Spottedfeather

The Secret Of NIMH is one of my childhood favourites and it was a great surprise that my brother just gave it to me because he found it while he was out. I think that this is the first movies that I got early. It's bad, though, that the only decent bonus feature is a commentary from Don Bluth. I would have liked for them to include a longer making of. But all in all, I'm satisfied. The audio is good, but the picture could be a lot better. I'll try watching it on a regular tv to see if the picture is any better. It doesn't look so good on the HD screen on my laptop.

JayDerek

is this widescreen? 4:3?

Ghostbuster

I'm pretty sure that I read that the original aspect ratio for this film was 4:3. So hopefully the BD includes both 4:3 and 16:9 versions of the film. The 16:9 version would be cropped.

BrandonJF

???? Why would a theatrical release be 4:3?

riotinmyskull

animated features are usually drawn 4:3 then cropped to 16:9 for theatrical release

Anubis2005X

I'll be surprised and disappointed if it's not the theatrical ratio...

Josh Z

That's no different than live action movies shot open matte. The question is what it's intended ratio was.

MTRodaba2468

And here I had no idea this was getting released. But I just looked it up, and it is, sure enough. What a wonderful surprise...

RocShemp

I think the only animated feature that got a widescreen theatrical release but was intended as 4:3 is Batman: Mask of the Phantasm. It was intended to be direct-to-video and thus composed for a 4:3 presentation. However, at the last minute it got a theatrical release (I don't recall if it was limited or not) and was matted to 1.85:1 in theaters. The DVD included both a 4:3 and 1.78:1 presentation of the movie.

Spottedfeather

Yeah, it's 1.85:1. The picture is very grainy. I know that the movie is bit old, but it doesn't look like they tried to restore the picture much, if any. It is better than any VHS that I've seen, though. The cover art is horrible. Not badly drawn, mind you, it's just new art. They should've gone with the movie poster or at least the art from the VHS. That was great art. At least it's not the art from the sequel. THAT is horrible art. And it doesn't have a 4:3 version, thank goodness.

zyzzle

This is one case where I would argue for a 4:3 open matte presentation. Don Bluth's anmation is just so beautiful, I think more is better here. Also, most of us who are adults who love this film grew up viewing it in 4:3 open matte anyway back in the '80s. I am glad to see the grain structure seems intact (YAY! No DNR!). Any links to actual reviews of this Blu online?

This release crept up on me, also. A very pleasant surprise to have this beloved classic presented in 1080p.

Alan Smithee

I don't know where you heard that- I worked from 1992-2001 as a theater projectionist and ALL the 'flat' animated movies I remember showing were hard-matted. (I do remember the "Picachu's Vacation" short at the beginning of the first Pokemon movie was actually 4x3 matted to 1.85, but the actual movie was hard-matted.) I have a 35mm copy of Cheech and Chong's "Basketball Jones" cartoon which has picture information on the entire frame, but looking at the frames up close you can see that they stopped painting where the frame was matted (stuff like legs not being completely drawn.) Why would they waste time drawing what isn't going to be seen?

Even live-action movies shot open-matte were usually zoomed-in on 4x3 video transfers to hide boom mikes at the top, so zooming those on a 16x9 TV isn't going to give you an accurate reproduction.

The Valeyard

The last time Nimh came out on DVD, Bluth stated (on his website) that 4:3 is the original & preferred aspect ratio. It was matted for theatrical release. I was hoping the Blu-Ray would have both.

Oh well. Guess I stick with the DVD edition.

paradicelost

Off topic but I think it was a wide release just because I live near Clarksville, IN(near Louisville, KY) and we got it here and we very rarely get limited release flicks.

Spottedfeather

I'm watching this right now and my word, the picture quality is horrible. This is without a doubt the worst blu-ray or dvd that I have ever seen. It looks like total crap on an HD screen. I'll try watching it on a tube tv to see if that helps. It's not film grain. I wouldn't mind that. I'm not exactly sure how to describe it. It's sort of "pitted." They cannot have done any restoration work on this. The dvd of The Black Cauldron is really grainy and pitted, too, but it's far above this. The movie it's self is great. It's the transfer that's garbage. I tried to get some screencaps, but it won't let me take screencaps of blu-rays for some reason.

riotinmyskull

blu-ray.com review

JackBurton

Somewhat dissapointing, but it won't prevent me from picking it up if/when its sub $10.

KOROVAMILK

I happen to find the cover art an extremely insulting and disingenuous display of shameless marketing that completely misrepresents the film with any kind of respect that it deserves.

KOROVAMILK

Common - Just look at how amazing the original poster is -

Spottedfeather

It's not the grain and scratches that's a problem. I don't mind that. It's that there seems to be a grid of tiny, tiny squares over the entire picture. Like the movie is being viewed through a very fine screen. It's very offputting and distracting. It can't be because of damage. I don't recall the vhs having this grid. And it didn't have any of the times they showed it on tv.

zyzzle

Very sad, seems to be a botched compression job? Agreed on the terrible cover art. You'd think some love would have been put into this classic title. Wonder if Bluth was even contacted about the BR release, especially since he says 4:3 is the preferred AR?

Well another of my favorite films gets a botched / hatchet job on BR... Maybe I'll pick it up for $5, but it's the principle of the thing.

Spottedfeather

I'll be really sad if they do the same horrible job on An American Tail and Land Before Time.