yeah, it's way better than the original version, but like everyone else stated, it's not as good as the more recent platinum titles. i noticed right away how grainy the transfer was also. also, all those damned trailers wasting space on the disc, which could've been better used by the video.

I was at a Best Buy earlier today and saw the movie played back on a Sony Grand WEGA SXRD KDS-60A2000 rear projection TV (arguably the best 60" rear projection TV out there for the USA market). One thing I immediately noticed was that the underwater sequences had was a bit soft on line detail, but the above water sequences had excellent line quality. That tells me that the supposedly lower line detail may have been deliberately done when the animation was drawn.

The minister's pants HAVE been redrawn, completely flat. However, the scene is completely intact the way it was originally drawn at 9:20 in the "story behind the story" on disc 2, in case you'd like to compare.

i just pop the dvd in and so far i think the images look great, it looks cleaned up but still retaining the originals feel. I hate it when they over "clean" these platinum editions, to me it looses its charm and depth in drawing. I might be the only one who feels this way, but i really did not like the Snow White Platinum edition because it lost all of its character with the drawings being sooo polished.

I grabbed the steelbook version at Future Shop yesterday and I'm going to watch it during the long weekend.

True, but Animation does not use as much space as a "Live Action" movie.

Maybe they could have gone in a clean up some of the drawings with the Computer, that would have been better than more "Data Bits" on the dvd.

"The Little Mermaid" is only 83 minutes long, so I don't think space on the disc is the problem.

I'm wondering if part of the problem is the film's original production values. Does anybody know what the budget was? "The Little Mermaid" relaunched Disney's animation division, but I can't help but wonder if it was a much lower-budgeted movie than the ones that came after it, so perhaps the qaulity pales in comparison.

Obviously that's not the only issue going on here, but it could be a contributing factor.

Watching it now, video isn't as good as i was expecting. Was hoping it was going to pop on my Plasma. Oh well. And being my first animated Disney DVD in a while, I don't see how Fast Play is much faster, with 5 trailers in the way lol.

That is so totally true about Snow White. I think the Platinum one of that looks...well, kind of weird, somehow.

I'm still planning on picking the Little Mermaid up this weekend, because even if the quality is less or whatever, I only have it on VHS at the moment, having missed it the last time round.

The image is not bad. I agree, this has more of a 'film' feel to it although it looks quite pleasing on a standard definition TV for sure. On an HDTV, you're more likely to notice 'murky' colors half the time in the first half of the film, while the second half of the film retains brilliance. It doesn't look overly mastered as some of the prior platinum releases have looked, where I also agree, these movies lose a touch of their charm when the look like they look like they've just gone through the paint factory. You'll get arguments from fans who say 'this is how the movie was meant to be seen, clean and everything', but then again we get into that age old Star Wars debate about what we fell in love with growing up. Did we grow up with an old movie that had shown its age somewhat? Or did we fall in love with a fresh sidewalk-chalk filmstrip?

Either way, is this as clean as the old films? No. But then again, this is a much newer release than say something like Snow White. Snow White has many more years on it than this film does. The restoration process was probably believed not to have needed quite as an extensive program as the older films that have been released. You can argue at how magnificent the Lion King looks, but I also remember the Lion King looking that gosh darn clean. The Little Mermaid was never looking so pain-stakingly beautiful as The Lion King did.

If true, you may want to hold on to your copy of The Little Mermaid. Disney might issue a recall. If the controversy over the supposed "penis tower" compelled Disney to make changes, then wait until all those who were upset about that get a good viewing of this release.

Because, if it is what it is, then it's still there for whole world to see. Disney did not remove or alter the "penis tower" as it appears in the film. It's there, plain as day, smack dab in the middle of your screen the first time you see Triton's palace. It's so noticeable, you don't even have to slow-mo or freeze-frame it.

If you believe in these sort of things that is. I don't.

Maybe subliminal genitalia, like beauty, are in the eyes of the beholder, and people just want to see what they want to see.

Jon2... the penis tower isn't in the film. It's on the original VHS video cover. Back in the day it used to go for a pretty penny once the VHS went OOP.

Just got this today [yeah, I know] from the DDD 20% off sale.
What is the difference between a
"5.1 Disney Enhanced Home Theater Surround Sound"
and
"Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound"
?

I think the levels are punched up a tad.

The "Enhanced" mix was created specifically for the dvd. It's still just a regular 5.1 track, but with a fancy Disney Marketing Term attached.

But they've released a couple sets with both the Enhanced 5.1 and DD 5.1

I'm sorry to say this, but on The Little Mermaid, the enhanced mix is a travesty compared to the original. It has a less natural tonal quality, and worse, all the vocals have been spread across the front channels instead of coming from the center. I called Disney to complain about it (I would suggest anyone else who's bothered by it to do so as well!), but I'm pretty sure they won't reissue it, so I actually made my own DVD with the new video and both mixes.

I have the Lion King with the enhanced 5.1 and love it compared to the original mix. I haven't heard the Little Mermaid mix at all, so can't say which I like better. I do like what Disney is doing for these mixes though since they re-create it in a home theater setting as opposed to a mix that was originaly made for theaters.

I know. That's why I said it the Enhanced mixes were created specifically for the dvd. The non-enhanced 5.1 mixes are the "original" soundmixes. Sometimes the enhanced ones work (Lion King) sometimes they don't (Little Mermaid).

Okay. Your post made it sound it was the same mix but they just changed the name. Sorry for the confusion.