The Little Mermaid 4K UHD (1989) (30th Anniversary Edition)

[disneygeek98]

Was able to go to a Best Buy right when they opened at 10:00 and picked up the steelbook! (I had to ask an employee to find a copy for me in the back since they didn't have any on their new release shelf.) The steelbook looks really gorgeous in person, I recommend calling your local Best Buy to see if they have any in stock, and purchasing a copy if they do! (Especially since the Target exclusive unfortunately doesn't have any disc art on the 1080P disc.)

[Megalith]

Very inconsistent. Some scenes look like an upscale.

[KubrickKurasawa]

Originally Posted by Falaskan

I've had all versions of this movie. This is the best TLM has ever looked.

Actually every movie on 4K UHD is better than any other previous release LOL, but good point

[KubrickKurasawa]

Originally Posted by Megalith

Very inconsistent. Some scenes look like an upscale.

Don't just watch a ripped version downconverted 10ish GB release, try the source. An actual disc because your Avatar tells me everything about you

[CoronetBlue]

Originally Posted by KubrickKurasawa

Actually every movie on 4K UHD is better than any other previous release LOL, but good point

To you eyes, perhaps. My eyes tell me that 4k is no guarantee of a superior transfer.

[Hardback247]

For some reason, I can't always immediately tell the difference between the 4K Blu-Ray, and the remastered standard Blu-Ray included. I wish there was an easier way for me to compare the two on my own without keeping a photographic memory as I switch between discs.

[Vangeli]

There's a lot of digital effects on top of the hand drawn animation, naturally some of those shots are more processed than others. One particular shot of Ursula looked almost like an SD render, but otherwise the movie looks the best it probably can.

[anthonyls]

Originally Posted by CoronetBlue

To your eyes, perhaps. My eyes tell me that 4k is no guarantee of a superior transfer.

Right... and I can see dead people.

[KindredCoda]

It seems as though the Amazon listing for this release has vanished. ��

[Matt89]

Originally Posted by Vangeli

There's a lot of digital effects on top of the hand drawn animation, naturally some of those shots are more processed than others. One particular shot of Ursula looked almost like an SD render, but otherwise the movie looks the best it probably can.

Exactly. And this is what so many people fail to understand before they sh*t all over a 4K transfer of an older film. Not every shot in a movie is equal. Some have things like special effects that have always lacked resolution (Forrest Gump and The Mummy are two more recent “older” films that even have these issues) but the A/V quality of home video hasn’t progressed to where we are now that makes these issues more noticeable.

Forrest Gump is an issue all it’s own with the way Paramount decided to restore it - they probably should’ve used less DNR in those effects shots - but most old movies with special effects sequences will have similar issues when you remaster them in 4K because the special effects shots don’t have the same native resolution as the rest of the movie. They lack resolution, they’re grainier, etc.

~Matt

[singhcr]

Originally Posted by Vangeli

There's a lot of digital effects on top of the hand drawn animation, naturally some of those shots are more processed than others. One particular shot of Ursula looked almost like an SD render, but otherwise the movie looks the best it probably can.

What digital effects are you referring to? Other than the ending scene that used CAPS, this is old school traditional animation- hand painted cels and backgrounds photographed on film.

Stuff like title cards would be done optically.

[Scottie]

Any idea where I can order a replacement case for this?

I bought a copy at Walmart today but the disc tray is cracked.

I have 4K replacement cases, but nothing matching the ones Disney uses.

[Pyoko]

Looks like an older transfer with moderate to heavy de-graining, outlines often look artificially filtered/thickened/sharpened, or futzed-with (weird stuff on the bird in the opening shot, end of Triton's right eyelid.) This could partly be the source, since painted cels sometimes appear with defects or scratches not too dissimilar from dirt-removal artifacts, but there's no question the top part of the wing next to the beak is missing. There's a frequent unsharp mask feeling (shark shot) and it still shows extremely subtle traces of ghosting here and there, though nowhere near as bad as the DVD. I never bothered with the Blu-ray but I'm going to assume it's the same source and many of the issues stem from that. Don't like it, the look of the movie is still quite dirty and drab so cleaning it up was a wasted effort in my opinion, the much more natural and filmlike DVD at least looks appropriate. I guess that answers my question on how Disney intends to treat their classics on 4K.

[JJ]

Am I the only one who finds this transfer absolutely fantastic?

Edit: I can't believe I actually clicked through DVD to 4K comparison screens. I hate 2019.

[RalphoR]

I hope not. I'm going to check it out within the hour and hopefully will think the same way you do.

[F34R]

I was supposed to go to BB to pick up my steelbook. ugh. I'll go tomorrow.

[TheSweetieMan]

Got to watch this earlier with my daughter. I think it looks fantastic. Disney is a very solid 2/2 on the video transfer front with their traditionally animated films so far on this format.

The HDR, to no surprise, is the real star here. There were moments where it looked like bubbles for floating off my screen, it was pretty damn impressive. Lots of specular highlight detail with this disc, with the wider color spectrum really breathing new life into certain portions of the images that otherwise felt lifeless or dull on all other previous disc formats.

[BluRayWish108p]

Originally Posted by Storm_1980

The Target Exclusive Advertising is wrong no Disc art on the Blu Ray!

I picked up the 4K digibook at Target today, and my heart dropped when I saw that Ursula the sea witch wasn't on the blu ray disc. I thought both discs were going to have artwork on them like the Best Buy steelbook exclusive. The odd part is that the little cardboard at the top of the digibook shows that the second disc is supposed to have artwork on it. What gives? I've been cheated!

[Bates_Motel]

Originally Posted by CoronetBlue

To you eyes, perhaps. My eyes tell me that 4k is no guarantee of a superior transfer.

Only if you think every transfer should look exactly the same and there's some phantom standard to judge every movie by. Which there isn't, because they are all shot differently on different film stocks, in different conditions.

[BluRayWish108p]

Originally Posted by Megalith

Very inconsistent. Some scenes look like an upscale.

Some moments looked blurry or out of focus to me like at 38:58 when Flotsam and Jetsam say "This way" to Ariel.