Brother Bear DVD, two versions?

lenshanem

DIS Veteran
Joined
Jul 9, 2002
We got the DVD and there are two discs, one has the movie in a "family friendly" version, the other is the original. Has anyone watched them both to see what the difference is? Did they just omit any violence? Is this the first Disney movie on DVD to do this?
Thanks!
 
The two versions are at different aspect ratios. The "family friendly" version (bad name) is actually cropped to cut edges of the film off so it fits in your TV screen dimensions. The other version (which is the one you SHOULD be watching), preserves the dimensions of the film as it was shown in the theatre.
 
Then why didn't they just say "wide screen" & "full screen"? Everyone else does. :confused:
 
Because actually just "widescreen" and "full screen" would not be correct, because of the special way this movie was made. The theatrical release of Brother Bear actually used two different aspect ratios during the film- starting with one ratio while Kenai is a human, and then switching to another ratio after being transformed into a bear. The "human" part of the film actually had black bars on the sides of the film (like watching regular tv on a widescreen television) to depict the narrower view of a human. Then when Kenai is transformed, the picture expands to the full theater screen. So the "family friendly" version would probably depict the "human" part of the film correctly, but then crop off the sides of the "bear" part, so that the film would seamlessly be the same size/ratio. The other version would show all of both parts, but the size of the picture would change. Having watched the latter version, I believe that I remember black bars appearing above and below the picture for the "bear" part- switched from full screen to widescreen at that point.
 


And then...watch the funny version...with the Moose commentary! hilarious! :teeth:
 
In the "widescreen" version DVD, a warning is given that there are black bars on all four sides of the movie for the first 24 minutes (until Kenai is transformed into a bear). It was a little bit distracting at first---but we don't have a particularly large tv.
 
The "Family Friendly" one is very close in aspect ratio to what a Widescreen TV is.So if you pick up a new Big Screen or Plasma set, you probably wouldn't see black bars. (They might show up, but because of something called overscan they probably won't be very noticeable). I would expect most of the new DTV stuff will eb coming out on DVD in the 16:9 aspect ratio from now on. If people hate black bars on the top and bottom of the picture, wait until they see their "full screen" movies with gray bars on the sides on their new$2000+ big screens :-)
 


Originally posted by freediverdude
The "human" part of the film actually had black bars on the sides of the film (like watching regular tv on a widescreen television) to depict the narrower view of a human.

Oooooh :D

I always thought it was a glitch in the cinema, poor focus or something. But knowing that is actually quite interesting :)

I now have a new found respect for the film :)



Rich::
 

GET A DISNEY VACATION QUOTE

Dreams Unlimited Travel is committed to providing you with the very best vacation planning experience possible. Our Vacation Planners are experts and will share their honest advice to help you have a magical vacation.

Let us help you with your next Disney Vacation!











facebook twitter
Top