don't buy this edition or you'll be disappointed.

I'm new to Blue Ray so after the few that I've purchased thus far with the fantastic picture quality that only BR can give you I had high hopes for seeing Gulliver's Travels as I've never seen it before. Sadly, this was a great disappointment. The video quality is on par with VHS. Although the colors are quite vibrant, the picture is a horrible. Comparing this to the recent BR of Pinochio and Pixar's beautiful WALL-E discs, this is a version of Max and Dave Fleischer's Gulliver's Travels is a bad April Fool's Day joke perpetrated a month early. Avoid at all costs and demand a proper restoration of this classic film.

The bottom line is that the company producing this title dropped the ball. It is the wrong aspect ratio and the video quality is poor. The previously available DVD is better. Stay far away!

This release is not in the proper aspect ratio and digital scrubbing and manipulation have left a nasty toll. Important details have been swept away. Bold lines of the drawings have turned faint and wispy, and the colors are thin and unstable. The image has been reformatted to fit the wide television screens of today, losing the top and bottom of the original frame. There is also some stretching distorting the picture.

If you want classics done right on BD, buy the Disney releases. This disk isn't worthy as a drink coaster.

The original aspect ratio of this title is 1.37:1, that's roughly the aspect ratio of a standard def TV (4:3). The images in this BD have been cropped at the top and bottom to fill a widescreen TV (16x9) and that is simply unacceptable. Big studios have learn that staying faithful to the original aspect ratio is the right thing to do. Disney have recently re-released a remastered "Pinocchio" with amazing results and guess what, they kept the original aspect ratio of 1.33:1.

If all you want is a cartoon to babysit your toddler and couldn't careless if parts of the image are missing, then this BD might do it for you, but if you care about the integrity of the original art, then this BD is a travesty, there's no kinder word for such action.

After viewing this on Blu Ray, what else can be said that others have not?

The film has been butchered for all the reasons stated.

Incorrect Aspect

EE,DNR,Poor Picture

Stay far away from this. The 5 star reviews are very suspect, as it is night and day,not just a small difference of opinion.

The five-star reviews are incredibly misleading and suspect. This is a classic animated film that has unfortunately fallen into public domain and unscrupulous hands. It has been cropped and stretched to fill a wide screen while excessive digital noise reduction has been employed to "clean it up." This version is not from the original film elements and it is a major disappointment. Save your money and wait till this film is released properly.

Yuck. Ignore the publisher's paid "reviewers" who think this is the best thing since sliced bread. Check their (non-existant) other reviews.

This is DVD quality, cropped and stretched from 1.33:1 to a distorted 16:9. It will offend your eyes.

The video quality found on this disc can only be called a bad joke. Shame on Koch Media! They obviously have no respect for the art of filmmaking. This is NOT a restored version of the film. It looks like a (very bad) upscaled SD Master with tons of digital filters applied. It's simply unwatchable. Since I can't return the opened disc my only option is to trash it. I will never ever buy a Blu-Ray from Koch Media again.